New York Giants 2009-2010 Season Outlook

Heading into the 2009-2010 NFL Season for the New York Giants, there are extremely high expectations.  Coming off of a 12-4 season, with an NFC East title, the Giants have their minds set on repeating that title and adding another Superbowl title as well.  If they expect to get back there, there are a few things that need to happen.

If the G-Men expect to add another trophy to their closet they're going to have to be able to throw the football.  It's been well documented about the Giants deficiencies in the passing game, but I believe it might be a bit over-stated.  One reason they struggled down the stretch last year is the fact that it's very difficult to adjust your offense three quarters of the way through a season.  Given ample time in the off-season and training camp, the Giants coaches should be able to devise a game-plan that can utilize the tools that they have.  It's not easy to throw Domenik Hixon into the fire during the course of a season when he had no experience as a number one wide receiver. 

That being said, I think Jerry Reese did an excellent job addressing the offensive needs via the draft.  Though I do believe adding Braylon Edwards would have gotten the Giants that much closer to a Superbowl, I also think Reese did a great job getting different players with different skill sets.  Hakeem Nicks should give the Giants a reliable wide-out, even though rookies don't often have a tremendous first year I believe he can have enough of an impact to become a factor.  He has great hands, and better speed than people give him credit for - after all, football is not played in spandex in a straight line.  Ramses Barden may or may not factor in his first season, though I think the Giants coaches will mostly train him to "go up and get it" so they can utilize him in the red-zone.  He's a big body, and could have potential for a great upside, plus they took him right before the Eagles which I'm sure they're happy about.  The player I think can have the most impact is Travis Beckum, the tight-end from Wisconsin, he's very comparable to Dustin Keller of the Jets.  Keller had 48 receptions 535 yards and 3TD's in his first season and I believe he was under used by the so-called "Man-Genius".  I believe Beckum should post similar stats and could create potential match-up problems for opposing defenses.  The biggest reason he should have an impact is that he could negate teams from bringing their safeties into the box which would free up the Giants run game.  And if the Giants can run the ball effectively then look out, because their defense should be among the top five in the league barring injury.  In addition to the wide receiver position, Reese also added Andre Brown, a bruising runningback out of N.C. State.  Andre Brown is not only a bruiser but he can catch the football as well, and should compete for playing time in his first season.  That will give the Giants four talented runningbacks in what I call a good "running system" their coaching staff has developed.  Possibly the biggest addition the Giants ever made was hiring Pat Flaherty, the most underrated offensive line coach in football today.  He's brought in a system similar to what Denver used to run - just put anyone back there with legs and they can rush for a 1,000 yards.  Put someone like Tiki Barber back there, and he will run for 1,700 yards.  Overall, Jerry Reese assembled different players with different abilities to compensate for the lack of a big number one wide receiver and he did a great job building for the future while doing that.

On defense the Giants are stacked right now.  Their defensive line should be outstanding and I imagine they will once again rank towards the top of the league in run defense.  They also addressed weakside linebacker with a player I think could be oustanding in their system, Michael Boley, he's athletic, he can sack the quarterback and he's good in coverage.  They also drafted Clint Sintim who was the all-time sack leader at Virginia, a player the Giants had on their board as a first round talent.  He will probably be a situational player in his first season but could have an immediate impact.  Bryan Kehl is in his second season at linebacker, and made some solid contributions during his rookie campaign.  He is somebody I might watch for this year, coming out of BYU he was considered to be a smart, athletic player who needed to learn the position a bit.  I think Kehl could be a surprising player this upcoming season.  If Gerris Wilkinson could stay healthy for once, then the Giants linebackers would have no issues in 2009.  Wilkinson has shown flashes that he could be an impact player but cannot stay on the field long enough to show it, hopefully this year he can put it together.  With Kenny Phillips entering his second professional season, he might become one of the top safeties in the league.  If you couple that with one of the top pass rushes in the NFL, the Giants secondary should be much improved with Ross and Webster manning the cornerback spots.  Look for the Giants to force teams into being one dimensional in 2009, they will try to get up early and make teams throw the ball.  If they can do that, their defense will not only be successful in stopping other teams they will also be pulling the weight of the offense by scoring the ball as well.  This defense has been put together to be dominant and I believe this season they will be just that.

The only two obstacles standing in the Giants way are injuries and coaching.  Last year down the stretch the Giants had both their defensive tackles, Fred Robbins and Barry Cofield breakdown, Antonio Pierce wasn't 100%, and the sight of Justin Tuck limping in the playoff game against the Eagles should say enough.  They already get immediately better with the return of Osi Umenyiora, so it's hard to say bad things about their defense.  I guess the one thing you could say is that Giants fans have to hope their offense doesn't keep their defense on the field the entire game. 

The other obstacle is Kevin Gilbride...People can say what they want about the Giants offense ranking tops in the league before Plaxico Burress went "Cheddar Bob" (8 Mile reference), but there are times in games when you have to scratch your head.  The most significant series, the least talked about series of the Giants season occurred in the NFC Divisional Round Game against the Eagles.  After the Giants regained possession of the ball in Eagles territory near the end of the half.  A penalty gave them 1st and 5, and a chance to go up by five points with a touchdown before halftime.  At the very least, run out the clock and kick a field goal.  Instead of running the ball with Brandon Jacobs two or possibly three times, forcing Philly to burn all of their timeouts, Kevin Gilbride decided to trick the Eagles?  Eli Manning dropped back to pass three consecutive times, which not only cost them a possible first down and chance to score a touchdown but it saved time on the clock for Philadelphia without having them burn their timeouts.  The Giants then kicked a field goal to go up 8-7, and gave the ball back to Philadelphia with a little over a minute and a half left in the second quarter.  In another puzzling move, the Giants came with no pass rush which allowed Philly to move down the field and kick the go ahead, momentum killing field goal.  Aside from poor play calling, Gilbride hardly utilized the Giants leading rusher in the 2007 playoffs.  Ahmad Bradshaw was absent from the offense, a player many considered to be the spark-plug that gave them a different dimension and a dangerous weapon during their Superbowl run.  Against a blitzing, over aggressive Philadelphia defense, Gilbride did not utilize the one guy who might keep Jim Johnson's defense just a little bit honest.  There were no screen passes to Bradshaw, he was never leaked out of the backfield, he just wasn't used.  The one time he did touch the ball he almost ran the opening kickoff back for a touchdown.  At times Gilbride can be good, and at other times Giants fans want to throw something through their T.V. screen.  The other question mark is new defensive coordinator Bill Sheridan.  Sheridan wants to continue the same aggressive style the Giants have played the past two seasons.  That's a very, very good thing...Since they are not starting over with a new system, and since Sheridan has the approval of the players I think that transition should be fairly smooth given the talent the Giants have assembled on defense.

In a nutshell anything less than a Superbowl victory would probably be a disappointment for the Giants organization and their fans.  Going forward their organization is heading in the right direction.  Their front office continues to make good draft picks, budget their salary cap appropriately and keep their players happy.  I think a realistic prediction for the Giants if they stay healthy and their offense does well, should be a Superbowl appearance.  If the offense struggles, they will probably make the playoffs but fall short of their overall goal.  All in all, I believe their offense needs to simply play similar to what Pittsburgh's offense did this year and they could go far.