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HOUSTON Texans (Football team); DETROIT Lions (Football team); NEW York Giants (Football team); STRAHAN, Michael, 1971-; HARRINGTON, Joey; CARR, David, 1979-; FOOTBALL players; FOOTBALL teams; FOOTBALL

The article speculates on whether or not the Detroit Lions, Houston Texans and New York Giants will be able to bounce back in the second half of the 2004 football season to make the playoffs. That reverberant thud heard around the NFL was the sound of three upstart teams smacking face-first into reality. The Lions, the Texans and the Giants were beginning to believe that they could make a strong playoff run this season, but alter sobering losses on Sunday, their confidence may have been shaken. Detroit's 17-10 loss to the Redskins made the Lions 1-3 at home, a record that's baffling only because they're 3-1 on the road. Houston had won two straight games before falling 31-13 to the Broncos in Denver. Now the Texans look like just another 4-4 team. As for the Giants, their 28-21 defeat by the Bears was their second home loss in the last three weeks. After starting 4-1, they've dipped to 5-3. Sooner or later in this league, your flaws are exposed. Of the three playoff hopefuls, the Giants clearly have the best chance of turning things around. They have talent and experience--some of their best players were part of their 2002 playoff team--but their defense will struggle without defensive end Michael Strahan, who hadn't missed a game in nine seasons but tore a pectoral muscle against Chicago and is out for the year. Detroit and Houston play in highly competitive divisions, and their quarterbacks, Joey Harrington and David Carr, are both young and likely to commit costly errors at critical junctures. The obvious positive for all three teams so far is that they've exceeded preseason expectations. Each was picked to finish at or near the bottom of its division, so it is encouraging that they're still playing meaningful games at this stage.