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At Midway Point, Giants' Dreams Can Be Super-Sized: A Fan's View
Prior to the season, with New York Giant players dropping like stock prices, and the specter of a brutal second half schedule, it was inconceivable to project a Super Bowl run.
My goodness, how fortunes have changed.
The Giants now boast a two-game lead in the NFC East over the terminally disappointing Dallas Cowboys, and a virtually insurmountable three-game cushion over the enigmatic Philadelphia Eagles. One should never declare a half-run race over and done, but even with the Giants' challenging schedule ahead, it's difficult to imagine either team overtaking them. After watching the Eagles lose to the Chicago Bears at home on Monday Night Football (November 7), you'd be hard pressed to imagine a scenario for them to even compete for a playoff spot.
There's one other inescapable reason for optimism. The Giants are really, really dangerous. Perhaps, the so-called juggernaut schedule of games will be more challenging for the opponents than they'll be for the Giants.
Of course, there's always the Green Bay Packers standing ominously in the way, but doesn't their undefeated status with the Giants lurking as challengers remind you of 2007, when the Patriots were dismantling opponents? The similarities are inspiring. The Packers and Giants even play each other in the regular season, just as the Pats and Giants did then. Both the 2011 Green Bay Packers and 2007 New England Patriots feature all-world quarterbacks at the top of their games, seemingly unbeatable. And the both the 2007 and 2011 Giants feature a pass rush that can limit their greatness, and render it vulnerable.
Once daunting, the rest of the season suddenly seems more palatable. The Forty-Niners are playing well, but can be beaten. The Saints will have similar difficulties with the Giant pass rush, and their defense might get decimated by an electric Eli Manning. The Eagles and Cowboys? Neither has demonstrated a good reason to be scared of those games. And though the New York Jets will be imposing, they're certainly not unbeatable.
The more injuries the Giants sustain, the better they seem to play. Last week's victory over the Patriots without Hakeem Nicks and Ahmad Bradshaw was a revelation.
It's not an impossible dream anymore.
Glenn Vallach has been a football fan for most of his lifetime, but never played organized pigskin unless you consider the thousands of youth hours running slant routes on city streets with a friend serving as Joe Willie. Don Maynard was his idol, an adulation he took seriously, complete with a number 13 stitched to his sweatshirt. In later years, he modernized his admiration and included Wayne Chrebet. Receivers—always receivers. He remains a New York Jet fan through so much disappointment and embarrassment over the years. Coach Rex Ryan has rekindled a dormant fire, but sometimes he feels as if he doesn't understand the likely end result of all his efforts. It has been 42 years, after all.
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