Twenty-one days is about the time it takes me to gain two or three pounds during fat-ball -- er, football -- season.
Tom Coughlin's defense is struggling to stop the pass. (Getty Images)
It's also the amount of time it has taken the New York Giants to go from checking on reservations in Miami for the Super Bowl to checking on reservations for offseason vacations -- in January.
OK, so it might not be that bad. But after the Giants were blown out 40-17 by the Philadelphia Eagles on Sunday, their third consecutive loss, they have to be scrambling to figure out what went wrong.
Two weeks ago, I remember walking into the Superdome for the game against the New Orleans Saints telling some in the press box that the Giants were the best team in the league and coach Tom Coughlin just might win his second Super Bowl.
They were blown out by the Saints, then lost to the Cardinals at home. Then, with a chance to rebound against a division foe they've had success against, the Giants didn't even show up.
Their season is like Mickey Rourke's acting career: A promising start that was followed by disaster after disaster.
Do the Giants have the equivalent of The Wrestler left in them?
Maybe they should call Rourke. Their defense needs a facelift, and isn't he an expert on that?
After the Saints blew out the Giants, the one thing Saints sources said was that they knew they could throw it on the Giants secondary. If they blocked the pass rush, they would beat the Giants.
They did, and they did. And so have the past two teams, including the Eagles this week. The Giants secondary has been torched and that has put a lot of extra pressure on an offense that isn't playing well.
Eli Manning's past three games haven't been good. He has thrown three touchdown passes and six interceptions, including two Sunday as the Giants fell to 5-3.
For their efforts, or lack of, the Giants get an F here in our CBSSports.com Week 8 Grades. The Giants are now third in their division, a half game behind the Eagles and Dallas Cowboys, both at 5-2.
Three weeks. Three games. How quickly it can all change.
Think I can dump five pounds in the next 21 days? Nah, it's fat-ball season.
Eagles: Donovan McNabb lit up the Giants, which wasn't tough to do. The Eagles also ran the ball well, with Leonard Weaver's long run setting the tone. The defense did the rest, with two interceptions.
B
2.94
F
Giants: The pass defense continues to be a major problem. It was exposed in New Orleans and the two games since. Eli Manning had another tough time, his interception in the first quarter helping Philly to a 14-0 lead.
Dolphins: They won this game with returns. Ted Ginn Jr. had two of them on kickoff returns and Jason Taylor had a fumble return for a score. That helped offset a lack of offense. But they found a way.
C+
2.23
C-
Jets: They let a good defensive effort go to waste with poor special-teams play. That hurts. The offense moved the ball, but the turnover for a touchdown was a killer. Rex Ryan went for two too early and it cost them.
Colts: Peyton Manning had another big day, but they couldn't score touchdowns. He threw for 347 yards and Reggie Wayne had 12 catches for 147 yards and a score. That should mean more points. The defense gave up one big play to Frank Gore, but played OK the rest of the way. Still, pretty lackluster.
B+
3.09
C-
49ers: They played tough, but they didn't do enough on offense. Gore had one big play, but that's it. The defense bent, but stiffened when it needed to. They played feisty for a team that was playing a second consecutive road game.
Rams: Give this one to Steven Jackson. He ran for 149 yards and the game-winning touchdown to break the losing streak. The defense, which has been maligned for most of the season, played well.
F
1.56
C
Lions: They didn't do enough on offense and the defense couldn't stop Jackson. Matt Stafford wasn't great in his first game back after missing a couple with a knee injury.
Cowboys: Tony Romo killed the Seahawks with three touchdown passes, his third consecutive big game. The defense did the rest. Patrick Crayton's punt return in the third quarter sealed it.
A
3.06
D
Seahawks: They couldn't get anything going on offense and their pass defense continued to be a major problem. This isn't a very good team right now -- even with Matt Hasselbeck.
Bears: The defense had an easy day against a bad offense. That unit forced five turnovers, which was the big difference in the game. The Bears offense was OK, but not great. It didn't have to be.
F
2.29
F
Browns: The offense gets worse by the week. Derek Anderson was terrible and they turned it over all day long. The defense has no chance with the offense playing like that.
Texans: Ryan Moats had a big day running it. Matt Schaub, save for two interceptions, was good and the defense handled the Buffalo offense all day long. They never let Buffalo get it going.
B
2.50
F
Bills: Ryan Fitzpatrick isn't very good. You can't win with the way he played Sunday. The defense was gashed by the run all day long. They can't stop anybody. This wasn't what we expected in this spot after two road victories.
Ravens: The big play was the kickoff return for a touchdown to open the second half. The defense did the rest. They rendered Kyle Orton and that passing game useless. The Broncos had trouble getting anything going on offense.
C+
2.90
C-
Broncos: They didn't do anything on offense. They were bad on third down, and didn't throw anything down the field. The defense bent in the second half, but was on the field a lot. This was a tough spot for the Broncos against a team that had to have it.
Titans: Forget Vince Young. Any quarterback can win with Chris Johnson running wild the way he did. What a day with 228 yards and two touchdowns. The defense played much better, aside from two big runs by Maurice Jones-Drew.
F
1.63
F
Jaguars: Jones-Drew was the only player who showed up. They weren't good passing it and the defense was terrible. They acted like they never tackled before.
Chargers: The defense was all over JaMarcus Russell, which was the difference in the game. San Diego had five sacks, two by Shawne Merriman, his first two of the season. Philip Rivers was sharp again.
