Their 20-14 loss in a game nowhere near as close as the final score does nothing to change their status within the division, the conference or the league. It should cause no one to cancel travel plans to Tampa, or to stop daring to dream of back-to-back Super Bowl victories.

Nor does it change the harsh reality that no championship is won on Week 14 of any NFL season, even one that has gone as well as this one has for the Giants.

Yesterday, they came up as empty against the Eagles as De La Hoya came up against Pacquiao the night before. Eli Manning threw the ball poorly, both with and against the swirling December winds. Brandon Jacobs got hurt and Domenik Hixon dropped what should have been a sure 85-yard touchdown pass on the first play of the second quarter, Manning's first chance to throw with the wind at his back.

Perhaps worst of all, the Giants did nothing to capitalize on what should have been a game-changing play, the blocked field-goal attempt that was returned 71 yards for a touchdown by Kevin Dockery on the last play of the first half, cutting a 10-point lead to three.

But this one was really on the defense, which couldn't stop Brian Westbrook - who gained 131 yards on the ground and 72 in the air and scored the backbreaking TD on a dump-off that ended in the end zone 40 yards later - and couldn't tackle much of anyone.

"We didn't play well," coach Tom Coughlin said. "We didn't play the way we have been playing. We're a better Football team than that."

He's right. They are. But that doesn't change the fact that being a great team in Week 14 often has nothing to do with being an NFL champion. And no team should know this better than the Giants themselves.

One year ago, on this very week of the season, the best team in the NFC was, unquestionably, the Cowboys. And the best team in Football, by anyone's accounting, was the Patriots.

The former never got out of the first round of the playoffs and the latter, well, we all know what happened to them. Both teams had their seasons ruined in the postseason by none other than the Giants. The underdog Giants.

There are lessons to be learned there for this team, about complacency, overconfidence and the simple truth that the second NFL season is a lot tougher than the first, especially for teams that peak too early, that wrap up their divisions too soon, who begin looking ahead to February before they are even out of December.

The Giants don't appear to be that kind of team - to their credit, the first thing all of them did after the game was shut down any suggestion that they had been distracted by the ongoing Plaxico Burress soap opera - but then, neither did the Cowboys nor the Patriots at this time last season.

As Manning said, "It's not getting any easier from here."

Next week, they travel to Dallas, then the 9-3 Panthers come in, followed by a trip to Minnesota for the season finale. Tough games, but not nearly as tough as the real task facing the Giants. "Our focus has to be to get back to playing better Football," Manning said.

Clearly, the razor-sharp focus the Giants showed all season got a little fuzzy yesterday. A team with nothing much to play for, whose Super Bowl was yesterday, came in and dominated them on a day the Giants had designated for their own coronation as NFC East champs. Instead, they had to rely on the Steelers to beat Dallas in a late game to clinch the division.

The odds are, yesterday's loss was one they can scatter to the same wind shears that caused many of Manning's passes to dive into the turf or sail to places remote to any Giants receiver. It was a throwaway, as harmless and simple as Manning's explanation of it: "One of those things that happens in Football from time to time."

Or, it may be a reminder that no team wins anything worth winning in Week 14.

Until proven otherwise, the Giants still are the best team in their conference, and maybe in all of Football.

But that's no guarantee of anything in this league, and judging by recent history, not much comfort, either.

CAN'T FIND HANDLE

None of the Giants' wide receivers stepped up in their first game since Plaxico Burress was suspended. Their numbers:

PLAYER REC. YDS.

Steve Smith 4 47

Domenik Hixon 3 30

Amani Toomer 2 25

Sinorice Moss 1 13