The Giants Are Just Cooler Than You

Cool has a lot of meanings in our society. It could mean you’re just plain cold because the weather out is frigid. It could mean you’re the epitome of what’s “happening” or what’s “hip” or it could simply mean you don’t get rattled. If you haven’t guessed by now which cool I’m talking about in terms of the New York Football Giants it’s clearly the latter.

The Giants are not an exceptionally talented team. They have good players all around but I don’t think anyone would argue they have the QB, running back, LT, etc in the league. They had one of the better receivers in the league, but are currently 2-0 without him. One can’t really say they’ve been all that fortunate. They’ve had injuries to cornerbacks, Osi has been out all season, Brandon Jacobs has been out a game, and Plaxico is now suspended for the rest of the season for being the dumbest player in the league.

Yet despite all this they’re 11-1 and increasingly the biggest reason is they’re just plain cooler then you.

Perhaps it stems from the coaching staff, which demands complete focus no matter what’s going on around you. Or maybe it stems from their QB who once was criticized for being too unemotional, when in fact it’s his calm demeanor through the bad and the good that has been his biggest asset the last two years.

Whatever the case may be the Giants this year have been plain unflappable. Whether it’s the Plaxico suspension or the Plaxico self-mutilation, whether it’s a horrid loss against Cleveland on Monday Night or a schedule that features 10 straight winning teams to finish the season, the Giants just keep rolling along.

There’s still a lot of football to be played and still four more good teams in the regular season, but as a Giants fan I couldn’t be any more pleased with how they’ve played this year. I’m not going to predict the future I’m simply telling you where they are now and how they got there. Simply put they’ve shown that teamwork and coolness are probably the most important things that separate the 11-1 teams from the 0-12 in the NFL.

Why the Timing of the Jeremy Shockey Trade is… Not Shocking

No one is surprised by the Jeremy Shockey trade. It’s been in the works for months and everyone knows why it happened, but people are a little confused as to why it happened now only 3 days before training camp. After all they got the same deal they could have had before the draft, so why do it now? Why not do it before the draft and get a replacement tight end through the draft or free agency?

All these questions can be answered fairly easily when you look a little closer at the situation. Who’s actually being traded here? Well we’re talking about Jeremy Shockey a multi-time Pro-Bowl tight end. Players like Shockey with speed, and toughness don’t come along every day. If you were the Giants wouldn’t you want to try to hold on to him? Then you consider the giants TE situation. They have Kevin Boss, no Jeremy Shockey certainly, but he made huge plays for the Giants in their Super Bowl run including an enormously important 45 yard reception in the Super Bowl itself. So while you’ll be downgrading at TE you have a guy who can block, and make the occasional big play. In other words you don’t necessarily NEED a replacement should things not work out with Shockey.

Now you consider how Shockey has acted this offseason. Instead of trying to help his teammates out during the super bowl run, he was sitting in the stands doing his own thing. I didn’t kill him for this as I figured he didn’t want to be a distraction, but it raises some questions. Then he skips the Super Bowl Parade and Ring Ceremony. Its not like he wasn’t part of the team, he made 57 fricken catches for them in the regular season, so there’s no reason he can’t get a ring, but he skips these events. In doing so to me it shows a complete lack of support for your teammates. Even if you feel you don’t deserve the ring yourself because you didn’t help them in the postseason wouldn’t you want to go support your teammates? Its not like you weren’t invited.

He also asked for a trade because he was worried about his role on the team. Last I checked his role was the same as it is on every team… HELP THE TEAM WIN. Apparently he was worried more about his stats then playing for the Super Bowl champs.

Will they win again this year? Probably not, but at least they have the talent to get it done.

Then he gets in a shouting match with the GM and I can only imagine what else was going on behind the scenes.

So why wait so long? Simply put because he’s a talented player who you don’t want to get rid of, you don’t neeeeed a replacement for him and you’re hoping things will work themselves out. When it became clear they would not and training camp was fast approaching they realized it was time to cut bait. So to me all the media types (and Plaxico Burress) expressing shock over the time, need to calm down.