Lucky #7 by Blue-Blooded
Everything was in place for it to happen. We had just lost again coming off the bye week. On only the second play of the game, one of our key starting linebackers suffered a potential season-ending injury. Only this time, his name was Kiwanuka, not Arrington. Stupid penalties and broken plays began flooding the field from our side of the ball. Here came another huge second-half disaster.
Except for one (big) difference – we didn’t lose. As a Giants fan watching the game at home, I found myself actually looking forward to having Eli take the snap. This time around, I didn’t watch third down from behind a wall of fingers. This time around, I knew we were still the better team.
Now I realize this game wasn’t pretty. Only one offensive touchdown. The secondary still wasn’t great (how was Roy Williams that open that often?? Thank God for dropped balls and overthrows). We lost one of our most dominant players (Jacobs) for at least a couple weeks. Plax’s ankle injury certainly seems to be catching up with him (no pun intended). And I know hindsight is 20/20, but how great would it be to still have good ol’ Ryan Grant on the roster?? (Go Irish/North Jersey!)
But a win is a win no matter what it looks like. We beat the Lions, a direct wild card competitor. Eli threw no INTs and spread the ball around very nicely. We’re finally returning punts and kickoffs for more than five yards (atta boy, Bradshaw). And above all, the impossible happened. We’re more than halfway into the season and I suddenly don’t think Coughlin should be fired regardless of how we end up.
So, what should we make of all this? Well, as Giants fans, we can realize some things never change. The Giants won’t put teams away when they need to. Every game will bring every fan that much closer to an ulcer. Fox will always air one-too-many promos (Don’t get me wrong, I love the shows…I’d just rather they not be advertised over the first play of each drive). Coughlin will have at least a couple moments on the sidelines after a bad play or penalty when he looks like a confused, angry kid being forced to leave Toys ‘R Us before he’s ready to. We’ll never get a “touch” call in the 4th quarter when we could really use one, but will always have them called against us. I’ll have to keep wearing my ridiculously tight, authentic #38 jersey (the name says F. Lewis…whatever happened to that guy?) because I had to stop wearing my Tiki one (they lost 2 straight), and they’re now 7-1 when I do. Our dog will have to unwillingly wear her little Shockey jersey. And my mom will have to stay out of and away from whatever room I’m watching the game in (it’s nothing personal, she just happens to be bad luck).
However, other things have changed. Coughlin now has enough confidence in his defense to make a stand instead of challenging a bogus no-fumble-call and risking a timeout. Eli’s spreading that ball like TempTee on a fresh bagel. We didn’t give up on drives because of poorly-timed flags. Our defensive backs are making big-time plays. Our coordinators are getting well-deserved credit. At 7-3, we’re officially on a better pace than last season. Most importantly, for the first time in a while, I’m more excited about the G-Men’s positives going down the stretch than the negatives.
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