Brendan Rand ’11
Staff Writer

After starting out as one of the best teams in the NFL with a 5-0 record, the Giants now have a huge puzzle to solve.

Last nights disgraceful 24-17 home loss to the Arizona Cardinals on national television has aroused questions as whether the Giants are actually for real. With this loss, the Giants have fallen to 5-2.

Now, it’s one thing to lose to the New Orleans Saints. The Saints have one of the best offenses in the league and could contend for the Super Bowl. In that game, the Giants defense just seemed to disappear, letting the Saints run and pass all over them.

This loss could not have been more different.

While the defense wasn’t particularly stellar, they weren’t the worst unit on the field. The Giants offense kept shooting themselves in the foot (no pun intended) with numerous penalties and turnovers, among other things.

If a confused Giant fan were to look for a scapegoat, he would need look no further than Eli Manning.

Manning barely completed half of his passes and seemed to relapse back to his turnover-prone personality in throwing three interceptions to the Cardinals, including one that ended any hope of tying the game in the fourth quarter.

Eli wasn’t alone, however. The rest of the offense committed penalties of all kinds, with calls such as delay of game and unnecessary roughness, to name a few, hurting them. In addition, the special teams couldn’t save the team, with punter Jeff Feagles having a very uncharacteristically bad night.

With this loss and this two-game losing streak, should the Giants and their fans panic? NO!

The Giants are still 5-2 and have plenty of time to prove themselves again. But should there be concern? Of course.

Sure Big Blue has looked great so far against bottom feeders such as the Buccaneers, Raiders, and Chiefs. But doubters have begun to notice how bad the offense, defense, and special teams have looked at times against two of the toughest teams the G-Men have played so far.

In order to recover and silence the critics again, the team needs to gather itself and get back to playing coherent football.

The Giants schedule in the next five weeks certainly isn’t easy, with Big Blue playing at Philly, home against the Chargers, going on a bye, and facing the Falcons before traveling to undefeated Denver on Thanksgiving. These games should give us an idea of where the Giants are as a team and whether the dominant force can be restored.