A Special Comment On The 2010 NY Giants Special Teams Play
By author
Michael Eisen has a story up today about the Giants Special Teams play from last year, a rather glowing review of Lawrence Tynes and really pretty mum after that. Check it out if you want to — my opinion/rant is below.
Clipped from: www.giants.com (share this clip)
Before I dig in, I want to say very publicly that I have nothing against the Giants Communications team. But I’m going to give an emphasis-filled opinion purely as a fan, and I have to get the following off my chest about the NY Giants special teams before its importance continues to be downplayed. I will not try to be eloquent, and I will not spend time mincing words about this particular series of stats posted on the NY Giants website, because the article really grinds my gears.
[Begin rant]
To not highlight how BAD the Giants Special Teams play was last year in a more effective manner than the article linked above is unfortunate, harmful, and quite alarming.
The Giants Special Teams in 2010 as a whole, was awful. Lawrence Tynes gets a pass… but that’s it! One pat on the back for Larry. But how does one player’s consistency get the whole unit out of the hole they dug themselves all season? The Giants coverage and return games were TERRIBLE… particularly during the perfect storm that was the second Philadelphia game (no need for details im sure) a series of blunders that directly ousted the Giants from the playoff hunt. To not highlight how putrid this unit was in 2010 is to do a disservice to the NY Giants organization, and their fan base.
At best, the failure to adequately address how BAD the Giants Special Teams was is a statistical oversight without perspective, at worst it threatens irreparable harm to a major priority needing to be addressed during this 2011 offseason. I quote John Mara from January, 2009: “The status quo will not stand.”
But how can we, the fans, have confidence that the Giants organization can actually see what everyone else on the planet sees when the most glaring, horrifying, and putrid numbers on the special teams stat sheet are buried dead in the middle of the column without adequate emphasis.
Check this out again in case you missed it:
"The rest of the special teams were not always as consistent as Tynes. The kickoff coverage team ranked fourth in the NFL. But the punt coverage and punt and kickoff return teams all finished 31st in the league."
Are you kidding me? I know a back door brag when I see it — and when you lead off with a compliment to talk about how BAD the Giants performed in one of three major facets of professional football, IT DOES NOT SUFFICE! It leads everyone reading this report to think to themselves: “Gee, I guess the Giants don’t think there is a problem with their special teams… they looked like **** to me — but what do I know! Man that Larry Tynes was smooth as silk last year. Third Tynes the charm!”
IT SHOULDN’T EVEN BE A QUESTION – THE GIANTS HAD THE SECOND WORST OVERALL SPECIAL TEAMS IN THE LEAGUE! 31 out of 32… That is god awful. THE STATUS QUO SUCKS!
So here is what this stat SHOULD look like, emphasis added to reflect what every NY Giants fan thinks these statistics should be presented as until the situation on the field is fixed.