Soon after the 2007 NFL playoffs began, the New England Patriots copyrighted the phrase "19-0 The Perfect Season." And printed T-shirts and other memorabilia. And the Boston Globe created a book celebrating the Super Bowl win. After all, the Patriots needed just one more win, right? But a funny thing happened along the way to perfection.
So we created this site to look back at the almost perfect season that started with fans calling for the heads of coach Tom Coughlin and quarterback Eli Manning and ended with an unlikely and unforgettable Giants victory in Super Bowl XLII, leaving the Patriots with 18 wins and just one Giant loss.
So we created this site to look back at the almost perfect season that started with fans calling for the heads of coach Tom Coughlin and quarterback Eli Manning and ended with an unlikely and unforgettable Giants victory in Super Bowl XLII, leaving the Patriots with 18 wins and just one Giant loss.
Offseason (Comment)
Coughlin Should Be Through With Little BlueMaybe Coughlin wouldn't have sounded as if he were pleading to keep a job he deserves to lose when he started talking about how proud he was of the "fighters" who lost 23-20 to the Eagles when Little Blue could not stop David Akers from booting the 38-yard field goal as time expired. "Absolutely no quit," Coughlin said, as if that is the new gold standard for the football Giants.
Fire him now!!!
-- Source: Steve Serby, New York Post
Wrong Answer: Keeping Coughlin May Land Big Blue in No-Man's LandWhat [the Giants’ owners] did, instead, was this: They went halfway. They curled up on top of the fence and stayed there. It is the worst possible thing they could have done, adding just one year to Coughlin's contract, hinting that the core of the team that exited 2006 will likely enter 2007 intact, keeping their coach a virtual lame duck for another 12 months and inviting the kind of chaos that ruined this season to explode into full-blown anarchy next season.
-- Source: Mike Vaccaro, New York Post
NBC Gives Barber the Ball, and He Runs With ItAnd, just like old times, he offered some criticisms of the Giants’ coach.
“Coach Coughlin was nothing but great for me as a player,” Barber said. “But the grind took its toll on me, and really forced me to start thinking about what I wanted to do next. That’s not a bad thing, it’s a good thing. At least for me it is. Maybe not for the Giants because they lose one of their great players, but for me it is.”
-- Source: John Branch, New York Times
Tiki Torched: Barber's a Fake, Coughlin's the Real DealNow that Barber is gone, look for the Giants to have more harmony in the locker room and more tolerance of Coughlin.
And you watch: Coughlin will turn that thing around. The Giants will be good in 2007, and The Big Fake Smile won't be a part of it.
-- Source: Pete Prisco, CBS
Giants’ Off-Season Has Been Work With No ProgressIt is only March, and the N.F.L. draft—April 28 and 29—is a month away. But for a team that talked openly last off-season about winning a championship, there is a sense that the Giants are in a slow rebuilding phase.
-- Source: John Branch, New York Times
Familiar Favorite: Patriots Will Be Driven to Handle Unfinished BusinessI've seen enough. No more calls, we have a winner. New England is officially the team to beat. Everybody in the league has made moves this offseason. The Patriots have just made better ones. Lots of them.
The Colts and Chargers should be there again come playoff time, standing between the Patriots and a trip to Super Bowl XLII in Glendale, Ariz. And the NFC will again field a Super Bowl contestant for the AFC to beat up on. But even in the first week of May, I'm convinced I know how this is all going to turn out.
-- Source: Don Banks, Sports Illustrated
Some College Athletes are Getting Death Threats. See our Beyond the Headlines coverage of Violence Grows Among College Sports Fans.
Training Camp (Comment)
Wrong Way for a Giant Era to EndMessage to Michael: If it's a simple case of your heart not being in it all of a sudden, then go. If it's the fact you're not making $8 million, get over it, come back, break LT's sack record, and go out the way a Hall of Fame Giant is supposed to go out.
