Dallas Take Division Crown From Giants

The Giants elevated their game last Sunday but it still wasn't enough. At the end of the day the Giants defense wasn't good enough to slow down Tony Romo and company and Dallas walked away with the Giants divisional crown. After four straight losses they are a very average 6-6. All talk of a Super Bowl season is gone and we are left instead with rumblings of what needs to be done for next season, whether that be changes in coaching or personnel. Yes, there is some mention of the fact there are still four games left to play and that the Giants could hang on and seal a wild card berth. But listen carefully and you will notice the total lack of conviction - the absence of any fervor or excitement - in such talk. Whether they want to admit it or not, deep down everyone understands that the Giants, even if they clinch a wild card berth, are not going to win the Super Bowl this year. They are simply not in the same league (literally or figuratively) as Denver or San Diego or Baltimore.

Why have the Giants fallen to such mediocrity? Is it the injuries? Before you say "of course" stop to consider whether it is really that simple. Even with everyone healthy this team was never clicking on all cylinders. Special teams stunk in the pre-season. Special teams stink today. And special teams have stunk every day in-between. Even more distressing than the lack of production in kick and punt returns has been the absence of tough as nails hits from the coverage units that pin the returner inside the 20. Those types of plays are important for much more than field position. They are emotional plays that lift the entire team much the way a physical Jeremy Shockey can.

The offense hasn't been much better, even with Toomer and Petitgout. I think (or at least thought) that this was a power house offense. And it is. At least theoretically it is. On paper. Of course, that's the problem. The talent on paper just hasn't translated into domination on the field. Sure, there were moments, flashes, when it seemed that the offense was finally going to get its act together and start tearing up the league. But it just didn't happen. Not this year.

The defense? Everyone knows about the problems in the secondary. But nobody seems to recall what was being said back in June. Tim Lewis was drooling and even publicly expressed his concern that he not allow himself to get too out of control devising schemes to use all his new pass rushing weapons. There wasn't any question the Giants would surpass last year's sack totals. The only question was how many QBs would survive the onslaught the Giants were going to unleash on the passers in the league. Pass rush? What pass rush? Without Michael Strahan - without that one player - there is no pass rush. But how could this monster the Giants were going to unleash this year be totally eliminated by the absence of just one player?

Indeed, that is the point. To accept injuries to Strahan, Toomer, and Petitgout as the explanation for why the Giants are mediocre is to simply say that they are a mediocre team. It isn't as though they lost their QB. We are talking one WR out of 5. One offensive lineman out of 5. And one of four defensive linemen in a position where the team, supposedly, had the greatest depth. I am not saying those injuries aren't key. Quite the contrary in fact. They are key and without those three players the Giants are just average. But that's the point. A truly great team - a powerful team - would be much more than average losing one WR, one offensive lineman, and one defensive lineman in a position of great depth.

Football is a game of ebb and flow - a game of momentum. Watch enough football and you can feel when the momentum changes. A defense could be struggling to generate any kind of pressure at all and then suddenly, after an emotional play (on offense, defense, or ST), the floodgates just open and you know - can just feel - that the sacks will now be coming. And they do. We've all seen it. We've all felt it. We've all watched games where, momentum having changed, you just knew, before the ball is even snapped, that the QB was going to end up on his ass.

What creates momentum? Where does it come from? I certainly don't know. I've never read anything about it. I'm not even certain it has ever been written about. But I believe the primary factor comes from an emotional type play. Not necessarily a play that impacts the score - or even field position. But rather a play that somehow touches an emotional nerve of the team. I hate to get too analytical, but there is probably a physical reason behind this - the type of play I am speaking of is one that likely generates a rush of adrenalin by simply witnessing the play.

Back in their first Super Bowl year, the Giants were playing San Fransisco on Monday night and were losing 17-0 at half time. They went into the locker room looking down and defeated. Early in the second half Simms hit Bavaro on a seam pass and Bavaro then lumbered another 30 yards or so after the catch literally carrying 7-8 defenders all over him, draped on his back, around his waist, and his legs. That single play totally changed the game, if not the season and the giants went on to win 21-17. The 1986 Giants had many, many such plays that year. They had those plays every game. Special teams would pin the returner on a kick off inside the 15 with a bone jarring tackle. Or LT would suddenly take over a game. Or Jim Burt would knock Montana on his ass. Or Carl Banks, or Phil Simms, or Mark Bavaro, or Mark Haynes, or Joe Morris... Each and every one of them stepped forward, at one point or another, to make plays that brought you out of your seat as the play itself was happening - that created awe and a burst of emotion. Plays that were, simply put, momentum changing in nature.

The Giants are not making those type of plays this year. Not enough of them anyway. Tiki Barber provded lots of those plays last year. And he has had some this year. But, even though his numbers are still very good, in my opinion it is the lack of game changing plays of the type I am speaking of, that reflects the biggest difference in his performance this year. The two players that truly epitomize what I am talking about are Jeremy Shockey and Brandon Jacobs. They both have a physical energy that is capable of duplicating Bavaro's play that night in San Fransisco. However, neither has touched the ball often enough to make a difference this year. On defense it is pressure that usually results in momentum changing type plays. It is why I love a pressure defense so much more than a containment defense. An attack style defense has a greater chance of changing momentum. But that has been lacking this year.

In the end, there simply are not enough players on this squad with the capability of making the type of play that changes momentum in a game. That is why the Giants are average. That is why the loss of Toomer and Strahan makes such an impact. There simply aren't enough others stepping up and making momentum changing type plays. And only one conclusion can be reached - it isn't happening because the team doesn't have enough players capable of making them.

What is the point of all this? Well, I've been very conflicted these past few weeks. I love the Giants. I want them to win. To make the playoffs. To provide me with hope, however far fetched, that maybe some how they still win the whole thing. But I know that isn't going to happen. And if it isn't, then what I want is for the Giants to get stronger. In the draft. If they don't win the Super Bowl, will I be wishing next April that they lost their last 4 games to go 6-10? And, if they go 6-10, does that shake this organization to the foundations so that necessary changes are made? I feel ambivalent about Tom Coughlin. I'm not saying I want him fired. But I wouldn't be upset if he was. I therefore think it might actually be good for the long term health of this team if the Giants ended at 6-10, leaving the organization to deal with the changes that would come from an eight game losing streak to finish this oh so special season.