They don’t have to like it, but they have to take it.
All of it. All the disrespect thrown at them prior to the season, all the shouts about the Giants being one-shot wonders, the widespread contention that last year’s stirring Super Bowl run would mean nothing this time around. All the predictions that most everything the Giants built up a year ago would come crashing down.
It all came true. The Giants promised they would be different, but in the end, they were identical to so many other teams that were abject failures in The Year After.
“It’s bad, because all the labels everybody gave us, one-shot wonders, they pretty much fit right now,” left tackle Lomas Brown said, the sting of Sunday’s playoff-eliminating 24-21 loss to the Eagles still fresh. “It’s not like we can say, ‘No, we’re not.’ That’s the hard part we’ve got to deal with, deal with that the whole offseason.”
The offseason is fast-approaching, with only Sunday’s season-finale against the Packers separating the Giants from another long road back. Giants Stadium may contain many unoccupied seats this weekend, as the Packers and Brett Favre need the win for not only a home playoff game, but also to keep alive their slim hopes of winning the NFC Central. The Giants, at 7-8, are fighting to avoid a losing season, which is not the sort of motivational intrigue that creates a captivating must-see event.
A reflective Jim Fassel yesterday acknowledged the season “is a failure from the standpoint we didn’t make progress and we didn’t make the playoffs.” The most recent game, he said, was indicative of the entire season.
“All season long, our effort was there,” Fassel said. “We would fight and fight and fight and when it came down to it, you’re right there and it doesn’t fall for you.”
What went so wrong? It wasn’t the much-ballyhooed tougher schedule, as only five of the Giants’ 16 games will have been against playoff teams. It wasn’t bad luck or a rash of injuries, as all 22 starters will have played in at least 13 games. It wasn’t that opponents were seeking to prove themselves against the NFC’s Super Bowl team, as from the very start, the Giants were not viewed as a top contender.
“It happens a lot in this league,” said Tiki Barber, one of the few Giants to have an excellent season. “You have a post-Super Bowl hangover. I don’t know if you get too confident, I don’t know what it is. It’s always tougher the year after.”
The Giants made it tough on themselves and got what they deserved when, after dropping to 5-7, their belated playoff drive fell short. Their offense was too often inconsistent, and even in the late flourish they were too reliant on Barber and too plodding to produce more than a handful of truly big plays.
Still, in Philadelphia this past weekend Kerry Collins manufactured three touchdowns against the league’s stingiest defense and put the game in the hands of the Giants’ defense. That overrated group, with rookie cornerback Will Allen getting whipped, coughed up 10 points in less than two minutes to once again become part of the problem and not the solution.
“We didn’t deserve to go to the playoffs this year, the way we played defensively,” defensive tackle Keith Hamilton said. “We kind of set a standard around here and now we got to start all over again. We’ve got to find out why it is we give up these big plays.”
That is the next job, coming as soon as this season is complete. “The things we really take pride in around here – about how you win – have left us,” Fassel said. “How it went, when it went, why it went, you can’t put your finger on.”
At least the Giants learned a lesson. They were determined not to take a dive in their post-Super Bowl season, but they took the plunge just like so many other teams, dropping clear out of the playoffs.
“I know one thing for a fact,” Fassel said. “In this league, there’s no natural progression.”
