Giant Stages of Grief--Brian

I’m progressing through the five stages of football grief. 

Denial (December 16^th – December 29th) – The Giants still have something left in the tank.  Forget those miserable losses in Atlanta and Baltimore.  Giants will beat the Eagles, Green Bay and Washington will take care of business and the Lions will figure out a way to beat an aging and depleted Chicago Bears team.

Anger (December 30^th at 4:17PM) – I hate you Detroit.

Bargaining (December 30^th at 4:18PM) - Teams that win two Super Bowls in five years deserve a grace period.  It could be worse.  Just look 90 miles south of New York City.

Depression (December 30^th at 4:19PM - TBD) – It’s over.  No meaningful football for nine months.  Didn’t this season just start?  I should have become a baseball fan.  162 games.  The Giants are about the extent of my social life these days.  Do I really have to go nine months until I see those guys we tailgate with again? 

Acceptance (Getting there…)

It just wasn’t their year.  They never figured out how to stop the run.  Their third down defense was atrocious.  They were never able to protect Eli despite giving up an astonishingly low number of sacks.  Teams that don’t control the line of scrimmage don’t win in this league. 

Windows of opportunities just close too quickly in this league.  As I said in my last post, the core of the last two Super Bowl runs appears to have gotten old all at the exact same moment.  Still, there is a lot of talent on this roster to rebuild and reload. 

For now, I’ll kick back this weekend and watch stress-free football and take some solace from the fact that deep down Packers and Niners and Patriots fans are thrilled that their road to the SB doesn’t have to go through the NY Football Giants.  On the bright side at least the rest of the NFC East is sitting at home too.