NY Daily News:Fassel is finished in New York

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http://www.bayarea.com/mld/mercurynews/sports/7438808.htm

Fassel is finished in New York

By GARY MYERS

New York Daily News

EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. - Jim Fassel will be packing up his office in three weeks. The Giants have already cost him his job. And the way they've played during this wretched season, many of them deserve to get fired along with him.

Except for a select few, nobody is playing with a sense of urgency. This is a 4-9 team on merit. The same team will not be back next year.

"I don't want to criticize any players," Giants co-owner Wellington Mara said yesterday after another in a series of dreary losses, 20-7, to the Redskins.

But he did say, "We have a lot of young kids out there that aren't very good football players. They are trying hard, but they can't get it done."

It's not a good sign when Mara says, "The highlight of the game was my granddaughter singing the national anthem."

The players are making a big mistake with performances that will be evaluated by the new coach. Most of these players will have to prove themselves for the new guy. They won't have Fassel as a security blanket. And if it's Tom Coughlin, about as different from Fassel as possible, they are going to be in for a shock with his boot-camp mentality.

It was an eerie day at Giants Stadium, more than half-empty with no energy. It felt like a preseason game, except for the snow behind the benches and in several areas in the upper deck, where some creative souls in Section 302 carved out two snowmen and sat them side-by-side.

Well, at least it reduced the number of no-shows, which had to be around 45,000. It might have been the smallest crowd ever to watch the Giants play at the Meadowlands.

Tiki Barber said he and Kerry Collins were estimating the number of fans in the stands during a break in the game.

Once again, the message of apathy has been received.

"New York fans have always been very selective," Mara said in another very quiet locker room. "It sends a message that you're not giving them what they want. That's better than all the letter-writing you can have."

How can you blame the fans for not showing up when the players don't, either? If Coughlin was sitting at home in Florida watching this game, he may have decided he doesn't want this job. Was there anyone other than Michael Strahan or Barber - once he got past his obligatory fumble - who had any desire to play?

"If we were a manufacturer, we would have to figure out a way to turn out a better product," Mara said.

They've lost five straight games, their longest streak since 1994. They're 1-6 at home. The slide began after back-to-back victories over the Vikings and Jets got them back to 4-4.

"I was telling somebody the other day that eight weeks ago, I was feeling pretty doggone good," said Strahan, who had two sacks and 11 tackles. "Eight weeks later, now, just sick. Sick, sick, sick."

That's how the Giants felt when Collins was carted off the field in the third quarter with a high ankle sprain. In what amounts to the only good news the Giants have had in weeks, at least Collins' ankle was not broken.

The NFL prides itself on protecting the quarterbacks, the marquee players. But they failed Collins. Referee Walt Coleman said none of the officials heard back judge Greg Steed's whistle when he threw a flag on the Giants for a delay of game. The action should have been immediately stopped.

The play kept going and Bruce Smith hit Collins, quite possibly ending his season. The Giants losing their quarterback, who had been indestructible with 67 consecutive starts, on a play that didn't even count is symbolic of a season that has totally deteriorated.

Collins has had an ineffective season. But the Giants front office sabotaged him by not putting together an NFL-quality offensive line. It's startling he even made it to the 13th game without getting hurt.

The heart went out of this Giants season five weeks ago when Atlanta's Warrick Dunn ripped off that 45-yard touchdown run on the first series of the game. Missed tackles became an epidemic.

This is not what the Giants intended for December.

The fans gave their own state-of-the season address yesterday. They stayed home. "It was deflating," Collins said. "You'd like this place to be rocking in December."

Not this year. Maybe it will be different with Coughlin next year.