Not to jinx ourselves, but I actually am feeling good about this week. I was nervous going into the Eagles game and concerned going into the Cowboy’s game because, at the end of the day, we were due for some losses. In all fairness, in spite of sub-par play on the part of our guys, the Eagles and ‘Boys are two very good teams who needed these wins to keep their respective seasons alive. As for us, we were cruising along and primed for a disappointment. Historically, the teams who need it more (and who are better than their records) tend to win.

This week, on the other hand, the Panthers are cruising and the Gmen have something to prove. Watch Carolina come in way too cocky for this game. The Panthers definitely feel untouchable right now and I think that the Gmen will make them pay for this. The sense of urgency for the Panthers, who have won seven of their last eight, is not even close to that of the Gmen, who just dropped two games in a row to division rivals.

Cody is absolutely right to point out that the Giants wouldn’t be the Giants without some scary moments. The difference between this Giants’ team as opposed to those of the recent past is not that this one doesn’t scare us with a spate of tough losses, but that this team can (and will) right itself when it has to. I really don’t think that this team, while good for some sputtering, is not good for a total derailment. Eli is way too unflappable and Coughlin is way to strict to allow this to happen. If we win this week, who the fuck cares about what happened in the last two weeks. If we lose, which would suck, we’re still in the playoffs and have yet another game to turn things around. Look, we were gonna start losing at some point . . . particularly in light of what has been the toughest schedule in football. Better now than later. And better to lose than to cruise (if you catch my drift). Otherwise, I would have been really nervous about a 15-1 Gmen team being stunned by a deceptively dangerous Vikings team (for example).

As for Plax, I am happy that I will not be a commentator who will have to eat his words about how we should get rid of him because he causes too many problems and that we’re deep enough to do fine without him. As I said at the time, never underrate how much of a unique talent Plax is and don’t think for a second that the Gmen could move on comfortably without him. Assuming that Plax doesn’t do time, is there anyone out there who still wants to debate me about whether we should hope for the best and let this guy come back? I sincerely doubt it.

Huge effing game against Carolina this week. Isn’t it kind of weird that it’s this late in the season, and we haven’t played anyone in the NFC South, and Carolina hasn’t played anyone in the NFC East? I have no idea what to expect from them.

2. Yeah – the team obviously misses Plax more than I thought they would. It’s unfortunate, but I think we all appreciate him that much more. Its insane to think that his one minor brain-fart in decision making could likely bring the season to a screeching halt – but that’s looking more and more like what’s going to happen here. Fingers crossed that the WR corps picks it up and starts playing better.

3. I couldn’t agree more here: this is insane to me, another week goes by when the team can’t get anything going offensively and yet NO PLAYS to Bradshaw? Doesn’t make any sense. Again, this all goes back to the coaching.

4. I disagree with you on this one. It would be nice to get Hix back there, but Moss has wheels, right? I mean he needs to get his feet under him on kickoffs and there’s no better way to do it than to get him reps. Unfortunately I think the injury risk to Hixon is far too great to put himback there.

5. Eli: now here is where I disagree the most. Eli has actually been playing ok and we’ve been _thisclose_ to making a handful of plays that change the dimensions of both the Eagles and Cowboys games; namely involving Hixon. I think Hix is feeling some serious pressure right now, and (unfortunately) it is looking like its starting to crack him a little. The drop in the Eagles game was not even remotely excusable and that was a PERFECTLY thrown ball from Eli. The drop last night down the sideline, I actually thought might have been borderline interference. But it doesn’t matter; he got one good hand on that one and I really thought he shoulod have made the catch. It would have been a tough catch; but Eli laid it out there for him to make the play. Same thing on the Boss plays last night. The critical 3rd down drop by Boss was a tough one. Next year, Boss catches that ball. But Eli put it on the money and allowed his TE to have a chance at pulling it in. And on the blitz, Eli put it where Boss could have made a play on it had he turned when he was supposed to. So really, I don’t blame Eli here. Granted, he hasn’t been PERFECT in this stretch, but who has? Hixon hasn’t, Boss hasn’t, Gilbride hasn’t, etc. etc. But Eli has at least put the throws where guys are in position to make plays.

6: the 3rd downs will statistically improve – and the opponent won’t complete every 3rd down it faces either!

7: yeah, the tackling is painful right now….that must improve. I know Witten is a beast but YOU GOTTA MAKE THAT PLAY! That’s football, mano a mano, and Johnson just simply needs to win that battle. But he will.

All is not lost, gents – the GMen just need to get their mojo back and get back to playing sound, quality fball.

Besides, it wouldn’t be NYG football without some tough moments, some nailbiters, and some inexcusable losses, right?

In support of point IV above…right before the half, we stopped the cowboys on third down with 30 seconds left on the clock yet we let the clock tick down without using one of our timeouts. Now I understand that 90% of the time we aren’t going to score there but why not call a time out and make them punt. Either send a block or try to set up a return. Like Greg says it reeks of assuming that something negative is going to happen on any special teams play….granted Hixon could have muffed it but you’ve got to be aggressive with your special teams to win tight games when your offense is struggling (i.e. Parcells’ fake punt to gary reasons against the niners in the 90 NFC championship game).

I guess Toomer is just too old and slow to be a bigger part of the passing game? And if they’re not going to run Bradshaw (a crime, I agree), maybe try to throw him the ball – and not just on 3rd down.