Seattle has not been a very popular travel destination for the Giants under Tom Coughlin.
They fell behind 42-3 in 2006 before scoring 27 meaningless points in the fourth quarter to make things look more respectable. In 2005, Jay Feely missed three field goals to send them to a 27-24 loss and give birth to the only Giants-related "Saturday Night Live" sketch in memory. This year's schedule included a trip that sparked those memories and fears of the loud crowd at Qwest Field, but they may be for naught.
The Seahawks barely have a team to bring onto the field come Sunday afternoon. Seven players left Sunday's blowout loss to the Raiders because of injuries, including quarterback Matt Hasselbeck who left with a concussion. That might be because starting left tackle Russell Okung didn't even play because of his injury and neither did Brandon Mebane, their best defensive tackle, or a pair of cornerbacks.
That's a lot of injuries for one team to deal with and Hasselbeck's is particularly troubling when the quarterback killers from the Giants are rolling into town. It might still be loud come Sunday, but noise can't really level the playing field when the team you're facing has a skeleton roster that couldn't manage to stay within 30 points of the Raiders in Week Eight.
There's no denying it, someone up there likes the Giants. It goes well beyond the Seahawks as well. The Cowboys are the worst team in the conference and the Vikings might even be a bigger joke now that they've decided to cut Randy Moss weeks after trading a draft pick to bring him to town. The NFC West champion will wind up being the worst team to make the NFL playoffs in years and the Bears can't do anything offensively.
The Redskins, who briefly looked like they'd put themselves back together, are in disarray once again thanks to Mike Shanahan's decision to bench Donovan McNabb with less than two minutes to go in a game that was still up for grabs. The Eagles don't know who their quarterback is going to be from week to week, their defensive coordinator is dogged by rumors of an imminent firing and their best wide receiver was last seen trying to clear cartoon birds from around his head.
That leaves the Packers, whose defense was outstanding against the Jets, and three teams in the NFC South as serious contenders for the Giants. It's unlikely that the Buccaneers, Falcons and Saints will all wind up in the playoffs and attrition will probably take care of the surprising but flawed Bucs. One of the other dome teams would then have to go on the road in January to New Jersey, always an appealing option when you're the Giants.
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There's lots of football to be played, obviously, but right now it is the Giants' conference to lose. And, judging by the opposition, if they do lose it they will only have themselves to blame.
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.
