For Giants, winds of November are waiting
Check it out, Football Nation: The Giants are 3-1!
This despite boring everyone during the free-agent signing period, losing large swaths of their defense to injury and playing three of their first four games on the road, one against Philadelphia's Dream Team.
Well done. And it figures to get even better. The rest of October features home games against the Seahawks, Bills and Dolphins wrapped around a bye week.
So factoring in the unpredictability of the NFL and the improvement of the Bills, the most reasonable guess at the Giants' record entering November is . . . stop me if you've heard this before: 5-2.
Of course it will be. That is Tom Coughlin's record every year, except for the one time it was 6-1.
The Giants have been 5-2 in seasons when they were expected to be good and seasons when they were expected to be bad. In years when they missed the postseason and years when they won the Super Bowl.
In odd years, even years and a leap year. In years when Tiki Barber was cheered and booed. In Giants Stadium and MetLife Stadium. In sickness and in health, for richer or poorer.
In other words: Wake me in November, when the schedule gets downright scary and the season at last will take shape, as usual.
And before you dismiss this as the cynical, party-pooping take of a sportswriter, remember it has been the mantra from Coughlin himself since the schedule came out in April.
"Part of our objective for the 2011 season is going to be how our team plays in the fourth quarter and how we finish," he said then. "And it's an extremely challenging finish."
In addition to the customary NFC East bloodlettings, it includes these non-division opponents: Patriots, 49ers, Saints, Packers, Jets.
Four of those teams currently are 3-1 or better. The Jets are not, but Rex Ryan just might have his men extra-ready for that Christmas Eve showdown.
So far, the finishing-in-the-fourth-quarter element of Coughlin's mission statement is going well, notably Sunday against the Cardinals. The Giants scored 21 points in that period -- 14 in 58 seconds.
It was the kind of steely, late-game effort we have come to expect from Eli Manning, who remains the Giants' best hope for keeping it together come late autumn and early winter.
He has seen the 5-2 starts come and go, although he was restricted to the bench for the good start as a rookie, then replaced Kurt Warner at 5-4 and oversaw a late-season free fall.
Manning has come a long way since then, clearly. And he remains the best hope for avoiding another holiday season flop.
But wait: What about his reputation for struggling in inclement weather, especially wind?
After Manning's news conference Sunday, I tried to pry out of him the secret of his success at University of Phoenix Stadium. He noted that it always is warm, always is dry and usually is indoors.
Any quarterback would appreciate such conditions, but Manning knows that to finish the job in 2011, he will have to excel in the cold, wet and outdoor circumstances to come.
So by all means, Giants, go about your business and give the home crowd a treat by winning two or three more games this month. It's the NFL, where winning always is a feat, especially for a team of which little was expected.
On Monday, Coughlin was talking up the Seahawks, even. "Our schedule is a very difficult one," he said, "and each one of these opponents is very capable."
Fair enough. But don't expect us to get too excited this time until you prove you won't turn into pumpkins after Halloween.
