New York Giants Midseason Review: How They Have Become Surprisingly Successful

When we think of the New York Giants, we instinctively think of hard-nosed football; a traditional, simple type of football where running and defense is cherished. However, last year they strayed from this long-established strategy.

The defense let up 494 points in the season (a horrendous 30 points per game), which ranked third to last in the NFL. The Giants rushing attack was not much better. At 4.1 yards per carry, the Giants running game was ranked near the last in the league.

It was without a doubt a season to forget. It got to the point where I chose to watch a thrilling episode of "Desperate Housewives" on Sunday night, rather than sitting through the Giants once again getting dismantled, this time at the hands of the Philadelphia Eagles.

Entering the 2010 season the Giants had very little hope, only dreams. They were able to revamp their defense with the additions of two former Pro Bowlers: Keith Bulluck and Antrel Rolle.

But the problem is that it’s never about the talent. It is always about the level of effort and commitment that is delivered. Without enthusiasm, they would be nothing this year. The Giants knew it, the fans knew it and the whole league knew it.

Mirroring the end of the 2009 season, the first three games of 2010 started off miserably. It was as if they were back to square one. With the record of 1-2, another horrendous season was in store for the Giants.

One loss was a blowout (38-14) handed out by Eli’s big brother Peyton at the helm of the Colts. The other was also a lopsided game in which they lost to the Titans (29-10).

In the first three games the defense looked unorganized to the point of complete confusion. The wide receivers had popcorn butter all over their hands. And seemingly after every snap, I unfortunately had to witness Eli Manning’s painfully uncomfortable shoulder shrug, signifying his disappointment.

Once again they had all the life sucked out of them until the Giants were reduced to midgets.

If I had completely given up on the Giants season and paid no attention after their miserable start, I would be utterly dumbfounded to see that this seemingly destructive team now holds a record of 5-2 and is sitting a top the division.

They must feel pretty damn good about themselves going into the bye week after just putting the ultimate, WWE style smackdown on the Cowboys, the self-proclaimed “America’s Team.”

Statistically, they now have the second-ranked defense and the third-ranked offencs in the entire NFL. The team has evolved from a chaotic prison riot into a prep school classroom. This transformation has been shown in all facets of the team but especially in the running game.

The New York Giants have surprised everyone this year with their rushing attack. Coming off the most depressing running game in recent memory last year, the running backs have risen from the land of failure, and are making a solid bid to be voted to go play in Hawaii.

Ahmad Bradshaw has collected 708 rushing yards, good for fourth in the NFL. This yard total is nearly as much as he had all of last year. Even though Brandon Jacobs has lost his starting running back job, he still remains lethal and confident when it comes to scoring in the red zone (with five TDs). The two-headed monster of Bradshaw and Jacobs are bound to frighten defensive coordinators.

This rushing attack could not have flourished without the excellence of Eli Manning and his receivers. It is apparent that Eli has finally stepped out of his brother’s shadow and has become a viable candidate for MVP.[1]

However, he has little chance of winning this award because of his remarkably high interception tally of 11, which is tied for first in the NFL. This stat can be attributed to the tendency of Eli’s young receivers to play volleyball with the football.

Tom Coughlin touched on this issue of tipped balls saying, “It’s like a damn plague.”[2] The Giants’ primary receiver, Hakeem Nicks, is a big play guy, so seemingly every time Eli throws him the ball, he either gets a touchdown or he gets intercepted.

Nicks has racked up the second most touchdowns in the league but he also ranks 11th  in the league with dropped balls. This could spell trouble in the Giants’ future games. This “monkey ball” type of play goes against the Giants’ tradition.

When the interceptions do occur, they give the opposition excellent field position. Fortunately, the Giants’ defense has risen to these challenges and has succeeded in keeping these turnovers from becoming scoring opportunities for the opposition.

Since the 1-2 start, the Giants’ defense has been playing tremendously. The punishing, brutal hits have been a refreshing change for Giants fans worldwide. The defenders have all bought into Perry Fewell’s (the defensive coordinator) system and are playing with an energy that has not been seen in years.

They remind me of the 2007 Super Bowl defense. Led by Michael Strahan, that squad had character, fight, grit, determination and was relentlessness—a combination of adjectives that is necessary for a good defense.

The most frustrating thing in the world is seeing a team’s defense get picked apart and dismantled by the opposition. When the Giants went through the motions of playing the Colts, their defense was completely exposed. I watched as Peyton Manning put on his surgical gloves and mask and performed the hardest of maneuvers with the easiest of precision.

So how did the Giant’s defense start to succeed beginning in Game 4? The Giants knew that they couldn’t win games without having a good defense.

Perry Fewell's single most important decision was to encourage the Giants’ defense to get after and hit the quarterback. The Giants’ defense suddenly went from Doctor Peyton Manning’s patient to the one sending the opposing players to the doctor.

They are currently tied third in the league with 24 sacks on the season. But it’s not just sacking the quarterback; it is getting a strip sack (perfected by Osi Umenyiora[3]). They are currently first in the league with 14 forced fumbles. 

What is even more amazing is that in four out of the five Giants wins, they have knocked out the opposing quarterbacks. This significantly altered the course of the game because the backup quarterback is never as talented or prepared as the starter.

Within six games they have knocked out Matt Moore, Jay Cutler, Jay Cutler’s backup Todd Collins, Shaun Hill, Shaun Hill’s backup Drew Stanton and finally the Cowboy’s franchise quarterback Tony Romo.

This is a monstrous total of six quarterbacks, one for every game they have played. I will attribute this to the hard-hitting Giants’ defense, but I also have to give some credit to luck.

Imagine if they didn’t knock out Jay Cutler when the score was 3-0 Giants. The game would have been more competitive. Imagine if they didn’t knock out Tony Romo when the Cowboys were up by 13 points. The Giants would have probably lost.

The Giants could and should probably have the record of 3-3 rather then 5-2. The point is injuring a quarterback is almost all luck, and unless the Giants have that kind of incredible luck the whole season, they might run into some trouble stopping starting quarterbacks who play the entire game.

I won’t give all the credit for their wins to knocking out the quarterback, but it clearly has been an important factor.

Even though I can’t see the Giants continuing this miraculous and dangerous streak of knocking out the quarterback, I do see them having a fairly good rest of the season.

I predict that they will make the playoffs with a 10-6 record. Furthermore, they will make it all the way to the NFC championship game but will lose because of their inability to knockout the opposition’s quarterback.

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[1] In a recent poll on ESPN.com, including 90,000+ participants, the site asked who is the NFL’s midseason Most Valuable Player. They gave a list of five players to vote from: Tom Brady, Chris Johnson, Eli Manning, Peyton Manning, and Clay Matthews. Even though Eli finished last with only 7 percent (ironically his older brother finished first with 41 percent) it is still a tremendous honor and testament to Eli for being considered for the award.

[2] Armstrong, Kevin. "Tom Coughlin On Eli Manning's Interceptions: “It's Like A Damn Plague”." Football News Now. 4 Nov. 2010. Web. 6 Nov. 2010.

[3] Osi Umenyiora has eight sacks this, seven of those eight has been a strip sack. A strip sack is when a player attempts to dislodge the ball from the quarterback’s hand instead of just trying to knock the quarterback to the ground. Umenyiora is first, by a large margin, in the league in forced fumbles. He only needs two more forced fumbles to tie Jason Taylor’s all time record of nine in a season.