Giants Need Guts For Survival Vs Falcons

What’s the difference between being third in your division and tied for second? For the New York Giants, it’s staying home and watching the Dallas Cowboys and the Philadelphia Eagles both lose. Well, that was easy, wasn’t it? So how do they invest that little piece of fortune? As a fan I’m glad it happened, but I also feel a little like a wiped-out gambler who just found a twenty on the casino floor—it’s something, but the situation still doesn’t seem much better. These sorts of intangibles abound in the NFL, thus: any given Sunday. And yes, sometimes the biggest motivators are those that we have no control over. But we can’t know, so let’s make like Tom Coughlin (or most any other head coach) and put it out of our minds—yeah, fat chance.

Well, maybe they can add to their week-11 portfolio with the desperation factor. Surely four straight losses qualifies them for that designation. But still, it’s just another intangible, right?

If the Giants are a playoff caliber team, that means they have to win many more games this season. That helps the odds immensely, but that’s putting the cart in front of the horse. That doesn’t even count as an intangible. I don’t think so, anyway.

Strictly mathematically it has to happen sometime!

The point is: These things can only take on meaning if there is something in the collective guts of the New York Giants for them to grab on to. They need something that is capable of being inspired. That is what this Sunday is all about. That is what the team and its fans are going to find out.

I still have trouble believing the Giants are as bad as they seem right now, but we can talk about all that tangible stuff next week—if they win this week. Otherwise, we’re talking about next year.