The Compass

Issue date: 3/11/08 Section: Sports

With a name like The New York Giants you would think that they would be the best team in the NFL, but they aren't. Considering their stats, their record and their coaches, no one would have thought they would have made it into the playoffs this season much less to the Super Bowl.

What many people don't realize is that the Giants weren't Super Bowl favorites going into this season. They weren't even sure if Head Coach Tom Coughlin would be back as their head coach. After finishing 8-8 in 2006, the team was reluctant to stick with him. His hard-nosed personality seemed to clash with many of the players on his squad, especially with Pro Bowl running back Tiki Barber.

As a result, Barber retired during the off-season, leaving the Giants with an unproven running game. Missing an experienced running back, the team was left without anything to spark their offense. Unfortunately, this wasn't the only issue. As the off-season progressed, things began to crumble on the other side of the ball.

It began with star defensive end Michael Strahan sitting out all of training camp pondering retirement. The huge gap on defense was a rocky start for inexperienced rookie defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo, who had been hired to replace former defensive coordinator Tim Lewis.

New York's season started on a bad note by losing to Dallas and Green Bay, but they took notes on what they did wrong. The Giants then proceeded to rack up six straight wins. Although they then lost to the Cowboys a second time, they were still taking notes. The team went par in its final eight games of the season, going 4-4 and winning a wild card bid for the playoffs. This led up to their final game of the season against the then undefeated New England Patriots. They lost, but they continued to take notes!

The Giants went into the playoffs with a perfect record on the road, but no one figured they could be legimate contenders.

Despite this, New York defeated the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on wild card weekend. They then met the Dallas Cowboys, the same team that beaten them twice during the regular season. Like I said, they took notes, and when the clock read zero in the fourth quarter, the Giants were on top 24-14. The following week the Giants traveled to a frigid Lambeau Field to take on Brett Favre and the Green Bay Packers. The Packers had pummeled the Giants 35-13 in week two of the regular season, but remember, the Giants were taking notes! Playing down to the wire, an overtime field goal defeated the Packers and sent New York to the Super Bowl.

As you should know by now, the Giants won Super Bowl XLII 17-14. This team won on the road throughout the entire playoffs and then proceeded to stop history in its tracks by edging the still-undefeated Patriots . Based on their performance during the regular season, New York should have lost to the Cowboys, the Packers or the Patriots. Instead, this team took every loss on the chin and in the end found a way to fix the mistakes they had made in previous games. What makes the Giants' championship victory so amazing is not the fact that they beat an undefeated Patriots team, but that they took the hardest and most frustrating route to actually to do it.

Page 1 of 1

Article Tools