Full New York Giants Midseason Awards
Congratulations! You’ve officially made it through the first half of the 2015 NFL season, and oh what an up-and-down first eight weeks it’s been for the New York Giants.
Forget about all the preseason predictions—the NFC East is wide-open and right there for the taking for whoever wants it.
The problem is that no one from the Giants, Cowboys, Eagles and Washington has stepped up yet and made the division its own, though there’s still a lot of football left to be played starting with this weekend.
So while the four division rivals continue to slug things out, let’s have a little fun to end the week by rolling out the midseason Giants awards.
Feel free to add your picks to the various categories (or suggest any category I might have missed) in the comments section.
Team MVP: QB Eli Manning
1 of 7
Quarterback Eli Manning is far from perfect—his brain lapse in Week 1 proved that.
Still, so long as he’s under center, the Giants are always going to have a chance at success.
You can point to his fourth-quarter comeback win against San Francisco or how he kept his team afloat in last week’s debacle that saw the defense melt down as examples of where he didn’t give up, didn’t panic and silently fought back.
Whatever your choice, it’s Manning who puts his offense’s arsenal—Odell Beckham Jr., Rueben Randle, etc.—in position to make the plays that need to be made.
So where exactly does Manning stand among his peers? He’s fourth in the league in touchdowns (17) and is tied with Andy Dalton of the Bengals for fewest interceptions (four).
Where Manning has really earned his money this year is in functioning under pressure. Per Pro Football Focus, he has an accuracy rate of 73.8 percent when under pressure, the second-best completion percentage among starting quarterbacks.
That’s also a percentage in which he’s thrown zero interceptions (and a percentage that would probably be a lot higher were it not for the six drops by his receivers).
Love him or hate him, the bottom line is that Manning gives the Giants offense its best chance to be successful.
Rookie of the Half: OT Ereck Flowers
2 of 7
This one was a close call between offensive tackle Ereck Flowers and safety Landon Collins, the Giants first- and second-round draft picks, respectively.
So why Flowers ahead of Collins, who, again, is just as deserving?
Flowers, who was supposed to start his NFL career at right tackle, was thrown into the deep end of the pool at left tackle following the pectoral injury suffered by Will Beatty right from the start.
While the rookie has had his hiccups, particularly in pass protection—per Pro Football Focus, he’s allowed 27 total quarterback pressures, the second-most among the starting five offensive linemen—he’s stood up to some of the top NFL pass-rushers without so much as blinking an eye.
The tipping point, though, in choosing Flowers was his Week 6 outburst in a Monday night game against the Eagles, where he erupted on the sideline as his team was getting thrashed.
Although the 21-year-old’s outburst didn’t inspire his teammates to change the flow of the game, his passion no doubt caught the attention and respect of his teammates and coaches.
Defensive MVP: CB Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie
3 of 7
There haven’t been many shining stars on the Giants defense this year, partly because of injury and partly because of a lack of talent at some spots.
One guy who thus far has earned his paychecks is cornerback Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie, the team leader in interceptions with three and the clear winner in coverage, according to Pro Football Focus’ pass-coverage grades.
Rodgers-Cromartie, who has missed just one game since signing with the Giants last year, has consistently earned positive overall grades for his work, and rightfully so.
Although he’s allowed 30 of 21 pass targets to be completed, he’s yet to give up a touchdown and has the third-best NFL rating in the league, behind Carolina’s Josh Norman and the Jets’ Darrelle Revis.
.jpg?w=256 "Colts Jaguars Football")
Most Improved: C Weston Richburg
4 of 7
The mark of a good offensive lineman is to not hear his name called when he’s doing his job.
That’s exactly what Weston Richburg has brought to the table in his first year as the starting center, his natural position.
Thus far he has allowed just five quarterback pressures, the fewest on the team, and of late he has really improved his run-blocking game.
Richburg has also done much better job with orchestrating the line calls and protections. Over the last two weeks, the Giants have allowed just 21 total pressures against quarterback Eli Manning for a 76.8 pass-blocking efficiency as compared to the 71 total pressures allowed in the first six games.
In that two-week span, the Giants running game has also shown some signs of life, recording its first 100-yard performance in Week 7 against Dallas and then following that up with an 87-yard showing last week against the Saints.
The scary thing about Richburg is that he’s only going to get better as he gains more confidence and more reps. With him, the offensive line is set in the middle for years to come.
Unsung Hero: LG Justin Pugh
5 of 7
There were several candidates for this award, but in the end, left guard Justin Pugh gets the nod for several reasons.
