Embarrassed in Philly, Giants On the Ropes

The Giants extended their losing streak to 3 games last week when the Eagles tore them apart and feasted on their remains. The Giants failed in every aspect of football. Turnovers. Field position. Offense. Defense. Special teams. Coaching. Player execution. Talent. As easily as the Giants wins appeared against the likes of Tampa, Oakland, and KC - the tables have turned and the Giants have been the fodder - the easy game on the schedule - for NO, AZ, and Philly.

My exuberance heading into the season was very short lived. I was excited by what I saw in the season opener against Washington, especially by the passing game. Early warnings existed even then, however, when I observed that there wasn't enough pressure on the QB.

After the second game of the season - the win against Dallas - it was obvious that, amazingly, the passing game was carrying the team, while concerns were evident with the defense.

By the third game against Tampa another concern developed - Brandon Jacobs just wasn't running like Brandon Jacobs. It was as though he had lost his mojo - his desire to inflict pain - to barrel over people - to intimidate. And the pass rush woes continued with the Giants not registering a single sack against a very weak opponent.

After the fourth week against another soft opponent, the final weakness was revealed - the Giants ended the game ranked 19th against the run - and 31st in allowing runs over 20 yards. Brandon Jacobs was still not lowering his shoulder.

After game five the Giants stood 5-0 and there were whispers of dynasty and Super Bowl dreams. But the health of their defense, an issue before the pre-season even commenced, was a big question. And, more disturbing, even though they had just finished the patsy portion of their season, they had not shown any semblance of a dominating pass rush, were horrid against the run, and were not demonstrating any physicality in their own running game. They were standing tall at 5-0, but the handwriting was on the wall about the fall that was about to come.

And fall they did. Hard. The question now is not whether they win or lose tomorrow against San Diego. Don't get me wrong. A win would be nice. But the question is more about whether they can right their ship - turn things around in the three areas that were supposed to be the strengths of this team:

1. Pass rush
2. Run defense
3. Physically dominating, time consuming, intimidating run offense.

The evidence based on all 8 games they've played so far, is ... no - they are not likely to turn those things around in one week. But since I am at a loss to understand the reason why these supposed strengths have turned out to be weaknesses, gives me hope that maybe - just maybe - they can suddenly become strengths again. One can only hope. And dream.