PHILADELPHIA — The franchise was broken, the fan base disenchanted and disillusioned, the general manager under fire, the head coach who delivered two Super Bowl championships with Eli Manning replaced.
It is 343 days later, and this is the night the New York Football Giants have been chasing since February 5, 2012, the night they won Super Bowl XLVI at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis.
This is the night that comes after four futile seasons when pride mattered to not enough of them, four futile seasons that often shamed the likes of Lawrence Taylor and Harry Carson and Michael Strahan, four futile seasons watching the playoffs at home, four futile seasons when they forgot how to be Giants, four seasons of Manning’s prime he will never get back, three consecutive seasons below .