Are the Giants unfairly abused by the media and NFL fans?

As much as you're going to hate my answer, I'm still going to say it. haha, the hardest teams to play for are the Eagles and Giants. The NY press creates the problems there, and in Philly, the combination of craziness and fierce passion of the fans makes it next to impossible to play QB for them. In either town, having one bad game can make it seem like everyone hates you, and you're no good. They criticize qb's worse than anyone.

As far as Eli is concerned - you hit the nail on the head with the term "inconsistency." My family has a longstanding joke while watching the Giants play. After he completes a few passes in a row, someone says, "Whoa, Eli's done 5 good things in a row.... it's time for an interception." Sadly, we normally are right in that statement. He'll look incredible for a few plays, and then just tank it. He's been pretty bad as far as completion percentages go (to be fair tho, his receivers drop as many, if not more, passes than anyone else's corp - I would have no faith in anyone not named Plaxico or Shockey if I were Eli). He does have a good line, a great (although injured) WR, and a dangerous running back committee. I think with smart play calling, he can do alright in the playoffs this year.

Eli is a "good enough" NFL QB. He's not great (although he seems to show flashes), he's not awful, but he's definitely worthy of a job somewhere, especially because teams will look at his highlight films and say "what if." I mean, he looks really, really good at times. He's got a good arm, and can be surprisingly accurate - he's on the money with a lot of his throws, but he throws to covered receivers too often (they said the same thing about Brett Favre, didn't they?). I think he'll be a Drew Bledsoe or Kerry Collins type of QB - stick around the NFL for years, bouncing around from team to team, each one talking about his "potential," but ultimately, teams will grow tired of his inconsistancies and drop him. Even so, looking back, you'll say things like, "Did you know Kerry Collins threw more TD's than Joe Namath, Troy Aikman, and Joe Theisman?" or "Kerry Collins has passed for the 13th most yards out of any qb in NFL history.... 13th!!" Impressive, but it still does not counter his poor decisions and interceptions, but I suppose it could justify his 1st overall pick. I think Eli is going to end up in a similar situation.

As far as the Giants defense goes, as someone else stated, they get a lot of credit for their pass rush, and deservedly so - they have 3 good pass-rushing DE's, and an OLB who is a great blitzer. However, this does not fully counter the fact that their secondary couldn't cover a twin bed with a king-sized blanket. It also is somewhat misleading as they had that huge, sack-filled game against the Eagles when Winston Justice was playing - he let up 8 of those 12 sacks. William Thomas would not have allowed that to happen. In any case, their secondary is still awful, and their run defense is slightly better than average, and perhaps their 95ish yards a game average is misleading (teams that can run the ball well were able to do so against the Giants). Their pass rush can help cover up that secondary, but against teams with good lines and blocking schemes, the Giants defense has tendancy to struggle (they are essentially exactly average in points allowed).

All that being said, they can be a very dangerous team when everything is going their way. They can also be laughable when its not (see the Vikings game). As far as this weekend goes, I am picking them to beat Dallas. My reasoning is quite simple - the Giants are a pretty good team, and they have lost twice to Dallas - a better team, but not "ungodly" better. In the NFL, beating any team 3 times in a season would be quite a feat. I think the Giants are too good to allow that to happen. That is why I am picking them to upset.

You know I am a real Giants fan, but here are some truths (good and bad) about my favorite team:

- Inconsistent is an unfair term; NYG have actually been consistently bad against good team and consistently decent against bad teams (they played well in defeat against NE, the only other two teams with at least 9 wins that they beat were Washington, and Tampa yesterday)

- Eli is NOT Peyton and never will be. He's not horrible though - when the OC allows him to open it up or play hurry up he's been pretty solid. He's also lost a lot of players to injury and others have been playing banged up.

- Defensively, the pass rush gets accolades for leading the league in sacks - but this is only possible because of how strong they are against the run; on the negative side the secondary is not strong (Rookie Aaron Ross shows some promise though). Strong passing teams will put up big numbers against them - and all the remaining NFC teams have strong passing attacks

- Giants are now 8-1 on the road this year, only loss coming (of course) in Dallas, so being away from home is not a bad thing

- Last point that actually spells doom in Dallas is that they have NEVER been able to even slow down Terrell Owens. If Owens is hurt or reinjures his ankle early, Romo is just an average QB (that may still be enough to be NYG), but that really is their only chance to upset the Cowboys.

