Every time I look at the schedule game-by-game I come up with 8-8, yet the way the preseason went, I just want to throw up my hands and proclaim, "Season's over, 5-11." And that disastrous preseason came after losing Steve Smith, Barry Coefield, and Kevin Boss to free agency. Either way, I can't confidently predict playoffs, and I'm trying to fight a feeling of impending doom that would make me the kind of "Woe is us" fan I have always vowed not to become - even though that would arguably be understandable the way the past three seasons have gone. I wouldn't call it "karma" because that would imply the Giants have done something to deserve the bad luck, but I do have a theory that because 2007 was so incredible - greatest victory in the history of anything, remember - that the football gods feel they need to punish the Giants to balance things out in the grand scheme of things.
As you can already tell, much like my league preview I don't have a cohesive approach here. But what I do have, are a few reasons the Giants could have a good season. In spite of six defensive players lost for the season, I'm selling optimism!
*The Giants have too much talent on paper to go 5-11, or be a team that's out of the hunt early. Sure, they lost some key players, but in a league with so much parity, it takes a special kind of dysfunction to win 5 games or less. You almost have to go out of your way to be that bad.
*The 2007 Giants were not predicted to be a juggernaut before that season began. And this team seems to perform best when expectations are low.
*The first half of the schedule appears to be soft. A good chance for the new players to gel, and time for the injuries that actually didn't put the players out for the season, like those to Prince Amukamara (foot) and Osi Umenyiora (knee), to heal before the competition really ramps up.
*Hey, at least the Giants don't have the Colts' problem: Franchise QB out indefinitely. As irreplacable as Terrell Thomas and Jonathan Goff seemed, neither are Peyton Manning. I believe in Jerry Reese's ability to evaluate talent and build a deep team with capable backups. Aaron Ross and rookie Greg Jones, it's your time to shine.
Now, let's go have ourselves a season!
3 comments:
Bill, did you account for the Giants getting "Grossman'd" in Week 1? I did not. This is going to be a long season! Yea!!!!!!!!!
Not only did nobody expect Grossman to go Brady on us we thought Eli would convert a 3rd down. I know Steve Smith isn't ready to play yet but how good would the Giants feel in a few weeks with him being there? Unless someone learns the mysterious art of "catching" the ball in critical moments we're in huge trouble.
I'm excited for the Bills-Giants matchup.
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