I said 24-hours...now it's time to vent:
-The Giants need to fire Kevin Gilbride (or hope he gets the Oakland Raiders job). Some people blame Coughlin but the truth is that when you put the offense in one man's hands, he can't screw up as much as Gilbride did. Coughlin deserves some of the blame. This team dominating in running the ball all season, Brandon Jacobs dominated the Eagles all season...yet this team seemed to go away from the rush when they needed it the most. Eli Manning should not have been sneaking on 4th and 1 when you have a 270 pound back who's been knocking around the Eagles for a long time (see #5). How many empty backfields did the Giants show in that game? What's the point? The Giants weren't successful on any of the attempts with that formation.
-Overall, I can't find many people who expected a game like this. If the Eagles were to win, I saw it on a last second FG or a last second defensive stand. The Eagles dominated many aspects of the game and that hurt. I hated coming out of Giants stadium to happy Eagles fans feeling like we had a good chance of a repeat snatched from our hands because the Giants went for a #1 seed. I was exhilarated by that win against Carolina, but I wonder if the Giants would have been better off losing to the Panthers.
-My new quote will be "when the wind blows, so does Eli Manning" (H/T to T-Rock). Amazingly, the Giants would be better off going on the road for Eli. Again, this is where Gilbride failed. He knows Eli's limitations in the wind, but had him put up a ridiculous amount of passes...especially when the Giants were moving the ball running (UGH!). Deadspin has some harsh quotes to read if you're a Giants fan from the morning after. I don't feel as strongly as Paul (who feels that the Giants need to trade Eli because he can't play in the Meadowlands), but I think the Giants need to have an offensive coordinator who is consistent. They had one good pass all game (to Hixon). How many times did they have a great run and then come back to pass it? Do you remember how you beat Carolina? Run the ball!
-Vinny DiTrani over at True Blue was quite prophetic in his pregame post in saying wind could be a factor. It was interesting because outside the stadium it wasn't as cold but once you got in, the wind tunnels became a factor. I wonder how the winds will play in the new stadium. But John Carney could just not kick in this game. Not only did he miss those two FGs, but he gave the Eagles great field position (and they took advantage of it). This is where Coughlin deserves blame as well. 4th and 1 he had the offense out on the field...and then took a second look and decided to put out the FG unit. In that situation, you gotta hand the ball to Jacobs and go for it.
-I read some good live blogging of the game (here, here and here)...but certain plays stand out in my mind as huge. Ahmad Bradshaw HAS TO run over David Akers on that opening kickoff. No doubt in my mind about that. If he does, it's probably a TD and changes the face of the game. Jacobs needs to work on not getting caught by the ankles. All season it's been preventing big runs and one run he had on Sunday should have gone for a TD but the ankles tackle caught him again. I thought the Giants had momentum at three different points, but ended up giving it back. The first was the safety, but it was followed by a really good free kick. The second was the Giants field goal at the end of the 2nd quarter. I thought they had the lead going into half, I went to the bathroom and came back to the Eagles getting 3...not good. Lastly, on the Fred Robbins INT, I thought he had it for a TD, but he got caught by the ankles after 17 yards. And when he didn't score, I thought the momentum had swung. I was wrong again (one more play in a few posts).
-The only other time I can distinctly remember saying to myself that "if we get past this team, we have it" meaning I wasn't scared at all by the next team was the 2003 ALCS where the Yanks beat the Sawks to advance to the World Series against the Marlins. I thought the Marlins were a perfect matchup for the Yankees. It ended up not being true. So it may not be a foregone conclusion we would have beaten up on the Arizona Cardinals if we made the NFC Championship game...but I'm pretty sure. The Yankees loss in 1995 to the Mariners is still extremely painful...but I know in my heart there's no way they get past the Indians in the next round with their pitching gassed. This one was different...I think we had Arizona's number.
-Some quotes after the game bothered me. Brandon Jacobs says that they weren't as pumped up. That cannot happen. Antonio Pierce goes on WFAN and says not to blame him...excuse me? You're supposed to be the captain of this defense...don't blame you? I don't care if you're really not the reason we lost (the run defense was spectacular...more on that later), but don't play that game. Take responsibility. Coughlin says they're not a team of "excuses and rationalizations". Prove it. I also do hate when players don't seem to care much about the loss, which certainly didn't seem to happen much on this team. Especially with Chris Snee. I thought that Snee being Coughlin's son-in-law would be a problem at some point, but he's continued to develop as a person and a player and I too hope he never has to go through this feeling again.
-I never thought that we would stop Westbrook so well and lose. The run defense did their job, but the pass defense had some weaknesses. The worst of all, and probably the play that killed the Giants most in the game, was the 3rd and 20. I knew the Giants would miss Osi and Strahan (and, to a lesser extent, Mitchell) at some point this season, and against the Eagles this season it showed. Last year they dominated the Eagles up front. This year they had zero sacks--in 3 games. I think that having Osi back next year will be tremendous, but this year, and especially on that play, they missed him...a lot.
-Penalties came back to haunt the Giants. My dad said that Hixon needed to call a fair catch on the punts...and it was true. Two big penalties on punt returns that went no place pinned the Giants back. One preceded an Eli Manning INT that led to a TD. Also on the officiating side, the spot still bothers me. The Giants could not get any breaks.
-A bye week killed the Giants again. Brings me back to the Jim Fassell era...
-Finally, I think my point from back in November is finally proven correct: the Giants were going to miss Plaxico Burress when it mattered most. I truly think the Burress shooting did derail the season. And although I disagree the Giants had no shot without Plax (pun intended), I think that losing your best target who drew double teams and could go up and catch Eli's high throws was one of the difference makers in the season (maybe they go to him on 4th and 2...). The Giants need to figure out what they're going to do with him. If they bring him back, it needs to be under the right circumstances. If not, they need another target for Eli (maybe Anquan Boldin???)
-The truth is that, for as bad as they were on special teams, defense, coaching, etc, the Giants season came down to a few, makeable 4th down opportunities. It's about as disappointing as it can be, and not the way I saw them ending the season. Coming in I thought this was an 8-8 to 9-7 team. They exceeded all expectations in the regular seasons. But when it counted most, they lost. And against the hated Eagles, nonetheless. It may not be as painful because of the Super Bowl win last year, but it still hurts a lot on Tuesday afternoon.
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