CHRIS KEANE/REUTERS
Tom Coughlin knows there is nothing the Giants can do but focus on the game at hand.
KANSAS CITY – They spent the past three weeks going 0-3, finding new and progressively more embarrassing ways to lose football games, leaving their fanbase completely stunned. They’ve been ripped by a former player (Carl Banks) and had their fight questioned by a current Giant (Antrel Rolle). They’ve been shredded by injuries, and their franchise quarterback has played three of the ugliest games of his career.
It’s all been a bad dream, a nightmare.
But to Tom Coughlin, that’s all ancient history. It’s all part of the completely forgettable past, a past that, in the coach’s book at least, can still be erased. And it’s up to the Giants to get out out their erasers on Sunday afternoon at Arrowhead Stadium, when they take on the undefeated Kansas City Chiefs in their next must-win game.
“Let’s take care of this moment, this moment in time, which is the only moment which we have control over,” the Giants’ defiant coach said. “You can’t do anything about yesterday.”
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The 2013 season may read like a horror story so far for the Giants, but Coughlin wants his desperate team to believe that there’s still time to change the tone of the narrative. There’s been nothing pretty – barely even positive – about this 0-3 start, but if the Giants can play giant-killers and down the upstart Chiefs, the season wouldn’t seem nearly as bleak.
“It’s easy to stay down and feel sorry for yourself,” Coughlin said, “but the difficult thing is to come back and stand up again and be positive and try to inspire people to overcome the obstacles that are there.”
Things can change in a flash in the NFL, and the Giants’ opponent this week is proof of that. An April ago, Kansas City was the NFL’s worst team, selecting first in the NFL draft, but fast-forward five months later, they’re fueled by an offense that hasn’t committed a single turnover and a defense that leads the league with 15 sacks.
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It’s no wonder new Chiefs head coach and old Philly rival Andy Reid has insisted on ignoring the Giants’ record.
“We don’t get caught up in the record,” he said. “They’ve got a phenomenal head coach. They’re a good football team.”
And there’s still so much time – more than three months – left for the Giants to remind everyone of exactly that. If their sputtering offense finally comes together on Sunday, if Eli Manning stops throwing interceptions and starts finding Victor Cruz and Hakeem Nicks deep against this supposedly fearsome Chiefs ‘D’, we’ll all remember that this air attack can single-handedly carry the Giants to a few victories.
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And if the ‘D’ comes together and harasses the pristine K.C. offense into a few mistakes, it will conjure images of a rejuvenated Justin Tuck and a finally healthy Jason Pierre-Paul.
None of that will be easy, of course. The Giants enter this game down two veteran offensive linemen in David Baas (neck) and Chris Snee (hip), and that pass rush has shown few signs of life in the season’s first three games. The league-worst running game is a punchline around the NFL, and even defensive coordinator Perry Fewell admitted that his linebackers “have been middle of the road” and “can play better.”
But on Sunday, none of that will matter to Coughlin, either. All the Giants can – and must – do, he said, is focus on the game and the moment.
“They’ve got to go play,” Coughlin said. “They’re not going to be able to be successful unless they come out of their shell and play and don’t worry about it. Let me worry about the errors. Let me worry about what to say. You go play the game.”
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