Giants Talk: Disgraceful, fitting end

End to season should have serious ramifications


EAST RUTHERFORD – This was how the ended needed to happen.

From the time the preseason was extended into four of the first five games of the regular season, it was apparent that this Giants team was ill-equipped to handle what 2009 was going to bring.

This is why what took place in the final game at Giants Stadium should not have come as a total surprise. In fact, this was more of a case where the inevitable finally happened.

Sure, the final score was an accurate reflection of what took place on the field as Carolina did whatever they felt like doing to the Giants defense in their 41-9 smacking. In turn, the offense, forced to carry this underperforming defense for most of this season, could no longer make up for their shortcomings.

The manner in which they lost this game highlighted a team that, while short on defensive players, had more than enough to battle with and being kind here, not lay down like dogs. As Jonathan Stewart gashed them for yard after yard finishing with 204 on the day, it was the effort in which they went down that needs to have the hierarchy of Giants management seriously contemplating turnover to this roster that went from champs to chumps in a matter of nearly three months.

So here we are now. Nearly two years removed from a Super Bowl championship, the Giants find themselves out of the playoffs for the first time in five seasons. It is a precipitous fall for a team that before Plaxico Burress shot himself, were on pace to repeat as world champions.

Now, they find themselves out of the “tournament” with plenty of questions to answers and problems to correct.

How this happen so fast?

They fooled everyone one of us by winning their first five games. When asked about their flaws during these wins, we were told that was being too negative and ignoring the fact that they won and that was all that mattered at the end of the day.

Unfortunately for them, we were not stupid to fall for this line of rhetoric that the Giants attempted to present as fact. The leaks were present if you looked closely enough, just waiting for select teams to exploit.

And then it happened.

What followed was a slide that the Giants thought they could correct.

“One bad week.” is what they said to a man after the Saints dropped 48 points on them.

When they lost to Arizona, essentially they chalked it up to a fluke.

Once it got to Philadelphia and the Eagles lit them up for 30 in the first half en route to a 40-17 win, the team was in full blown crisis.

They made their game against San Diego their “Super Bowl”. Once Phillip Rivers drove the Chargers 80 yards in the final two minutes to beat them in the final seconds, the only legitimate way they were going to find themselves in the Super Bowl was by sitting in the stands.

After that loss, they would alternate wins and losses. The worst of it all came on Thanksgiving night when they lost in embarrassing fashion at Denver. If that lose did not serve as the ultimate red flag to where this Giants season was heading, you were not paying attention.

The competitive part of the season concluded that night. They were not going to go anywhere now. Making the playoffs would only serve delaying the eventual end to a season that not headed to a positive ending.

So they went out and beat Dallas and Washington, while losing to Philadelphia in a game the Giants could have taken control of the NFC East. What would that have really gotten them besides a one way ticket to nowhere?

All of this led to what took place on the field at Giants Stadium on Sunday.

The math was very simple. Win their remaining two games and have either the Cowboys or Packers lose one. The problem in that math was the Giants winning two games in a row that they had an inability to do for the last month. Each allegedly inspiring win replaced by a deflating gut-busting loss.

They were too inconsistent in all three phases of the game to consider themselves a serious contender for anything. The defense, the rock of the team through these last two seasons now had become as shell of itself, either by injury or underperformance. The same defensive front that made its living harassing quarterbacks had now gone AWOL. The linebackers were now slower and the secondary suddenly looked dazed, confused and unable to cover primarily due to not getting constant pressure.

When teams needed to get yardage, they got it. When the offense needed to get a first down on third down, the percentages showed they got. Offenses found the end zone an easy destination when you saw the Giants defense was last in red zone defense. As it became more evident their problems went far beyond what coordinator Bill Sheridan was calling, it was obvious that they simply were not good enough to get it done. You could bring back Buddy Ryan from 25 years ago and there was nothing he could have done with this group.

So with each three and out on Sunday, and with each time the defense allowed Carolina to convert third downs, accumulate chunks of yardage and touchdowns to the point where the game became uncompetitive around the middle of the second quarter with the score 24-0, the writing was on the wall.

How did the fans know? When the score became 31-0 within two minutes of the start of the third quarter, many in the crowd who came to see a farewell celebration began to head for the exits.

This was a team that lacked a sense of toughness and fight all season long. At least the offense attempted to rally, but even they ran out of gas. Whenever the defense would get hit, they would fall and not get up.

Whether they were good enough was not the issue. Perhaps they were not. But not to the point where they would give up 30 or more six times and 40 or more four times. It was beyond embarrassing and not seen by a Giants defense in over 40 years.

Now they go from a title contender to serious pretender in one season.

The problem now becomes how this team can get fixed going into 2010. Losing in this manner, their performance the last 10 games, and their inability to figure out what went wrong are clear signals that drastic change has to be made.

This is team that has an offensive line that needs retooling. Currently, between an oft-injured Ahmad Bradshaw and Brandon Jacobs, it does not equal one healthy running back. The defensive line needs to either drafting or sign new blood, specifically in the interior. Add to the list, linebackers that have speed, and upgrades at the safety position.

Can all of this be done in one off-season? Probably not.

However, more than 50 percent of these changes are necessary for the Giants to once again be established as championship contenders.