Eli Manning, Tiki Barber and the second-greatest offence in franchise history were all back.

The no-hands secondary was revamped. Bookend Pro Bowl defensive ends Michael Strahan and Osi Umenyiora were going to create havoc again on opposing quarterback, and US$49 million linebacker LaVar Arrington was going to be reincarnation of Lawrence Taylor.

Everything was in motion for coach Tom Coughlin to complete the mission of restoring ``Giants Pride'' in just three short years.

What a Giant mistake.

Three games into the season, just call the Giants (1-2) overrated. Heck, they don't even have the best record in New York. That belongs to the Jets (2-1) and baby-faced coach Eric Mangini.

Here's a condensed list of what's wrong:

_ The offence only scores after it falls behind by double digits.

_ The defence is among the worst in the league.

_ Arrington is damaged goods.

_ And those wonderful players who were going to deliver a third Lombardi Trophy to New York are bickering with their coaches, at least when they are not throwing them under a bus after a loss, like Jeremy Shockey did last weekend.

``This is not situation where guys need to lose their minds, whether it be coaches or players,'' said Arrington, who has shown the effects of off-season knee surgery. ``The situation is we have to grow up. You know the cliche. `When the going gets tough, the tough get going.' That's where we are at now. Either the tough are going to get going or they are not. The going is getting tougher now. We have to press through.''

The Giants have a badly needed bye this weekend coming off a dreadful 42-30 loss to Seattle. The Seahawks forced four turnovers in taking a 35-0 first-half lead, and upped it to 39 points in the second half.

While the performance was horrible, the post-game show was worse. Shockey blew his cool and said Coughlin and his staff were outcoached.

It was the second time in four games that Coughlin was criticized by one of his players. Barber also said Coughlin was outcoached after a 23-0 playoff loss to Carolina last year.

Coughlin told Shockey to shut up on Monday and then told his team to fix the little things that have been hurting them all season: penalties, turnovers and blown coverages. He also reminded them there are 13 games to go.

``It was the right message. We have to stay together as a team,'' Barber said. ``It's easy to get distracted and start splintering. He's not going to let that happen, and I don't think the veteran leaders are going to let that happen.''

Coughlin focused on getting back to basics in practice this past week.

Even when the team has been running wind sprints, he has been screaming at the players to do it right. That means everyone starting on his whistle.

``I always tell the players there are no victims here,'' Coughlin said. ``We've created the problem for ourselves and we can solve the problem for ourselves. But we can't go about our business in that lame-dog, pulled-back-in fashion. That's not the way to do it.''

Manning said that if the offence can start faster and avoid mistakes, it will be all right.

``I don't think we are in a bad situation,'' Manning said. ``We've played three tough teams. It's not like we've gone out there and lost to some bad teams.''

That's true. Indianapolis, Philadelphia and Seattle have a combined 8-1 record.

The problems with the defence are greater.

Despite having Strahan and Umenyiora, who combined last season for 26 sacks, New York is last in the NFL with two sacks.

Coordinator Tim Lewis' crew is 31st in scoring defence (30.7 points) and third-down efficiency (58.7 per cent), 30th in first-downs allowed (71) and average yards passing allowed (281) and 27th in overall defence, yielding 370.3 yards.

What is really scary is the secondary that imported safety Will Demps and cornerbacks Sam Madison and R.W. McQuarters left four Seattle receivers wide open for scores last week.

Call it miscommunications, breakdowns or whatever, it was ugly.

``I can't screw it up, and right now I am screwing it up,'' said Lewis, who refused to blame his players for the foul-ups.

Outgoing general manager Ernie Accorsi will have to take the blame for the Arrington situation. With a bad knee, he doesn't terrorize opposing offences. Whether he will be able to do that again, only time will tell.

Perhaps the biggest concern for Coughlin is keeping the team together. When New York is winning, the players can put up with his rules and fines.

Losing will stress their patience, as Shockey showed last week. And there are other characters, too. Plaxico Burress can be a time bomb when Manning doesn't get him the ball. And even Strahan and Barber can speak out of turn when things aren't going well.

That means any restoration might be short-lived. It's something Jim Fassel discovered after taking the Giants to the 2001 Super Bowl, and Dan Reeves learned before him.

``To be in this market, when you don't win as many games as people think, you're going to be criticized,'' veteran receiver Amani Toomer said. ``What's troubling is the way we are losing games. That's the thing that has to change.''

Giants history says it won't. The last time New York made the playoffs two years in a row was in 1989 and '90, the second year being capped with a Super Bowl win over Buffalo.

The chances of that happening again are a good as, well, Scott Norwood making a 47-yard field goal with the championship on the line.