Today’s edition of The Mailbag on Giants.com.
After the loss to the Cowboys many Eagles fans I know are salivating over the chance to play the Giants, saying we have liabilities all over our O-line in the run game, and in our defensive backfield. I always chuckle when I hear this after just the first game (like last year). But what is your opinion on the importance of the very first game, in a 16-game season, and when you hear the players say it’s just some tweaking needed on technique and that will make a very large difference?
-Dennis
I’ve long believed that too season openers result in too much euphoria or depression, depending on whether a team wins or loses. There are plenty of examples of teams playing great in an opener and having a terrible season (the 2001 Carolina Panthers won their opener and finished 1-15) or laying an egg in the first game and going on to have a great season (the Giants in 1986, 2007 and 2011 lost their first games – but they won the last game of the season, the Super Bowl). It often doesn’t take more than some adjustments 0 tweaks to use your word – to get a team on the right track. Week 2 is much too early to start making wholesale changes. I’m confident the Giants will play better in Week 2.
