Palladino: No Doubt, Tom Coughlin's Giants Are A 'Gifted' Team
By Ernie Palladino
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If rumbles around the league are any indication, NFL commissioner Roger Goodell may soon have an issue cross his desk that will make these "Bountygate" cases look like minor annoyances.
It involves a request from certain teams to change the name of one of the league's marquee franchises, the New York Giants, to something more appropriate for its current style of winning. The frontrunner appears to be the Blanches, as in Blanche DuBois, the gal in Streetcar Named Desire who admitted, "I have always depended on the kindness of strangers."
Word out of the Giants' executive offices has it that the team is preparing the new helmet decals now. This, apparently, is a franchise that has gladly accepted any and all gifts from their league brethren during the Tom Coughlin-Eli Manning era.
According to league sources, those gifts have been many. In fact, there are some out there who will argue that the Giants really haven't won a single important game since the Bill Parcells era, and that includes the two Super Bowls following the 2007 and 2011 seasons.
The Redskins put their name right smack on top of that petition when cornerback DeAngelo Hall opined that the Redskins gave the Giants the 77-yard, winning touchdown in Sunday's 27-23 decision. One guy in the Redskins' defensive backfield didn't set his feet, allowing Victor Cruz to blow into the open and catch Manning's strike 40 yards downfield.
Hall maintained it didn't take a rocket scientist to figure out that Cruz would come so open. It was all a gift, which the Giants accepted with the same grace and thanks old Blanche extended to sister Stella for letting her live in that shabby New Orleans tenement.
The Packers had actually made a previous request, as Clay Matthews claimed his team put a tidy little bow around the Giants' 37-20 divisional victory last year. San Francisco followed up a week later when safety Donte Whitner said his squad gave away that 20-17 overtime win in the NFC Championship game.
And really, does anyone believe the Giants could possibly have beaten the mighty Patriots in the Super Bowl -- for the second time in five seasons, mind you -- without Bill Belichick at least forwarding some of his defensive practice tape to his old buddy Coughlin?
These guys aren't Giants. They're a bunch of takers.
Justin Tuck admitted as much.
"I hope we have nine more giveaways this year and then three to four more giveaways in the playoffs," Tuck said with unabashed greed. "I will be a happy man with that.
"So for all you guys out there listening, if you play us, if you feel like you want to give us something, I will take some sacks. Eli will take more 70-yard touchdown passes. And Coach Coughlin will take a couple of more wins to separate himself from Coach Parcells."
It's actually kind of a shame to see what the Giants have done to this league. It used to be an NFL where teams took what they wanted. The vaunted 49ers once inundated opponents with Joe Montana's West Coast Offense. The Cowboys dominated with a triumvirate of Troy Aikman, Emmitt Smith, and Michael Irvin. The old Packers power-sweeped with Bart Starr and Paul Hornung and Jim Taylor, and more recently aired it out under Brett Favre.
Those guys never relied on the beneficence of an opponent. Nor would any of them have accepted a victory created by a defensive mistake. They'd have thrown it back, literally.
Not these Giants. They accept all the help. Worse yet, their quarterback has the nerve to say "I appreciate him giving it to me. Thank you," afterward.
Yep. The New York Blanches it is. Go ahead, Rog. Order the change.
This team can't win a thing without the kindness of strangers.
Why don't the Giants get any respect? What's up with that? Be heard in the comments below!