-- Source: Steve Serby, New York Post
Tiki: Eli's Leadership 'Comical' at Times“Last year about Week 12 I turned over the offensive motivational speech to Eli and he was gung-ho to do it, but he was uncomfortable doing it. I think a lot of it had to do with vets being around---myself, Jeremy Shockey, Plaxico Burress. He didn’t feel like his voice was going to be strong enough and it showed. Sometimes it was almost comical the way that he would say things.”
-- Source: Ralph Vacchiano, Daily News
Manning Tosses Barber’s Words Back at Him“I’m not going to lose any sleep about what Tiki has to say,” Manning said between training camp practices Tuesday afternoon. “I guess I could have questioned his leadership skills last year about him calling out the coach and having articles about him retiring in the middle of the season, that he’s lost the heart. It’s tough as a quarterback to read that your running back’s lost the heart in playing the game and it’s the 10th week.”
With the slyest of smiles, Manning added, “I’m just happy for Tiki that he’s making a smooth transition to the media.”
-- Source: Lynn Zinser, New York Times
First Step to Being the ManIt hardly means that Eli Manning is ready to take the Giants to a Super Bowl, the way his older brother for the Colts did last February. But mark it down as the first baby step toward NFL manhood, and for all those who want their quarterback to stand for something, to rise up with clenched fist and stop taking garbage, to show some fire and brimstone, to stir the ghost of Johnny U, sing hallelujah!
-- Source: Steve Serby, New York Post
The 2008 Summer Olympics are coming! Find out all you need to know with the findingDulcinea Olympics Web Guide.
Week 1 (Comment)
Defense Truly Rests for GiantsThis woeful night should best be remembered by four numbers, in ascending order of importance:
There is one (1), which is how many punts the Giants defense forced, which is almost hard to believe. There is 142, the number of yards the Cowboys gained on the ground, and 345, which is how much Tony Romo collected through the air. And, most shameful, there is 45. When you surrender 45 points on opening night, it doesn't often inspire happy harbingers of what's to come.
-- Source: Mike Vaccaro, New York Post
So many times in sports, a potential juggernaut gets built in the offseason and everyone goes overboard wondering about its invincibility... and then, the season starts and the team doesn't look like a juggernaut. But "Patriots 38, Jets 14" was one of those times when the potential juggernaut actually looked more unstoppable than it had on paper. This was a complete and total decimation. That's the best way to describe it: A decimation.
-- Source: Bill Simmons, ESPN
Time for baseball! Visit your team in Spring Training in person or virtually with help from the findingDulcinea Spring Training Web Guide.
Week 2 (Comment)
Giants collapse in all phases in blow out against PackersFor the second week in a row, it was the defense that doomed the Giants, as they dropped their home opener to the Green Bay Packers yesterday, 35-13. While getting off to their first 0-2 start since 1996, the Giants have given up 846 total yards, 621 passing yards and a ridiculous 80 points.
-- Source: Ralph Vacchiano, Daily News
Woeful Giants 'Pack' It InIt was a nice medical comeback for Manning, but it accounted for absolutely nothing in terms of tangible results. That's what happens when you put an incompetent defense on the field that stops no one and makes it impossible to have faith that the season can be anything more than 15 more weeks of drudgery.
-- Source: Paul Schwartz, New York Post
Defiant and DominantAnd the final score from Gillette Stadium: New England Patriots 38, San Diego Chargers 14 … karma 0.
In a three-hour thrashing that was sheer torture for anyone outside the New England area, expat Pats fans excepted, Bill Belichick and his defiant band of merry pranksters took down the team regarded as the NFL's most talented Sunday night and affirmed their status as the franchise to beat in 2007.
-- Source: Michael Silver, Yahoo!
Win One for the Cheater: Why the Enraged Patriots Will Go UndefeatedIf more sordid details come out, and Goodell feels obligated to suspend Belichick for a week, the New England players themselves might beat some team 100-0. The whole mishegas puts the 1972 Miami Dolphins' distinction as the only team to play an entire NFL season undefeated in serious jeopardy. Roger Goodell did the right thing last week, but he also created a situation in which, come February, when the Patriots win the Super Bowl, and he has to hand the trophy to Bill Belichick, it's perfectly plausible to wonder if it shouldn't be the other way around.
