5 Reasons New York Giants Have No Chance to Repeat as Super Bowl Champs

No team has repeated as Super Bowl champions since the 2004-2005 New England Patriots did it, and the 2012-2013 New York Giants won't break that streak.

Why is it that the NFL has had seven different Super Bowl champions in eight years? It's because the league has an incredible knack for creating parity, as evidenced by its remarkable turnover percentage of playoff teams.

The Giants will be very good once again in 2012, but they will not win the Super Bowl.

NFC East Strength

To win the Super Bowl, the New York Giants would first have to make the playoffs, and that is something much easier said than done when playing in the NFC East.

The Giants barely escaped as division champions last year, going 9-7 and finishing just one game ahead of the Philadelphia Eagles and Dallas Cowboys, who both had disappointing 8-8 seasons. In a year when each of those teams finally meet expectations, the Giants will have a difficult time snagging a wild-card spot.

We haven't even mentioned the Washington Redskins yet, who could turn into an instant contender if they found themselves with the No. 2 pick and Robert Griffin III. They wouldn't be favorites to win the division, but they wouldn't be an easy out like they were last year.

The competition the Giants will face in the NFC East will be enough to seriously hinder their playoff chances. Right off the bat, it's unwise to be thinking of a Super Bowl run when the primary concern should be reaching the postseason in the first place.

Eli Manning Won't Repeat His 2011 Performance

Eli Manning had such a great 2011 that it vaulted him into the conversation of elite NFL quarterbacks. People were even raising the question of him being better than his brother Peyton.

Manning claimed at the beginning of last season that he was an elite quarterback, and he certainly backed it up. But was it a breakout year or simply a fluke?

We won't know for sure until he takes his first snaps of 2012, but one thing is certain—he won't be as good as he was in 2011. All of the league's best quarterbacks—Peyton Manning, Tom Brady, Drew Brees—couldn't follow up their career years with the same kind of performances. They were still very good and definitely elite, but not at the height of their potential.

The Giants rode Manning all the way to the Super Bowl, as he caught fire during the last month or so of the season. He had a 103.3 quarterback rating in the playoffs, and that includes an 82.3 performance against the San Francisco 49ers. He was absolutely dominant, and the Giants needed every ounce of his effort to get to the big game.

Manning might be able to put together an above-average 2012, but he's not going to be at the same level he was when the Giants looked like a true Super Bowl team.

Passing Defense

The defending Super Bowl champions got away with having the 29th-ranked passing defense and followed a formula that most of the elite teams have for the past five or six years: leaning heavily on their passing attack and fielding a defense that relies on pressure and turnovers for success.

The Giants were lucky that it didn't hurt them this time, but they were the only team living by that model that was able to make it through the playoffs unscathed.

Drew Brees and the New Orleans Saints couldn't make up for defensive mistakes and lost a close game to the San Francisco 49ers.

Aaron Rodgers and the Green Bay Packers were out of sync on offense and didn't stand a chance when their defense gave up 37 points.

Tom Brady and the New England Patriots made too many minuscule errors and couldn't overcome them in the Super Bowl.

Eli Manning and the Giants may have survived this time, but there are no guarantees for next year.

Potential Loss of Mario Manningham

The David Tyree of Super Bowl XLVI is about to become a free agent, and the chances of him returning to the New York Giants are getting increasingly slim.

Reports on Mario Manningham's free agency decision have varied. It has been said that there is no chance he will return, but we have also heard that he wants to come back to the Giants. Either way, the window for New York to re-sign him is closing, and once he hits free agency, he will be inclined to follow the money.

Losing Manningham won't be as devastating as losing Hakeem Nicks or Victor Cruz, but it will hurt. Manningham was critical to the Giants' playoff run, as he caught three touchdown passes in the first three games and provided the highlight-reel grab that led to the Super Bowl victory.

The Giants will still be very good without Manningham, but he was the piece that took them from Super Bowl contenders to Super Bowl champions. 

History

It is harder to start a dynasty in the NFL than in any other professional American sport.

The MLB has had the New York Yankees put together several dynasties, and the Texas Rangers have been to two consecutive World Series.

The NBA has seen Phil Jackson's teams put together strings of championships that led to his 11 rings.

Even in the college game, North Carolina and Duke dominate the basketball landscape, and Nick Saban's teams win more championships than any other.

The NFL, on the other hand, has only had seven teams repeat as champions in its 46-year history. Of those seven, only three have done it in the last 20 years. In the last seven years, no team has even made the Super Bowl two years in a row.

The odds are stacked against the New York Giants, and although they will be very good once again in 2012, they will not win the Super Bowl. There are too many good teams, and they do not stand out from the pack as a franchise that can start a dynasty.