If Giants win ‘08 divisional game, how does season end?

loved hixon, but gilbride's offense needed plax, regardless of how great the o-line was.

I'm with you I think we make it there, but Hixon and Smith were their top options at that point on offense..

Not only that but the defense looked absolutely gassed at that point. They took a beating in that finale vs the Panthers, and where hanging on by a thread.

I think we lose in the big one. To your point, thank goodness for 11...wiped away the what ifs from that year, and 2010 Jackson punt return.

The Giants beat the Cardinals on the road the week before Burress was suspended. He was dealing with a serious hamstring issue, played one series to earn his per game bonus, and then sat out the rest of the game.

Two of the three highest scoring games for the Giants that year were the Burress suspension game against Seattle, and the Cardinals game where basically didn't play.

Burress as the mythical decoy stems from the perfunctory compliment Johnson gave him in press conference after the playoff loss.

The reality is Burress was having a shit year and the Giants played well with a subpar version of him early, and when they faced their division opponents for a 2nd and 3rd time, the lack of depth caught up to them.

If you think a hobbled ass Burress was the reason the Giants didn't advance, God bless you.

And Plax was still there( night as well add that) it would have been one hell of a Super Bowl vs The Steelers. If we made it without Plax, we lose the Super Bowl

said without Plax he could scheme differently. Toomer was a shell of himself and the WR group overall had no difference maker.

They also had some injuries on D and a little lacking with depth. Osi was lost in pre season.

Cardinals were a hot team but I think the Giants at home would have a good shot.

Then the Steelers. I like TC with two weeks to prepare the team. Then Eli finding a way in the end.

The Eagles were the *only* team that year that was going to beat the Giants, even without Burress. Eagles squeaked into the playoffs that season and I knew they were going to knock the Giants off in round 2. I was so angry.

blame the gun incident for the downfall of that team, but they were like the 2023 Eagles. They peaked early and ran out of steam. Losing Plax didn't help matters, but it wasn't the only reason that they fell off after that start.

In comment 16533582 Gman11 said:

Quote:

blame the gun incident for the downfall of that team, but they were like the 2023 Eagles. They peaked early and ran out of steam. Losing Plax didn't help matters, but it wasn't the only reason that they fell off after that start.

Plax was the most important offensive place and Antonio was the leader on defense. That night ruined both of their seasons.

!

Manning was terrible early in the divisional game.

He under threw a wide open Steve Smith on the first drive on a play that easily could have a been a TD. Later in the first quarter he threw a terrible ball off his back foot that got picked and returned inside the 5.

And whoever's decision it was to run Manning on a sneak on 4th and 1 with the game in reach definitely screwed up.

It also didn't help Carney missed 3 FGs all year, and missed two that game.

The Giants had plenty of opportunities to win that game. They played sloppy football.

monumental mistake not having better depth at the WR spot. He was really poor at staying ahead of things as future years showed all over the roster.

No go to WR that day was a killer. I think the Eagles pass D was number 1 or two and number 3 overall.

In comment 16533604 Lines of Scrimmage said:

Quote:

monumental mistake not having better depth at the WR spot.

Exactly. Relying on a run first team in the playoffs was foolish. He quickly pivoted, loaded up at WR.

And boom! Championship Baby!

In comment 16533608 christian said:

Quote:

In comment 16533604 Lines of Scrimmage said: Quote: monumental mistake not having better depth at the WR spot. Exactly. Relying on a run first team in the playoffs was foolish. He quickly pivoted, loaded up at WR. And boom! Championship Baby!

BOOM. Nice photo.

That championship was such a tremendous redemption after the horrible ways 2008 and 2010 ended.

In comment 16533669 christian said:

Quote:

That championship was such a tremendous redemption after the horrible ways 2008 and 2010 ended.

Great perspective in this thread by you, it’s easy and common to think that team was on the way to a repeat. You’ve changed my mind.

Especially defensively.

Tuck had a monster year but clearly was missing Osi on the other side. Osi’s loss cannot be underestimated.

Both Fred Robbins and Barry Cofield were hurt down the stretch and had off season surgery. The defensive line was a mess.

The silver lining from that game is the Giants draft Nicks 3 months later and reload for another championship.

The season that really is a bigger what if is 2012. If Nicks doesn't get hurt, the Giants had an extremely dangerous offense.

would’ve destroyed the Cardinals. They were an awful cold weather team, and if i recall correctly the meadowlands had something like 8-10 inches of snow that day. Super Bowl vs Pitt would’ve been a good one. Oh well

eventually- the offense was cooked at that point and the defense was faltering- mostly because of Pierce's involvement in the whole Plax fiasco.

Now, if Plax never has the issue we have back to back SB wins.

That postseason. He went on absolutely the most dominant playoff run Ive ever seen a position player go on and nearly single handily won his team a Super Bowl.

He had 30 rec for 547 yds and 7 TDs in 4 game and they big play in each one of those 4 games

Im sorry but Warner was largely just throwing it to him and letting him do all the work

Im not sure anyone let alone the Giants could have stopped him

but lose to Pats in the SB. The offense was too one-dimensional without Plax, and BB would have a field day game planning against it.

In comment 16533780 Section331 said:

Quote:

but lose to Pats in the SB. The offense was too one-dimensional without Plax, and BB would have a field day game planning against it.

My bad, had the wrong season in my head.

I don’t think we would be able to keep up points-wise with the Cards.

The respective conference championship games had four teams (cards, eagles, Steelers, ravens) that the Giants had beaten during the regular season (cards, Steelers and eagles wins were road wins no less and the giants crushed the ravens at home).

The plax injury was the turning point. Whether that was the sole reason the season went down the tubes, I don’t think anyone can say for sure. They just peaked too early that season and were a shell of themselves by playoff time. They lost 3 of their last 4 after starting 11-1, with the only win in the last quarter of the season being an overtime coin-flip win against Carolina. The writing was on the wall before the divisional round loss to the eagles and I doubt they would have won the Super Bowl that year even if they got passed Philly that day.

our team was struggling down the strech. We lost to Philly in regular season, played a so-so game against Carolina. We beat Arizona and Pittsburgh in regular season but both games were relatively close. We were actually fortunate t win the Pittsburgh game when they lost their long snapper and James Harrison snapped it over the punters head for a safety. Also, IIRC, I think Holmes might not have played for the Steelers that game either (and he was a monster in the Super Bowl). Just saying, I am not sure if we win Super Bowl. With plax injured and the defense tired maybe it just wasn't going to be our year after all.

Big favorites to get the Super Bowl and slight underdogs to win it. That team was good. That was a big missed opportunity