A Bullet in November Kills the Giants in January

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http://www.prosportspress.com/football_ ... nuary.html

The New York Giants run to repeat as Super Bowl Champions came to a halting stop this afternoon at the Meadowlands losing to the Philadelphia Eagles 23-11. Going on a miracle run of their own, the resurgent Eagles baffled the Giants all afternoon with their hard defense, and even tougher determination. Sound familiar?

It should. After making a similar run to the Super Bowl and creating a classic finish, the Giants were looked at as the favorites in the NFC, if not the NFL to repeat as Champions, especially after a strong beginning to the season. Through week 13, the Giants were rolling at an impressive 11-1 with sights set on a repeat performance.

What could stop them? They had overcome the loss of defensive leaders Michael Strahan and Osi Umenyiora to retirement and injury. David ‘Miracle Catch’ Tyree was out for the year. Star receiver Plaxico Burress was on the sidelines due to a hamstring injury, but was expected back in a couple of weeks, well before the playoffs. Despite this, they were winning.

The wheels to the season came off on the night of November 28th. Plaxico Buress and teammate Antonio Pierce were at New York City nightclub Latin Quarter when Plaxico’s gun, being held in the drawstring of his sweatpants accidentally went off.

The result? A bullet to the thigh, a season ending injury, a loss of nearly $30 million for Plaxico, and now an early vacation for the New York Giants.

Following the shooting, Plaxico was subsequently charged by authorities with carrying a gun without having proper documentation in the state of New York. The Giants put him on the Non-football related injury list ending his season.

Burress went from being a Super-Bowl hero(he caught the winning touch-down) to world-class idiot. Delusional fans thought they were perhaps better off without having to deal with Plaxico’s lack of responsibility and attitude issues. They thought up-and-coming receiver Domenik Hixon, having shown great ability in limited time was ready to take the mantle of number-one receiver.

They thought wrong.

Plaxico Burress, as much of a malcontent he was off the field, was a greater force on it. The lack of Plaxico in the Giants debacle against the Eagles was evident this afternoon. Although, Hixon is a good receiver, he is still young, and inexperienced when it came to big-games.

Without Burress in the line-up, the Eagles were able to stack their defense against the Giants’ rushing attack, their bread and butter on offense. The running backs had a hard-time getting past the Eagles’ high-octane run defense. Brandon Jacobs finished with a hard fought 92 yards on 19 carries, while Derrick Ward had 46 on 12 carries.

Eli Manning didn’t have the type of game we had now become accustomed to. Eli was hurried throughout, throwing two interceptions with the Eagles defensive-line repeatedly rushing and sending the blitz. The second interception came in the closing minutes to put the nail in the coffin.

Yes, not having Plaxico hurt the Giants’ cause, because it was clear that not having the go-to clutch ability, the speed, and size that Plaxico possesses really affected Eli, but you can’t completely blame the loss on Burress.

There is no excuse for Giants’ offensive line falling apart in front of the Eagle rush. A line that is renowned throughout the league looked like a JV line today.

The play-calling was atrocious. The Giants chose to throw the ball on a number of occasions when running it was the logical play. Brandon Jacobs was ignored even after breaking through the Eagles’ line.

John Carney missed two field goals after missing just three the entire year. Those missed field goals are two of the main reasons the Giants will be cleaning out their lockers this week.

With memories of last year’s Super Bowl still fresh in the minds of fans and players alike, the Giants marred by controversy and injury seemed to still have the confidence needed to repeat, but all of that disappeared today. They ran out of miracles. There was no David Tyree to make the biggest catch you will ever see. There was no Plaxico Burress to catch the winning touch-down. There was no Strahan or Umenyiora to inspire a Giant come-back.

The memories this time around aren’t so pretty. I guess the memories from last year will be used to cover the wounds from this year. It’s tough though, because good times can be used to cover up a lot of bumps and bruises, plenty of depressing times, plenty of losses, but bullet wounds are hard to cover.