Giants' Titanic Disaster

“We’re going to be sick about this one for…for….forever.” – Giants head coach Tom Coughlin.

It’s the year 3006 and the New York Giants mark the 1,000 year anniversary of the horrific Titanic disaster. Although it’s several hundred years after the NFL permanently phased out the playing of football games in 2412, the Giants, like many teams in the United Way NFL, still use old football lessons about hustle, concentration, and finishing off your opponent to inspire their players in their new pursuit of competitive charitable acts, such as home building and trash pickup. The NFL permanently adopted this format after modern research surrounding concussions and brain injuries spelled the end of football, which joined coffee and SUV’s on society’s scrap heap. Nonetheless, children are reminded every year about Mathias Kiwanucka’s bizarre aborted tackle attempt like it is the tale of Passover, and the Wicked Son is told that you should “never, ever tackle life’s obstacles in this matter.”

Clearly, no matter how much the world changes, the horribly painful lesson of the Giants loss to Tennessee will reverberate for all eternity. OK, perhaps Coughlin was in fact liberally pumping up the importance of the loss to attempt a self-abusive end run around his critics. And yet there really were some basic, timeless and game-transcending truths which both the Giants and the Titans put on display to the world Sunday, when the Giants cruise ship ran into a titanic iceberg within their own minds.

The Giants’ three-headed fourth quarter goat, Plaxico Burress, Kiwanucka and Eli Manning, proved that you really do need to concentrate on executing your job and hustling until the whistle blows in order to be a winner. First, Burress changed the tone of the game with his lazy, yawning play with a big lead, allowing an errant pass to sail by without defending against the DB, Adam “Pac-Man” Jones, who intercepted it. Plax was reduced to a vulnerable blinking ghost as Pac-Man ate him up for 100 points, streaking down the sideline under the protection of his power pill.

Soon after, Kiwanucka had both of his huge arms wrapped around Titans QB Vince Young in a 4th and 10 death embrace that should have ended the game right there. Seems like the Giants' rookie defensive end either anticipated an “in the grasp” whistle that wasn’t there, or thought the ball had been thrown away. All he had to do was keep hugging and fall to the ground, which right there would be nothing the more than the basic definition of a tackle. Kiwanucka’s two-hand-touch level of effort breathed life back into the Titans as Young escaped his too-gentle clutches and rambled 20 yards for a first down.

Young Eli gave the self-inserted dagger its final twist. Inexplicably, the Giants QB put the ball in Young’s hands again at the exact moment where he could do anything but that and still go to overtime. His poor execution exceeded only by his poor decision making, Eli’s mind seems to be moving one way and his arm another these days. As if oblivious of the confounding failures of goats 1 and 2, Manning seemed to want to be the game’s hero, and lacked the judgment to realize what he was risking in that ill-advised pursuit.

As much as the Giants proved that a lack of mental toughness can be a team’s undoing, Vince Young demonstrated the type of miracle that heart and skill can produce. Young was deadly with his feet and hands and seemed nothing like a rookie, hitting his receivers, and then, with his brilliant sense of timing, knowing exactly when he could scramble ahead of the scattered Giants’ defenders. Most importantly, he never gave up, and always kept his head in the game. With the lead 21-0 in the fourth quarter, and Giants fans all counting the victory and going out to pick up their Chinese food, Young seemed to be the only person in the world taking seriously the Titans chance to steal the game.

Young’s day brought back memories of his epic performance for Texas, when they defeated USC in last year’s college title bout. 30 of 40 passing for 267 yards PLUS 200 running, and “that touchdown”, that perfectly timed scramble to the corner of the endzone on fourth down. So clutch. Also brings back memories of those human interest segments about Young’s near fatal bike accident when he was six, about the disturbingly large scar on his little torso, and how he had to spend almost a year in the hospital. Young says the accident made him who he is today. You can feel that the kid has courage, he knows he his not Superman but he also believes that if he fights and does not quit he can accomplish anything.

How could Vince Young be the most confident man on the field, with all the Giants talent and their 21-0 lead? Like Tom Coughlin, I believe mankind will be attempting to answer this question until the very end of recorded time.