New season brings fans hope, promise
Afamily friend won raffle tickets to the Giants final preseason game, so it was the perfect opportunity for long-time Giants fans Jim and Louise Ruth of Aberdeen, N.J., to pay their first visit to MetLife Stadium and watch their favorite team play.
“We’re coming again on Nov. 6 because our other sister gave us some tickets for a Christmas gift,” Louise said. “We haven’t been to a game in many years and now we’ve got two in a couple of months.”
Suffice to say, the Ruths (no relation to the Babe) are crossing their fingers, hoping their visit in November when the Eagles come to town will be a more meaningful game with the Giants in the midst of a promising season.
“I’m always optimistic the Giants will take it all,” said Jim, a Brooklyn native now retired as a court clerk from the New York Supreme Court.
They were part of the tailgating faithful Thursday night, indulging in some pregame food and drink before witnessing a final preseason game started by a future Hall of Fame quarterback, but played mostly by rookies, undrafted free agents and those desperate to making the final roster.
It was the final dress rehearsal but offered little to erase the uncertainty surrounding the Giants prospects as they head into their opener next Sunday in Dallas. Beyond holding Tom Brady and the Patriots to just six first-half points, defensive end Kerry Wynn had some moments on defense including a forced fumble; cornerback Trevin Wade made a terrific interception of a Brady pass while DE Romeo Okwara dropped the Patriots quarterback for a sack.
Offensively, quarterback Ryan Nassib’s night was high- lighted by a 59-yard touchdown pass to wide receiver Tavarres King, and later thirdstring QB Logan Thomas zipped a 17-yard TD strike to Roger Lewis. It helped the Giants claim a 17-9 victory, but what kind of product they put on the field against the Cowboys next Sunday is still anyone’s guess, and that’s unsettling.
The Giants’ primary goal coming out of preseason was to not suffer any major injuries. So far so good, knock on wood. Now it’s up to rookie coach Ben McAdoo to fix an offense that has been so unproductive it’s hard to figure out if they need more camp or to simply start the season.
Most fans are probably like Heath Harte, who inherited the tickets his father owned since the first Giants game in 1925.
“I only wish I had the stub,” he says. Harte, an attorney from Stamford, Conn., has seen the struggles of the Giants first-unit offense during the preseason and is hoping it’s simply a product of a lack of game-planning.
“I’m hoping the Giants are just showing their vanilla offense,” he said. “Last year, they had a decent offense and no defense. Now we’ve done a lot of offseason work on the defense, I’m hoping when we go to the first game down in Dallas, the offense will show something.”
Not surprisingly, the prevailing concern as the Giants enter the season is the capability of the offensive line. Paul Lupo of Easton, Conn., is among those nervous.
“If they can’t keep Eli [Manning] upright, I’d be afraid he’d get hurt,” said Lupo, who owns an accounting firm. “As durable as he is, he isn’t 27 anymore.”
Lupo is among those who weren’t in favor of the Tom Coughlin era coming to an end.
“I understand why they did it,” Lupo said, “but the last few years he hasn’t had all the right pieces. He was a great coach. He’s done a lot for this franchise and he left with the same class he came in with.” It’s McAdoo’s team now. “I’m happy they got him because I didn’t want to see the offense change all over again,” Harte said. “But now that training camp is over and the preseason is over, let’s see what he’s got now.”
Cross your fingers.