You had them in stitches on Saturday Night Live, proved to the world that you were an elite comedian. But tonight it’s Wednesday Night Live against the Cowboys, you on one side, Tony Romo and Jerry Jones and DeMarcus Ware on the other side, trying to take what’s yours.
You are the two-time Super Bowl MVP of the New York Giants and you are about to try to build the bridge to New Orleans and become the first Giants quarterback to win three rings, so no more joking around.
Against all odds, you brought it home last February.
Now keep it home.
No Giants team has successfully defended a Super Bowl championship.
You be the first.
You make history.
You think all the disrespectful talk about you is cheap?
Play the game. Play the game the way you played it when it mattered down the stretch last season.
They say dynasties are dead in the NFL.
You win your third Super Bowl in five seasons, and you can listen to them say something else.
You have heard them say that you were lucky a year ago.
Show them that was no fluke. Show them you are no one-hit wonder.
There is no better place than New York to win. Go get yourself another parade, stand tall and proud overcome with goose bumps on another Cloud 9 float though the Canyon of Heroes. Stand behind the president and listen to him honor you for your cohesiveness, for your resilience, for your mental and physical toughness, whether the president living in the White House is Obama again or it is Romney.
You know it won’t be easy, of course.
The Bill Parcells-Lawrence Taylor-Harry Carson-Phil Simms 1986 Giants saw their repeat dreams sabotaged by the 1987 players’ strike. They started 0-2 and were 0-5 by the time the regulars returned to replace the replacement players.
The 1990 Giants were debilitated long before the ‘91 season began when Parcells walked away in May, replaced by Ray Handley, who inherited a Simms-Jeff Hostetler quarterback controversy and couldn’t handle it, or the media.
The 2007 Giants appeared on their way to a repeat and then Plaxico Burress shot himself in the leg inside the Latin Quarter.
There will be potholes on the road this time, there always are. The schedule is a cruel joke. You understand that to be the best, you gotta beat the best. So let’s see you beat the best.
The football gods did you no favors, taking Terrell Thomas and Chris Canty and Shaun Rogers from you.
Next Man Up.
Jones is sick and tired of watching you Giants celebrate. You heard him. The Cowboys bolstered their secondary with free-agent cornerback Brandon Carr and No. 1 draft cornerback Morris Claiborne. Let’s see what Victor Cruz and Hakeem Nicks can do about that. Let’s see Cruz be as hungry as he was now that he’s a somebody as he was when he was a nobody. Let’s see him dominate again and salsa again and earn that monster contract. Let’s see Nicks stay healthy and play like the first-round pick he is. Let’s see Martellus Bennett be the tight end he never got a chance to be in Dallas behind Jason Witten.
Let’s see Jason Pierre-Paul and Osi Umenyiora and Justin Tuck hunt Romo down. Let’s see Sean Locklear hold the fort at left tackle so David Diehl can bludgeon people on the right side. Let’s see if bulldog Ahmad Bradshaw can stay on the field and let’s see if No. 1 draft David Wilson can be the big-play threat who can add much-needed juice to the 32nd-ranked rushing attack. Let’s see if Linval Joseph can be the bully on the block and keep people off Chase Blackburn, or Mark Herzlich. Let’s see some swag from Prince Amukamara when he gets back for Week 2. Let’s hear Antrel Rolle speak up when blunt force trauma is required. Let’s see Mathias Kiwanuka and Michael Boley help restore the tradition at linebacker. Let’s see Lawrence Tynes be automatic again in the clutch. Let’s watch Steve Weatherford run around like a man tasered and scream, “I’m going to the Super Bowl!’
Let’s see Coughlin, since 66 is the new 65, be the first Giants head coach to win three Super Bowls. Old Lang Syne.
FINISH was your mantra last season. START TO FINISH this season. ALL IN once again.
ALL IN behind the elite Eli, who understands that it is time to send the following message:
That if you want the Lombardi Trophy, you better be prepared to rip it out of my clutches.
Eli Manning, host of Wednesday Night Live, the first step toward getting the last laugh.
steve.serby@nypost.com