Don’t be surprised if the detailed, painstaking study reveals nothing.
Don’t be shocked if Tom Coughlin’s conversations with his players produce words but not answers, not even theories, certainly not any evidence to explain why.
Why a time-tested team with a Super Bowl pedigree, veteran leadership, relative health, firm coaching and a clear understanding of the opportunity at hand arrived for games in Atlanta and Baltimore but failed to show up. If the Giants, coming off a pinball wizard 52-27 rout of the Saints, armed with an 8-5 record and their playoff destiny in their hands, had left the Georgia Dome on the wrong end of a 23-17 loss to the Falcons it would have been damaging, but would have not prompted the “soul searching’’ Coughlin said was needed.
If the following week, still in complete control of their postseason fate, the Giants battled long and hard with the Ravens, dropped a ball or missed a tackle late and lost 17-14 it would have severely, critically wounded any notion of a title defense. It would have signaled the 2012 Giants were not quite good enough. But it would not have triggered such disbelief.
Losing 34-0 and 33-14 in back-to-back weeks, Coughlin said, will “probably drive me insane’’ because it represents a tear in the fabric of what he has crafted over these nine years.
Sure, the most agonizing losses for the Giants were 19-17 in Philadelphia and 17-16 in Washington, but there are easily-recognizable reasons why they came up short — tangible football failings. At another time, in another season, co-owner John Mara would have viewed the December double-dose tank job that got his team beat by a combined 67-14 and concluded that big changes were needed.
That’s what he surmised as recently as 2009, when two losses by a combined 85-16 score to end an 8-8 season sparked a furious Mara to state “The status quo … is not acceptable,’’ warning the break-even record “felt a lot more like 2-14 to me’’ and even, in a sense, putting Coughlin and general manager Jerry Reese on notice, revealing “I’m not happy right now, and THEY know that.’’ And this was after the coach and GM produced a remarkable Super Bowl victory only two seasons earlier.
In time, Mara will probably come to judge the embarrassing losses to the Falcons and Ravens as blips on the screen that cannot be identified.
“I don’t think there’s an answer right there,’’ Eli Manning said. “I think it’s just a matter of we didn’t have our A-game. In those crucial situations, you’ve got to have it. You’ve got to be at your best, and you’ve got to want it, and we didn’t have it.’’
Manning and others who have proven themselves in the most pressure-filled situations came up small and empty. The demise represents a collective malaise that fell over the team, perhaps brought on by the onset of human nature. They had pulled themselves out of the fire before and figured they would avoid getting burned again. The hunger to prove everyone wrong never gnawed at their stomachs. The Giants weren’t self-satisfied, but they weren’t on edge, either.
As sure as Justin Tuck said, “Every time we don’t win the Super Bowl is a disappointing year’’ he got to the heart of the matter. “How would you want it?’’ he asked. “We could be in the playoffs every year and not win the Super Bowl. I think I’ll take two Super Bowls in five years over five playoff berths and no Super Bowls. I talked to people who’ve been to the playoffs and never won Super Bowls and they said they’d trade with me any day.’’
It is now three times in four years on the outside looking into the playoffs for the Giants, but that one prized admission replaces a multitude of sins. Both Coughlin and Reese talked how winning 12 or 13 games a year would be great, but not very realistic, given the NFC East landscape. Instead of parades, ring ceremonies and a White House visit, the Giants this offseason will feel the pang of remorse, which is the time-tested antidote for the post-Super Bowl symptoms they displayed.
This roster needs to be tweaked, a few stalwarts eased out. The emphasis must be on defense (an impact linebacker, please), offensive line and another pass-rusher. The Super Bowl following the 2013 season will be played in the Giants’ home stadium and there’s no reason to believe at this time next year they won’t be giving chase.