The Holiday Season

November 29, 2011
By J.D. Cook

It’s that time of the year again – the holidays, a time every Giants fan has feared in the Tom Coughlin era. It seems like every October the Giants are the class of the NFC, and by every December they have slid to a wildcard spot. Even the year the Giants won the Super Bowl in 2007 they had to overcome a late season slide. It’s hard to levy to release a Super Bowl winning coach, but if this becomes the third year the Giants have missed the playoffs with a top caliber team it has to be a coaching issue. Especially since this is a consistent problem virtually every year of Coughlin’s tenure. If it was just a particular team that collapsed they wouldn’t collapse every year, consistency whether good or bad usually points to a team’s coaching staff.

It must of course be noted this season that the Giants have been without running back Ahmad Bradshaw for this three game losing streak. Unfortunately great teams must overcome the loss of one man and excel. It must also be noted that the Saints have had the Giants number in the Sean Payton era. One must wonder whether this is because Payton worked as a Giants assistant prior to becoming the head coach of the Saints. Perhaps the former coach has some extra motivation when facing the G-men.

Worse than anything last nights game may signal the death knell for the Giants season as they have now become the team with the worst record that is still in the hunt. They do still play the Cowboys twice which gives the Giants a slim hope for redemption, but if history proves true the Giants may find themselves out of the playoffs for the third season in a row.

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