NFL-Giants: NY Giants football news

Lions dominate Giants

This isn't news, and I haven't started sifting through the news articles yet. I do want to add my thoughts into the equation. Many Giants fans are quite upset with the Giants performance. I am too. There's a strong contingent of people who say not to worry; 4-2 is better than the Giants were supposed to be at the beginning of the season, no one wins every game, etc. True enough, but we still have cause for concern, or even anger. The Giants didn't seem to play hard.

I had written about how the defense would win us the game. I think they could have, but they didn't seem to be playing hard. Osi looked like the best defensive lineman out there; he had three tackles and one sack. Our defensive line was not supposed to get pushed around by an average Detroit offense. Joey Harrington was not supposed to complete 18-22 passes or have a 140 passer rating. Detroit wasn't supposed to find its running game Sunday against the Giants.

All the things that weren't supposed to happen did happen, and the Giants defense let them happen. They let the fans down. I teach 4 classes a day and am more motivated for each and every one than the Giants defense was Sunday. And I make a lot less money...

Fans have the right to complain and be upset. Even to be angry. What I don't understand is the blame being placed on Warner. We knew that Detroit had a good defense, and that their defensive line would cause our offensive line problems. The offense wasn't supposed to have to win us this game. True, Warner didn't look brilliant, but at least it looked like he was trying.

Not that fans have nothing to complain about. Many choose to complain about Dayne, but I still feel he is being misused. He is not a short yardage back. He can't move the pile. How can he succeed when the Giants line can't push the short yardage pile, and the fullback Finn is an adequate lead blocker but no short yardage bull. Mike Cloud has better leaping ability. I remember one play he was criticized for during which he tried to jump over the Giants offensive line (which was moving backwards) and into the end zone. He didn't make it. Not his fault. I know it's mean, but Dayne reminds me of a comment my wife made at the Catskill Game Farm about their resident hippo which is separated from the zoo visitiors by a moat. My wife said "Can't he jump over the moat?" We all had a laugh, just as other teams must when they see Dayne coming in for short yardage situations. The Giants can't move the pile, Dayne can't get over it, and Coughlin's offense doesn't seem too imaginitive in the red zone (unless you count calling the "red zone" the "green zone" imaginative).