you know what?
We had to spend a weekend like this. I'm sure that's the case. We've had to sit around doing nothing for the past few years while Philadelphia, our mean neighbor in the Northeast Corridor, has experienced unparalleled prosperity.
The Eagles have won one Super Bowl and won last year. The Phillies came within two games of a World Championship two years ago, but last year they were one game short of returning to the World Series. The 76ers are perennial championship favorites and have an MVP. Villanova also won his second NCAA Tournament title on the bookend. All the while, we sat, steaming and stewing in a mediocre, endless puddle of mud.
And on Friday night, the Knicks rolled into the Wells Fargo Center and defeated Joel Embiid and the Sixers, 128-92.
On Saturday afternoon, St. John's played a campus game at Villanova's Finneran Pavilion (a building it hadn't won in since 1993), defeating the Wildcats 81-71.
Then, on Sunday, the Giants defeated the Eagles in a big upset.
Oh, and Igles was bloody, bruised and beaten before he even entered MetLife Stadium. They have already lost four of their last five games and have gone from remarkable team to disaster faster than any team in recent memory.
But the Giants were more than happy to shatter the Eagles' ego, building a 24-0 lead by halftime and en route to a 27-10 victory. The win was so perfect that Eagles coach Nick Sirianni took the white flag in the second half and pulled away his remaining regulars.
There were many people who entered MetLife wearing green Eagles jerseys, and many green Eagles faces who left after three hours disgusted with the current state of the team. On Sunday afternoon, despite their record and despite all the heartbreak that preceded them, the Giants played like a team in contention for first place.
“You only get a limited chance to play at this level,” Giants receiver Wan'Dale Robinson said at the end of the game. “We must take advantage of this opportunity and not take anything for granted.”
Robinson was one of the Giants' many stars on Sunday, catching five balls for 85 yards. He's one of the cornerstone players the Giants hope will bounce back from a largely disappointing 6-11 season.
That's the somber breakdown of this wonderful New York weekend. No matter how the tables turn on Friday night, the Sixers are still a better title contender than the Knicks. Despite how pleasant Saturday afternoon was on the main line, Villanova is still ahead of the Johnnys.
And look, despite all the dire circumstances surrounding the Eagles, they are a team that still has a season to look forward to this week, a team that still has a playoff date with the Buccaneers in Tampa. The Giants will dump their possessions on the Baggies on Monday and disappear for a while. The Eagles are still where the Giants want to be.
But… 50 weeks ago, the gap between these teams seemed as vast as the length of the route from the George Washington Bridge to the Ben Franklin Bridge. All the proof needed was the 38-7 onslaught the Eagles enjoyed in the divisional playoff round. . Now the gap is even narrower.
Even better, while the Eagles are inundated with dysfunction, the Giants never fell into the abyss under Brian Daboll. Instead, Giants fans will spend the next few days lamenting three games: against Buffalo, against the Jets, and last week against the Rams. The game could have, and should have, gone from 6-11 to 9-8.The Packers went 9-8 and made the playoffs (and the Giants beat Packers).
Despite a season that often felt like a complete disaster, they came close to writing a completely different story. So Sunday felt like more than just a consolation prize from the team to its fans.
“We didn't have the season we wanted,” Saquon Barkley said. “We wanted to win and be in first place, and we were able to achieve that.”
If Sunday was Barkley's last hurray as a Giants, he played his part by gaining 97 yards from scrimmage and running for several touchdowns. And the truth is, it still seems hard to imagine the Giants being better without him. we will see.
“One year is very different from the next,” Daboll said. “Let's have some fun this week as well. We were 3-3 in the division. We made some explosive plays, played a perfect game of football, and I'm happy for our players. It's a long time between now and next season, but I'm proud of the way our players competed and fought.”
Until then, the Giants spent Sunday being part of a great weekend where New York finally stood up to the Bullies of Broad Street and was no longer the coward of the county for a few days. Yeah. At least that's what we owe.