-- Source: Charles P. Pierce, Slate
Coughlin Cornered by 0-2 Start[Coughlin's] team is in trouble again and he is in trouble again.
He isn't Dead Man Walking yet, but if this keeps up, the plank will be waiting for him.
The worst possible way for Coughlin to open the 2007 season, given the way his dysfunctional Giants closed the 2006 season, was with The Worst Team In Football.
-- Source: Steve Serby, New York Post
Week 3 (Comment)
Off-Broadway Melodrama: With Players Complaining and a Coach on the Hot Seat, 0-2 Giants Seem More Fit for Page Six Than the Back PageThey are 0-2 with a defense that can't stop anyone, and a loss this weekend would cement the feeling that the Giants' season soon could deteriorate into a long countdown to the firing of Coach Tom Coughlin.
-- Source: Mark Maske, Washington Post
Final Stand Gives Giants a Reason to BelieveAn 0-2 start to the season had built the foundation for a tedious, if not tortuous, march through the schedule and speculation about the franchise's next coach. That feeling was buttressed by a 17-3 halftime deficit.
But somewhere in the locker room, the Giants (1-2) found something they have been missing for most of a year: a string of consistency, well-timed doses of good luck and an unexpected defensive stand.
-- Source: John Branch, New York Times
No Points for Skins (Or Critics)If the Giants make the postseason (which is still a big if), they will point to this goal-line stand as the turning point.
-- Source: George Willis, New York Post
Week 4 (Comment)
Donovan McNabbed: Giants Defense Smothers Eagles QBAfter two weeks in which Big Blah surrendered 80 points and had the worst defense in the league, coordinator Steve Spagnuolo has morphed into Bill Belichick.
-- Source: Steve Serby, New York Post
Giants' 12 Sacks, 6 by Umenyiora, Bury EaglesNow 2-1 in the division and working on a streak of six quarters without allowing a touchdown, the Giants' defense seems to just be getting started.
-- Source: Arthur Staple, Newsday
The 50th Daytona 500 kicked off Nascar's season on Feb. 17. Bone up with help from the findingDulcinea Auto Racing Web Guide.
Week 5 (Comment)
Michael Strahan's New Book Praises Tom Coughlin"I can tell you, (after) my first meeting (with Coughlin) I went home and said, 'I'm going to enjoy this year. I'm not going to play for him next year. I hate him,'" Strahan said on a conference call to promote the book, which was released yesterday. "And now I can see myself definitely ending my career with him as a coach."
-- Source: Ralph Vacchiano, Daily News
Week 6 (Comment)
Giants Can't Afford to Fumble Prosperity This TimeIt's only mid-October, but if the Giants can avoid the injuries and dissension that have sabotaged Tom Coughlin's first three seasons, then they are not going away so fast and will be fighting for elite playoff position in December. Ultimately, it all comes to back Eli Manning. Sure, Tony Romo has become a cult figure in Dallas, but once you cut past the Romo-Mania, I would rather have Manning.
-- Source: Gary Myers, Daily News
The Winning MachineThe Patriots are 6-0 for the first time since 2004, their last Super Bowl year, but they will tell you until your ears bleed that it's still early. "The season really starts after Thanksgiving," Brady coolly explained on Sunday in the belly of Texas Stadium. And they're right. Leaves are still clinging to the trees in much of New England, and there is ample time for the Patriots' fast start to be undone by injury or a few bad bounces. But if it is much too early to award the Lombardi Trophy, it is not too soon to conclude that the winner of the Nov. 4 Patriots-Colts game in Indianapolis will become the solid Super Bowl favorite and (if still unbeaten) a serious contender to be the first team since the 1972 Miami Dolphins to finish a season without a loss.
-- Source: Tim Layden, Sports Illustrated
If the Giants' last drive gave you a heart attack, you're not alone. Read about the health risks of being a fan at findingDulcinea.com.
