I remember heading into that season expectations were VERY high. The Giants had spent the prior offseason overhauling their Special Teams including signing Brian Mitchell.
William Joseph was drafted to bulk up the defensive line. Ernie Accorsi spent the offseason loading up in areas where the team let them down in the collapse at SF.
The offense finished very strong in 2002, the team ended the regular season winning 4 straight and was up 38-14 on the Niners in the wild card round.
The offense was poised for a big year with Collins, Tiki, Toomer & Shockey all in the fold.
I remember that summer having some controversy as it was Parcells first year in Dallas & Shockey had fired off some offensive insults his way. With the Eagles coming off a NFC title loss, Dallas hiring Parcells & the Giants with high expectations, it made for what was expected to be an exciting year in the division.
What were your expectations in August of 2003?
I actually thought 13-3 in August 2003.
Both seasons sucked. Hard.
Both seasons sucked. Hard.
As for 2020, with no real pre-season & a new system and a lot of young players I am sold on our having a very rough year, starting 0-4 for just about sure given we play all "veteran" system teams.
Ah yeah that sounds right.
Fassel tinkered with the passing game and getting the ball out quick and we were largely unable to get tough yards on the ground when needed (short yardage, RZ, protecting a lead). They exacerbated that by trying to replace Whittle and Rosenthal (who were no great shakes) with fucking Ian Allen and Tam Hopkins.
Same on the DL. No pass rush outside of Strahan which was clearly evident in the SF game. I believe Kenny Holmes had a meniscus issue that held him back and Hamilton had a fork in his back (coming off an achilles?). Joseph seemed to be a falling star and rumored to be soft - predicted top 5 at the outset of the college season then seemed to be the last of a fairly deep DL class when the draft came. Osi was completely green.
Just a lot of risk when you have holes that big on both lines. Ended up being moot with the overwhelming wave on injuries. Calling up guys like Ikr Charlton and Kato Serwanga to start at CB by year's end.
I remember the NY Post had a back page before the 2003 season with a NYTD Blue headline and expectations were sky high...........8 months later TC was named Head Coach and Collins was gone.
Like some of our recent teams, we had guys getting major playing time on the offensive line that simply were not good players (Ian Allen, Lucier, Bober).
But then the Washington game was something out of a dream.
Stadium nearly empty.......parking lot was like a nuclear wasteland......windy, empty. And two bad teams.
At 2-4, the Giants saved their season at the time by winning @Minnesota. Followed it up with a win against the Jets to get to 4-4. (4-4 sounds amazing in this era of NYG football btw).
The loss at home to Kurt Kittner the following week ended the season.
One of the more moronic losses of all-time.
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was a real downer. Set the tone for the rest of the season. Had a big rally in the second half to take the lead with 11 seconds left only to let the ensuing kickoff go out of bounds, giving the Cowboys possession at the 40. We all know what happened after.
One of the more moronic losses of all-time.
The team openly quit on Fassel mid season
Loss to the Cowboys because of the kickoff out of bounds
Loss to the Eagles on a punt return. I was livid leaving the stadium
Loss at the Patriots. Outplaying them, Tiki fumbling. Slipped and dropped a TD right in front of me in the end zone.
Just absurd.
Loss vs Atlanta with Kittner as QB. My brother and me left with like 7 minutes to go, so pissed off.
and of course the Joe Horn game in which I traveled to NO for.
Just a ridiculous amount of dumb losses.
Team quit after the Atlanta game.
I remember Aaron Brooks tore us a new one and I also remember Jesse Palmer absolutely shitting the bed in the last game of the season. I think it was against Carolina.
But yeah, that season sucked
Ian Allen is arguably the worst O-Lineman the Giants ever had. I mean he made Omameh and Flowers look serviceable.
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was a real downer. Set the tone for the rest of the season. Had a big rally in the second half to take the lead with 11 seconds left only to let the ensuing kickoff go out of bounds, giving the Cowboys possession at the 40. We all know what happened after.
One of the more moronic losses of all-time.
Bill Parcells running onto the field and celebrating when the FG went through the uprights was just the biggest kick in the balls.
And then Matt Bryant kicked the ball out of bounds. We almost blow a game against the Redskins where we had an 11-point lead late in the game. And then there was that god forsaken Eagles' game.
But those last eight games were a mess. We were hardly competitive in any of them.
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but tempered because 1) Jim Fassel was the kind of coach who didn't deliver on high expectations and 2) we lost two starters on the right side of our OL and the replacements as of August were Tam Hopkins and Ian Allen (Yikes!)
Ian Allen is arguably the worst O-Lineman the Giants ever had. I mean he made Omameh and Flowers look serviceable.
James Brewer needs consideration here.
We didn't win another game until week 2 of the next season.
What a fucking joke that was, lol. I also remember being pumped that we shut down the Rams (?) in week 1, saying "OUR DEFENSE IS SO GOOD". Another total fucking joke.
Everyone had huge expectations going into that year.
Team really shit the bed that year.
What a fucking joke that was, lol. I also remember being pumped that we shut down the Rams (?) in week 1, saying "OUR DEFENSE IS SO GOOD". Another total fucking joke.
Everyone had huge expectations going into that year.
I had the same thoughts after Week 1: Man, this team is going to be damn good...