Game 16: Redskins (5-10) vs. Giants (7-8)

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The last game of the year. Saturday at 8pm on the wonderful, terrible NFL Network, the Giants come to Redskins Stadium. How far have these teams fallen? The Giants won the NFC East last season and the Redskins ripped off 5 straight wins to go from 5-6 to 10-6 and the playoffs. This season for Giants, news of Tiki Barber's retirement were leaked before he announced, a string of injuries including Carlos Emmons, Amani Toomer and Michael Strahan plagued the team, Eli Manning has been room temperature average and they gave up 30 straight points to the Saints last week. This season for the Redskins, Clinton Portis got hurt in the first preseason game, the defense appears to have been designed on a bevnap and Mark Brunell doesn't have the arm strength to pull a greased string through a rat's ass.

Unbelievably, the Giants can still make the playoffs! But it's really tough. After winning five straight in October and November, New York has lost six of the last seven, and the media environment is so bad for Eli that it is spilling into the Washington market.

Curly R aside: it is so asinine for Archie Manning to pretend that he did not do a svengali on Eli prior to getting drafted by the Chargers. That team was having some problems at the time to be sure, but look at what happened? It's like chicken and egg: did the Chargers get better because Eli spurned them and New York showered San Diego with draft picks, or vice versa? Archie was bitter about being a great player saddled in a bad market and did not want that to happen again, so he convinced Eli that Eli was sooooooo good that bucking the system the way John Elway did would be forgotten after four or five Super Bowls. Thing about that is, Elway was good. From the beginning. Eli, your dad is hanging you out to dry in the savage media market he insisted you play in. The love of a father.

Aside continues: so this week the NFL decides the playoff races are so 'exciting' that they authorize both Fox and CBS to carry two games on Sunday. 1) this is a bland form of appeasement of the fans in light of the hue and cry over NFL Network, which is only going to get bigger. 2) I won't even get to enjoy it since I'll be going with lifetime Eagles fan & Curly R reader/lurker Wilbert Montgomery to the Eagles-Falcons game in Philadelphia. Sirius will have to do us.

Jeremy Shockey, Shawn Springs, Michael Strahan, Luke Petitgout, Chad Morton, all on IR for these teams. Clearance, all players must go! Adam Archuleta might as well be hurt and on IR for all the playing time he's getting. As if it were not already bad enough with the whole Adam deal, it's devolving into a he said-he said on who got lied to, what was promised and how the team responds. It's an embarrassing mess.

Trying to look at the positive, Ladell Betts is a hell of a back, except for the fumbling. He has a chance to set a Redskins record for most consecutive 100 yard rushing games and has the highest per-rush average of any Redskin in the past seven years. With New Year's on my mind, here is to hoping Ladell resolves to fumble the ball no more. As for Jason Campbell, well I just hope he keeps it together and doesn't make any big mistakes. Remember dear reader, that the Redskins scored 31 last week and lost! The Giants are 28th against the pass, so here's hoping.

Defensively, I'm kind of low in the 'stay positive' department and just hope Eli and Tiki Barber do not light up the Redskins the way Marc Bulger and Steven Jackson did last week. The defense is an embarrassment and it would be hard to be worse.

There is a whole depressing side story here at the end of the year: the Redskins are about to set a bunch of franchise and league records for futility. Have a look and we will be going over these in the season wrap next week.

Other previews: Hogs Haven, The Redskin Report handy FYI, Redskins Fanhouse

This is a gameday open thread.