Mikefan did have some hopes for the possibility of a miracle finish by the Giants, but he didn't seem too down when we spoke with him.

"Oh sure, after watching them beat Denver a few games ago, I thought that maybe everything would fall into place for them to end up in the playoffs, but you really can't complain when you consider that the Giants were 3-7 at one point.
It's not bad for the players to think about how they almost got in, and to reflect on their 5-1 record at the end of the season.
It all ended on a high note including this last game.

The Giants got off to a slow start against the Eagles today, knowing that they were eliminated from the playoffs at that point.
The key thing is that they got back into the game and won it.
Kent Graham was fired up as usual. Chris Calloway caught 2 of his touchdown passes, and extended his streak of games with at least one catch to 47.
Gary Brown went over 1000 yards this season with this game, to finish at 1,063 yards, including 4 consecutive 100-yard games.
Michael Strahan nailed down his 15th career-high sack.
All in all, Fassel did a great job with the team this year even if you compare it to his 10-6 record last year.
There was tougher AFC competition this year, the defense was hurting, and the offense was carried over from the previous season as a sort of mystery to be figured out."

So, is it all settled now that they signed Brown, and Kent Graham is winning? We asked him.

"Well, that certainly helps. Now they can sort out the running game and see what players are left over. One odd man out of course seams to be Wheatley. Talented or not, he doesn't seem to be fitting in with the Giants.
So anyway, they're mostly set with the running game and they didn't have that going for them at the start of this past season.
Kent Graham has established that they can have a deep passing game, and that makes everything work a lot easier for a team. That was the one big thing the offense got stuck on for most of this year, and they owe a lot to Kent Graham's skill for making it happen.

In other matters, I always got the feeling that the players were giving their all even when the gameplan wasn't working out, and that's where you have to credit Fassel and the coaching staff.
It's definitely 'Parsells 101' to make sure the players put out on every play. Speaking of which, I'll be rooting for the Jets to carry the Parcells banner into the Superbowl this year."

Any other quick thoughts on next year? We asked him.

"Well let's see. Next year, the Giants start off with a 4 game winning streak, the running game mostly settled, an even stronger and healthier defense of championship caliber, and plenty of quarterbacks to fuel the New York media."

And so ends our final Giants game report for the season.
We did ask Mikefan and Gamegirl to cover the playoff games for us.
Gamegirl is going on vacation of course. A new year yields new vacation time, but she will help out when available.
At our request, and he's a nice guy for doing it considering the abuse he's taken over the past bunch of years from some not too considerate fans, friends and coworkers, Jetguy has agreed to cover the Jet playoff games for us.
This works out great, because we always like to get a live game report, and we extend our thanks to him.