SuperFan: Giants vs. Chargers (11/10/09)

A Harsh Reality

By Superfan

I’m not going to be cute and use funny little euphemisms to describe just how hard it is to be a Giants fan now. I’m not going to sugarcoat anything and try to find what positives were taken away from Sunday’s loss. This team doesn’t deserve it, and quite honestly, I’m tired of it. It’s time for some bitter, harsh truths.

When you put all the “what ifs” and other excuses aside, the fact is that right now the New York Giants are nothing more than a mediocre 5-4 football team. They played dominantly against weaker competition and won in impressive fashion to start the season, but have done very poorly for four straight weeks and have been beaten by teams who were better prepared in each match-up.
No matter how optimistic a fan you might be, there is no glass-half-full scenario right now. In fact, the glass hasn’t had any water in it for nearly a month. Headed into the bye week, the Giants are a team lacking the toughness required to be successful in the NFL. There. I said it. Bottom line, if we don’t do something significant in this bye week, and start playing like a team that wants to win, we won’t make the playoffs.

Not to say that the season’s over. It’s just time for the players and coaches to stop making the same tired apologies after each loss and go out there and win. Yes, Kenny Phillips is out of the lineup on defense. But was he such a stellar safety last season that his coverage skills were the sole reason we managed to have such a successful pass rush? We haven’t lost anyone in, and have actually improved upon, our front seven, and yet Phillips not being back in coverage is supposed to be the reason we’re no longer able to sack the quarterback? I REFUSE TO BELIEVE THAT. The only significant change that’s lead to the downfall of our defense this season has nothing to do with anyone being injured. Someone has to get Bill Sheridan more tape from last season, and convince him to just copy what Spags did right last year. When we’ve faced legitimate offenses, Sheridan’s schemes haven’t really cut it.
For starters, how can we expect to have success against such a dominant passing attack when we’ve got defensive ends and linebackers playing man coverage against an all-pro tight end?! We got very lucky on a few drops he made, which would have made the final deficit far more than one point. Also, why does it seem like every time they ran a play-action or a misdirection screen, our entire defense would completely over-pursue to the wrong side of the field, leaving the underneath receiver completely open with plenty of field in front of him? Granted there was one reverse and one or two screens that we managed to sniff out, but they certainly didn’t make up for the plays they had tremendous success with.
And then there’s the final defensive series. You played well all game, kept a strong offense in check for nearly sixty minutes of football, and then completely abandoned what had been working all game long when it was most important? We’d been hitting Rivers all game long, and hadn’t let their running backs do anything up the middle. Then, when it mattered most, we stopped getting pressure on Rivers and let them walk down the field, doing pretty much whatever they wanted in the process. HOW CAN THAT BE ALLOWED TO HAPPEN? I hope Sheridan and every defensive player watches those final 2 minutes on repeat every day for the next two weeks. Unbelievable. It’s like we only wanted to make it look like we could have won if we wanted to, but in the end decided we’d rather give them the W.

The other side of the ball is just as much of a concern. The worst part of all is that Eli had a pretty good game on Sunday, as did the rest of the offense (for the first 56 or so minutes, at least). I know it’s the aspect of the game that stands out the most for all Giants fans, and to repeat it would only pour salt on an open wound, but our final offensive possession in the red zone was a disgrace. The defense finally made a game-changing play late when Terrell Thomas picked off a Philip Rivers’ pass and ran it back to the FOUR YARD LINE, and WE ONLY GOT THREE!?!?! A holding penalty on the first play of the drive sets us back to about the 15, and we run the ball three times. Not only that, but we run Brandon Jacobs TO THE OUTSIDE. To have three plays inside your opponent’s 20-yard line, that late in the game, up by three points, you have to at least try for the end zone. To not even attempt a pass on three straight plays shows that they have no confidence in our offense to put the game away. Which is a shame, because we’ve all seen the potential our offense has to make those plays when it counts. They just have to be put in a position to make those plays happen, and they never will unless Gilbride decides to stop trying not to lose and instead tries to win!
I’m trying to think when the last time was that we went an entire game without a delay of game penalty. These are beyond ridiculous by now. This is a professional football team. To be getting the calls in so late that there’s less than ten seconds on the play clock by the time you get up to the line and start pointing out the blitzes is inexcusable. And it’s not like this is a new trend. The Kevin Gilbride era has been littered with bad clock management and play calling indecisions for years now, and it hasn’t looked like they’ve even made an effort to improve it. Am I the only person who thinks this a bad trend? Why hasn’t someone stepped in and fixed this by now??

I’m also starting to get worried about Jeff Feagles. No only have his punts been, well, far less than stellar over the last few games, but to bobble the snap during the field goal try on our opening drive of the game? Ouch. The loss of those three points came back to bite us badly. Of course, I had thought we should’ve gone for it there – opening drive, moving the ball well, want to start with a touchdown instead of settling for three against a high-powered offense like the Chargers. Just another example of why there’s no room for ultra-conservative football if you want to be a winner. You can’t win in this league if you aren’t willing to take risks – plain and simple.

JJ came over to watch the game this week, but obviously to no avail. We thought for sure the game was ours, but after we failed to score a touchdown with the great field position set up by Thomas, we gave each other “the look.” You know, the one that says, “this team isn’t willing to do what’s necessary to win this game, and it’s going to cost them.” And, we were right. When it was over, we could hardly speak. He just looked at me, shook his head, and said something that really had an impact on me. He said, “It’s not fair that I feel worse about this loss than they do,” and he pointed at TV, showing the team as it walked into the tunnel. And he was right. Watching this team these last few weeks, and again in their post-game press conferences, I really feel as though us fans are more upset about this skid than they are. I hope I’m wrong, and they’re just good at putting on an, “Oh, well” act, but that’s absolutely what it looks like.

So here we sit, heading into a bye week, with absolutely no sort of momentum to speak of. This means two of the longest weeks of the year filled with thoughts of “what should be”, instead of “what is.” What bothers me more than anything is that I know we should be at a much better record right now than 5-4. Also, 5-4 isn’t all that bad, but the way this team’s played the last few weeks, it seems insurmountable to bounce back from.
Let’s take this bye week and get our minds off of football for a bit. Let’s hope the coaches and players do a little of the same, and show up to the stadium as the New York Football Giants that we know and respect, not the scout-team impersonators that have disappointed us this past month. Dallas and Philly have picked up the pace, and if we don’t make some drastic improvements this bye week, AND WAKE UP, we’ll have no shot at catching up to either of them in this division. I don’t mean to sound cynical or pessimistic, only honest. Our schedule doesn’t hold any favors for us when we resume play, so we’ll have to do things the hard way.
But if we can do something with this week off, turn on the right switch, and turn things around, what an amazing story it’ll be! It’s the coaches and players jobs to get our their and perform each week, and it’s our job as fans to support them through this horrific slide. There is a light at the end of the tunnel, and let’s hope the gmen find it. Seven games left. Treat each one like a playoff game.
I’m a little to discouraged to worry about jotting down random thoughts this week, plus I’ll have little to write about after the bye week next week, so I might as well save it. Any questions, comments, or hysterical rants, you can e-mail me at gmensuperfan@gmail.com or find me on Facebook under the name “Gmen Superfan.” Being a Giants fan is never easy, but nothing worth such hardcore devotion never is. Keep your heads up, fans – the season’s not over yet. Until next week, GO GMEN!!