Did you see this? Who in their right mind would say such a stupid thing?
espn.go.com
By Greg Garber
ESPN.com
EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. -- Jason Sehorn, understandably as smug as a human can be, saw the opening Sunday evening and he took it.
"We're not a very good football team. We're just fortunate they played badly against us," said the Giants cornerback, when a cynic pressed him. "We were just lucky, I guess."
Kerry Collins and the offense provided only three points to the Giants' cause.
The line got a huge laugh from the assembled media, and why not? The Giants battered the Philadelphia Eagles 20-10 and Sehorn had the play of the game, a not-to-be-believed interception and return for a touchdown. Oh, and he's also engaged to the lovely actress Angie Harmon.
Just another reminder that life is not fair.
Which brings us to another example of the skewed scales of justice. As usual, the Giants have left us with more questions than answers. More correctly, the Giants' offense remains certifiably questionable and the defense and special teams are The Answer, to borrow the handle of a certain Philadelphia point guard.
Quarterback Kerry Collins completed 12 of 19 passes for 125 yards, but the Giants managed to win. Come to think of it, didn't Baltimore quarterback Trent Dilfer have similar numbers in the Ravens' victory over Tennessee?
But as flawed a team as these Giants are, they are a single game from Super Bowl XXXV. They meet the Minnesota Vikings here at Giants Stadium next Sunday in the NFC championship game. However, the oddsmakers still aren't convinced. Reflecting America's pessimism, they have installed the Vikings as a one-point favorite.
Bring it on, say the Giants.
"The rap on us is that we couldn't win the big game, couldn't do this or that," said quarterback Kerry Collins. "Well, we've proved a lot of people wrong. That's been the motivation to this point."
People who wonder if the Giants are the worst top-seeded team in NFL history are missing the point. All they seem to do is win, baby.
They have now won six consecutive games since their head coach Jim Fassel predicted they would make the playoffs. Remember the Titans? They were the best team going into the crucible of the postseason and now, thanks to the Ravens, they are toast. The Rams? The Buccaneers? The Redskins? All charred beyond recognition.
The team folks love to hate almost as much as the Yankees is 60 minutes from a week in Tampa. No, they bear little resemblance to their superior predecessors from 1986 and 1990, but you have to admit they have heart and guts -- standard equipment for winners anywhere.
Unlike last year's Rams, artistic success is not a weekly goal. The Giants merely attempt to survive and, in this watered-down league, that apparently is enough.
"I like the way we play football," said Fassel, who received a valedictory, retro-Parcells Gatorade shower after his first playoff victory. "We've come a long way. We've come a long way. These players have had a sense of pride since we started practicing in training camp.
"That's why we're here."
Indeed. Certainly, it wasn't the offense.
Offensive Offense
New York Sunday became just the fifth team in the Super Bowl era to win a playoff game without scoring an offensive touchdown. The defense and special teams provided all the scoring for the Giants, coming up with a pair of touchdowns and a pair of field goals. New York also posted the highest point total of any team on this list.
Date Result Score
1/7/01 NYG d. PHI 20-10
1/12/92 BUF d. DEN 10-7
1/20/91 NYG d. SF 15-13
1/6/80 Rams d. TB 9-0
12/26/70 DAL d. DET 5-0
The Giants threw up 17 points in the first half and the offense contributed, what, a scintillating six-play, 14-yard scoring drive -- a Brad Daluiso field goal -- and that followed field position at the Eagles' 34 courtesy of a turnover forced by the Giants' defense. Let the record show that the Giants' two touchdowns were scored by kick returner Ron Dixon, who took the opening kickoff 97 yards, and Sehorn, whose marvelous and deft interception and ensuing 32-yard scoring run officially broke the Eagles' spirit.
The Giants, under offensive coordinator Sean Payton, have Ramsesque aspirations but they don't quite have the same talent. When the Giants tried a razzle-dazzle, second-quarter reverse, rookie running back Ron Dayne couldn't hand the ball cleanly to Ike Hilliard and a viable scoring opportunity was wasted. Two series later, Tiki Barber gave the ball up at the Eagles' 15-yard-line.
It was the defense, assisted by Dixon's flowing return -- the first postseason kickoff the Giants have ever planted in the end zone in 75 years of existence -- that carried the day. They shadowed Eagles quarterback Donovan McNabb with defensive end Cornelius Griffin and linebacker Micheal Barrow and essentially snuffed him. On several occasions, most memorably after a Michael Strahan helmet-to-chest sack, McNabb looked woozy.
"We kept Donovan McNabb where we needed to keep him," Fassel observed. "We contained him well. Hey, you don't have to kill the guy, you have to capture him."
You can argue (successfully) that the Giants have been more lucky than good this year. Things keep ... happening ... for them.
They have suffered no major injuries. They scuffled through the middle of the season, beating teams like Atlanta and Cleveland, and then lost back-to-back games to St. Louis and Detroit.
“ I like the way we play football. We've come a long way. ... These players have had a sense of pride since we started practicing in training camp. That's why we're here. ”
— Jim Fassel, Giants head coach
Long before Fassel made his histrionic guarantee, the Giants were coming together. They changed the offensive line and they fundamentally changed the chemistry in their locker room, all for the better.
The playoffs have been good to them, too. The Giants' biggest vulnerability is their secondary and teams like Philadelphia or Tampa don't particularly frighten them. When the Saints took out the Rams in the wild-card game, the Giants were thrilled; the Rams strafed the Giants 38-24 at Giants Stadium on Nov. 12. When the Eagles took out the muscular Tampa Bay Bucs, they were ecstatic; Fassel's Giants have been 8-0 against the Eagles over four years and won both of this season's contests quite handily.
Good or lucky? Who cares? They are here on the brink, so get over it, already.
About a handful of questions into Fassel's postgame press conference, someone asked him about the Vikings.
"Aw, do we have to get to that already?" Fassel asked. "I'm not even dry from this game yet. We'll get to the Vikings later."
At this rate, they'll get lucky all the way to Tampa. |
