Opinion

BIG BLUE’S BRILLIANT RUN

With the defense giving up a combined 80 points in the first two games of the season, the prospects for the then 0-2 New York Giants looked beyond bleak.

Calls came for head coach Tom Coughlin to be fired; speculation increased that quarterback Eli Manning might be a bust.

And now – four months later?

Wow.

Manning & Co. play Brett Favre and the Green Bay Packers in the NFC championship game tonight for the right to go to the Super Bowl two weeks hence.

It’s been a great run, including an NFL-record nine straight wins on the road, nearly all accomplished in the franchise’s classic style – strong defense and a punishing running game.

And to get to today’s game, the Giants upset the team with the best record in the NFC – a Dallas Cowboys squad that had already beaten them twice earlier in the season.

Even beyond the results they’ve produced on the field, the Giants have given New York a feel-good sports story just when the area needed it most.

The baseball season ended much more abruptly than either Yankee or Met fans could have liked – soon followed by a Mitchell Report that implicated many New York players.

The Jets were atrocious; the Knicks continue to be a disaster; the Nets and Rangers have – so far – underperformed.

But amid all this losing, there arose a good, hardworking professional football team that is now one win away from the nation’s biggest sports event.

Good luck, Big Blue.

New York is pulling for you!