AFTER all the annoying questions they have been forced to answer about whether they were fluke champions, this is one day when coach Tom Coughlin and Eli Manning must show that Monday night in Cleveland was the true fluke.
MATCHUP: GIANTS-49ERS (PHOTOS)
The Giants cannot afford to show up and expect the 49ers to faint at the mere sight of the NY on their helmets, which appeared to be the problem against the Browns, not in the NFC East. It is on Coughlin and Manning to respond the way we should expect defending champions to respond.
Coughlin hasn’t done enough for anyone to hail him as a great coach, and no one is calling Manning a great quarterback yet just because he was Super Bowl MVP. They will have to win another one together first.
For whatever reason – human nature, complacency, whatever you want to call it – the Giants were shameful no-shows. They were stripped of their manhood, especially on defense, for America to see, by a desperate team they would have beaten in their sleep on their way to Super Bowl XLII. It is Coughlin’s job to get his Giants motivated again, to remind them of the importance of the will to prepare, to push the right buttons so the defiant edge that has fueled them returns with a vengeance.
It is Manning’s job to rebound from his three-interception nightmare, to get back on the same page as Plaxico Burress, to show the kind of resilience he has shown this town from Day 1 and resume his march toward elite quarterback status. Coughlin proved he was tough enough for the job when he stood in there good and delivered his best work at a time when he was under siege. He reminded us why the late, great Wellington Mara coveted him the way he did by showing up this season with no less passion for his job, no less drive for a repeat trip up the Canyon of Heroes.
Manning proved he was tough enough for the job when he stood in there against all the howls that the Giants goofed by not drafting Ben Roethlisberger, or keeping Philip Rivers. He kept on pushing to master his craft, and he reminded us why former general manager Ernie Accorsi coveted him the way he did by showing up this season with an obsession to get better with each passing day.
Coughlin was signed to a four-year, $21 million contract after the Super Bowl, and Manning will get his just desserts soon enough, so they likely will be running mates from here until the 2012 presidential election.
Here’s a little history lesson for the two of them. The 2004 defending champion Patriots were 6-0 and had won 21 straight games before losing 34-20 to the Steelers. Super Bowl XXXVIII MVP Tom Brady threw two interceptions and lost a fumble.
“They outcoached us,” coach Bill Belichick said. “They outplayed us. We were not very good in any phase of the game. We did not do much right. Any time you give up 34 points, especially on the road, it’s going to be hard to win.”
The following week, the Patriots demolished Mike Martz and the Rams 40-22 in St. Louis.
Belichick, missing both starting cornerbacks, deployed wideout Troy Brown in the secondary after reserve Asante Samuel (arm injury) left in the first quarter.
“We moved guys around from different positions, but they just hung in there and kept fighting,” Belichick said. “Those players really stepped up and played like we all know they can play.”
Belichick pulled out all the stops: placekicker Adam Vinatieri threw a touchdown pass to Brown off a fake and one of Brady’s two TD passes went to linebacker Mike Vrabel.
“It was probably as complete a victory as I’ve ever been around,” Belichick said.
The Patriots lost just one more game on their way to the Super Bowl XXXIX crown.
Then again, the Super Bowl XXXVI Patriots won their first three games of 2002, then lost their next four. And missed the playoffs.
Martz comes to Giants Stadium today as 49ers offensive coordinator. Coughlin (and defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo) has to slow Frank Gore and rattle quarterback J.T. O’Sullivan, and Manning has to find a way to win. You navigate the potholes on the Road to Greatness, or never reach your destination.