E-GIANTS
Dave Klein was the Giants' beat writer
for The Star-Ledger from 1961 to 1995.
He is the author of 26 books and he is one of
only five sportswriters to have covered all the Super Bowls.
Dave has allowed TEAM GIANTS to reprint some of his articles.

By DAVE KLEIN
Here is one of a list of burning questions -- which consists of no more than a thousand or so -- concerning the Giants' last game of the season.

Good or bad, successful or not, the memories of a last game stay with a team and its fans until the next season begins. Remember the end of the 2004 season, when the Giants beat Dallas in the final game to break an eight-game losing streak? It just made them 6-10, but it stuck. It was a positive sign.

So after last Sunday's debacle, there are questions upon questions, questions without answers, questions that can only be answered later, after the free agent period, after the draft.

But one question we can answer now, and easily. Which was worse on Sunday against Carolina, the offense or the defense?

The answer? Both. But the offense was healthier.

There is no rational explanation for the Giants' performance. It couldn't possibly be simply Carolina coach John Fox and his staff. Frankly, there isn't much difference between coaches. Once they get to the NFL, they're all good -- or at least as good as their personnel allows them to be.

The late George Young, when as Giants' general manager used to have weekly spats with head coach Bill Parcells, told him one day: "Listen, your job is to coach the players. My job is to put those players on the field."

So the Giants had injuries? Yes, indeed, especially on defense. And yet there was no excuse for that kind of non-performance. It was just about time for the referee to throw a play for impersonating a professional football team when it mercifully ended.

Did you have trouble believing the 23-0 score? Welcome to a very large club. It wasn't possible, but it happened; it couldn't have happened, but it did.

So now what? Where do the Giants go and what do they do?

First of all, it would be hard to ignore the 11-5 record. That was big, a five-game swing from the 6-10 of 2004 (which was, in turn, a two-game improvement over the 2003 clowns). Players were found, both via the draft and free agency, and some of them were of enormous help. They include middle linebacker Antonio Pierce and defensive tackle Kendrick Clancy. They also include placekicker Jay Feely and offensive tackle Kareem McKenzie.

Did you notice the absence of the name of wide receiver Plaxico Burress? It wasn't accidental. Oh, sure, he was a force. He caught 76 passes for 1,214 yards. But there was just something missing, something not quite 100 percent. Maybe it's just me, but the first gut reaction is that he might not care all that much about football, just the fame part of it.

You noticed his gesticulations on the field when a pass from Eli Manning was too high or too low or too wide? That's bush league, Plax, in a major way. That is putting down your quarterback in front of thousands of fans in the stadium and millions more watching the tube. It does not carry a warm and fuzzy message. What it carries is a message delivered by a spoiled brat, and I don't think I want to hear that he is so into his game and so dedicated to it that he can't help himself when things go wrong.

That's poppycock.

You got a chance to see the same childish reactions from tight end Jeremy Shockey, too. Hey, you know what? He's a great tight end. But he still has some growing up to do. No, actually, he has a lot of growing up to do. Does he not think Manning is going to be good enough to be worthy of throwing him the football? It is likely that when Jeremy is finished playing Eli will still be passing to other tight ends and to other wide receivers just like Plaxico.

The problem here, and no one will admit it or even discuss it and I will probably get yelled at for suggesting it, is that the players simply stopped trying when they saw how difficult the situation was. Tiki Barber, who had 1,860 yards during the season, never broke off one major run. Nor did he break any tackles, which he had done all season. Was he tired? Run down? Exhausted? Who knows? But there was rookie Brandon Jacobs on the bench, all 6-4 and 265 pounds of him, waiting to get out there and play "bang-body" with a few of those lean, mean Panther defenders.

He never got a look from head coach Tom Coughlin, who was accused by Tiki of being "out coached." Only Tiki watered that down on Monday, say it wasn't so much an indictment of the Giants' coaches as it was a compliment to Fox and the Panthers' coaches.

Give me a break. He lashed out because of frustration and disappointment, which are admirable qualities to be found in any professional athlete who just lost the worst game his team has played in a long, long time. But to lash out as the coaches was wrong; what about his teammates?

Center Shaun O'Hara, looking forlorn and morose the next morning, looked around the locker room and said: "What a difference in 24 hours. Yesterday [Sunday] at this time we were feeling great, convinced we were going to be Carolina and play this Sunday in Chicago. Instead, we're loading up baggies and going home for the off-season. It's really sad."

Now that's the first bright thing any of them said. All in all, it was nothing more than piteously sad.

Check out Dave's website at E-GIANTS where you can subscribe to his newsletters which run much more frequently than what is available here.
- Team Giants

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