2009 New York Giants Predictions

2009 New York Giants Predictions
Preview courtesy of Ted Sevransky, An award-winning professional football handicapper featured on Touthouse.com. If you are interested in football betting this season, be sure to buy Ted Sevransky’s football picks at Touthouse.com

Overview:
In Week 16 of the 2007 season, the Giants entered the fourth quarter trailing at Buffalo, with their playoff hopes on the line. Eli Manning led a big fourth quarter comeback and the rest is history. The G-men got hot at the right time, culminating in a shocking upset of the previously undefeated New England Patriots in the Super Bowl.

Last year, the Giants picked up right where they left off, with an 11-1 record heading into December. But the wheels fell off the offense down the stretch, after the Plaxico Burress suspension/distraction put a major dent into the Giants downfield passing game.

New York closed out the 2008 season with losses in four of their last five games. Only a come-from-behind win against Carolina kept the Giants from ending the campaign on an 0-5 slide. With an untested receiving corps and a new defensive coordinator, questions persist about the G-men.

Is this team capable of putting together another magical run in 2009, or are the Giants an overvalued commodity based on last year’s late season meltdown? There are valid rationales for both sides of this argument.

Offense:
Eli Manning signed the richest contract in NFL history earlier this month, despite the fact that his passer rating tumbled by 30 points in that disastrous December. Manning has been remarkably durable, starting every game since earning the job back in 2004.

And his interceptions were cut in half last year from the Super Bowl campaign of 2008, from 20 to 10, leading to the highest QB rating of his career. At age 28, with 71 career starts under his belt, the pressure on Manning will be enormous this season as he enters the prime of his career.

Manning has a strong offensive line to work behind and a powerful, multi-faceted running game to ease the pressure. Running backs Brandon Jacobs and Derrick Ward each gained more than 1,000 yards last year, but Ward left in free agency, leaving speedster Ahmad Bradshaw to fill in as the change of pace back behind the lumbering Jacobs.

Pro Bowlers Shaun O'Hara and Chris Snee are the leaders on a top notch offensive line, but depth is a major concern if any of the starters go down with injuries.

The receiving corps is loaded with question marks. Last year, the Giants didn't have a single receiver with 60 catches or 600 receiving yards, and nobody on the team averaged more than 13 yards per reception. Steve Smith led the team with 57 catches last year while Domenick Hixon led the team with 596 receiving yards.

Without Plaxico Burress and Amani Toomer on the roster, unproven youngsters like Mario Manningham, Sinorice Moss and rookie Hakeem Nicks (North Carolina) will have to produce immediately or this offense will be rather one dimensional towards the run.

Defense:
The Giants won the Super Bowl two years ago in large part due to the dominance of their defensive line; a unit that simply blew past opposing linemen to consistently make plays in the backfield. While coordinator Steve Spagnuolo is now the head coach of the St Louis Rams, the Giants promoted former linebackers coach Bill Sheridan to take over for Spagnuolo.

Expect Sheridan to be every bit as aggressive as his blitz-happy mentor. The G-men led the league in sacks in 2007 and finished sixth last year with 42 quarterback takedowns.

There are no depth concerns for the defensive line this year; a unit that paved the way for the No. 5 defense in the league in '08. Pass rushing force Osi Umenyiora returns from his ACL tear last August.

Free agent signees Chris Canty and Rocky Bernard should fit right in with returning talent like Justin Tuck, Fred Robbins, Barry Cofield, and Mathias Kiwanuka, making this a particularly deep and talented unit.

There are some legitimate questions in the back seven for the Giants defense. The secondary is rather green, with three of the four projected starters entering the season with three years of experience or less.

Defensive leader, linebacker Antonio Pierce, has lost a step or two, and was clearly distracted by his role in the Plaxico Burress incident last fall. Free agent addition Michael Boley has yet to hit the practice field following preseason hip surgery. If the defensive line can't dominate up front for whatever reason, the Giants look rather vulnerable.

Schedule:
The Giants faced a "middle of the pack" schedule last year and face another "medium" type slate in 2009, despite playing in one of the toughest divisions in the NFL. It's worth noting that the Giants hot start in 2008 was at least partially schedule related, with early season contests against the likes of the Rams, Bengals, Seahawks, 49ers, and Browns.

When the schedule toughened up against five winning teams over the last five weeks of the season, the Giants went 1-4. New York doesn't have a single west coast trip lined up for 2009, and get home games with the likes of Oakland, Arizona and Dan Diego travelling east.

New York's current 15-3 SU run on the highway makes three consecutive early season road games in Weeks Two, Three, and Four much easier to handle.