That's my reaslistic take. They're a good team, not great. Eli gets too much criticism and the play calling doesn't get enough criticism. The Defense gives up too many big plays and always gives up the early lead before they knuckle down.

I was 1 that thought they were just plain beat up from the New England game i thought Tampa would have their way with them . the inconsistancy is a problem and im sure Eli is use to being compared to his brother its probly been going on since Pop Warner . After watching yesterdays game i see a Giants team that could very well challenge Dallas ,if the signs of Dallas faultering from the last few weeks carry into the play-offs i think the Giants can win this game . Giants at 1st were probly just happy to make the play-offs but now that they got past Tampa and are playing with intensity i think they feel they can give a legitimate run at the Super Bowl .

Nice to see you back after the Steelers loss. i was a little concerned...

First of all, the Giants have to deal with the NY press, which is among the most negative in the free world. And let's not even start on NY talk radio. Secondly, the players have done some yakking, making them targets as well.

Having said that, I really admire the G-men. They played their tails off against the Pats, and still came back and beat the Bucs. Their defensive front 7 is tough as nails. their running game is not bad. They are arguably the hottest team in the playoffs right now, save for the Pats.

I think the key is Manning. He did not have a stunning game against the Bucs, but he made few mistakes, and once he got in a rhythm he was fine.

I think they are going to give the 'Boys a LOT of trouble. If Manning plays well, and Dallas' receivers don't show up, they could very well win. I also think they could give the Pack a run for their money.

the NFC is interesting, not because they have the best teams, but because they have the least separation from top to bottom. it'll be fun to watch.

I think that their celebrity status puts them in a position to where they will be criticized no matter what they do. On the other hand who out there has not done something that they regret or they know that they should not have done. Personally I have no problem with the fact that these guys took substances that were not banned from the sport that they were playing, every athlete looks for an edge in some way, it may be a bad way to gain that edge but as you said, 100+ players thought that was a good way to get that edge. Also you hear that players of yesteryear did not do it...that is because they did not have them available not because they were better than that, they would taken them 7 days a week and twice on Sunday if they thought it would have helped. The media is reporting what will sell their papers/magazines, sometimes they have to sensationalize it to make the sale but that is the nature of the media, again not something new just something we should all be aware of. I think the players do get far too much grief for things that they did but they have millions of reasons to move on to their next vacation and enjoy themselves!

First, It's kinda hard to be Eli Manning.. cause someone will constantly compare him to his more famous brother, somehow someway.. I think he's decent quarterback, not that great.. but he's good enough to lead N.Y. Giants.. But some how Giants manage to shoot themselves in the feet from time to time.. And it's not entirely Eli's faults but as the QB he had to take all the blame.. And Even though, he play in New York, the capital of all media.. The fans there are not as harsh as the ones in Philly. So I think Eli and Giants will do just fine..

The giants get way to much sh*t that they dont deserve. They did fairly well even though they had a lot of injuries and they're still suffering from losing the great RB in Tiki Barber. As for Eli, he is still developing as a QB, I'm predicting he'll have a breakout year next season.

The Giants recent history of late season collapses will be held over their heads until they are able to show that they can play for 16 games. Add that to the yearly trouble between coach and players and a famous named QB who has yet to show the ability to lead his team effectively every week...

Being in the biggest media market in America will bring these and any other flaw into the spotlight, as soon as one person writes a story about anything everyone needs to repeat it. There are a lot of teams that have had a lot worse seasons but none of them have the New york name associated with them.

I think Eli's moods keep them from being a better team. It seems like when he struggles he sulks. He doesn't seem to be able to shake off mistakes. His confidence just declines for the rest of the game. His aloof demeanor doesn't exactly scream, "Leader", either. When he plays well they win. When he sucks he brings the rest of the team down with him.

So I guess I'd say they can be a very tough team to beat, but it all hinges on Eli. They have to be ok, they actually won a couple weeks ago when Eli fumbled 5 times.

Eli is gonna suffer like most "little brothers" do until he wins something. That's the only way he'll ever get out from under Peyton's shadow.

It can be done, though. Maybe not by Eli but there have been cases where the little brother ends up being better. Just look at the Sharpe brothers. Little bro' Shannon ended up having a better career than big bro' Sterling.

Of course, Sterling's career was hampered by injuries but...