New York Giants: A Requiem for the 2008 Season

Well, it's over. The magic that carried the New York Giants through the 18-0 New England Patriots is finally gone.

Sure, most of us suspected as much, starting with the Plaxico debacle, continuing through the lackluster finish, and confirmed when every Giants fan's long-standing secret fears of the Eagles came true.

What does it mean? 

The football season is an elusive goddess.

At one point in the season, the Giants, Titans, Cowboys, Redskins, Steelers, Jets, and Patriots could all have a reasonable claim to the best team in football.

And just like gravity, each of those teams (with the current exception of the Steelers) met their end, some earlier than others.

Remember week five, Giants fans? Heading into the Monday nighter, the Giants were truly clicking on all cylinders. Plaxico had a new contract and rewarded the G-Men with a great opening night performance.

The Giants were stomping teams, and save for a close call against Cincy, they were beating the teams they should be.

Then the Browns looked like a team of perennial Pro Bowlers against Big Blue on national TV. Derek Anderson extended his career by a full three weeks, and it was shown that Eli was the same Eli we knew in the past, only with an extra ring on his finger (two if you count his marriage).

Then a magical seven-game stretch happened, where the Giants were unquestionably the best.

They tore apart the Ravens' vaunted defense, stopped the Cardinals' vaunted receivers, and beat all three NFC East teams during that stretch.

The Giants simply couldn't be stopped. If you stacked the box, Eli would pick you apart. If you double-teamed Plax, Boss, Smith, and Toomer would make you pay. If you went into coverage, Brandon Jacobs would pound you into submission, Derrick Ward would deliver the finishing blow, and Bradshaw could break your ankles at will.

And then somewhere, it all imploded. Like the Tennessee Titans, it's difficult to pinpoint where.

When they were dominated by the Eagles the first time (and make no mistake, they were dominated), it sowed the seeds for their eventual destruction.

It gave the Eagles new life and showed that the Giants might have peaked against the Ravens or Cardinals.

And here we are.

I can't complain. After all, the memories from Super Bowl XLII are still there, and in case I forget, I have the 15-minute iTunes recap right on my hard drive.

It's not often that you come out on the winning end of an epic sporting event. And I've got two of those: the Giants last year and the Red Sox in 2004.

The frustration sets in when you consider the fleeting nature of professional sports.

You only get it all together once every few years. It's called a window, and it might be cliché, but that doesn't make it false.

When the Red Sox won in 2007 (I'm sure I get no sympathy from most Giants fans), I would have been especially distraught. Not because they lost (though that would have helped), but because it felt like their year.

They had the perfect combination of hitting and pitching, of youth and experience, of power and intelligence. And, as future events would dictate, such perfection doesn't last for long.

Manny soon became disenchanted, and Ortiz and Schilling are hurt, possibly never to return to form again. But the Sox got a title out of it.

To take it to the other end of the spectrum, the window seems to have closed on my beloved Mavericks. They put it all together in 2006, toppling their enemy in an epic Game Seven, only to have their ring stolen from them by the boys in blue (or gray, or stripes—whatever you call them).

Since then, they haven't able to put it all together again, and there's no guarantee they'll be able to get it back together again while Dirk is in his prime. When he's gone, you have just as much of a chance as going back to square one.

Let's bring this back to the Giants. How often are you going to have a three-headed running giant that they had this year? Not often.

Because Jacobs is making less than $1 million per year, and Ward is a free agent. I fully expect some Giants personnel guy, in a move to save coin, to let Ward go, or not extend Jacobs, thinking that Bradshaw or another piece can give them more bang for less buck.

That's where it starts to fall apart. All of a sudden you have a missing piece, or an unhappy piece. Someone who is unhappy is less likely to give it their all, and the Giants need their all on the ground to support Eli.

And if you don't think the biggest difference on the field was Plaxico, you're crazy. He takes away your deep threat, something the Giants needed in both Eagles games and the Cowboys game.

He takes away the focus of the defense, the focus which allowed Smith, Boss, Toomer, and co. to get good catches.

You lose your red zone threat, the guy who has better than a 50-50 chance of coming down with any jump ball to the corner.

So do the Giants sink down into the 9-7, out-in-the-first-round level that they were before 2007? Possibly. Probably not.

They'll hopefully extend Jacobs. Hopefully Plax will either A) come back (not bloody likely) or B) be replaced through free agency, which is possible.

I don't think Eli will regress, but it's clear that for him to be his best, other people need to be at their best.

As far as other teams in the NFC East, I think the Giants have the brightest future. T.O. isn't getting younger, no matter how much a physical freak he is, and it's unclear how much longer Jerry Jones' experiment can go without completely blowing up.

Reid isn't getting smarter, and McNabb, while he's still got it, isn't any younger.

The Redskins don't run their organization well enough to have any sort of shot in the near future.

But the Giants have several young stars (Bradshaw, Boss, Kenny Phillips) that will be back with another year under their belts. They'll get Osi back. Tuck and Jacobs can heal. Eli can study more film.

So while it's tough to see a season end, especially one where you were the best team in football for a good stretch of the season, the future looks bright.

Unfortunately, we have another eight months to wait and see.