have to give props to Plexico Burress, Tiki Barber & Jeremy Shockey for last night's game... all 3 of them left it all out on the field yesterday & gave it all they had... in particular Shockey really impressed me w/the leadership he was showing... giving Eli encouragement, being an emotional leader on the field... if he & Eli can get on the same page, i've much higher hopes for this franchise going forward... but it's now up to Eli to step up & become the leader for this team, especially now w/Tiki retiring... it's Eli's team now, whether he likes it or not... time to stop suckling on the pacifier & become a man now Eli!!! stop looking like you're a lost kid at the shopping mall looking for his momma everytime you make a bad throw for crying out loud... it doesn't inspire confidence from your teammates or from the fans who cheer their hearts out for you, that's for sure! but i at least have to say he stepped up w/the pressure on & drove this team downfield to tie up the game, so he gives me hope that he can still be that franchise QB we thought we were getting... if the Defense woulda held, i have little doubt that we win that game on the very next possession.

3 things that i see MUST change for next season if we want to improve on this season:

1 - Tom Must Go... he's a confused, grouchy old man who's lost the respect of his football team... he's gotta go... how could a head coach not know that the ball was dead after the Philly defenders downed it in Giant territory off the punt where McQuarters went in & tried to pick up the ball? this is just a small indicator... this guy has lost touch w/the game & w/his team... he needs to go back to college football where he can scream at the players & they'll actually listen... that type of stuff doesn't work in the pros.

2 - get rid of bonehead Whitfield & bonehead McQuarters (i'll refer to them as Laurel & Hardy) - no more headbutts, no more boneheaded idiots trying to get their hands on a downed ball on punt coverage at our own 1 yard line, no more idiots missing their blocking & coverage assignments 10 times every game! NO MORE! send them back to Chicago or whereever the hell else the Giants got them from... & take that stupid bandaid off your face McQuarters!

3 - we need a new defensive coordinator... Tim Lewis just hasn't gotten the job done this year... the defense consistently looks confused on pass coverage & the blitz packages are so simple & obvious i could probably design better ones in Madden '07 myself... hopefully the new GM will bring in the right people to take this roster to the next level... i'm hearing Pioli from NE is on his way in for an interview this week, & Charlie Weiss could be the guy he brings in w/him (if he decides to leave Notre Dame that is)... hopefully they'll have a defensive guru w/a big tub of spackle that can fix this ship also, because right now we got a whole lotta holes in this defense to fill.

two straight seasons w/1st round exits from the playoffs... last year we came in strong & left w/a whimper... this year we came in w/a whimper & went out fighting... maybe next year we'll figure out how to go in strong & continue into the playoffs strong? maybe next year...