Second Half Slides

[Cowboyz]

When are you guys going to learn the difference between an observation and an excuse?

 

I was comparing the first half of OUR season to the second half of OUR season: not with the schedules of other teams. There wasn't any woe is me about it--I didn't post that our schedule was any harder than other team's schedules, just that it was a little out of balance and that might be why we appear to be gang-busters in the beginning of seasons, and seem to fall apart at the end of seasons. You'll also notice that I said that this did not excuse the poor play in the second half. I'm not even arguing that the records would have been different: just that the seasons might have had a different feel to them even with the same records.

 

Look at 2006 as an example. Which would be less painful: going 4-4 in both halves of the season, reversing the halves, or what actually happened? All three outcomes would have resulted in 8-8, but the first two scenarios would sure have been less of a downer, and going 6-2 in the second half would have actually been exciting.

 

Yes, a few wins here and there would change some of the percentages a little, but it still wouldn't get them below .500 or anywhere near the first half of the seasons.

 

You know what? I made a point in the OP to mention that Dallas and NE really skewed the percentage in 2007; and didn't try to hide the fact that during the season with the biggest disparity (2008) we went 5-3. Obviously, I'm not making an argument that this is the only reason it's happening, or holding the players and coaches blameless. So how exactly am I making an excuse?

 

 

 

I mean fishy, it's chicken feed for the 'woe is me' crowd. it's an excuse. whether it is for you or not in this post is irrellevant.

 

i understand the logic perfectly. its strength of schedule. and yes one game has a heavy weight on a 16 game season, so one or two more losses would skew the whole point.

 

you're both right and completely wrong to say 'see! this is why we suck in the second half.'

 

but let's agree on one thing at least. following your logic here. it means the giants are simply what i claimed they were in the preseason: mediocre.

 

you beat up on the weak and yet you're still fodder for the elite. congrats

[fishgutmartyr]

Gut...what a lot of the young'ins don't realize is that we have been watching the Giants going back to the Bad Old Days....nothing fazes us to the point of semi suicide like lets say a Bengals, Chargers and/or Chiefs fan...teams that rarely smell the playoffs and if they do often (e.g. the Chargers); never seem to make the big dance (e.g. Super Bowl). I would much rather have 4 Super Bowls played in with 3 Lombardi's coupled with years of disgrace/ineptitude; than to be the Chargers or any other perennial favorite that makes the playoffs yet never climaxes with a Super Bowl. When you have seen the evolution of the Giants over the past 40-45 years you realize that an easy come easy go attitude is much better for the psyche and health.

 

True, T, but the thing is that the last 6 years haven't really been bad. If those losses were distributed more across the beginning of the seasons, we would be feeling a lot better about this team's records--11-5, 8-8, 10-6, 12-4. 8-8, and 10-6. I'm not counting 2004 since it was a transitional year.

 

We're nowhere near the horrors we witnessed in the 70's. For that matter, we're nowhere near the Reeves era, either. We've had outstanding QB, oline, and RB play through most of Coughlin's tenure. The only knock on this team that I consider valid over the years is on the defense--between the DCs, it's a miracle we've had the records we have. The Spagnuolo years stand out like a sore thumb.

 

Aside from the strength of schedule difference, I still think that the defensive makeup and over-reliance on the dline has been our downfall. If you look at where our injuries were during these seasons, you'll find that when our defensive linemen were beat up, we lost. Naturally, over the course of the season, the dline gets more battered: couple that with a rougher schedule right when you're weakest, and it's a recipe for disaster. The one season where all of our defensive linemen stayed healthy, we took home the Lombardi. The only two variations on that theme were 2005 (when all of our linebackers were injured), and 2010, when we were throwing games away and our defense wasn't very good to begin with.

 

Even 2008--Robbins played with two broken hands; and right after the season, both he and Cofield had microfracture surgery on their knees. Osi didn't play a down. It took a monumental effort by the offense to even get that 12th win.