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SPORTSWATCH: Aikman: Giants' angel?

Neil Best

September 14, 2008

When last Giants fans heard Fox's Troy Aikman, he was in the booth for a big game in Glendale, Ariz., that turned out well for Big Blue.

That was seven months ago. Today? Aikman is in St. Louis, where he and the Giants are on the undercard of a game pitting the quarterback the Giants beat in the NFC Championship Game against the team they beat in the Super Bowl.

Hey, who's the world champ around here?

"I would say I can't recall a defending Super Bowl champion not being regarded higher going into the following season," Aikman said. "But I do not agree the Giants have been as disrespected as many in the organization would like to believe."

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He's right, of course. The Giants are under the radar for a Super Bowl winner in New York, but no one said they are not contenders in the NFC.

In fact, they might even be ... the conference's second- best team, right?

"One of the reasons they haven't gotten the attention that they probably deserve is because of how good everybody thinks the Cowboys are," Aikman said.

"I felt the Cowboys were the most talented team in the NFC, and now with Tom Brady going down, you could argue they're the most talented team in the league."

Aikman is far from the only one who feels this way about the Cowboys. Michael Strahan himself picked them to win it all on his first day on the job for Fox.

What about the Giants' quarterback? Will he build on last season's playoff run?

"I know from experience that when you win a Super Bowl, it's amazing what that will then do for your confidence," Aikman said.

"This is probably the first year Eli came into the season and didn't have to answer questions about how are you going to be more consistent, what about your leadership? He's had a chance to feel good about his team and himself for an entire six-month period."

Aikman expects Manning to ride that early confidence to a 6-0 start heading into games against the Steelers and Cowboys, who haven't won a playoff game since 1996, when Aikman was at the helm.

"That was a lifetime ago," he said. "It is surprising, and don't think for a minute that doesn't just bother the hell out of Jerry Jones.

"Last year was the year that was going to change. We did that game , and I can tell you I've never heard a stadium go so flat and quiet at the end of a game. It was just disbelief . . . I don't think that organization has yet gotten over that loss."

ESPN's Ryder Cup

Al Michaels already is in his third year at NBC, and Disney is selling Oswald the Lucky Rabbit DVDs. But it will not be until Friday that one last piece of the 2006 trade that sent Michaels from ESPN to NBC Universal finally kicks in:

For the first time, ESPN will show the opening day of the Ryder Cup, paying to subcontract the rights from NBC.

"It was one of the elements of what was truly one of the more unique deals we have been involved in," said John Wildhack, an ESPN executive VP.

That's an understatement. Remember?