Which Giants Team Shows Up Sunday??

By Anthony Strait

It is all right in front of the New York Giants-win Sunday night and the NFC East title and a playoff berth goes to them. A season of ups and downs, another second half struggle, and massive injuries on the defensive side can be all forgotten with 60 solid minutes of football on New Year’s night.

The GMEN have the home field and the weather on their side against the hated Dallas Cowboys. They are a bunch who talk quite a bit in the press but haven’t always played as big as their boasts and they have been less than intimidating playing at MetLife stadium. Fans should be confident, but after bad losses to Washington, Seattle and Philadelphia there is alarm for concern. The biggest question all week will be simple-Which Giants team will show up for their winner-take-all showdown Sunday night?

Keep in mind that the 2011 Giants have been maddening inconsistent all season on one side or both sides of the football. They started the season 6-2 with impressive wins over the “dream team” down in Philadelphia and come back wins against Arizona and Miami. Who can forget Eli Manning leading the Giants to a late game winning touchdown drive to beat Tom Brady in his own back yard? New York when on their game can play with the very best of the league as they showed in tough but inspiring losses in San Francisco against a physical 49ers team and a narrow loss earlier this month to the defending champion Green Bay Packers. The offense found an emerging star in Victor Cruz while Jason Pierre-Paul is going to his first pro bowl next month. Eli Manning is having his best season and as led five come from behind wins with the last one in Dallas keeping the Giants heads above water heading into the final week of the season. Despite what many pundits say, Manning has earned his second pro bowl selection because he has carry the offense with a makeshift offensive line and a non-existent running game.

These have also been the very New York Giants who laid not one but two eggs in two bad performances against perennial cellar dwellers Washington Redskins. On the anniversary of 9-11, they played badly and looked like a team that had no off-season camp. They looked even worse in the second matchup at the Meadowlands as they looked like they simply didn’t care enough to win a game they were suppose to win. There was the head scratching loss to Seattle at home where Manning was picked three times and the defense couldn’t slow down back-up Charlie Whitehurst. How about the last Sunday night game at MetLife Stadium that saw Vince Young lead an 18-play 80 yard drive to beat them. A defense rocked with injuries before the first preseason game has had anyone and everyone play linebacker at this point. The vaunted defensive line vanished for a month while the likes of Drew Brees, Aaron Rodgers and even Tony Romo put up video game-like numbers. The power running game has been more like a jelly-filled pastry in being the very worst in the NFL. The secondary is always one miscommunication away from yielding a big play to an opposing offense with enough firepower to exploit it.

A third straight season without a playoff berth is enough to have the Giants consider making changes to their coaching staff. Fans who want Tom Coughlin fired never quite keep in mind that there aren’t many good coaches with his pedigree. Those calling for Bill Cowher tend to overlook that his super bowl win was just as much as a miracle as Coughlin’s and that the Steelers under achieve just as much under his watch. Do anyone remember how often Pittsburgh had the AFC title game at home only to lose? Jon Gruden is having too much fun working for ESPN to return to coaching anytime soon. The Giants like Coughlin too much to dispose him and the players like him as evident with their locker room celebration following the win in New England. The coach however needs to take blame when his team goes Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde when it comes to playing with any motivation.

Coordinators Kevin Gilbride and Perry Fewell have been under as big as microscope. Kevin Gilbride’s playcalling have been questionable like throwing on 1^st down with a 13 point lead last Saturday against the Jets. He is also a hot coaching candidate because he has gotten the best out of Eli and the young players the Giants have on the offensive side of the ball.  Fewell have been working with a defense and secondary held together by krazy glue. The problem is his blitz schemes seem too predictable and in-game adjustments to game plans don’t seem to be his strong point. He has called brilliant game plans that beat the Patriots, beat up Michael Vick in Philadelphia and the defense averaged close to three sacks a game. Then there are the many blown coverages and the secondary looking at each other because they were not on the same page. They can’t afford to have a letdown on either side with a division title and the season on the line-otherwise the coaching staff’s resumes and likenID accounts better be up to date in finding new employment.

There is only one ticket to the postseason remaining in the NFC. Big blue have their own fate in their hands as they have had all season. The problem is that they have handled it poorly and keep in mind the Cowboys are 1-0 in MetLife stadium after they beat the Giants last season in what was a vintage bad game by New York. Dallas is more than capable of ending the Giants season Sunday night even with a banged up Tony Romo and its up to big blue not to help them in that department. The fans should be confident but a 3-4 home record is enough to have them concerned. Sunday night is literally zero hour for the Giants to erase the inconsistency of the past four months-we just don’t know if the 6-2 Giants or the Giant team that are losers in five or their last seven will show up to take the field. No one will know until 8:20 on New Year’s day.

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Tags: GMEN, new york giants, NFC East, Tom Coughlin