NY Giants' Defense: Sheridan Not At Fault For Decline

Now before you bite my head off, understand that I am not a believer in Bill Sheridan.

However when you look at the Giants season defensively, the defensive coordinator can not be at fault, well maybe a little bit.

You would think that the Giants would be furious with Bill Sheridan(with an expression similar to Madison Hedgecock's) for dropping the team's best pass rushers and players into coverage, where they have failed. Then again there are many factors into why he has done this so many times.

For one, the Giants defensive line has gotten zero pressure on any opposing quarterback this season. If that's the case, might as well drop more into coverage than wasting 4 linemen right? Secondly, the secondary could not cover any top end receiver. Seeing this, the players are all to blame, correct? False

The Giants had an up coming star safety who had 2 picks in the first two games this season in Kenny Phillips. His season was cut short. And that was just the beginning. The other starting safety Michael Johnson, along with their top 2 cornerbacks Aaron Ross and Corey Webster went down.

Then their newly acquired defensive tackle Chris Canty and outside linebacker Michael Boley went down. And last, but definitely not least, their leader and quarterback Antonio Pierce went down. Not to mention Osi Umenyiora was coming off a season ending foot injury last year.

You cannot find a team that can succeed without their starting safeties, outside linebacker, middle linebacker, defensive tackle, and top 2 corners. You add those injuries along with a first year defensive coordinator, and you have the equation for failure.

So who is at fault? You could point to the injury bug, or the inexperience of the defensive coordinator, or even the lack of production from the Giants. Take bits and pieces from each of those 3 and you have your answer.