http://youtube.com/watch?v=3C4Hadd10yU
Last year, no one saw the Giants coming. It appeared they were done after losing 4 straight games from week 10 through week 13. Then, they played the Dallas Cowboys and won a thriller by the score of 37-34. They followed that win with a loss at home to the Washington Redskins, but rebounded against the Jets in week 16 to set up a winner-take-all game against the Cowboys in week 17. The Giants won that game without much difficulty, and as they say, the rest is history.
As I go over the short list of potential NFC champions for the upcoming season, there seems to be one glaring omission from most analysts’ choices. The Giants are somehow being left off of everyone’s watch list. More often than not, the Packers, Falcons, Eagles, and 49ers are the teams listed as most likely to make a Super Bowl run. Why won’t it be the Giants?
The Giants have been there, done that. Eli Manning has led his team to the Super Bowl twice, and he’s topped Tom Brady and Bill Belichick twice. The Giants are a veteran team that knows what it takes to win in January, and they know how to put it all together when everything’s on the line. They may not be tagged as an “up and coming” team, but then again, they may like coming out of nowhere to win the Lombardi Trophy.
We know that on any Sunday, any team can beat any other team in the NFL. That said, there are teams that seem exceptionally proficient at shocking established experts and fans alike. The Giants are one of those teams. They weren’t supposed to outlast the Packers, Falcons, or the 49ers last year, but that’s exactly what they did. The Patriots are led by one of the best quarterbacks in this generation as well as one of the best head coaches in NFL history, but that didn’t stop the Giants either.
Something tells me that the Giants don’t mind flying under the radar. It’s a given that they’ll still be around when it counts. They may not make as many headlines as their in-town rivals, but they have a lot more jewelry to show for their efforts. Sure, they’ll be counted as underdogs, despite being the Super Bowl champions, but that won’t bother them. It’s just another reason to allow them to sneak up and win another title.
