New York Giants: No worries about Eagles ‘problems’

The simple fact of the matter is that in Week 12, the New York Giants have momentum, and the Philadelphia Eagles don’t.

Now, most Birds fans opine that the New York Giants modest two-game winning streak is more about their previous two opponents than anything Big Blue has accomplished. That line of reasoning only goes so far in the NFL, especially after your team got thoroughly embarrassed by the New Orleans Saints by a 48-7 score on national television.

Defensively, the G-Men do need to button up, and that will be a key in this week’s Giants – Eagles contest. Whichever defense can slow down the opponent’s offense will put their side in a better position to win.

But hidden under the false bravado from South Philly remains the fact that the defending World Champions are playing like also-rans. For a team that was supposed to run away with the division, they hitch their wagon to the mediocrity of the Dallas Cowboys and New York Giants, as well a season-ending injury to Washington Redskins quarterback Alex Smith.

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Having gone through multiple Super Bowl victories with the New York Giants, the first thing you understand is that no one else around the NFL want to hear about your coaching issues or injury problems.

No one shed a tear when Lawrence Taylor and company had to suffer through two season of head coach Ray Handley, fresh off winning Super Bowl XXV.

NFL fans couldn’t care less when star receiver Plaxico Burress shot himself in the aftermath of the brilliant Super Bowl XLII win.

For the older New York Giants fans, no one put an asterisk next to their Super Bowl XXI win when an NFL players’ strike torpedoed Big Blue’s chances for a repeat.

Worry about yourself

Here’s something for Birds’ fans to munch on over Thanksgiving, according to Pro Football Reference, your team has given up almost 1,000 total yards in the last two games (956 yards to be exact).

Between the Dallas Cowboys and New Orleans Saints, they averaged 172 yards rushing in those two contests. Offensively, fans cry that the team misses offensive coordinator Frank Reich, and think that Mike Groh should get axed. Superman Carson Wentz looks like bad Nick Foles from days gone by.

Does that sound familiar to New York Giants fans?

When you’re defending your first Super Bowl title, you don’t know what you don’t know. Allow me to put things in perspective.

The Super Bowl hangover is a real thing, especially in these days of player and coaching turnover. The key to being able to repeat is positioning, and actually the Eagles have done a poor job of that since Week 1.  They should have thanked their lucky stars that they won in Week 1 against the Atlanta Falcons.

And remember this, the same Tampa Bay Buccaneers that you sneer at in the Giants two-game winning streak are the same team you lost to in Week 2.

To their credit, some of the Eagles scribes understand the challenge facing this team. That makes them different, and better than Boston scribes, who are relentless cheerleaders for their teams.

Mike Sielski didn’t mince words this week when putting things in perspective.

Per the Philadelphia Daily News:

"“With their embarrassing 48-7 loss Sunday in New Orleans against the Saints — the most lopsided loss by any reigning Super Bowl champ — the Eagles already have distinguished themselves, but there’s more for them to accomplish, if they’re able. Among the 52 teams that won a Super Bowl, just six had a losing record the following season. Two of those teams carry asterisks: The 1982 49ers (3-6) and the 1987 Giants (6-9) competed during strike-shortened seasons.”"

Now let’s not write the obituary of the World Champions just yet. The Birds battled adversity to reach their NFL pinnacle, and that should not be summarily dismissed. A Giants win, especially after the Saints debacle, would squeezed most of the air out of the Eagles’ bubble.

A win on Sunday becomes a double bonus, it moves the New York Giants closer to being relative, and it drops the Eagles into the NFC East basement. Both laudable goals. These Birds are wounded, and the G-Men need to put them out of their misery on Sunday.