Giant problems for Big Blue

The defending National Football Conference champions are in an enormous funk. Last season the Giants were seen as a bunch of hungry overachievers. The Giants never saw themselves that way. They believed they had the talent, and the rest of league just hadn't recognized it yet.

This year they see themselves as among the league's biggest underachievers.

Hopes of a return trip to the Super Bowl are now the province of Pollyannas and blind optimists. There are no guarantees from Coach Jim Fassel this year. And no sign that the coach or the players have any idea of how to stanch the bleeding.

Why have the Giants-- a team with largely the same personnel as last year's squad that reached the "Roman Numeral Bowl"--collapsed? This year's squad is simply playing inferior football, despite the similarity in roster. There are numerous factors that have contributed to this decline.

1. The Offensive Line

The old saw ... you're not getting older, you're getting better ... is certainly not true of the Giant offensive line. They got older all right (not that they were young last season), but certainly not better. The veteran line has on many occasions this season been unable to provide quarterback Kerry Collins with even the minimal time necessary to throw. While the Giants have enjoyed solid performances from Tiki Barber in recent games, following his return from injury, the line has not consistently provided Barber, Greg Comella, or Ron Dayne with adequate holes. No back can run without help from the line.

2. The Secondary

Left cornerback Will Allen, a rookie, has been inconsistent at best. The problems in the Giant secondary can't be placed entirely at the young man from Syracuse's feet. The other three starting DBs are all veterans. Each of the secondary's elder statesmen has struggled at some point this season, including last post-season's hero Jason Sehorn. The past two weeks the Giants have faced some of the leagues tougher receivers. Still, the coach doesn't see that as an excuse.

"Over the last two games we've probably played against four of the better receivers, [but] that doesn't have anything to do with it. I don't care who was out there running the routes. We were very, very foolish and mistake-prone in our coverage."

3. Kerry Collins

While many of Collins' problems can be attributed to the lack of protection the offensive line has provided the once-troubled quarterback, some of the blame for the team's failures must fall to the former Penn Stater. Fumbles have become all too common, and bad decisions, even if made under pressure, are still bad decisions. Collins has been responsible for far too many key turnovers this season. Last year Collins didn't beat himself. This year that is not the case.

4. Frequent Red Zone Failures

Heading into the fifth game of the season against the Rams all looked bright for the "Monsters of the Meadowlands." Few figured the Giants would beat the Rams that day, and they didn't. But the defense put the fear of God into Kurt Warner and Company. The Giants showed the way to other NFL defenses. They showed the Rams were human after all. Their offense can be stopped.

The Giant defense was ferocious and unrelenting. The Giants moved the ball, but Red Zone failures by Collins and the Giant offense gave the Rams a gift, a 15-14 victory. The following week, on a Monday night in October, the Eagles found that Christmas had come early for them as well in the form of a comeback victory, 10-9. Once again, although the Giants were able to move the ball, they could not put points on the board when they had the chance.

In two contests, the Giant defense allowed a mere 25 points, yet they lost both games. With even marginally acceptable offensive production in those two games the Giants would have stood at 5-1 with the easiest part of their schedule ahead. (Games against the Washington Redskins, Dallas Cowboys, and Arizona Cardinals were on tap).

Instead the Giants were 3-3, and, although official denials abounded, discouraged. Their awful performance against the Redskins the following Sunday, and in the first-half against the lowly Cowboys two weeks later, make it difficult to take those denials seriously.

5. Too Many Penalties

Although the Giants got the number of penalties down to a reasonable level against the Oakland Raiders in their last game, far too many games this season have seen the Giants approach or surpass double digits in penalties, many taken by offensive linemen. The Giant offense cannot afford to give up ten yards for a holding penalty on a regular basis. They have not shown the ability to get out of long-yardage situations this season. Penalties are a sure-fire way to put yourself in long-yardage situations.

Is There Hope?

Perhaps. The Giants are still saying the right things, giving the appearance that the two most recent losses to the Minnesota Vikings and Oakland Raiders, which dropped the team's record to 5-6, have not quelled their optimism.

"It's not over for us and anybody that thinks it is, we don't want them in this locker room," guard Glenn Parker said, following the loss to the Raiders. "We need to hang in, come together like we have been. The one thing this team has is unity more than anything else. We just have to keep fighting, make more plays and get better."

Time is running out. Saying the right things isn't going to be enough now. The problems outlined above must be addressed immediately. The team has a bye this week, which gives them a little extra time to come up with solutions. Even so, things don't look bright.

Fassel noted this week, "[The Giants] are on the edge of the cliff." If the problems are not solved, the rest of the league is sure to start to believe they were right about the 2000 Giants. They were overachievers.