Lesson Learned?

It has been awhile since my last post. The Giants have now slipped into second place of the NFC East sitting at 6-4 losing to the ‘Skins in (wk 1), Seahawks (wk 5), Niners (wk10), and Eagles (wk 11). As it stands today, at this very moment, the Dallas Cowboys are sitting in the #1 position in the NFC East. Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr.

In the second game against the Eagles the Giants had 17 rushing attempts for 29 yards. (insert dramatic pause) Yes, 29 rushing yards! WOW! Now we all know that New York Giants football is made up of three very important factors. 1) Smashmouth, in your face, no hold bars defense 2) controlling the clock 3) AND AN AGGRESSIVE RUNNING GAME! Now I know if it’s not there, it’s just not there, but 29 yards! Again I say WOW!

Defense wasn’t great in this game with missed tackles and all but they also didn’t let Philly run out of reach of our offense. There were three interceptions in this game (Amukamara/Ross/ Phillips) and offense did not capitalize on these early Christmas gifts from the defense. Jason Pierre-Paul got the only sack in the game. The Giants really just looked out of sync. A minute before the half I was begging for the clock to rundown and get them back to the locker room to regroup. Unfortunately things didn’t get much better than the first half. I believe in the “Comeback Kid” a/k/a Eli Manning, and I was on the edge of my seat until the Eagles defense sacked and forced a fumble to end our comeback drive. *deep sigh*

So here are the lessons I learned from week 11:

Lesson 1: Eli Manning is a “slinger” at heart and he actually has a core of wide receivers who will do any and everything to get to his passes. Yet, that’s not enough. One pass gives you an emotional rush, the next one bring you down to your knees in agony.

Lesson 2: Somehow, somewhere, somebody *clears throat->the offensive line* needs to open holes up to get our running game off the ground. Bradshaw is missing, but Jacobs and Scott are more than capable of creating a dangerous rushing attack. SIDE NOTE: I’m not happy when we lose a game with minimum yards rushing, or even when we win one with minimum rushing yards. It’s just not the Giants way!

Lesson 3: It’s easier to battle division rivals on social networks than deal with panicky fellow Giants fans! I understand reality, we live it every day, but the declaring defeat before we take the field really annoys me. I understand the ups and downs this team has taken. One game they show up strong, the next game looks like a bad invasion of the body snatchers. I understand the stats and the opinions, but declaring it a bust or the team through really just irritates me! As long as the opportunity is still there I believe in pushing on until the end. If worse comes to worse, you simply play to ruin some other team’s chances of getting in. *shrugs*

I bELIeve my Giants are more than capable of playing four solid quarters of football and pulling out a win against the teams remaining on our schedule. Yeah, I know what the analysts have to say. Yeah, I know what fellow Giants fans have to say, but I also know the Giants fight harder when the cards are stacked against them. So the question this season is will the fight begin now so we control our own destiny or will we rely on the kindness (mishaps) of strangers to get us through. You know like we did last year, and missed it by a hair? Has the lesson been learned? The choice is up to Big Blue!