Week 7 (Comment)
Defense Comes Through Again for GiantsMaybe the Giants had not paused to notice the eerie parallels between this season and the ones before it, the similarities of their now-routine travels through September and October. But by now, they are too obvious to ignore.
-- Source: John Branch, New York Times
Move Over Miami: Patriots Bound For 19-0 and NFL Scoring RecordI believe these Patriots will go 16-0 in the regular season, and then march through the playoffs to become the first 19-0 team in NFL history. Write it down and underline it twice. They're that good, and they're that motivated.
I already picked them to win the Super Bowl last May, but now I'm going even further. Move over, Miami. After 35 years of solitude, you're going to have company in the perfect-season club. The Pats will beat the Colts in two weeks, and then everyone else in their path this season.
-- Source: Tony Banks, Sports Illustrated
For a roundup of the best coverage of Super Bowl XLII in the country, from pregame predictions to postgame analysis, read the findingDulcinea Super Bowl XLII Web Guide.
Week 8 (Comment)
Sorry, Brits, But Giants-Dolphins Was Typical NFLIf this game's goal was to take the temperature of European fans, then the NFL supplied a representative sample. What we saw is what the NFL is like nowadays. There are a lot of mediocre teams, and it's not always easy to tell the difference between the probable playoff teams (6-2 Giants) versus the 0-8 ones (Miami Dolphins).
-- Source: Seth Wickersham, ESPN
Running It Up: Belichick, Pats Take No PrisonersOn Sunday, Belichick kicked a Hall of Fame coach while he was down, running up the score on Joe Gibbs' Redskins in a 52-7 win. This comes a week after Belichick reinserted quarterback Tom Brady midway through the fourth quarter of a 49-28 win over the Dolphins.
What seemed cute three weeks when Kyle Eckel scored late on a 1-yard run during the Pats' 48-27 win in Dallas has turned ugly.
Welcome to Belichick's no-mercy policy.
-- Source: John Clayton, ESPN
Read about how the Giants' victory intensified the New York vs. Boston sports rivalry at findingDulcinea.com.
Week 9 (Comment)
Giants Scatter for Break, Promise No Second-Half Letdown"I think we are more realistic," receiver Amani Toomer said. "Six and two is a great start, but we're not totally enamored with it like before”… Toomer said the memory of last season's finish is a painful reminder of what can happen. He also said this year's team can play a lot better.
-- Source: Associated Press
Experiencing the Chill of 'Victory'After the legitimacy of the three Super Bowl titles was questioned, there was only one response: 19-0. The players keep saying they're taking it one game at a time; I say they're full of crap. They want to join the '72 Dolphins and destroy everyone along the way. Why? Because bleep everybody, that's why. After Welker clinched the Colts game with a crucial first-down catch, he defiantly hopped up and screamed at the poor cornerback covering him, "YOU F------ SUCK!" Unquestionably, it was the defining play of the season—not just that the Patriots converted the exact same situation that killed them last January (when they could have clinched a Super Bowl trip with one more completion on third-and-short), but that Welker displayed such arrogant disdain after finishing the Colts off.
-- Source: Bill Simmons, ESPN
New England ExpressThe prospect of an undefeated season, once so distant, suddenly seems very real. At 9-0 the Patriots still have conference dates remaining with the Baltimore Ravens (away) and the Pittsburgh Steelers (home); on Dec. 29 they travel to the Meadowlands to face the New York Giants. If they're still perfect, the Pats may have to decide whether to rest their starters for the playoffs or use them for the sake of history.
-- Source: Lee Jenkins, Sports Illustrated
Week 10 (Comment)
Giants Saddle Up but Don't Measure UpThe Giants squandered a second chance to make a strong impression and recast themselves as true title contenders.
"You focus on winning football games, and when you get to the playoffs, anything can happen," defensive end Michael Strahan said. "And who knows? Maybe we go to the playoffs and we play those guys again, and you have another shot at it."
But on the way to the final score, the Giants revealed their inadequacies: a solid but susceptible defense unlikely to carry the franchise's championship aspirations.