A
2.47
D
Raiders: One day that passing game will work. When? Who knows. But JaMarcus Russell isn't there yet. The offensive line doesn't help him either.
Panthers: They ran well again with DeAngelo Williams and Jonathan Stewart. But the reason they won was the defense. That unit forced six Kurt Warner turnovers, one of those a touchdown off an interception return by Julius Peppers.
F
1.77
F
Cardinals: That was another home disaster. This team is tough to figure out. Warner was bad again, with five picks. He also lost a fumble. And what happened to that defense that had been playing so well?
Vikings: Brett Favre threw four touchdown passes to rub it in the faces of the Packers. The concern is the defense let down in the second half. The pass defense went to sleep with a big lead.
C
2.96
C-
Packers: They fell behind and then didn't have enough to come back. Aaron Rodgers tried, but the defense couldn't stop the Vikings when it needed to. The offensive line had issues again.
Saints: They played a heck of a first half, but didn't do much in the second. The offense went to sleep, except for one drive. The four turnovers, one for a score, were tough to take. This wasn't great, but they found a way.
B-
3.47
B-
Falcons: They had their chances to steal this one, but couldn't come up with the big plays in the end. Michael Turner ran well, but Matt Ryan's three interceptions really hurt, especially the one with a chance to go up 31-28. The defense did play better against that Saints offense in the second half.
Even though DeAngelo Williams fumbled the ball late in the game against the Saints and effectively ended it, don't put the Panthers loss on his shoulders. This one comes back to the offensive coordinators play-calling and trust or lack-there-of in Jake Delhomme. If Delhomme had shown earlier in the season that has was accurate in throwing the ball down-field then the play-calling would not be so c
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Wow, there is a whole lot of anti-Prisco sentiment on this site, some justifiable, but a lot of it just plain off-based. The poor guy talks about how he's claimed all along that the Bengals are for real, and then you see a ton of people saying otherwise. Have any of you posters actually read his columns? There are a select number of jouranlists out there who have said that th
I personally don't see anything wrong with running up the score, especially when a team is at home. Give the fans something to cheer about, scoring touchdown after touchdown. In reality they were getting an offense, that was terrible the week before, reps to gel. That kind of work can be invaluable. I don't feel a team should have to change the way their offense plays i
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The Saints fell behind 14-0 in the first quarter at home and looked flatter than a discarded, stepped-on beignet you might find on Bourbon Street. I was a bit surprised when the the Panthers went up 14-0 on the Saints, but they have shown the ability to score quickly, so this wasn't likely to be a problem unless the Panthers' D could stop them for 4 quarter
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The grades for the Tampa Bay - Green Bay game show once again the Pete must be using the "Prisco Curve" to grade the teams rather than grading according to a standard based on the NFL as a whole. He seems to grade teams based on how HE thinks they SHOULD have played rather than how the game actually went. How can one team get an "A" (Tampa Bay) and the other get an "F"
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Nothing happened new. It is plain garbage and has been for a while now Pete! They just have an idiot coach that hassent accepted the fact that his famed "cover 2" defense was solved like 2 years ago in the NFL. They HAD a defensive cord that understood this and tried to make tweaks to it (Ron Rivera) but O'l Lovie run him out after the SB year so he could put his buddy at defensive
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Please buy Nfl Sunday Ticket, or watch the highlights anywhere, at Espn, Nfl Network. But please watch the games, obviously you don't know what you are talking about, you just read some stats and puts them down however you think it happened. I know you are a hater of some teams, or maybe you don' hate them, and you just don't accept what they are. Pl
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Okay Brett Favre, be upset with the Packer organization; but you have some unfinsished business with the Packer fans. You need to apologize to them for what you put them through for 4 years. You said that you went to the church prayed before the game in Minnesota? Well, you'd better stay there all weekend in Green Bay, because there is no place else to hide from the people tha
Seriously, did you want them to go for it on 4th and 11 from the Dallas 32? Were you watching the game? The Eagles O-line was not going to hold up on an obvious passing down like that. At least with the field goal, the Eagles got to kick the ball, and if the D mans up and stops somebody then they get the ball back with 2 minutes left with a chance to run the 2 min offense.
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I would like to know why all you people that bash prisco everyday read his articles. If they are that bad then why do you not only waste your time reading them, but why do then have to post about it? Go to espn or foxsports and don't post on here and waste my day by having to read your posts. That being said no sports writer is perfect. Yes prisco does not like farve and I think h
Huh... I will never understand how Prisco grades some of these teams. What's the purpose of having Power Rankings and GPA if they don't match... or even close at times? He has the Cards at 9th in his power rankings and at a 2.24 GPA... Meanwhile he has the 49ers at 22nd in his rankings with a 2.39 GPA... His entire article is talking up the Houston Texans who rank a solid 2.50 GPA accor
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First off, I am not a Giants fan, but it is funny to see so many people jump off their band wagon. They continue to do what they do best...run the football.
The Giants will be fine. The defense has had some woes, and the passing game isn't what people would have hoped for. The Giants will still win the division because the can run the ball so well. As winte
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Some of the things Prisco writes to try justify his grades is absolutely fiction. I mean what part of his colon does he pull this stuff from. Here is an example from the Vikings/Steelers grades.
The two big turnovers were the difference. Brett Favre had those. The offense had trouble for much of the game. They couldn't get Adrian Peterson going. Th
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