New York Giants-Philadelphia Eagles: A Good Thing?

Unlike most Giants fans, I wasn't particularly alarmed with yesterday's performance against the Eagles.

Sure, the offense looked like they were on eleven different pages, sure Eli threw a dud, and Jacobs could barely break free, when he played.

But I'm glad they lost. OK, maybe that's overstating it, but I'm not too worried that they lost.

Look at the last few teams that finished the season with no, one, two, or three losses.

2007 Patriots: 16-0, Lost in Super Bowl
2006 Chargers: 14-2, Lost in Divisional Round
2005 Colts: 14-2, Lost in Divisional Round
2004 Steelers: 15-1, Lost in AFC Championship

Now, I'm not saying that a strong regular season is worthless, but sometimes losses are a good thing.

Take the Patriots last year. While going 18-0 they used every scrap of mojo, luck, karma, whatever you may call it in amassing that record.

Then, in the Super Bowl, their luck ran out. David Tyree made a catch that wouldn't have been possible if there had been a speck of precipitation on his helmet.

Asante Samuel dropped a sure late-game interception, and also the Lombardi trophy.

Adversity is something that makes you human, and it also tempers you against adversity to come.

Before the Giants played the Browns on Monday Night Football, they were being anointed the team to beat, the team that could go undefeated, the repeat champions.

When they lost in a lackluster effort, they were forgotten, the spotlight transferred over to the Titans and the way they kept winning.

When the Titans fell off their pedestal, the Giants were back in the spotlight, not only for their play, but for their wide reciver's actions the day after Thanksgiving.

They managed to beat the hapless Redskins, and the cries of "unbeatable," "unflappable," and so forth came back.

And if there's one thing I've learned watching sports for my whole life, you never want to be the favorite. You always want to be the hunter, not the hunted.

The Cowboys were universally lauded as Super Bowl champs in August. See for yourself, here. How did they handle the pressure of being the overwhelming favorite?

The Vikings, Chargers, Eagles and Jaguars were all favorites entering the season, and see where they are.

Now look at where teams like the Titans, Giants, Cardinals, Falcons, Panthers are.

You want to be the underdog, the "No one said we could do it" team. That's how the Giants won the Super Bowl last year, that's how they got off to such a hot start this year, and hopefully, after getting manhandled by the Eagles, that's how they'll go deep into the playoffs this year.

The football world learned a thing or two about limping into the playoffs last season.

The Cowboys were given the trophy last year, except they limped to 2-2 finish after starting 11-1. One of those wins was a one-point win over the Lions.

Then they went to their bye, Romo and Witten got suntanned, and the team decided to show up again the next week, only to be beaten by a Giants team that wasn't supposed to be there.

The Colts decided to rest their starts against the Titans Week 17, and they lost that game, and had no mojo when San Diego beat them two weeks later.

The Giants last year decided to fight the Patriots with everything they had. They gave them a hell of a fight, and showed the world that the Patriots could be beaten.

And it showed the players of the Giants that, "Hey, we just hung with the best team of this generation, how come we can't get to the Super Bowl?"

After the overtime win at Lambeau, those cries turned into, "Hey, we just beat three division winners on the road, why can't we beat the Patriots in Glendale?"

Now, it's difficult to be an underdog when you look great during the season, and are the defending champions. In fact, I'm willing to bet that most sports fans would trade in their underdog status for a championship ring.

But the Giants are taking their lumps, and they should emerge as a better team for it.

They shouldn't limp to the finish the way last year's Cowboys did. They have their work cut out for them, with three playoff teams awaiting, including a desperate Cowboys team, and what could be a desperate Vikings and Panthers team.

But Coughlin seems to be getting his team in the right state of mind. Despite the media's insistence that the Plax mess has to affect them, if you take it from the team, they're getting past it.

All I know is, it's going to be an interesting final two months of the season. And that's all you can ask for, no matter who you root for.