-- Source: John Branch, NY Times
Romo Rolls, Eli Folds In Giant MismatchOn a Star Wars stage where Eli Manning had his chance to make the kind of loud and definite statement Giant fans have been hungering for since he arrived four years ago as their franchise quarterback, it was Tony Romo who delivered the Gettysburg Address.
-- Source: Steve Serby, NY Post
Week 11 (Comment)
They're Good, But Not GiantBut 11 weeks are gone in this perfectly respectable season and you still always get the feeling they can do even better. The question is, what finally will coax it out of them? What keeps the Giants just a good but not great team, and something of an enigma?
-- Source: Johnette Howard, Newsday
The Fight for SecondThis NFL season is something altogether different now. Sometime in the middle of Sunday evening it ceased to be the annual carefully constructed exercise in athletic socialism—in which drafting, scheduling and free agency ensure that many teams, however flawed, can smell the Super Bowl in December—and devolved into a widely televised and very lucrative game of king of the hill. One team stands at the top, and other perfectly serviceable challengers struggle upward, fruitlessly. Laughably.
-- Source: Tim Layden, Sports Illustrated
Week 12 (Comment)
Snap Judgments: Manning's mediocrityAfter 50 regular-season starts and just more than three full years of watching his every move, can we just all agree that Eli Manning is what he is? He's never going to be Peyton Manning; and by now, it's our fault if we don't realize where he fits into the pecking order of NFL quarterbacks.
He's a Manning, so he'll never completely escape the comparison game. But he's not Peyton Manning, and it seems to be past time for us to stop expecting him to make that distinction disappear. To quote that noted bard from Foxboro, Eli is what he is. And maybe that's all he will ever be.
-- Source: Don Banks, SI
Perhaps It's Time To Let Eli Manning GoOK, let's all just get together and agree on this, so we don't have to unduly pick on the guy: Eli Manning isn't any good. Like, at all. Obviously, his last name has offered him "potential" status long past the expiration date, but we think all of us, along with Eli himself, would be a lot happier if all just accepted Eli's lousiness and moved along.
-- Source: Deadspin
Did Eagles finally expose New England's few flaws?Whether the defensive blueprint conjured up by Philadelphia coordinator Jim Johnson on Sunday night turns out to be a game plan adopted by the rest of New England's opponents, or becomes just another flawed strategy against the NFL's most lethal offense and its assault on the record book, remains to be seen.
-- Source: Len Pasquarelli, ESPN
Week 13 (Comment)
"Skittish? Not When It Counts: After Seven Miserable Quarters, Manning Shows Grit and Rallies Giants to Crucial Victory"All this on a miserable late afternoon at Soldier Field that threatened to turn the Giants' season and Manning's career into a tailspin from which both might never have recovered. Overstating the case? Perhaps. But who knows what happens if Manning doesn't rally from a 16-7 deficit in the final quarter?
-- Source: Bob Glauber, Newsday
Week 14 (Comment)
Tom Must Stay, a Year After Tom Must GoTom Coughlin is no longer the object of New York's scorn and wrath, because he's given New York a team built in his own snarling, fighting image. A tough team, for a tough town. A no-nonsense, together, 60-minute, Cardiac Coughlin team that may finally have learned how to honor the memory of the late Wellington Mara.
-- Source: Steve Serby, New York Post
Tom Coughlin's Job Security a Giant Blessing For PlayersThis year, even co-owner John Mara said "there is a big difference" in how everyone feels. The Giants have just rolled off two dramatic, come-from-behind wins in a row and have a two-game cushion in the wild-card race. And while Coughlin's bosses are reluctant to discuss his fate until the season is over, they are pleased with everything from the team's record to his improved relations with both the players and the press.
-- Source: Ralph Vacchiano, Daily News
Week 15 (Comment)
Mann Overboard: Struggling Eli Gives Critics More FodderThis is beginning to feel like one of those late-season slumps that have plagued Manning throughout his career. He was awful in his last home game against the Vikings and barely pulled out a win after playing a bad three quarters at Chicago two weeks ago. Now this.
-- Source: George Willis, New York Post