The annual Giants collapse and other NFL thoughts

(1) Just like the swallows that return to Capistrano every March to announce the beginning of spring, NFL football fans can set their watches for the annual swoon of the New York Giants, which is starting to take shape in the recent weeks. The Giants always seem to tantalize their fan base with a strong start only to waste the good will as they stumble and bumble to the finish. Their development into the anti-closer started way back in 2006 when they squandered a 6-2 start by losing six of their final eight games. They still managed to make the playoffs with an 8-8 record, but their stay in the post season was short thanks to a 23-20 Wildcard Round loss to the hated Philadelphia Eagles. In 2007, they once again rushed out of the gate with six wins in eight games only to play mediocre football down the stretch. Their season was saved after they went toe-to-toe with the undefeated New England Patriots in Week 17 followed by an unexpected run to the Super Bowl title. The hope in New York was that the run to the championship would set the stage for the Giants to seriously contend for the next three to four years. Instead, the last three seasons have seen New York lose three of their final four games of the 2008 season and go one and done in the playoffs, lose eight of their final 11 games of the 2009 season and miss the playoffs and lose two of their final three games of the 2010 season and miss the playoffs. Despite the horrid finishes to their last five seasons, Tom Coughlin continued to dodge the pink slip mainly due to the Super Bowl title he delivered in 2007. Unfortunately, the string of bad football in November and December is finally going to catch up to Coughlin this year. They once again started the year with a 6-2 record only to find themselves mired in a three game losing streak with the latest setback coming as part of a 42-24 shellacking administered by the New Orleans Saints. As a result, the Giants have given away a commanding lead in the NFC East to the surging Dallas Cowboys and now face the prospect of righting the ship with four games in their final five against teams with winning records, including the 11-0 Green Bay Packers this Sunday. Their only game against a losing team is a home date with the Washington Redskins, who would love nothing better than to be the team that hammers in the final nail to the Giants’ coffin. As a result, the Giants are going to miss the playoffs for the third season in a row and it will finally lead to the dismissal of Coughlin as their head coach. Despite all of the good things that he has done in New York, including the upset of the Patriots to win the Super Bowl, it is unreasonable to believe that he would be able to retain his job when his teams have a history of getting worse as the season progresses.

(2) It is impossible to say for sure, but the Houston Texans have to be one of the most snake-bitten teams in the history of the NFL. They had everything line up perfectly for them to finally win a division title, but the football gods have been doing everything in their power to stop it from happening. The first blow was the slow start to the season for Arian Foster, the NFL’s defending rushing champion, due to a balky hamstring. He has since returned to being one of the best backs in the NFL, but his slow start could have derailed the Texans permanently. It was good that they had a better than decent back-up in Ben Tate, a solid quarterback and an improving defense. Unfortunately, just as Foster was rounding into shape the Texans suffered a second blow with the loss of Mario Williams, who was poised to have a huge season as an outside linebacker/pass rusher in Wade Phillips’ 3-4 defensive scheme. As if these injuries weren’t enough, the Texans soon would have to find ways to win games without the services of their all-world wide receiver, Andre Johnson. Johnson would hurt his hamstring and miss several weeks, but Houston kept on ticking thanks to the steady play of Matt Schaub and the potent one-combination of Foster & Tate. Unfortunately, the brutal game of football still hadn’t satisfied its appetite for Houston players and claimed Schaub with the mysterious Lis Franc injury that occurred when a massive defensive lineman fell on his foot during a pile up in the end zone. Despite the catastrophic appearance of the Schaub injury, Houston still felt pretty good about their chances because they had all the confidence in the world in Matt Leinart, who was their back-up. Leinart started his first game since his days with Arizona and didn’t even make it to halftime before fracturing his collarbone, which ended his season before it truly got started. Even though they have had worse luck than a degenerate Las Vegas gambler, the Texans would still be the top seed in the AFC if the playoffs started today. It is unfortunate that the playoffs don’t start for another five weeks because Houston has to find a way to stave off the Tennessee Titans and make the post season behind the right arm of rookie T.J. Yates. Even with all the signs pointing to a disastrous finish to an otherwise promising season, it feels like Houston is going to find a way to punch a ticket to their first playoffs in franchise history. Yates may be a slight downgrade from Leinart, but he still has the benefit of playing alongside one of the best supporting casts in the business. Also, let’s not forget that Houston has assembled the best defense in the history of the team. The Williams injury certainly had an impact, but it also opened the door for Connor Barwin and Brooks Reed to showcase what they were capable of doing. Mostly, the Texans still feel like the team to beat in the AFC South because their luck can’t be this bad for much longer. In the end, they won’t be able to hold onto the top seed in the conference, but they will do enough to host their first playoff game in franchise history.

(3) Quick Hits
• Busy day in Jacksonville…they announced the firing of head coach Jack Del Rio, a three-year contract extension for G.M. Gene Smith and the sale of the team to Pakistan-born entrepreneur Shahid Khan. The firing of Del Rio seemed inevitable ever since his curious decision to cut David Garrard the week before the Jags’ first game and cast his lost with Luke McCown and subsequently Blaine Gabbert. It is interesting that the coach gets fired, but the G.M. gets a contract extension. Khan immigrated to the United States at the age of 16 and graduated from the University of Illinois in 1971. A huge part of his Americanization was immersing himself in Illini football. Although current Jacksonville owner, Wayne Weaver, has stated that he believes Khan will keep the team in the Florida panhandle, there is no specific provision in the sale agreement that requires Khan to do it.

• Ndamukong Suh appears to have some behavioral issues that need to be addressed with the help of a professional. It is one thing to play football with a nasty streak from whistle to whistle. It is a completely different thing to intentionally inflict pain on another player outside of the rules of the game. When the only thing that Suh was hurting was his pocketbook it was okay to put up with his antics, but now that his actions have cost him two football games he needs to get the help that he needs.

• The first sacrificial lamb of the Indianapolis Colts’ inexorable march to 0-16 is defensive coordinator Larry Coyer. He may have deserved the hatchet job, but he won’t be the only person that loses his job as a result of this horrible season. It is likely that Jim Caldwell will lose his job as well and the stench of a defeated season will attach itself to all of the players in the locker room, especially Dan Orlovsky and Ernie Sims, who both endured the Detroit Lions’ 0-16 season.

• The Eagles and the Chargers are fighting tooth and nail for the title of the most disappointing team of the 2011 season. At the beginning of the year, both teams were expected to win their respective divisions and make deep runs in the playoffs. The Eagles have been buried by a combination of injuries, poor coaching and disgruntled players. The Chargers have had their fair share of injuries as well, but their struggles start and end with the poor play of Philip Rivers, who is on pace to throw for his fewest touchdowns since 2007, throw the most interceptions of his career and post his lowest QB rating since becoming a full-time starter at the beginning of the 2006 season.

• The Raiders are showing that they have what it takes to win the AFC West. Since their bye week, Oakland has won three of four games and holds a slim one-game lead over Denver. The challenge for the Raiders is two-fold: (1) they have to conquer a difficult schedule that includes back-to-back road games the next two weeks against the better-than-their-record-shows Miami Dolphins and the undefeated defending champs and (2) they have to hold off the cosmic force known as Tim Tebow.