Giants Desire To Try And End Our Undefeated Streak Not Worth It

[SCPatBoy]

I see that MAdison, Ohara, and Mitchell didn't practice today and that can't be good for there chances this weekend. I though t long and hard about it and I tell you that As a Pats fan and if we were in the exact same situation as the Giants, I would have wanted to rest or play very limited our key starters. All for nothing as they lost!

 

[JoePats]

You can't rest everybody. It's likely that the three guys that were injured would have played anyway.

 

[unoriginal]

Giants weren't going to the dance anyway, and at least they gave their fans a free playoff game.

 

[psychoPat]

Lost a safety to IR also.

Can't recall his name. But NYPost* yesterday.
Signed a p/s CB to replace him.

 

[JoeSixPat]

I see that MAdison, Ohara, and Mitchell didn't practice today and that can't be good for there chances this weekend. I though t long and hard about it and I tell you that As a Pats fan and if we were in the exact same situation as the Giants, I would have wanted to rest or play very limited our key starters. All for nothing as they lost!

The notion of "resting everyone" is a huge myth - I'm amazed that folks don't seem to realize that you still need to put a team on the field and with so many teams having rotations more than starters, you can't not play everyone or wrap up players in bubble wrap for a game. It's a 45 man game day roster - and between special teams, offense and defense *gasp* some of them are actually going to have to play.

Do you put in a 3rd string center and let your RB and QB get killed? No, you have to play some starters and that can result in injury.

Now ALL of this doesn't even acknowledge the fact that had the Giants done what NO ONE ELSE had done to the Patriots, it would have been a HUGE confidence boost for them going into the playoffs.

Knowing that in the best of circumstances his team would need to play above and beyond their capabilities to win one, let alone more than one playoff game, Coughlin clearly made the right move and was 3 points short of proving it.

Put another way, Coughlin could rest his guys and maybe win one game with a rested team that lacks confidence - or he could gamble by risking injury going for the win to give his team the confidence to go deep in the playoffs.

He should be applauded for a courageous coaching decision as far as I'm concerned.

 

[NYPatsFan]

He should be applauded for a courageous coaching decision as far as I'm concerned.

The guy who jumped a football field on his dirt bike was applauded too. That doesn't mean what he did wasn't stupid and reckless.

 

[Captain Cliche]

How many teams have lost the next game after getting battered by the Pats....just this season?

Giants will be the next ones.

 

[weswelker#83]

The guy who jumped a football field on his dirt bike was applauded too. That doesn't mean what he did wasn't stupid and reckless.

Maddo Sets New World Record (01/01/08)
http://sports.espn.go.com/broadband/video/videopage?&brand=null&videoId=3175684&n8pe6c=2

 

[xmarkd400x]

How many teams have lost the next game after getting battered by the Pats....just this season?

Giants will be the next ones.

I think the Giants will have a new found confidence. They will be thinking they hung with the greats last game. By the (falsely believed) transitive property of football, losing by 3 points to the favorites to win the super bowl, they should beat a good many other teams in the postseason.

They will probably lose their next game. Not because of the Patriots, but because of the Giants (mostly Eli).

 

[MetalBleachers]

How many teams have lost the next game after getting battered by the Pats....just this season?

Giants will be the next ones.

4-11 after Pats games, per Reiss: http://www.boston.com/sports/football/patriots/reiss_pieces/

(see early Jan. 2 entry)

 

[Ootball]

The Pats could have just as easily lost starters to injury, in a game with no playoff implications for them. The fact that they didn't & the Giants did doesn't differentiate the coaching decisions of BB & Coughlin one iota. You can say that they had an extra week of rest, but if Brady broke a leg in that game, there would be just as much scrutiny.

It was a great thing for football to have the starters in that game, playing their hearts out. If nothing else, it was a decision for the purity of the game: you don't earn 16-0 without jumping over that final hurdle, and having that last team push you to the limit. What a great thing for history.

Besides: if the Giants rest their starters, it's a blowout, which definitely kills them going into the playoffs.

