I'm getting sick and tired of this.  I'm getting sick and tired of the Giants playing a decent-to-good-enough September and tearing through October, getting everyone's hopes up and their imaginations running wild about what the rest of the season might hold.  Then getting into November, closing in on the final stretch, and falling apart.  It's as though the team thinks they only have to show up for half a season and their good 1st-half record will somehow magically carry them into the playoffs.  Then they show up without any heart, without any discipline, without any toughness, without any pride, and they drive us fans crazy.  The only consistency I've seen out of the New York Football Giants the past few years is their inability to play at a high level for a full season.

All that being said, there is still over a quarter of the season left to play, including two against the Cowboys.  Plenty of time and opportunities to make the second season, but if we keep playing the way we've been playing, that won't happen.  Let's rehash the worse of our past two miserable losses.

Not Worth The Effort
Monday Night Football on the West Coast.  A football fan's worst nightmare.  After an entire day of dropping not-so-subtle hints at work about that night's game, my bosses let me take off around 5:30, which allowed me to listen to the first quarter in the car.

JJ met me at my house and we turned it on just in time to watch the Saints effortlessly drive the field to take a 7-0 lead to start the second quarter.  It wasn't much better from there, as we listened to Mike Tirico, Jon Gruden, and Ron Jaworski all but crown the Saints victorious just before halftime, when they took a commanding 21-3 lead.  Aside from a comical moment that they provided us with the teleprompter (if you DVR'd it, go to the 11:20pm EST mark, you'll be glad you did), there was little else about the broadcast worth writing home about.  Nothing like watching your favorite team get their behinds handed to them in front of a national audience.   Then again, that's turning into a trend for us these past couple of weeks, isn't it?

Bayou Beat-Down
There was a time, not too long ago, when our defense was one of the most feared defenses in the league.  And I don't want to hear about injuries.  We've gotten our top draft pick back, so we have one cornerback and two veteran linebackers on IR.  If that makes us unable to play any kind of respectable defense, then it simply means we didn't do our job building depth at key positions.  And what happened to our pass rush?  They were supposed to be the ONE THING that wouldn't falter!  Drew Brees had ridiculous time all night to find his receivers.  There was one play were it looked like we might get a sack in the middle of the third quarter, but Brees got away from two guys and scrambled out to his right.  Despite there being two defenders closing in on him as he approached the line of scrimmage, Antrel Rolle decided to abandon his assignment watching the short route to come after Brees as well, leaving Pierre Thomas wide open to receive a short desperation pass to convert a first-and-fifteen.  To top it off, Coughlin decided to challenge the play thinking it was an illegal forward pass, but anyone who watched the replay could clearly see it was a bad decision.

Eli came away with good numbers, though a lot of that was garbage due to their defense playing prevent with a huge lead.  But I don't put this on him.  He had one bad throw in the first quarter that was picked off.  But it's not his fault his star wide receiver, Hakeem Nicks, had several significant drops.  Not to mention Danny Ware and Victor Cruz.  Ramses Barden made some nice catches on balls thrown his way, but had a strange play where he seemed to fall down without being touched and could have gotten up to run with the ball but didn't.  Jacobs ran with a little bit of fire, and got a rushing touchdown, but with the huge deficit most of the game there were hardly any opportunities for him to do much.

The one positive from this game was Da'Rel Scott.  He has some potential it seems as a return man.  If he could've managed to keep his legs from outrunning the rest of his body Monday night, he would've had some great chances to break big returns.  I feel he will in time with more experience.

No game balls this week.  Just a bad game all-around.

Non-Gmen Thoughts of the Week

• Saw The Muppets over Thanksgiving weekend.  LOVED IT.  Thank you, Jason Segel, for bringing them back to us and doing it right.  Just a fantastic movie-going experience.  The soundtrack is also great.
• As bad as it feels to be a Giants fan, at least we're not Chargers' fans.  So much for Norv Turner being an offensive guru.  They looked really, really bad.  I can't fathom this whole Tebow thing.  Someone has to show up against them and show them what a real defense looks like.  Detroit's the only team who's done it so far…
• Speaking of Detroit, wow Suh.  Dirty, dirty, dirty.  On Thanksgiving, no less.  I know you were upset about Nickelback.  We all were.  Still no excuse.
• Ever since I joined Twitter I've noticed all these Tweets from Giants' receivers talking about appearances they're making for autographs or whatever at malls and stores and stuff.  I understand if it's something the whole team is doing or sponsoring, especially if it's for a charity, but I have a problem if it's just their agent or manager scheduling separate events for profit.  Maybe they should worry less about making public appearances and more on CATCHING THE FOOTBALL AND PREPARING FOR THE NEXT WEEK'S GAME!
• It's official - Jermichael Finley is the biggest fantasy draft bust I've ever made.  One really good point total all season, single-digit points nearly every other week.

Final Thoughts
It doesn't look likely, but there are some things to think about regarding this week's matchup against the Packers.  In 1998, with Kent Graham at quarterback, an undefeated John Elway-led Denver Broncos team came into our house, and we beat them.  They went on to win the Super Bowl that year.  In 2008, after losing by just three to them to end the regular season, we faced the undefeated Patriots in Super Bowl XLII, and beat them.  The way we're playing right now it doesn't seem likely, but based on recent history, if anyone can keep the Packers from going undefeated this season, it's the Gmen.  Something to think about.

To reiterate, we're 6-5, not 4-7, despite how things may seem.  Our fate is in our hands, with both games left against the Cowboys to take the NFC East.  But we have to wake up out of this funk - we're beating ourselves.  If we want this stigma of late season collapses to go away, WE HAVE TO MAKE IT SO!  To talk all things Giants, e-mail me at gmensuperfan@gmail.com, find me on Facebook under the name "Gmen Superfan," and follow me on Twitter under the username "@gmensuperfan1."  Until next week, GO GMEN!!

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