Where are all those people, now, who made the Jets favorites in the AFC East when Brett Favre came aboard? Where are all those who upped the ante and the expectations when Tom Brady got hurt? And mostly, where are all those cockamamy knee-jerks who started talking about a Giants-Jets Super Bowl in Tampa as soon as Gang Ganji began to win some games?

The Jets are 9-6 and still have some mathematical chance at a playoff spot only because of a Dick Jauron play call, a fortituitous bounce, and because one of their D-linemen who was busted for pot was allowed to play the next Sunday. Otherwise they’d be 8-8 and eliminated already. And Brett Favre would be scheduling his press conference to announce his probable, maybe, possible retirement.

Big Blue, on the other hand, won a huge game, a great game, against a very powerful Carolina team late Sunday night. Won home-field advantage that might not ever actually matter—the win only gives the Giants home field in the event of an NFC title-game against the Panthers; they already had home-field locked up against everybody else, along with a first-round bye.

No, the Giants didn’t need to win that game in OT. They had already accomplished all they needed to accomplish during regulation. They got back to playing their game, running the football, Eli throwing off play-action, dominating the offensive line, and if Justin Tuck wasn’t barfing right there on the field, maybe the defensive line, too. The Giants simply had to get back to being the Giants, with their Super Bowl swagger; to know they could again be what they were before that little two-game pratfall.

If the Panthers had won the game in OT, big deal. Are you saying the Giants, who won four road games in the postseason last year, couldn’t win one road for the NFC title this year?

No, the most important thing for the Giants was to play as well as they did, again, and now the most important thing is to get healthy—and with a meaningless game in Minnesota this week, and then a bye in the first round, they should be able to get better, especially Brandon Jacobs, who was not 100 percent Sunday, and Tuck, who has a leg injury to go along with his debilitating flu, and Kareem McKenzie, who played hurt.

I wonder what the G-men will do next week, given all of the hullabaloo of last year’s season finale, when they and the Patriots had nothing to play for, and yet went four quarters full speed rather than pull up and rest guys. I wonder if Tom Coughlin will limit Manning, or if he’ll sit out Jacobs and Tuck. Or if he’ll go hell-bent on beating Minnesota just as he did, and New England did, last season.

11:25 a.m., Sam says:

Let’s make this a clear question that’ll sound familiar to one we were all talking about last year at this time: Should the Giants play their regulars next week or sit them?

We all know what happened a year ago. Tom Coughlin played everyone against the Patriots in a meaningless regular-season finale in which the only thing on thing on the line was the Patriots’ undefeated regular season. It was a great game, the Giants almost won (but didn’t) and everyone looks back at it as a real kickstart to the Giants’ postseason run.

Even if the Giants hadn’t won the Super Bowl, though, it would have been the right move. And it’s the right move again this year, even though there are some injuries – including one to Jacobs – lingering around the Giants.

I believe in the power of momentum. I also believe in confidence, and I think the Giants – especially since they have a bye in the first round – need to give their regulars a lot of reps against the Vikings, if only to keep them from going three weeks without NFL action. This isn’t college – NFL players need to stay sharp. And the time when players get hurt most often is when they’re “taking it easy.”

Play ‘em hard, play ‘em the whole (or at least most of the) game.