This Humble Pie Tastes Bitter As Hell
By SuperFan
The possibility of Monday night being a trap game was the furthest thing from my mind. It wasn’t supposed to be a trap – it was supposed to be a statement. A statement that we were the one NFC East team that WASN’T going to implode like everyone else had recently. Boy was I wrong.
I should have seen it coming though. Watching the pre-game, this wasn’t the way people should be talking about the Giants. Monday Night Countdown on ESPN looked like homage to the majesty that was the New York Football Giants. Not that I had a problem watching it or anything – it’s always great to bask in your favorite team’s glory – but with this team, if things appear too good to be true, they always are. We’re the team that’s supposed to be overlooked, not over-hyped. On top of that, my copy of Madden NFL 09 got so scratched earlier in the day that it was unplayable, making me unable to play out the match-up beforehand, which has become a new ritual for me this season. On top of all that, my roommate was home for the entire game, and you can bet he was sitting right there on the couch the whole time. Just a bad night altogether.
The only thing worse than watching your favorite team getting embarrassed in primetime by what was supposed to be a far lesser opponent is having to listen to Tony Kornheiser the whole time. Talk about adding insult to injury. By the end of the game, I was so humiliated that I actually turned up the TV’s volume and forced myself to listen to every word he was saying, the worst kind of punishment I could think of for myself.
But, it’s in the past, and there’s nothing anyone can do to change it. It’s not like we were going to go undefeated throughout the season, so at least we got a bad loss out of our system. On the bright side, the loss couldn’t have come at a more opportune time. After the way the other NFC teams played, we’re still alone atop the division. Also, we lost to an AFC team, leaving our conference record intact. Like I said to a friend of mine who’s a Redskins fan after their stunning loss to St. Louis on Sunday, if this were any other sport but football, it would simply go down as a bad game and the team would try and rebound next time. Unfortunately, next time isn’t for a week, and in the meantime we’ll have to hear about it on sports radio, NFL Live, NFL Network, Inside the NFL, and online.
Last week I mentioned that there was very little bad to talk about regarding this year’s team. Aside from the new concerns raised Monday night, one concern that was true before was very apparent again – clock management. It was the only thing we hadn’t corrected yet this season, and the other night it stood out like a sore thumb. There’s absolutely no reason for a championship-caliber team to have to waste precious timeouts when they’re behind in the fourth quarter because the play clock is running low. Inexcusable. Another thing that stood out was the defense not taking advantage when the Browns offense kept shooting themselves in the foot. They must have had about as many false start penalties as Steve Smith had receptions, yet every time they would lose yards on a penalty, they would follow it immediately with a huge play.
It wouldn’t be the Giants’ style to go a whole season without giving their fans something to feel miserable about once in a while. Believe it or not, we happen to thrive on it. Disturbing, yes. True, absolutely. Let’s face it – Monday night, we flat out got beat. Do I think we’re about to go head first into a downwards spiral? Absolutely not. Unlike previous years, I still feel this team is too complete and confident to not learn and bounce back from a loss like this in a big way. Our entire defense should feel embarrassed, which hopefully will make them a very scary group to line up against in the weeks to come. Eli was brought back to reality (as was our offensive line), and they’ll have plenty of film to watch and improve on. Plax and Eli I’m sure will work on their timing quite a bit this week in practice (a luxury they didn’t have last season).
Like the Minnesota game last season, we as fans need simply to chalk this one up as an ugly, humiliating, degrading loss, and flush it away. We’re very fortunate that it will end up doing more damage to our team’s perception than our playoff hopes (right now). So, fans, stew on it a little, hit a pillow, take a deep breath, and move on. There’s a whole lot of football left, and I’m actually really excited to see how well we’re able to bounce back and re-establish ourselves as an elite team. Losers sulk about it all week, winners learn from it and get better. I see no reason why we shouldn’t believe the Giants will react like winners.
I’m sure you fans have a whole lot you’d like to get off your chest, so feel free to vent to me all you want – the e-mail address is gmensuperfan@gmail.com. Keep your heads up, and GO GMEN!!
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