 

[Ring 6]

I have an entirely different take on this.
I think the Giants have a better chance of winning this week without the injured players than they would have if a bunch of guys sat around and didn't play and were not sharp for the playoff game.

Football players play football. To tell a football player to sit on the sidelines for a game makes him a worse football player the next week.
This game will be a great example of this though. The Bucs pretty much took a 3 week vacation, and the Giants played football. I think the Giants, even down 3 players are much more prepared to play this week.

 

[BayAreaPatsFan]

I disagree that it wasn't worth it. This was an opportunity to gain tremendous confidence by denying the Patriots an unprecedented 16-0 season in the last possible game. I can't see how you can pass that up, as difficult as it may be. And seriously did we really want to see the Patriots beat up on a bunch of no name backups in such a historic game with 34.5 million viewers watching. I thought Coughlin's decision was good for the Giants, (even though they had a couple of injuries, its been documented in the locker room it was if they won the game) , good for the Patriots and their fans (16-0, Brady and Moss records) and good for the game. It was a great game and we got to see the Pats coming from behind again as they have done so many times this year to win the game.

Probably not so good for the Pats Haters who were probably in heaven when the Giants got up by 12 only to see Brady do his magic once again, but I can live with that .

 

[spacecrime]

The notion of "resting everyone" is a huge myth -

It's more than a myth - it's impossible. I never heard of such a thing. How could you rest everyone and play a game?

What you do is rest players who are hurt or who need rest, those who are key players who would play better the following week if they had some rest, those who played a lot of snaps recently, and those whom you cannot afford to lose, i.e., those who would create a huge loss to the team if hurt.

Had the Giants done that, they would be in better shape to face the rested Bucs. Plaxico and Brandon have been hurt - we'll see this weekend if they are in better shape for having played a tough game rather than spent time recovering. My guess is they could have used the rest.

 

[sieglo]

Had the Giants done that, they would be in better shape to face the rested Bucs. Plaxico and Brandon have been hurt - we'll see this weekend if they are in better shape for having played a tough game rather than spent time recovering. My guess is they could have used the rest.

Coughlin was stupid. He bought into the hype hook line and sinker. Too bad for the Giants.

 

[JoeSixPat]

Coughlin was stupid. He bought into the hype hook line and sinker. Too bad for the Giants.

And with another three points the same people calling him stupid would be signing his praises for giving his team the confidence that if they could beat the Patriots they could beat any team in the playoffs.

He might have given them a high degree of confidence even in the loss - which though was in the end meaningless - has still resulted in people calling him stupid.

 

[Nitro]

im happy he played everyone.. otherwise we'd be hearing "the giants gave them the last game" for eternity

 

[karran_s]

It's difficult to figure out whether or not this will affect the Giants vs Tampa.

If they win, it will be because of the "momentum" gained by playing NE. However, if they lose, it will be because their players received no rest. This is a tough one.

However, Marino thinks it is better to rest, from his "personal experience". Others, however, disagree.

I don't know really and I guess it will come down to whoever wants it most at the end of the day. If Eli wants it, he will play like he did against NE.

My opinion is that Eli will choke on the big day and will feel the pressure of being under the shadow of Peyton. Two interceptions and it's all over.

 

[JoeSixPat]

Seems like the talking heads who proclaimed Coughlin an idiot for *gasp* giving his team confidence going into the playoffs aren't so sure anymore.

I said then and say again today, he deserves a lot of credit for risking - and enduring - injuries in an effort to give his mediocre team a shot in the playoffs.

No doubt this is just the first game of the playoffs, but we've seen the Patriots overcome injuries before - and if a team believes in itself it can be very hard to stop them.

Credit where credit is due - the Giants game against the Patriots wasn't "irrelevant" and Coughlin is a lot smarter than some casual armchair experts - it might be the most relevant game for their post-season chances.

 

[PatsDeb]

Well, Coughlin & Goober proved all the critics wrong. Congrats to the Giants & Good luck against Dallas!!