New York Giants 2008 Season Preview

I should feel blessed to be a fan in the NFC East. Every division game should have a playoff atmosphere, mainly because three teams reached the playoffs last season. But looking to the New York Giants 2008 schedule, I feel that the competition will be a tremendous obstacle to my team's chances of returning to football in January.

New York's schedule features six games against 2007 playoff teams, including four within the NFC East against Dallas and Washington. The saving grace for one of these games is that the Week 5 match-up against the Seattle Seahawks is played after the Giants Week 4 BYE. This game could provide redemption for members of the 2005 and 2006 Giants teams if the Giants come away with the home win. Both seasons brought embarrassing losses in Seattle.

The other game against a playoff team is a Week 8 trip to Pittsburgh, never an easy trip for any team to make. But this game could bring the Giants success if the pass-rush is able to hold up despite the loss of Michael Strahan. Pittsburgh lost guard Alan Faneca, one of the team's most experienced lineman, to the New York Jets in the offseason. If the new Steel Curtain is unable to gel by this point, though it is doubtful by this point it won't, the Giants should easily take advantage.

After these games, one would think the season gets easier. The remaining teams, after all, did not reach the postseason. But the Giants feature games against playoff snubs Cleveland on Monday Night Football (Week 6, following the Seattle game) and a Week 17 showdown in Minnesota, not to mention two division games against Philadelphia, who is always tough.

There is always one game that is constantly overlooked on the schedule. It is a game that fans regard as an easy win, against a team that is truly underestimated. This is known as the trap game. Last season, the Giants fell into a trap set by the Minnesota Vikings at home, a game they lost 41-17. In that game, Eli Manning threw four interceptions, three of which were returned for touchdowns.

A similar game is visible on the 2008 schedule, against the Carolina Panthers. Carolina gives the Giants fits every time they match up, even though the Giants won their last meeting on the road 22-10 in 2006. This Carolina team has too many unknowns for comfort. I simply don't know how Jake Delhomme will recover from Tommy John surgery, how second-year receiver Dwayne Jarrett will dominate the red zone, or the contributions rookies Jonathan Stewart and Dan Connor will make. What I do know is that Carolina is on the rebound from a dismal 2007 and will look to make a run at the postseason once again and establish itself as one of the most dangerous teams in the conference.    

There is an easy answer to the potentiality for losses. Remember, the Giants did win Super Bowl XLII, overcoming nearly impossible odds in one of the greatest David vs. Goliath match-ups in history. The Giants return every offensive starter from that playoff roster. If their offensive momentum can stay dormant for seven months and unleash itself against Washington in Week 1, they should have no problem winning 10 games. Mistakes by both Eli Manning and his receivers must be kept to a minimum.

This team is not perfect by any stretch of the imagination. Key losses in the linebacking corps and secondary will put relatively young players in big positions very quickly. The Giants lost two starting linebackers in the departures of Kawika Mitchell to Buffalo and Reggie Torbor to the Miami Dolphins. Third year linebacker/defensive end Mathias Kiwanuka returns to the starting lineup after a broken leg suffered against the Detroit Lions in 2007. Rookie free safety Kenny Phillips should be eased into the starting role vacated by Gibril Wilson, who signed six-year, $39-million contract with the Oakland Raiders.

With plenty of visible tests for the Giants in 2008, we'll all know soon enough how well this team improved from the one that won a Super Bowl a season ago.

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