The Super Bowl Champion 2007 New York Giants prided themselves on running the football and rushing the passer. As things currently stand, these two philosophies have become the Giants two biggest question marks.
The running game will again be led by Brandon Jacobs and Ahmad Bradshaw. Jacobs is looking to bounce back off his worst season as a starter, in which he ran for 835 yards on a pedestrian 3.7 yards per carry. After averaging over 5 yards per carry as a full time starter in 2007 and 2008, last season's drop off left Giants fans concerned that their bull may have lost his horns. In a league where running backs decline at a staggering rate, Jacobs has to bounce back to keep his starting job from the up and coming Ahmad Bradshaw.
As Jacobs struggled last season, Bradshaw seemed to emerge more and more every week. He achieved a personal best in rushing yards (778) and was able to maintain a 4.8 yards per carry average on a career high 163 carries. Should Jacobs continue to falter in the first few weeks of the season, the Giants will not hesitate to make Bradshaw the primary ball carrier going forward. Neither back is capable of handling 300 carries so the committee approach will need to be used once more. A 65-35 Jacobs to Bradshaw ratio would be best to keep both backs productive and healthy. To be fair, both backs were banged up all of last season so an off season of healing may elevate both players to new heights.
Perhaps even more important then the play of Jacobs and Bradshaw is the play of the offensive line. A group that was once perhaps the best in the NFL seemed to erode last season. In an ideal world, second year LT William Beaty will start at LT and allow the Giants to kick over David Diehl to LG to replace weak link Rich Seubert. Shaun O'Hara is another year older and Kareem McKenzie can no longer be counted on to make it through an entire season. It appears the only sure thing is All Pro RG Chris Snee. A bit of reshuffling will need to be done to allow the Giants to re-establish the running game that won them 26 games in 2007 and 2008.
As Steve Spagnuolo left, so did the Giants pass rush. Giants fans still have the image of Donovan McNabb drinking a cup of coffee in the pocket before lofting up bombs to Desean Jackson. 2009 underachievers Osi Umenyiora, Chris Canty, and Rocky Bernard will need to bounce back to allow new Defensive Coordinator Perry Fewell to revive a defense that gave up more points then 30 other teams last season. Justin Tuck, Barry Cofield, and Matthias Kiwanuka return, along with high draft picks Jason Pierre-Paul and Linval Joseph. On paper the defensive line is loaded, but people said the same thing only one year ago. Until the defensive line proves it is legit, it will remain a question mark. The Giants have put a ton of personnel, money, and draft picks into the defensive line so anything less then a top 5 unit will be a disappointment.
Predictions
-Jacobs has somewhat of a bounce back season. He will not be the dominating force he was nor the feeble, easy to bring down, back he was last season. Think somewhere in the middle (2010 stats- 234 carries, 982 yards, 4.2 yards per carry, 10 touchdowns.)
-Bradshaw will remain an integral part of the offense. As both a runner and receiver he will be a threat every time he is on the field. (2010 stats- 170 carries, 782 yards, 4.6 yards per carry, 7 touchdowns.)
-The defensive line will be a strength of the team but not the dominating force it should be. Under Perry Fewell, opposing quarterbacks will not be able to relax the way they did in 2009. Tuck will continue to be great. Osi will be negated to a 3rd down pass rusher because he can no longer stop the run on 1st and 2nd down. Kiwanuka will be steady but will need to have more then the 3 sacks he had last season. 1st round pick Jason Pierre Paul only started 7 games of Division One college football so don't expect anything out of him in his first season. Chris Canty is facing the prospect of becoming one of the worst free agent signings in Giants history if he doesn't give more then the 4 starts and half a sack he gave the team last year. All in all, expect a solid pass rush but not the second coming of the New York Sack Exchange.
Agree.... this team finished 3-8 down the stretch. I see some analysts rating this group as a playoff team. Where did they get this? All there core players are a year older and will once again take the field this year. This years Giants will be an 8-8 team and no better...
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