First, Pugh, channeling his inner David Diehl—no surprise since Diehl mentored Pugh as a rookie—selflessly agreed to make the switch from right tackle to left guard, where there’s more scrum to fight through than there is when a guy is out there in the island.
Second, he happily accepted the challenge of mentoring rookie Ereck Flowers when the first-round draft pick was thrown headfirst into the deep end of the pool at left tackle.
Pugh’s communication and willingness to help Flowers have certainly not gone unnoticed, and it’s been a big reason why the left side of the Giants offensive line has been the more effective of the two sides as far as running the ball—of the team's 750 rushing yards, 360 (48 percent) have come on the left side.
Third, Pugh has quietly had his best season as a pro since making the switch inside from right tackle. He’s allowed just 11 quarterback pressures, the second-fewest on the starting offensive line.
He also has just one penalty against him, the lowest total of the five starting offensive linemen.
Like Richburg, Pugh doesn’t get his name called very often, but that’s a good thing as far as the Giants are concerned.
Biggest Disappointment: RB Andre Williams
6 of 7
There were any number of candidates for this award, so in choosing running back Andre Williams as the “winner” over the likely popular choice (defensive end Markus Kuhn), the decision unfolded in a couple of different ways.
First is talent level. Williams, a fourth-round draft pick and a Heisman finalist who led the nation in rushing yards in his final season at Boston College, came into the NFL with much higher expectations as a fourth-round pick than Kuhn, a seventh-round draft pick on whom the Giants took a flier.
At the end of last season, Williams impressed enough to think the best was yet to come. He recorded 211 of his 461 rushing yards (45.7 percent) in the team’s final four games, providing hints of why the Giants liked him so much and looking very much like a steal.
This year, things have soured for Williams, whose best rushing output is 43 yards in Week 2 against Atlanta. To be fair, this isn’t all his fault.
When Williams was productive as a rookie, it was because he received several touches in a game. This year, however, the most he’s received is 14 carries in Week 3 against Washington when he ran for 29 yards.
Williams is clearly the type of runner who has to be the feature back or part of a smaller rotation than the four-man band the Giants currently employ.
Perhaps the biggest disappointment with Williams, who came out of college not known as being a pass-catching threat out of the backfield, is that he really hasn’t made much strides in that area in two seasons. He’s been targeted once in the passing game this year, failing to catch the ball.
When Williams is on the field, it’s usually one of two things with him. He’s either going to run the ball or be a blocker/decoy.
As he poses little threat as a receiver, especially if he’s out there on what is a clear passing situation, opposing defenses don’t spend a lot of time worrying about him.
That caps what thus far has been a disappointing sophomore season for a player the team was probably hoping to get a lot more out of by now despite the limited touches.
Biggest Surprise: FB/DT Nikita Whitlock
7 of 7
Raise your hand if you thought Nikita Whitlock, a reserve/futures free agent, would make this roster over Henry Hynoski, Pro Football Focus’ third-highest graded run-blocking fullback in 2014.
You saw it coming? Good for you. But did you think Whitlock would actually play both offense and defense once the regular season started?
Come on now, two-way players in the NFL are about as rare as a white rhino. Yet there is Whitlock, a guy who wasn’t supposed to make this Giants roster, doing his thing.
On offense, he’s played 80 snaps in eight games, just missing being ranked among the top 10 run-blocking fullbacks in the league after eight weeks (he’s No. 11).
On defense, he’s played 34 snaps and has actually looked more at home on that side of the ball than he has on the offensive side.
He has one tackle and one sack for 14 yards, the second longest sack recorded by the Giants' otherwise dismal pass rush this season, according to the team’s weekly game release.
He’s also had three quarterback hits—third-most on the team behind defensive end Robert Ayers (seven), and linebacker Devon Kennard and defensive end George Selvie (tied at four).
That’s rather impressive production given his limited number of snaps.
The biggest surprise of all? At 5’10”, 250 pounds, Whitlock isn’t the prototypical defensive tackle.
However, he’s finding a way to get it done using his size as an asset to squirt under taller offensive linemen and his patented spin move, which often times leaves his opponent grabbing air.
Whitlock’s story has been nothing short of amazing—and not mentioned yet is his work on special teams, which has also been solid.
He is truly a little engine that could who is getting it done through sheer will and determination—and a lot of hard work.
Unless otherwise noted, all advanced statistics are from Pro Football Focus, and all game and basic stats are from NFL.com.
Patricia Traina covers the Giants for Inside Football, the Journal Inquirer and Sports Xchange. All quotes and information were obtained firsthand unless otherwise sourced.
Follow me on Twitter @Patricia_Traina.
.jpg?w=480 "Colts Jaguars Football")
.png?w=480)
