Nobody giving the Giants a chance, but Big Blue wouldn't know or have it any other way

It's been the case ever since the New York Giants lost to the Chicago Bears nearly two months ago on November 12th. That was the start of a four-game losing streak for the Giants, and they went from 6-2 and considered by many a Super Bowl contender to 6-6 and at the back-end of everyone's jokes.

Everyone has counted the Giants out from week 11, the week they lost to the Jacksonville Jaguars, on. In that span, the G-Men also blew a 21-0 fourth quarter lead to the Tennessee Titans and lost 24-21, and then followed up that loss with another to the Dallas Cowboys at Giants' Stadium, 23-20. Everyone was talking about Big Blue being in turmoil, how they had mutinied against head coach Tom Coughlin, how Tiki Barber no longer cared about the game of football, how the team was in complete disarray and had no chance, no, no chance in heck, of making the playoffs. But, after all of that, after going 2-6 in their final eight games of the season, the Giants are in the playoffs. Why are they in the playoffs? For the opposite of every reason everyone said they wouldn't be.

New York came into Saturday's game against the Washington Redskins a 2.5 point favorite in Vegas, but a 20-point underdog in the minds of most NFL analysts and even most Giant fans. If you are a betting man, then you should have taken the Giants on the spread. The G-Men defeated the division rival Redskins 34-28 to catapult themselves into the playoffs. But how? How in the world did a team with that many problems possibly make the playoffs? Like I said; for the opposite of exactly all of the reasons you all said they wouldn't be in the playoffs. They all said that Coughlin had lost his touch. That he failed to make adjustments during games. That his time in New York was long over. What did Coughlin do? He made a bold move by relieving offensive coordinator John Hufnagel of the playcalling duties and put Kevin Gilbride in charge. The move paid dividends. Why? Because Gilbride designed it so that the offense centered around Barber, the player you all said had "checked out mentally." So, I guess rushing for a franchise-record 234 yards and career-high three touchdowns is "checking out mentally?"

Then, everyone stated how New York could not re-group. There was simply too much going on. Oh yeah? Is that why the Giants weathered the storm in the fourth quarter, staving off a Washington rally that could have potentially lost New York the game? If there was really that much turmoil within the Giants' team, then they would have folded like a cheap tent when the Redskins took over with 2:18 to go trailing by six. What did the Giants' defense do? They forced four incomplete passes in a row, including a great play by safety Gibril Wilson that closed out the game, deflecting a Jason Campbell pass intended for Santana Moss that would have been a sure first-down and more had Wilson not stuck his hand in there. But he did, and that's that.

But still, even after Barber took over and his team rode him to a huge win, nobody is giving the Giants a chance. But that's exactly how they like it. They have adapted to the underdog role and actually enjoy it. As Antonio Pierce said earlier in the year, it's the Giants against the world, and the more you go against them, the more motivation they'll have and the more they'll remember that on the football field.

The Giants will travel to Philadelphia to prepare for a Wild Card round face-off against the Eagles next Sunday. The last time these two teams met in a playoff game was back in the 2000-2001 season when the Giants trounced the Eagles 20-10 en route to a Super Bowl appearance, a loss to the Baltimore Ravens. The two teams split their meetings this season. The Giants won the first meeting which was in Philadelphia, rallying from a 17-point fourth quarter deficit and eventually winning in overtime, 30-24. The Eagles won the second meeting at Giants' Stadium, 36-22.

So, anybody counting the Giants out is completely out of their mind. This is a team capable of beating any team in the NFL when they play their best football. Even though they are going to be missing their best player and team leader in Michael Strahan, their most reliable wide receiver in Amani Toomer, their best offensive lineman in Luke Petitgout, their heralded free agent pick-up in LaVar Arrington, and their best back-up defensive end in Justin Tuck, Big Blue still has the talent to go on a Super Bowl run. I think people forget that they have a Hall-of-Fame halfback in Barber. They forget that they have a top ten wide receiver in Plaxico Burress. They forget that they have arguably the best tight end in football in Jeremy Shockey, that they have a great offensive line. They forget that they now have a healthy Osi Umenyiora who posted 14.5 sacks last season. They forget about Pierce, who posted 137 tackles this year. They forget about the safety duo of Wilson and Will Demps, who each tallied 100 tackles, Wilson doing it in 15 games. They forget that this team won the NFC East at 11-5 last season and started out this year 6-2. They forget all of that. One little thing goes wrong, and everything good a team does is forgotten.

Sure, the Giants were only a .500 team at 8-8, but they still got into the playoffs, and that's all that matters. And once you get into the playoffs, everything you did during the regular season gets thrown out the window. It's a new season, and anything can happen. That's why the games are played. All 12 teams in the post-season know that. Every player on those 12 teams knows that. The coaches know that. The analysts (I think) know that. The fans know that.

And the New York Giants know that.