Keidel: Relax Giants Fans, There's A Reason This Franchise Has Earned Your Trust
By Jason Keidel
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A fan, a truncation of fanatic, is an odd creature. Like in love, the fan's thinking isn't linear or logical.
For example, when the Giants started 0-2 cyberspace said they were in historical lockstep with the 1976 Buccaneers, a disgrace to the fans, franchise, and America.
Then I added to the madness by writing that they would still have a better season than the Jets -- after which I was called all manner of moron.
Now that it's obvious I was right, I have yet to hear an applause or apology. That's fine. But now, after the way their team was vaporized by the Eagles, Big Blue devotees are back to the September song of death. Just 60 minutes turned the tune from elitism to defeatism.
And just like the stark, dark overreaction after 0-2, there's no need to jam the panic button at 3-3. Indeed, after 0-2 would you not have sold you soul for 3-3? It turns out the Giants, on the edge of Halloween, are not impostors. Likewise, you need not attend their games in costumes to conceal your identity, lest you been seen as the loser who bleeds Big Blue.
Victor Cruz snapping his patellar tendon throws an ominous shadow over the Meadowlands. Other than Eli Manning, Cruz is the aorta of the offense. Just as the Giants were getting their groove on they lost their best receiver.
But while it's the end of his season, it's not the end of their season. Other than Manning, who has taken every snap since the Civil War, no single injury should wreck the entire year.
One thing we could not have anticipated is how robust the NFC East turned out. I was on record calling it the worst division in the conference. I was way off. But no one predicted Dallas' dominance. No, not even you, Fan Guy.
But the Giants aren't the Jets, or the Cowboys, or even the Eagles, who don't have a Super Bowl victory since, well, ever. If memory serves, Philadelphia last won a ring before Lombardi did. Indeed, the Eagles beat Lombardi himself to win their last title, in 1960, with the iconic snapshot of Chuck Bednarik howling over a fallen Jim Taylor as time expired.
So the Giants don't have just ancient history, but recent history over their divisional foes. Entering this season, Dallas had that surreal, 17-season record of exactly .500. Washington has been in chaos ever since RG3 shredded his knee on the slop of his home turf.
And until the Sunday night massacre in Philly, the world was saying NFL defenses were finally catching up to the sizzling duo of Nick Foles and Shady McCoy, and had snatched the wand from offensive wizard Chip Kelly.
But now we hear it's over for the G-Men, wreaths being hurled on their season. Their three-game winning streak was built on the backs of stiffs.
Stop. There's no such thing as a vacant victory in the NFL.
But there's no doubt this weekend is big for Big Blue. All the angst that came with the Philadelphia debacle can be fixed with a win in Dallas. And just as Dallas stunned the world by whipping the Super Bowl champion Seahawks, the Giants can parachute into Texas and do the same to the Cowboys, who are a lousy home favorite.
Dallas' defense is suddenly a revelation. Not only is its offensive line a conga line of behemoths, its historically inept defense from 2013 is now a few yards is shy of the 1985 Bears, they of Super Bowl Shuffle renown. They've morphed from diseased back to Doomsday.
Well, according to ESPN, the Cowboys' defense in 2014 is a surreal facsimile of 2013. Last year, they surrendered 6.1 yards per play.
This year?
They surrender 6.1 yards per play.
Dallas' best defensive player is DeMarco Murray, the runaway running back, and possible co-NFL MVP, next to San Diego's Philip Rivers. ESPN also writes -- this is not a typo -- that Murray has more yards on first down than Le'Veon Bell has the entire season (542). Why does Bell matter? Because he's the second-leading rusher in the entire league. And Murray has more yards than Bell just on first-down rushes.
Want more? Murray's 785 yards would make him the fifth-best rushing team in the NFL.
Having the beleaguered Tony Romo doesn't hurt, either. The Romo detractors are oddly silent these days. Perhaps the most underrated QB in the NFL, Romo is No. 1 in QB rating in the second half and overtime. Murray is a Trojan horse of a halfback. The Cowboys' offensive line is pancaking defenses. No need to parse more particulars; you saw what they did to the "Legion of Boom," on its home field.
So the Giants need not be shaken or stirred against "America's Team" -- a term that still repulses this Steelers fan -- before they even enter the building. The Cowboys are, as their former coach Bill Parcells would say, what their record says they are, which is a fine 5-1. Robust. Rugged. Real.
But not unbeatable. Remember, the Cowboys got drubbed by the 49ers to start the season, and were being routed by the Rams until the Rams remembered they were the Rams. The Cowboys nudged by the mediocre Texans. Other than the Seattle game, Dallas has not looked dynastic. Hot? Yes. Sizzling? Sure. But hardly the '72 Dolphins.
And the Giants were just kings of the football world just six days ago. Now they're a football carcass feeding the top-rung teams, like the Cowboys. Don't buy into that. Don't be Fan Guy.
Don't you recall a couple weeks ago, when the Patriots were eviscerated by the Chiefs? You heard all the gleeful, basement-blog eulogies about the end of the Brady-Belichick epoch.
Then the Patriots pummeled the unbeaten Bengals and then flew up to Buffalo and put a beating on the ornery Bills. Now Fan Guy is back in the basement, looking for new fodder, never accepting or acknowledging all his woeful predictions the week before, and before, and before then.
But you, the more seasoned and reasoned Giants fan, know better. Since I made my bones on the sweet science, and we love boxing metaphors, have we not seen the Giants peel themselves from canvas, dazed, bear hug their foe, gather themselves, then win the next round, if not the fight?
The Giants are resilient, they are mature, they don't panic. Unlike Cruz's knee, there is no hole up the team's totem pole. There's no monolithic bond up the corporate ladder, no fractures or fissures up the hierarchy. It doesn't sound sexy,and is eerily similar to Jerry Krause's absurd statement that organizations, not Michael Jordans, wins championships. But the premise is pretty accurate, all things being equal, which they tend to be in the NFL, where the talent is pretty parallel down the league.
In other words, Big Blue has been here before. And they've turned poop into platinum myriad times over the last 10 years. They've earned the optimism. They've earned your loyalty. Unlike their MetLife bunk buddies, they have remained relevant for a really long time.
Even if you lose to the Cowboys -- hardly a fait accompli -- you will be 3-4 in an anarchic NFC, where there is mayhem in every division. Granted, your schedule is Stephen King-savage over the next five weeks -- Cowboys, Colts, Seahawks, 49ers, and Cowboys -- but if you can just go 2-3, you can emerge 5-6 with a final furlong of the Jaguars, Titans, Redskins, Rams, and Eagles. So 9-7 is easily attainable, and 10-6 is hardly overreaching.
But it sure would help to harm Dallas this weekend. Don't be shocked if Big Blue puts a Big Bruise on America's Team.
Follow Jason on Twitter at @JasonKeidel
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