When Michael Strahan said that the Giants should be ashamed of themselves for the way they finished against the Eagles, he was merely saying what just about anyone who watched the game thought when DeSean Jackson crossed the goal line.
Anyone who wasn't watching from the Giants sideline, anyway. Two guys that were, Eli Manning and Justin Tuck, both shared their thoughts about what their former teammate had to say about the Giants' inability to finish. Eli played the always popular evil media card.
"Well, it is typical," Manning said. "He has gone media so that is what they do. ... He's on the dark side now. That is what happens."
It's funny how rarely athletes talk about the dastardly members of the media when they are the subject of loving profiles from those media members. Only positive opinions welcome, thank you very much.
Tuck's living in a bit less fantastical of a world, but he's just as dismayed by Strahan's analysis of what went down. He joked that Strahan's teams were always undefeated, a nice dig especially in light of the gap-toothed wonder's role in massive collapses against the Titans and 49ers, among other Giants failures during his career.
Fair enough, but Tuck would have been better served by stopping there. Instead he went on and wound up solidifying Strahan's point about the team's lack of a killer instinct and/or a finisher's touch.
"I'm not ashamed and I don't think anybody in this locker room should be ashamed," Tuck said. "We played a great 52 minutes and it just wasn't for us. Sometimes things happen and you have no explanation about it. And I don't have any explanation."
U.S. & World
See, the thing about NFL football games is that they last 60 minutes. Playing a great 52 minutes and then folding up is exactly what people mean when they say you don't know how to finish. It might not be your preferred explanation for what went down, but it's a perfectly valid explanation
It's also an easy one for Tuck and company to invalidate. Go out and beat the Packers up for 60 minutes on Sunday and no one will be trying to figure out why a talented team has consistently failed to live up to expectations. They'll be celebrating your grit and guts for going into hostile territory and walking out with a victory.
There might even be some media members jumping on the bandwagon, although we'll surely hear some disparaging remarks from Manning about those filthy animals.
Josh Alper is a writer living in New York City and is a contributor to FanHouse.com and ProFootballTalk.com in addition to his duties for NBCNewYork.com. You can follow him on Twitter.
