After nearly five months since training camp, after 14 games, after the turbulence of a quarterback change, the specter of a coaching change, the ineptitude followed by improvement from the offense and the injuries and controversy within the defense, it all comes down to this for the Giants: Two games, one playoff berth.
Forget about all the scenarios, all the tie-breakers, all the conference records and head-to-head meetings. None of it matters any more, not for the Giants. If they beat the Vikings on Sunday at Giants Stadium, and follow that up with a victory against the Cowboys on Jan. 2 at Texas Stadium, the Giants are in. It’s as simple as that.
“I’ll take where we’re standing now,” Jim Fassel said yesterday, operating in full-steam-ahead mode. “We’ve got a heavy load on our shoulders but it’s all up to us, and that’s all that anybody asks for in their life. Leave it in my own destiny.”
Nothing can take control away from the Giants, not the outcome of last night’s Vikings-Packers game, not what the Cowboys do Friday at New Orleans, not even the way the Giants were thrashed 31-10 by the Rams.
While that loss showed just how far the Giants are from competing with an elite team, it did almost nothing to damage the Giants playoff chances. There is a slim possibility that the Giants could lose one of their remaining two games, finish 8-8 and still slip into the postseason, but that is a remote chance, something the Giants are not eager to explore.
They cannot be mathematically eliminated with a loss this Sunday, but they can realistically be eliminated.
With what’s up ahead far more important than what’s already transpired, it’s no wonder Fassel spent about 30 seconds on the Rams and the remainder of the day getting a jump on the Vikings.
Players arrived yesterday to lift weights and view film but did not take one look at all their miscues in St. Louis. That film was left unwatched, while the Giants got an early look at the Vikings in action.
“That’s all that matters,” Fassel said.
By beating the Vikings and Cowboys, the Giants would gain tie-breaker advantages over each team. There is even a slight chance the Giants could win the NFC East, if they win their two games and the Redskins lose their final two, at San Francisco and vs. the Dolphins. But the wild-card route is much more likely, as the Giants showed how much they believed they could still capture the division title by playing with little focus or smarts against the Rams.
There was no balking from the Giants when informed they would not linger at all on the Rams game. Why bring back such fresh, bad memories? There was little sense yesterday that the Giants were energized by the news that they control their playoff destiny, but it figures that by tomorrow’s practice, the urgency of the situation will take hold.
“There’s a lot of teams right now that don’t have a chance for the playoffs,” linebacker Ryan Phillips said. “We do. We can go into these last couple of weeks having something to play for. Now there’s two games left. If we screw it up, it’s our own fault.”
Heading down the stretch coming off a one-sided loss does not inflate a team’s confidence, and the Giants were beat down in many ways — physically, emotionally, mentally — inside the Trans World Dome. The offense could not prevent a sluggish start, Kerry Collins had two interceptions against him returned for touchdowns and the defense fought bravely enough in limiting the high-flying Rams to 17 points but could not stop repeated big plays.
None of these maladies were studied. They were pushed aside, deemed unimportant. Fassel said he would take all the issues from that game and “wrap it up in a nice little bundle and get rid of it.”
By a quirk of the schedule, the Giants last night were able to sit back and get some home schooling as the Vikings and Packers battled in Minneapolis. Fassel expected to watch the entire game and, while he did not assign homework for his players, he did anticipate they would be tuned in.
This is what the NFC has wrought this season. A team like the Giants, bumping and grinding along at 7-7, has a legitimate shot at the playoffs, needing to beat the Vikings and Cowboys, opponents that share similar records and inconsistencies with the Giants.
“We’re playing two teams just like us,” said Fassel, who described the NFC as “parity galore.”
Of course, two key games can be reduced to no key games quickly enough, as all it takes is a loss on Sunday to the Vikings to leave the Giants on the brink of playoff elimination.
“Right now we’re thinking about the first game, because the last game don’t mean anything unless we get this one,” linebacker Corey Widmer said. “In no way is anybody looking past his game. For us, the playoffs start right now. This is a playoff game.
“We’ve got to win each week to go into the next week. That’s the reality of it. You don’t want to say, ‘It’s your whole season,’ but basically, yeah, in terms of post-season hopes it starts this week.”