MORE DOWNS THAN UPS FOR GIANTS

 

Michael Strahan bounded off the Giants Stadium field Sunday and jogged through the exit tunnel, echoes of cheering fans ringing in his ears. Sadly for the Giants, Strahan was the only one who had anything to celebrate. His only sack of the game caused a mini-controversy when it appeared Green Bay quarterback Brett Favre deliberately made it easy for Strahan to make the play. But it also gave the nine-year veteran defensive end 22 1/2 sacks for the season, or one-half more than former Jet Mark Gastineau had when he set the NFL record in 1984. The Giants, however, concluded their dismal post-Super Bowl season with a dispirited 34-25 loss to the Packers, the final indignity in a 7-9 season that failed to produce a playoff appearance. The headline was left to Strahan, who initially rejoiced over his record-breaker by kneeling to the ground and touching his helmet to the turf. "It was a tough season but a good way to end it on a personal note," Strahan said. Teammates encircled him on the field, hugging and high-fiving, while Green Bay players offered congratulations as well. First among the Packers was Favre, who certainly helped Strahan when he changed the play call at the line of scrimmage from a run to a bootleg pass. That was a surprise considering the Packers were up by nine points with just 2:46 left, leading many to question whether Favre deliberately helped Strahan get the sack. Players on both sides expected a rushing play. "I'm thinking flat-out run," Strahan said. "It definitely caught me, but gladly I'll take it." He got it by easily blowing past tight end Bubba Franks and landing on Favre. The sack was Strahan's final play of the season, as he walked to the sideline, accepted kudos from his coaches, and took off his helmet for good. Fassel appeared done with the game as well, choosing not to use any of his three timeouts during the rest of that Green Bay possession or his team's final series, which began with 1:02 remaining. Though the comeback task would have been extremely difficult, a nine-point deficit with three timeouts is not impossible, leaving some Giants players annoyed after the game. In truth, those players had much to be disgruntled about. For the first time since Fassel's arrival five seasons ago, they had played a final game that meant absolutely nothing. They didn't play it well, either. Still on the postgame roll call were bad special-teams coverage, big plays given up on defense, debilitating turnovers, and untimely penalties. For instance: In the middle of the second quarter, the Giants appeared to cut their deficit to 14-13 on Morten Andersen's 50-yard field goal. But tackle Luke Petitgout was flagged for a false start and the three points came off the board. Moved 5 yards back, Fassel turned to rookie backup kicker Owen Pochman for the 55-yard attempt, but his kick was wide left. "Opportunities missed is going to be the theme that carries us through the off-season," said quarterback Kerry Collins, who threw two interceptions and fumbled three times. "I think that we need to be honest with ourselves and understand that it is going to take addressing those issues and working on those things if we want to become a good football team again." For Collins and Co., 2001 turned into a lost season. "Anytime you end the season on a losing note, you have to carry that and it's not a good feeling," receiver Joe Jurevicius said. "We have to think about what we could have done better so we're not faced with the same situation. "Of course there's an emptiness right now - we're not playing next week and so there's an emptiness. Our season hasn't gone the way we wanted. For us, pinpointing what went wrong in this game isn't what needs to be done. There are other evaluations we need to make." Jurevicius will be one among the team's evaluations as he is now a free agent, along with safety Shaun Williams, guard Ron Stone, fullback Greg Comella, and Andersen. Fassel said the evaluations will begin with himself. "Somehow and some way we left this season short," he said. "At 7-9, if I'm a head coach, then I'm going to make some changes," Comella said. "If I don't make changes, then they're going to change me. It doesn't just mean personnel. What we did this year obviously didn't work." The Giants' troubles were evident from week one, when their defense didn't hold up and their offense struggled for points. After four games, they had managed a 3-1 record, but even Fassel said, "We didn't feel real good, we didn't feel real confident." Those fears played themselves out over the next two games, back-to-back one-point losses to St. Louis and Philadelphia. Those heartbreakers are the ones the team points to now as the beginning of the end. "Those two in a row kicked us in the teeth," Fassel said. "There were real tough losses and that hasn't happened in a long time," Collins said. "We lost a little belief because they were so tough." The crisis of faith lingered, preventing a smooth Giant team from ever emerging. Instead, the defense would play well one weekend while the offense failed. Then, the offense would provide miraculous drives but the defense would give it back. In the end, there was no continuity. "We've had our ups and downs. Sometimes things go bad and it's hard to shake it off," linebacker Jessie Armstead said. "We've got to regroup and find a solution. There's always going to be an emptiness anytime you have a losing season. You can't say something positive. Everyone should hate losing. When you have a losing season, it's hard to think of the high points -you remember a lot of the low points." With Sunday's loss the coda to failure, those lows are too numerous to count.   All content © 2002- The Record (New Jersey) and may not be republished without permission

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