It wouldn’t be New York if its fans and media didn’t often overreact to each game that any professional team plays in New York. That response just comes with the territory when rooting for or discussing teams in the New York City area.

Sure enough, to the degree that the Giants were being discussed as part of the National Football League elite after a dominant 5-0 start, was the extent to which many in the New York area were asking what was wrong with the Giants and how New York could let its entire season slip away after a subsequent four-game slide.

No doubt, the questions surrounding the problems that the Giants still need to fix this season were, and still are, legitimate. And, if the Giants don’t soon rectify a lot of the issues that were exposed during their aforementioned four-game losing streak, it’s true, Big Blue’s goal of reaching the playoffs could be in serious jeopardy.

But, for those who were spewing all of the doom and gloom talk about the Giants’ playoff possibilities, many going so far as to say that the Giants’ fourth straight loss ended their season, take a look at the current NFC standings after what happened on Sunday, as the Giants tried to regroup during their bye week.

Sure, New York had slipped from 5-0 to 5-4, and from first place to third place in the NFC East.

Yet, simply by not playing, the Giants moved back into a tie for second place with the 5-4 Philadelphia Eagles (who were beaten in San Diego on Sunday), and are now just one game behind the 6-3 Dallas Cowboys, the NFC East leaders, who lost at Green Bay this week.

As for the NFC wild-card race, the Giants and Eagles are not only tied for the wild-card lead with each other, but also with the 5-4 Atlanta Falcons (losers at Carolina on Sunday) and the 5-4 Green Bay Packers. Carolina, San Francisco, and Chicago are each a game back, at 4-5.

For all of this past week’s chatter about the Giants’ season being over, New York still very much controls its own destiny as long as it can pull everything together and play better.

The Giants host Atlanta next week, while having other home dates with Dallas, Philadelphia, and Carolina in December. And, the Giants are done with both the Cowboys and Eagles on the road.

The bottom line is that while the Giants have to correct a lot of what plagued them while losing four games in a row, and they still have much work to do in order to reach the playoffs this year, they’re very far from the fate many had prematurely predicted for them (if any Giants are Mark Twain fans, they can certainly relate).

As evidenced while the Giants rested this week, no one else in the NFC East seems to be running away with their division, and even less so in the NFC wild-card picture.

So, at least for now Giant fans, view the remaining Giant games in this season the same way your team plans on approaching them. It may sound clichéd, but forget about the recent past and take the rest of the season one game at a time.

Because it doesn’t appear that anything regarding where the Giants are headed this season, one way or the other, will be determined any time soon.

And, if you’re a big fan of Murphy and do make it to Friday’s show, you’ll hope he does some material from the Nike-inspired advertising campaign which led Murphy to create his version of “Leroy Smith,” the man “who motivated Michael Jordan.”

For those not in the know, Murphy’s fictitious Leroy Smith is a spoof of Harvest Leroy Smith, the actual former high school teammate of Michael Jordan, who really did inspire Jordan to great things after being selected over arguably the greatest basketball player ever, for the final roster spot on their ninth grade basketball team at Emsley A. Laney High School in North Carolina, in 1978.

If you’re not yet sure what I’m talking about, this can all be backed up with internet searches (trust me), and you can find Murphy’s version of Leroy all over the net at sites like Facebook, Twitter, and You Tube.

Now that we’ve discussed some comedy, here’s some tragedy…

The beginning of the New York Knicks’ 2009-10 basketball season, especially recently:

Saturday, Oct. 31st, after the first quarter: Philadelphia 40, Knicks 25

Friday, Nov. 6th, after the first quarter: Cleveland 40, Knicks 21

Saturday, Nov. 7th, after the first quarter: Milwaukee 40, Knicks 22

See a pattern?

What Murphy’s Leroy Smith advises you when you lose to him in his “balltastic” video game is extremely appropriate for the manner in which Knicks have played what they like to term defense so far this season. Particularly, when Murphy says:

“It’s obvious you still need some… intense motivation… failing that, you might want to consider some… desire implants.”

Leroy Smith also says that the three pillars to success are to “motivize, pulverize, and realize.”

The Knicks apparently aren’t following any of those with only a lone victory in their first seven games of the season.

For the third time in five games, spanning eight nights, the Knicks came out of the gate only to see their opponents run away from them fast, leaving New York to play catch-up the rest of the night.

This time, it was the Bucks (3-2) riding a 40-point first quarter to a 66-35 halftime lead, en route to an easy 102-87 win in Milwaukee on Saturday night.

About the only positive thing to take from the night for the Knicks was the play of this year’s first-round draft pick out of Florida State, guard Toney Douglas, who scored 16 points, making six of nine field goals, including four of five three-pointers, in 17:11 off the bench.

Other than that, the effort and intensity, especially early on, just haven’t been there in most games so far this season, especially on the defensive end of the floor. And, although New York has scrapped and fought its way back from big early deficits for a couple of overtime losses, they haven’t exactly been as Leroy Smith would say, “motivizing” on nearly a consistent enough basis.

The Knicks, losers of their last three games, put on a grand show on Friday night for next year’s free agent Lebron James, showering him with all of the attention and affection they could muster, for James’ only regular season Madison Square Garden appearance this season, in Cleveland’s win over the Knicks.

James soaked up every minute of it, and if the Knicks already had the team to go with the celebrity-filled spectacle they put on, he might already be meeting with real estate agents to find a new home address somewhere fairly close to the Garden by next summer.

King James absolutely loves playing at MSG, as he said before Friday’s game, “I’m disappointed that I’ll only be here once.”

Right now however, it’s small steps for the Knicks. They just have to first show that they can at least compete at an NBA level.

Until then, as Leroy Smith would say while shaking his head when watching bad basketball, “I can’t watch.”