Last year was expected, as he was coming off a serious ACL tear. Now that he is one year removed from that, he should be able to relax more, play with more confidence, and take the Eagles back to the playoffs. While I don’t believe they have enough offensive weapons to win the division, I would think that 10 wins are well within their reach.
Philadelphia Eagle’s Record: 10-6: NFC East Second Place; NFC No. 5 Seed
3) New York Giants
‘07 Record: 10-6
Points Scored: 373 (14th)
Points Allowed: 351 (17th)
Playoff Result: Won Super Bowl
2008 Strength of Schedule:133-123 (.520) (tied for 15th in the NFL)
Strengths: The NY Giants were the most unlikely of Super Bowl Champions. At 10-6, they were the fifth seed in the NFC, and were faced with having to win four games away from home. They had lost two of their final three games of the season, but seemed to gain momentum with their strong performance against the Patriots in the season finale. Still, No. 5 seeds are not supposed to win Super Bowls.
However, the Giants had gone 7-1 in the regular season on the road, losing their only road game in the opener against Dallas. The NY Giants rode that road dominance to 11 straight road victories and the Super Bowl trophy.
The strength of the New York Giants is their front four on defense. Michael Strahan, Justin Tuck, Osi Umenyiora, and Fred Robbins form one of the best defensive front fours in the entire NFL. The NY Giants generated the most pressure on the quarterback in 2007, amassing an amazing 53 sacks.
At the beginning of the season, the linebackers and secondary could not cover anyone. However, as the season progressed, the Giants got much better in coverage. Sam Madison, Aaron Ross, and Corey Webster became much better at covering the pass in the second half of the season. While the Giants did lose Gibril Wilson to the Raiders in free agency, they also drafted Kenny Phillips to come into the organization and compete for the starting safety spot.
The linebacking corps is the unit on defense with the most questions. Pierce is still a strong middle-linebacker, and Mathias Kiwanuka should be ready for the start of the season. He was injured toward the end of the 2007 regular season. This is a unit that did not begin to gel until later in the season, but once everything came together, the defense was able to carry the Giants to the Super Bowl title. Mitchell and Torbor were lost to free agency, so they will have to replace them in 2008.
On offense, the strength of the team was their running game. The NY Giants finished fourth in the NFL with a host of running backs. Brandon Jacobs, Derrick Ward, Ahmad Bradshaw, and Reuben Droughns all contributed at times in 2007.
Eli Manning had a very average regular season. He had a 73.9 rating and 20 interceptions, to go with his 3,336 yards passing and 23 touchdown throws.
But in the end, he was able to put everything together and lead his team to the Super Bowl. Plaxico Burress is a fantastic wide receiver and had 12 touchdown catches. Jeremy Shockey is a good tight end, but was the subject of trade rumors this offseason after the NY Giants offense didn’t miss a beat in the wake of his injury. He is still very talented, and will help an offense that features Toomer, Smith, Tyree, and rookie Mario Manningham.
Weaknesses: The NY Giants have a couple of big question marks heading into the season.
First: Which Eli Manning is going to show up in 2008? The one that killed his team with a poor completion percentage and 20 interceptions, or the one that started playing after the NY Giants lost to the Patriots in the season finale. If the Giants are going to excel in the regular season, Eli has to take care of the ball for an entire 16-game season. While I don’t expect him to play as well as he did in the playoffs, I don’t think he will return to his 2007 regular-season numbers. I expect something in between the two. I think that he will get 3,500 yards, 25 touchdown throws, and 12-15 interceptions.
The second question is whether Michael Strahan is going to retire or comeback for another season. Personally, I think he would be unwise to come back in 2008. He will be 37 in November, and what better way to go out than win a Super Bowl in your final game. He is nowhere close to catching Bruce Smith for the NFL record in sacks, and now that he is a champion, he has nothing left to prove. Anything short of repeating would be a disappointing season.
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