Getting passed over nothing new for Giants

by Peter Schrager

Updated: May 23, 2008, 2:05 AM EST 691 comments

A team that, strangely enough, plays in the No. 1 media market in the world. A team that, oh yeah, just happened to win the Super Bowl last season too.

All things considered, we haven't heard that much off-season noise about the Super Bowl champion Giants. Aside from a much ballyhooed victory parade a few days after their 17-14 upset of New England in Glendale, a couple of gossip rag articles covering their starting quarterback's wedding, and a team meeting with the President at the White House last month, the Giants have been all but absent from the headlines.

No major scandals or arrests, no blockbuster signings, no post-Super Bowl Eli Manning marketing brigade on the country's collective senses. As far as traditional Super Bowl champion off-season media attention goes, the Giants are in the midst of the NFL's version of Silent Spring.

Which is pretty odd, really.

In the past four months, the Giants lost only two key contributors from last season's Super Bowl squad (linebacker Kawika Mitchell, safety Gibril Wilson), brought back their highly sought-after defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo (thus keeping him away from the Washington sidelines), hauled in a highly regarded draft class, and signed valuable veterans Sammy Knight and Danny Clark.

As of now, Jeremy Shockey, despite rumors that he'd be traded to New Orleans on draft day, is still wearing Giants blue. And Michael Strahan, the longtime leader of the Big Blue defense, remains undecided on whether he'll return to the field or not. Even with the Shockey trade buzz, Strahan's salary demands and the acquisition of former top overall pick David Carr as a backup quarterback, the Giants have been pretty much treated like a second-or-third-tier team by the national media. An afterthought, really.

A White House appearance was one of the Super Bowl champions' few offseason headlines. (Mark Wilson / Getty Images)

With the lack of attention, apparently, comes some subtle disrespect, too. Or, maybe it's just short-term memory loss.

Whatever the reason, it seems as though very few media outlets are even considering the Giants as preseason favorites to repeat their Super Bowl conquest of just four months ago, let alone come out of the NFC.

In fact, right now, most analysts seem to think more highly of the Giants' division rivals in Dallas, even though the Cowboys haven't won a playoff game in 12 years, New York's defensive line dominated Dallas' All-Pro-studded offensive line last January and the 'Boys dropped three of their last four games in '07. Dallas brings back much of the same team that went 13-4 last season, but didn't significantly upgrade any position (cornerback, maybe?), either. Yet, sure enough, Dallas is apparently the team to beat in the NFC in 2008. Again.

The Giants? Who? Oh, yeah ... them.

It's not like the guys in the Giants locker room are concerned by any of this, though. They're not exactly kicking and screaming, pulling Rodney Dangerfield "No Respect" routines, over a few articles.

Left tackle David Diehl explains, "A lot of people picked us to finish dead last in the NFC East before last season. This is really nothing new to us. We don't really view it as a sign of disrespect. Nobody picked us in the playoffs or the Super Bowl except for Giants fans, anyway."

Ah, the Giants fans. How are they taking all this Dallas love? Eric Kennedy, who runs Big Blue Interactive, the leading Giants fan message board on the Web, notes:

"I think many fans are still bothered by the fact that the Giants are not receiving the respect that a world champion deserves. Let's not forget — the Giants won 10 consecutive road games last year. They beat the Bucs, Cowboys and Packers — all favored division winners — on their home turf. None of those victories were "lucky" wins with strange calls or non-calls.

"They beat the No. 1 seed in the NFC. They beat the No. 2 seed in the NFC. They beat the No. 1 team in the NFL — a team that many argued was the best in NFL history. They held the highest-scoring team in NFL history to 14 points. C'mon."

In the end, no power rankings list or TV show debate really matters much at all. The players realize this. Believe it or not, even the fans do, too. Predicting a division winner in April or May is about as ridiculous as cooking up a 2011 mock draft. And when it comes down to it, the Giants are still the NFL's defending champions and will have targets on their backs come fall, regardless of which NFC team the media consensus deems the best.

Diehl knows this, "We have high expectation for ourselves. We understand what it takes and understand that it is a lot tougher to stay on top than it is to climb to the top. We realize we've got people gunning for us, and when you have people gunning for you — you must be doing something right. Everyone is committed and dedicated to putting in the hard work it takes to prove ourselves again."

The Giants play the Cowboys on November 2 at Giants Stadium. There's a good chance Dallas comes into that one as the favorite.

It'd be nothing new.

Fortunately for New York, it's the actual games that matter. Not what the pundits predict.

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