The Post Mortem

A lot of you Giants fans are going to ask for a mea culpa in regards to Plaxico Burress and Eli Messiah. But don�t feel compelled to do so. Sure, you were told time and time again that Burress was really the MVP of the league and that he has elevated the Messiah�s game to make him a passable quarterback.

But those days are long gone.

The Giants couldn�t score a touchdown off the lousy Cowboys secondary. The Cowboys secondary is so bad, they have refused to put Adam Jones on IR. And the Giants still couldn�t muster anything.

And really, the Messiah hasn�t thrown a meaningful touchdown pass in two weeks. Coincidence? Hardly. The Giants best chance to repeat shot himself in the leg

The Giants have done well in spots when Burress has missed time, but when you give a team a full week to scheme Eli without his top receiver, well, you see the results.

You could reason that the Giants were a little flat after clinching the NFC East. But the Giants haven�t even clinched a first-round bye. With Minnesota surging, there is a possibility the team would have to play in the first round. The Giants were seemingly a lock to be the No. 1 seed only a few weeks ago, now they are fighting to keep their first-round bye. That won't be easy with the Panthers coming to town.

• Good way for the Cowboys to start the game � throw the ball to Jason Witten. If you ever wanted to see the difference between the 2008 Cowboys and the 1990s Cowboys, it�s the jealousy. Michael Irvin, for all of his faults, never complained about the looks that Jay Novacek got. He never complained that he never got the number of touches that Jerry Rice got in San Francisco. Irvin was a selfish player, but he was selfish about winning. Troy Aikman and Irvin sacrificed numbers to win. That�s why they have three Super Bowl rings and this year�s version probably won't win a playoff game. Yes, even if they do have to play at Arizona.
• Fitting, Terrell Owens drops the first past thrown in his direction.
  

• If the Chargers are content to beat the Raiders and Chiefs, then Norv Turner certainly is their man. Four of the Chargers six wins this season have come against the bottom of the AFC West. But the funny thing is, the Chargers are still alive in the playoff race. The Chargers would have to beat the reeling Buccaneers, while the Broncos would have to lose a home game to the Bills for the season finale to matter. Why do I get the feeling that is going to happen? This almost seems destined to happen. Then again, it would seem more fitting for the Chargers and Broncos to both lose next week.
  

• Somebody should have told the Cardinals that they still need to play out the rest of the season. At least for the sack of fantasy teams everywhere. What a horrible performance, but should have been easily seen.
  

• The NFL so rarely overturns calls unless there is indisputable evidence, so it�s amazing that the Steelers got that touchdown to beat the Ravens. Especially with so much on the line in this game. The referees basically gave the Steelers a first-round bye in the playoffs with a highly questionable call. Honestly, they need to scrap replay because their use of it never makes sense.
  

• Turns out Ryan Fitzpatrick could lead the upset of the Redskins. But your upset special did hit (Houston). Wow, Washington is one bad organization right now. Are they calling for Colt Brennan yet? The Redskins need a receiver, though. You can't win football games with receivers who are as tall as David Eckstein.
  

• Congratulations to Sam Bradford. And take solace Sooners fans, in that the Lions own the first pick in the draft and that will likely sway Bradford to stay in school for another year.
  

• Best Blue Oyster Cult song: Burin' for you. Nobody got the right answer so the prize money moves over to this week.
  

• Mark Teixeira got his eight-year offer from the Angels for what is believed to be more than $160 million. As an Angels fan, it's hard to imagine if you want Teixeira to sign a.) because you want him on your team, or 2.) you can face all of the Red Sox-loving media who have made Teixeira to the Red Sox a done deal since July. And really, no matter how much money the Sox offer, is it worth it to have to deal with those d-bags for eight years? Manny Ramirez was once a fun-loving goof who was eventually ruined by those people.

AND FINALLY
Wanted to put something deep about the NFL layoffs, but thought better of it. Imagine that, me making a smart choice. Although, this guy certainly seems to get it.