NFL: Brandon Jacobs Will Be the Key to the Giants' Offense in 2010

The Giants’ defense will play better in 2010. 

After all, how could they possibly be any worse than they were in 2009? 

After the New Orleans Saints exposed the Giants' gruesome threesome—Michael Johnson, Aaron Rouse, and C.C. Brown—during a 48-27 pummeling at the Superdome during Week Seven, the rest of the league simply viewed Giants games as a great opportunity to pad their passing and receiving stats.

The Meadowlands became NFL quarterbacks' and receivers' version of Disneyland.

In the hopes of plugging this glaring defensive hole, the Giants went out and added safety Antrel Rolle during the offseason and are hoping that Kenny Phillips will return to full strength in 2010.

The offensive line is a question mark.  Although very experienced, they seem to be aging faster than President Obama and they did not have a strong showing in 2009.

The talented young receiving core has shown their ability to produce and is gaining more confidence and experience by the day.

Eli Manning has become a very solid NFL quarterback.  He’ll never be Peyton, Tom, or Drew, but he’s also not going to look as if he’s color blind while throwing passes directly into the hands of opposing secondaries, as he did earlier in his career.

That leaves one aspect of the team, and one man in particular, that will be the key to the Giants 2010 season.

And that man is Brandon Jacobs.

Giants’ offensive coordinator Kevin Gilbride could have done a better job in 2009, there’s no question about that.  

But in fairness, it’s extremely difficult to run an offense when you only have one real option available to you—throw the football.

Running the ball on first and 10, or second and eight was more or less just a convenient way for the Giants to get from first to second down or from second to third down.

Opposing defenses simply did not have to worry about Giants’ running backs heading off to the races last season, which allowed them to focus almost all of their attention on stopping the one threat the Giants did possess—the passing game.

You may be able to get away with this sort of thing with Tom Brady or Peyton Manning at the helm, but Eli, as solid as he’s been in recent years, needs some kind of help on the offensive side.

The main issue at hand is that the Giants currently do not possess the proper tools pose a real running threat.  

Brandon Jacobs is not an all-purpose back.

Jacobs is arguably the most valuable back in the league on second and three and third and two situations.

However, Jacobs does not pose much of a threat on first or second and long situations.  Defenses will gladly give up a five-yard run in order to prevent a 55-yard touchdown pass. 

But at this point, wishing for an all-purpose back is a pointless exercise.

Jacobs is “the guy” heading into the 2010 season.  And although he’ll receive some help from Ahmad Bradshaw, Jacobs' ability to average more than 3.7 yards per carry (his 2009 average) will likely determine how successful the Giants offense will be in 2010.