Big Blue Huddle

Reflecting back over the last week on this year's disappointing Giants campaign, I found myself searching my memory for a comparable season in which the team finished with a double digit win total, but missed the playoffs in such heartbreaking fashion. Well, I didn't have to think long before coming up with 1988.

The more I thought and read about the 1988 season, the more correlations with 2010 became apparent. As food for thought, here is a list of the similarities:

-The 1988 and 2010 teams both finished 10-6 and missed the playoffs.

-Both teams missed a wild card birth by virtue of tiebreakers that were not decided until the final day of the season.

-Both teams finished second to the Eagles in the NFC East despite earning an identical 10-6 record. Both teams were swept by their rivals from Philadelphia.

-Both teams played the Eagles at home late in the season with a chance to take control of the division. Both teams lost those games on improbable, bizarre comebacks. In 1988, the Giants had a 17-10 lead late in the game, having effectively shut down the Eagles talented, mobile QB Randall Cunningham. With time running out, Cunningham threw to TE Keith Jackson, who then fumbled the ball forward into the end zone. A young Cris Carter fell on the ball for the tying touchdown. In overtime, Jeff Hostetler, who replaced an injured Phil Simms, threw an interception deep in his own territory. The Eagles lined up for a game winning field goal, but the kick was blocked by Lawrence Taylor. With all the surreal horror of Desean Jackson's punt return, Eagles DE Clyde Simmons picked up the fumble and ran about 20 yards for the winning touchdown.

-Both teams had another chance, after losing twice to Philly, to secure a playoff spot and win the division, and both failed miserably. While the 2010 Giants were trounced by a good Green Bay team, the 1988 squad played the woeful Jets in the season's final week. A victory would have won them the NFC East and ensured a first round playoff bye. The Giants were undone that day by atrocious special teams coverage and poor pass blocking, and lost 27-21 when Ken O'Brien hit Al Toon for a score with seconds left on the clock.

-Both teams were trying to redeem themselves after unexpected losing seasons that followed Super Bowl success. The 1987 Giants slipped into last place with a 6-9 record just one year after winning the Lombardi trophy. The 2009 Giants fell to 8-8 after a championship in 2007 and an NFC-best regular season in 2008.

-Both teams had Super Bowl winning quarterbacks who suffered harsh criticism from media and fans. Phil Simms was thought of as too fragile, too mistake-prone to lead the Giants to a championship. These perceptions continued for some even after his Super Bowl MVP performance, and crescendoed in '88 with the frustration of a second straight playoff-less finish. Many fans have similarly targeted Eli Manning this year.

-Both teams had Super Bowl winning coaches who's futures were questioned after the season's disappointments. Bill Parcells chaffed at media criticism and entertained offers to leave New York to become the coach of the Atlanta Falcons in the 1989 offseason.

It is impossible for us to know at this point how the future will play out for this era of Giants players and coaches, but we can only hope the aftermath of the 1988 debacle will be instructional. After the '88 season, the Giants front office and coaching staff did not endorse wholesale changes. Some minor roster tweaks to strengthen Special Teams and reshuffle the offensive line, coupled with the drafting of more talent in the defensive backfield led to a division title in 1989 and a Super Bowl victory in 1990.

The same core of players, with the same coaches preaching essentially the same philosophy, rebounded from the malaise of 1988 to become champions. The team recognized that while the results on the field had been maddeningly frustrating, they were not indicative of major problems with the personnel or leadership. That conclusion, unpopular as it was at the time, led to the team's second Super Bowl title.

Food for thought.

Today's date is memorable for two Giants games with similar outcomes: They were both closely fought, bitter losses. Out of those disappointments, however, came the seeds of better days to come.

December 18th, 1988 - Jets 27, Giants 21

The 1988 Giants team stands out in my mind as a squad that could have accomplished so much more. The season's final game against "the tenants" typifies the near misses that characterized the team.

The Giants stood at 10-5 going into the game and needed only a victory against the 7-7-1 Jets to win their second NFC East crown and lock up the 2nd seed in the NFC playoffs. Two losses to the 9-6 Eagles of Buddy Ryan, Reggie White and Randall Cunningham had made outright victory a must. The schedule had been a rollercoaster. While Lawrence Taylor was suspended for the first four games for violating the league drug policy, the Giants lost a heartbreaker 20-17 to the eventual Super Bowl champion San Francisco 49ers when Joe Montana connected with Jerry Rice on a 70+ yard bomb as time expired. The Men in Blue stood at 7-5 after their second loss to the Eagles, and the season appeared to be in peril. Then came the famous game in which Taylor managed 3 sacks and a forced fumble against a good New Orleans Saints team while playing with a separated shoulder. The Giants went on to crush the Cardinals and Chiefs the next two weeks, appearing to build momentum toward a postseason run while taking control of their own destiny.

Alas, that playoff run was not to be. That day against the Jets, everything that could go wrong for the Giants, did go wrong. The Giants ran at will, but had a hard time converting 3rd downs because the offensive line, so dominant in the run game, was shockingly like a sieve against the Jets' pass rush. The Giants' kicker, Paul McFadden, missed two field goals which would have tied the game in retrospect. Special teams were awful, giving up long kick returns and suffering from Phil McConkey's uncharacteristic fumble of a punt at his own 6 yard line. Despite all that, Simms drove the Giants down the field and found Lionel Manuel for a go-ahead touchdown with about 3 minutes to play. Leading 21-20 and needing a stop from the Big Blue Wrecking Crew defense, the kickoff coverage broke down again, giving the Jets the ball around midfield. Gang Green drove into field goal range, but wouldn't even need to bring out their kicker, as Ken O'Brien found Al Toon in the end zone for the winning score with 37 seconds to play. Covering Toon was rookie CB Sheldon White, thrust into the game when Perry Williams was injured earlier that day.

The Giants could have still clinched a Wild Card berth, but lost out on tiebreakers when the Rams beat the heavily favored 49ers in San Francisco later that night. The Giants season was over.

The offseason would see the offensive line revamped, with Jumbo Elliott and Doug Reisenberg inserted at the tackles. Safeties Greg Jackson and Myron Guyton would be drafted, along with return man David Meggett. All of them would play key roles as the Giants went 28-8 over the next two years, winning the Super Bowl at the conclusion of the 1990 season.

December 18th, 2004 - Steelers 33, Giants 30

I'm sure most of us recall this game from just five years ago in which the 12-1 Steelers got all they could handle against the 5-8 Giants. The first game between rookie quarterbacks Ben Roethlisberger and Eli Manning saw the young Manning show fans for the first time why the Giants front office had tried so hard to get him. Manning threw 2 TD passes and drove the Giants down the field to set up a Tiki Barber TD for a 30-26 lead late in the game. The Steelers would come back and win, of course, then go on to win a Super Bowl the following season. As we all know, Manning would lead the Giants to their own title three years later.