Our long New York nightmare is over. The 2006 Giants, losers of seven of their last nine games, are finally dead.

Despite facing the league's toughest schedule, Big Blue made the playoffs. Yet, it has to be the most unsatisfying, frustrating season ever that ended in a postseason berth.

Let us count the ways:

• Our franchise quarterback didn't progress. Against the Eagles, Eli Manning was a pedestrian 16-27 for 161 yards, 2 TDs and 1 INT. Somehow, that uninspiring performance received an 85.6 rating. Manning posted a sub-80 rating in eight of the last 10 regular-season games, which means this postseason ho-hummer was actually his third-best start since October.

Early in the season, I thought Plaxico Burress was being a bitch by showing up Manning when Eli made a bad decision or poor throw. After seeing it happen over and over, I started to side with Plax, who did make some great individual plays this season, even if his quitting on others shouldn't be forgotten.

As I've written before, the ceiling on Manning's potential seems way lower than expected. I'm not sure if it's even much higher than average.

• We're losing our franchise running back. In 10 seasons, Tiki Barber has averaged more than 1,000 yards rushing and 500 yards receiving. Barber was on the team from 1997-99, but the Giants' rushing leaders in those seasons were Charles Way (698 yards), Gary Brown (1,063) and the incomparable Joe Montgomery (348).

• Nobody likes the coach. Or so it seems. Can't think of anything that can be considered genuine high praise heaped on the guy by players, fans or media. I think he's gonna be five minutes early to his firing in a few days.

• Penalties. Nine against the Eagles, including an idiotic retaliation penalty that offset a 15-yarder by Philly's Jon Runyan. Somehow, the Giants committed only four more penalties than their opponents in the regular season. Sure seemed worse.

• Blown leads galore. The Giants scored first in 13 of 17 games. That shouldn't translate into an 8-9 record.

• Few playmakers. Tiki, Plax, that's about it. Strahan's great when healthy but he wasn't, Shockey is solid but didn't have a catch over 25 yards this season, Umenyiora was disappointing, Arrington was hurt early, nobody in the secondary stood out. I thought the O-line — marred by injury and their own penalty issues — was great, probably the team's best unit (only 25 sacks allowed; busted holes for Tiki to do his thing).

• We lost to the five toughest home opponents. Giants sent fans home happy after defeating the shitty Redskins, abysmal Bucs and terrible Texans. Gee, thanks! Home losses to the Colts, Bears, Cowboys, Eagles and Saints made me wanna throw up in the parking lot.

• Red zone failure. All comes down to Eli, if you ask me. He's just nothing special out there, whereas Tiki, Plax, Shockey, Jacobs and the line are more than capable to score from in close. Netting three instead of seven haunted us all year.