The Giants possess many of the admirable traits any fans craves for his favorite team, but invulnerability is not one of them.
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If you cut them, they will bleed (no Plaxico Burress jokes, please). If you force them through a historically-difficult 10-game gauntlet they will tire out. And so, having clinched every tangible goal, the Giants head into their regular-season finale knowing they can finally get a break.
The exhausted but immensely proud players seemed as thrilled with the thought of rest immediately following their riveting 34-28 overtime victory over the Panthers as they did with the prize of the No. 1 seed in the NFC and home-field advantage throughout the playoffs.
Only Tom Coughlin isn’t talking about any respites.
“I don’t see how there can be any week off,” the Giants coach said yesterday. “The week off comes after the last game.”
Much of the Giants’ team personality flows from the standard Coughlin sets. Last week, following consecutive losses that stripped away the juggernaut label assigned to them after their 11-1 start, Coughlin was defiantly upbeat. After some rough patches against Carolina – trailing 21-10, then outscoring the Panthers 21-7 after halftime – the Giants made Coughlin’s approach look smart.
“Even though things didn’t always go our way we didn’t let it hinder us, we kept fighting, scratching and clawing,” left tackle David Diehl said. “This is something Coach Coughlin challenged us with earlier in the week: This game is going to be a game of will, the team that wants it more and keeps fighting is going to win.”
The Giants have won all they needed to win, but at 12-3 there’s one game left to play, Sunday afternoon against the still-alive Vikings (9-6) at the Metrodome. For the second time in as many years the Giants head into their last regular season game knowing they are in the playoffs and certain they cannot change their positioning. This scenario, though, is completely different.
A year ago, the Giants survived snow and wind in Buffalo to clinch a playoff berth in the next to last regular-season game. They knew they were headed to Tampa for a first-round game. There were cries for Coughlin to rest his starters and anyone who had the slightest physical ailment in Week 17. But the Patriots were a perfect 15-0 and gunning for the first 16-0 season in NFL history and there was a sense that perhaps the Giants, based on the integrity of the league, were obligated to play the game straight.
That’s the direction Coughlin followed. Much to the delight of a Giants Stadium crowd that roared in approval, the Giants took it to the Patriots before faltering in a 38-35 loss that earned the gratitude of many around the league and, more important, got Eli Manning and so many of his teammates feeling good about themselves.
This season, after back-to-back losses to the Eagles and Cowboys, the Giants needed to get their mojo back and they did, with aplomb, by rallying to outlast the Panthers. You can be sure Coughlin will take the very positive mindset of his team into consideration when he figures out what to do in Minneapolis.
“That plan has not been formulated as of yet,” Coughlin said. “The information will come from the medical people and exactly how we think we ought to go about our business. Our basic philosophy is we want to win every game and that’s where our mentality should be. But we’ll be smart about any advice we get.”
No doubt, any player with a physical ailment or concern will sit, likely meaning Brandon Jacobs, Fred Robbins and Domenik Hixon will be held out or used for only cameo appearances. It also means cornerback Aaron Ross, who suffered a concussion, likely won’t play at all. But what about gambling on someone like Manning in a game that doesn’t matter?
“I disagree with the idea that you have nothing to gain,” Coughlin said. “There’s a lot to be gained. If you believe as we do that you have to be playing your best football at this time of year you certainly do have some things to build on, particularly when you’re not going to play for a couple of weeks. I’m taking all that into consideration.”