They wanted this. Badly. They wanted to beat the Pittsburgh Steelers for themselves, of course, because that would move them to 7-2, because it would have solidified their choke-hold on first place in the NFC East, because it would have been another victory over a quality opponent, further proof of their own pedigree.
But they wanted it for you, too. They wanted it for the 80,991 people inside MetLife Stadium (or at least for the 50,000 or so who weren’t waving yellow Terrible Towels) and for the folks who decided to stay home and, more poignantly, for the folks who had no choice and had to stay home.
“That’s what makes this extra disappointing,” said Mathias Kiwanuka, not long after the surprising 24-20 loss the Steelers pinned on the Giants yesterday. “We knew there were people counting on us to give them a little break from their problems today.”
Said Victor Cruz: “We wanted to go out and compete and be physical and win the game. Not just for ourselves, but for the city and for the tri-state area and everyone who was affected.”
They competed. They played hard. But they also lost, and to their credit the Giants refused to use the emotional week just past as a crutch. The Giants, remember, had rushed to the airport in Dallas last week to try to fly home just ahead of Hurricane Sandy, and did.
But outrunning her didn’t outflank her. We all saw the picture of Eli Manning surveying the damage in his Hoboken apartment. We all heard about Kiwanuka, trapped in his own townhouse in the same city with his wife, daughter and mother-in-law as the flood waters rose. Heard about Chris Snee, seeing his Jersey Shore neighbors’ houses battered by the sea.
Their week was just like yours: a little fear, a little faith.
And torrents of emotion. Some of us were able to return to work, try to gain a semblance of normalcy. That’s what the Giants did, too, seeking refuge in the workaday routines. Preparing for the Steelers. Hoping they would be able to deliver three hours of distraction to their fans, and to themselves.
They did that, too, and still lost, and understood as they walked off the field that the result of the game speaks more to where the Giants currently sit as a football team than how they spent their week.
“We all had distractions,” Cruz said, “but once we put the helmets on, it was the same as any other week. It had to be.”
And so it was, and so it is: At this point, the Giants are a team with issues contained entirely to the football field and nowhere else. In their last six games they’ve really played only one complete game, at San Francisco, and yet they are still 4-2 over that span. That has camouflaged some concerns with the offense, notably Manning’s close-to-ordinary output — with some dramatic exceptions — and defense — notably the run defense, which made Pittsburgh’s Isaac Redman look like Franco Harris.
“This,” coach Tom Coughlin said, “is as disappointing a loss as we’ve had around here in a long time.”
And it was all about football, all about execution, all about missed opportunities and blown assignments, all about how one missed field goal and one made one turned what could have been a 17-7 halftime lead into 14-10, how chronic failures in the red zone chopped what could have been a 28-10 lead heading into the fourth quarter to 20-10.
Some weeks, for some teams, that’s the concern, not the comfort. But for the Giants, a team that has developed winning muscle memory across the past few years, that has grown a business-first skin, it offers a special kind of insight. Football mistakes can be corrected. Concentration is something else.
“In anticipation of us winning, I wanted everyone to realize what we were trying to do was give everyone a few hours of enjoyment in a very difficult time,” Coughlin said. “That we understand the mass difficulties, that many people are fighting to survive, get their homes back, get their families reunited. I hope the message came through.”
It did. They wanted this, badly, for themselves and for you and for a hurting area. They lost a football game. They haven’t lost sight of the bigger picture. They are the Giants. That isn’t how they roll.