What a season. After a dud against Dallas while hosting the season opener, the G-Men reeled off 6 wins in 7 games – the lone loss being by about a yard short on a last-minute FG try in Philly. Meanwhile, the Cowgirls & Skins were on their death beds at 3-5 – a full 3 games behind Big Blue. Fast forward through the next couple months and the script has been flipped. I’ve been doing my duty as a Giants blogger scraping up any shred of optimism to defend loss after loss while RG3 leads his squad to 6 straight wins & Tony Homo pulls 16 TDs out of his ass against just 4 turnovers during their 5-2 run. With the only hope of January football resting on, not only a Giants W, but losses by da Bears, Vikings & Cowgirls, reality is about to hit pretty hard.

And by “pretty hard” I mean “in all your Giants-doubting faces”. Everyone’s seriously counting NY out? Just because they need a lot of help doesn’t mean they have no shot. Everything started falling into place when the Seahawks crushed the 49ers on Sunday night. That SF loss means the Pack have a shot at a first round bye – which gives them something to play for when travelling to Minnesota. I’ll take the squad that’s 9-1 in their last 10 (the loss, of course, to the Giants) over the one-dimensional team whose one dimension is a bit banged up & will be running with the added pressure of the all-time rushing record. Besides, Aaron Rodgers has shredded dome teams this year. 70% completion rate with 14 scores & just 2 picks. Detroit hosts da Bears on a 2-5 slide and, with Forte playing hurt at best, don’t be surprised when the Lions tee off on Cutler in front of their home crowd & wrap up their season with a spoiler win over a division rival. That’d take the sting off of their previous 7 straight L’s, so they’ll be ready to play. As for Washington knocking off Dallas, let’s be real – for as well as Romo’s been slinging it lately, he’s still Tony Romo and he’ll remind us all what that means in an ugly ending to the regular season.

Which leaves the Giants needing to beat the Eagles, and that’s where the stars aligned. Mike Vick? Talk about a gift. Whatever offensive chemistry built in Philly over the past couple weeks is now out the window and back in the hands of a QB whose concussion the entire organization basically threw a party for. NY needs all the help in the world, and there’s been no player better equipped to help opposing teams than Vick. Between that and a defense that’s ceded 30 points per game over their last 10, consider MetLife the place where the first of 4 wins happen to send Big Blue to Frisco for the Wild Card round. That’s the reality.