Sometimes breaking up is hard to do. Especially when breaking up with someone you love. Recently I have gone through one of my own and I’m dealing with the inevitable emotional baggage. However, in coping with the split I have looked at the Giants breakup with Tiki Barber as a source of inspiration to help me get through my bleak moment.
As we all know, the Giants had a messy breakup from their all time leading rusher and arguably their best player. However, they didn’t let the turmoil set them back as they went form mediocre to Super in one season. It is hard to replace all the good things Tiki provided— his ability to produce both in the running and passing game and the grittiness to play every down. When Tiki peaced out, he left a big hole on the Giants roster and I, like so many other Giant fans, thought it would be impossible to replace a player of Tiki’s stature in just one off-season. Yet surprisingly, the G-men filled this void and then some.
Although it took more than one player to replace Tiki, Jerry Reese and Co. found a group of guys who were able to make us all forget about number 21. Brandon Jacobs has turned into a wonderful lead back, producing a 1000-yard season even though he played in only seven full games. Ahmad Bradshaw has developed to a potent complement to Jacobs; he possess many of the same cut-back running abilities as Tiki, but still busts through a D-line as hard as Jacobs. This powerful combo has spearheaded the Giants’ path towards the Super Bowl. And the added bonus? They’ve been able to produce on the field while managing to avoid causing all the turmoil that became a staple of Barber’s last couple of seasons with the Giants. Tiki couldn’t stop criticizing Tom Coughlin even though Coughlin was the same man who saved his career by fixing his fumbling problem. Not to mention it’s becoming quite clear that he was hindering the development of Eli Manning by sucking all the oxygen out of the room while he was practicing for his new job during the fourth hour of the Today Show. With Tiki no longer around, Eli has developed into a leader and, dare I say, perhaps a great quarterback.
While breaking up maybe hard to do, the Giants have proved that breaking away can be a good thing. I mean the positives abound— there are the salary cap savings (having a girlfriend is damn expensive), better locker room chemistry (I don’t know about you, but after a while the constant bickering just gets on your nerves) and improved self-esteem (look at Eli, he doesn’t look like such a dumb ass anymore). Finally, instead of having one great back, you can have a slew of legit ones; in my case, I just hope I didn’t give away a Ryan Grant from my practice squad 
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