Giants Blowing in the Wind

What is there to say? This Giants team just doesn't excite me. It isn't dominant in any way. That is borne out by the pro bowl voting last week - 1 Giant (Osi) and 11 Cowboys. You can argue until you are blue in the face that the Giants were slighted - that as the third best team in the NFC the Giants deserved more recognition. But I'm not convinced they are the third best team in the NFC and, even if they are, that doesn't make them any good. The NFC stinks and there is a huge drop off after the Cowboys and Packers.

The truth is that the Giants just aren't very good. More troubling is that I don't see that changing any time soon. Look at the roster. At first blush, most positions seem fairly solid. There doesn't seem to be glaring needs. Even the secondary is much improved this year. The running game has been fantastic. The offensive line is one of the best. The receivers are better than most in Giants history.

Yet the Giants are simply mediocre. There aren't any real super stars. I found myself thinking this week that the way I feel about the Giants is how I imagine I would feel if I had just blown my life savings on a brand new Mazzaratti only to find that it runs like a 1957 Studebaker. This Giants team makes me feel as though I've just bought a lemon of a car that I'm stuck with. The "all world" Giants offense in reality just plain stinks.

The second thing that has bothered me all week - maybe the first thing - is the play calling. Heading into the game every weather forecast I heard talked about the heady 30 mph winds with gusts even higher. It made me smile and rub my hands together in anticipation. This was football weather - Giants football weather. Perfect weather for our stadium. This would be a low scoring brawl. The Giants were going to run Brandon Jacobs down the Redskins' collective throats and would stuff Clinton Portis so far into the backfield he'd find himself so far down the Turnpike that he wouldn't need the bus ride home.

So, first play of the game the Giants line up with an empty backfield. Incomplete of course. I said to myself the Giants were just trying to throw a feint at the Redskins to help back them off the line of scrimmage. 52 pass attempts later and I'm still shaking my head in pure wonderment. This wasn't rocket science - except for the idiot responsible for calling the Giants plays last Sunday night. It was stupid. It was beyond stupid - it was moronic. And may have cost the Giants a third straight playoff appearance.

I've been a Coughlin defender. I was a voice in the wilderness at the end of last season - one of the few who felt the fire Coughlin talk was out of line. No more. Forget his silly rules. Forget all the other issues and problems. Coughlin has to go because he is an offensive coach and this offense stinks - and has stunk ever since he has been here. It is a Mazzaratti that Coughlin has fine tuned into a Studebaker. And I, for one, have had enough.