The Giants Put Their 2013 Season to Rest
The Giants fell to the Chicago
Bears 27-21 on Thursday night, falling to 0-6 on the season. This loss
effectively ended any slim chance they had to make the playoffs this season. Eli
Manning has a league-high 15 picks this season, but how many were his fault
depends on who you ask.
This performance to start the season has proven
that elite can in fact be spelled without Eli. I love Eli to death and he has
given me some moments that I will cherish forever, but right now he is not in
the elite class of quarterbacks. Tony Romo is much closer right now, to put it
all in perspective. I will never doubt his ability to lead the Giants to a Super
Bowl win, which I am sure he will do once more before he retires. However, the
inconsistency of his play right now doesn’t exactly scream “elite”.
Many
will come to Eli’s defense and say Receivers are running wrong routes, dropping
balls, and just downright quitting. My response to that is the quarterback is
always the boss out on the field, and needs to have control of everything out
there. No matter whose fault it is, the picks will go on his resume and he has
to make sure the team is on the same page.
As far as the defense, I will
say this: They are not as bad as advertised. They are being left with a short
field much of the time and even then they are battling and holding teams to FG
attempts. They are actually #2 in the league against the run, if you can believe
it. Jason Pierre-Paul has obviously come back too soon from his discectomy, and
does not look like the same player. Justin Tuck looks completely done, and the
Giants are not even touching the QB. The Giants I remember would have teed off
on Cutler last night. He would have been seeing stars after the game.
The Giants should now turn their attention to fixing the pass-rush. They are going
to have a high pick in the upcoming draft, and I would love to see them draft
Jadeveon Clowney. He is exactly what the Giants need to improve the defense and
become the fearsome team of old.
Dougie
