THE Giants were fall guys a year ago, some of their key players felled by injury, precipitating an ignominious fall from grace following a 6-2 first half.
They will not be fall guys this time.
You don’t go into a place as loud and hostile as Ford Field and find a way to win on a day when your offense struggles and loses Brandon Jacobs and your defense loses Mathias Kiwanuka unless you are a together team. You don’t get up off the deck after losing to the Cowboys at home unless you are strong-minded and resilient enough to forget it and move on.
I know all about Any Given Sunday, and yes, Reuben Droughns and rookie Ahmad Bradshaw stepping in temporarily for Brandon Jacobs [hamstring] is a concern, but please look at the schedule and tell me why these Giants should not win 10 games. Prior to the Dec. 29 regular-season finale against the Greatriots, Team Coughlin has no fewer than four eminently winnable games – the Tarvaris Vikings at home without Adrian Peterson, the Rex Grossman Bears in Chicago the following week, the Redskins at home and the Bills in Buffalo.
“This is the closest group of guys that I’ve been a part of since college,” Jeremy Shockey said between bites of fried chicken after he was finished in the interview room outside the visiting locker room. “We were very close at the University of Miami. Here, everybody goes out together, everybody has dinner together, everybody’s very close. In the NFL, a lot of teams that I know, when I speak to people on other teams, they kinda go their opposite ways. Everyone on this team’s real close and it’s fun being in the locker room around these guys.
“You hear Michael [Strahan] saying all the time when he talks to people that aren’t in the league anymore, the thing that you miss is the locker room, just joke around with people and things of that nature. I don’t see the media or anyone outside the locker room tearing this team apart.”
The Giants slammed the door in the doomsayers’ faces when Big Blue and their special teams came to the rescue against the Lions. Coughlin’s Leadership Council has helped heal any residual Tom versus Tiki wounds.
“Everybody was saying we were 6-2 in the past, that we’re always 6-2 every year then we just fade off so . . . the defense is playing great, special teams is playing great, all we have to do is fix little things on the offensive side and get all three phases working hard,” Shockey said.
Tony Romo outplayed Eli Manning and smoked Big Blue, and these Giants obviously hear the talk . . . but they do not listen to it.
“Outside the locker room we don’t really care what people think,” Shockey said. “We can win three or more straight games and everybody’s gonna be back up on our ship, so we play for each other and we know how good we can be and we know how precious each and every game is. You don’t look forward, you just look at the game that you have the next coming week.”
Shockey [five catches against the Lions, 17 over the last two games] is stepping up his game at a time when Plaxico Burress’ ankle is debilitating him as a deep threat gamebreaker.
“Not enough production on offense,” Coughlin said yesterday. “Not enough production in the fourth quarter.”
Asked about neglecting to throw into the end zone against the Lions, Coughlin said: “Certainly I would like to be more aggressive.”
The bad news – good news to Coughlin – is Tiki isn’t coming out of retirement to help. The good news is Michael Strahan [three sacks of Jon Kitna] is peaking at the right time; a year ago, he was on the shelf. So was Osi Umenyiora. So was Justin Tuck. A year ago, Bob Whitfield had to replace Luke Petitgout at left tackle; David Diehl has been a godsend there this year. A year ago, Amani Toomer was disabled. A year ago, there were more concerns about Manning.
A year ago at this time, they would have laughed if Coughlin had advised them talk is cheap, play the game.