football giants have problems

[smazza]

Michael Strahan, who sometimes talks a better game than he still plays, was all over the papers the other day, saying that he was a bit surprised by some of the things that have happened around the Giants lately. Strahan was really talking about the team's decision to trade up for Eli Manning, the most exciting and dramatic draft-day play the football Giants have ever made, and one that will someday be called the best they ever made.

And Strahan also talked about Kerry Collins the other day, how he wished Collins had stayed around for a couple more years while Manning learned the ropes, even though Collins clearly didn't want to do that.

"It definitely changes the scope of what I kind of expected coming into the season," Strahan said.

And what exactly did Strahan expect, after participating in the most disappointing season, maybe for all times, that the Giants have ever had?

Strahan, of course, is one of the Giant veterans whose sensibilities we're supposed to be worrying about these days, now that Ernie Accorsi and Tom Coughlin are giving the ball to Manning right away. But Strahan and the rest of those Giants veterans would probably get a lot more sympathy from everybody, starting with their own fans, if the team had done something more than lie in state for the last eight games of the previous season, one of the most embarrassing stretches in the history of the franchise.

Maybe Strahan believed it, week after week, when Jim Fassel, the outgoing head coach, would show up on Monday and talk about how he still saw his guys playing hard for him, despite all the injuries. Except that every single time Fassel said that, most Giants fans I know had the same reaction:

On what planet, Coach?

The Giants weren't going anywhere last season, even before Kerry Collins got hurt. They were 4-4 when they should have been 6-2, and everything just sort of fell apart from there. We know about all the problems on the offensive line. They still should have been better than 4-4 and better than 0-8 down the stretch. Maybe Strahan and all those wringing their hands about this returning core of veterans still want to believe that injuries were responsible for the way the Giants got dusted at home by teams like the Falcons and Bills.

Smart people don't.

People still want last season to be about that offensive line, and injuries, and just plain old bad luck. But look back at the season and tell me how many times after the Rams game the Giants showed up against good or bad teams and looked ready to win the game?

What Strahan should do, starting with mini-camp, is get himself into top shape and let the new coach worry about breaking in the quarterback. Then just shut up and play the kind of football for which he is paid a small fortune.

I understand that people seem to have fallen in love with Ben Roethlisberger, the Miami of Ohio kid, now that the Giants didn't take him. And have decided that there wasn't that much difference between him and Manning. The Giants thought there was. And didn't know when they'd get a chance at a player like this, or the top pick in the draft, ever again. And stepped up and took their shot.

We keep hearing from the experts that the Giants overpaid. No, they didn't, not if they are strong in their belief about Eli Manning, and they are. You know what I think? I think the kid will be a total star sooner than you think.

And as for all those who worry about the team taking a step back, Coughlin is right. The team was 4-12 last season. They got embarrassed by bad teams and Tiki dropped the ball and Collins didn't make enough plays even when he had the time. You know who's not going to worry about hurt feelings after looking at the tape on a season like that? The new coach.