New York Giants Defense Ruined Vast Improvement In Special Teams
The New York Giants finished a disappointing 6-10 in 2015, same as their record from 2014, and for the fourth straight season missed the playoffs. It’s hard to believe that any aspect of the organization was greatly improved, but according to Rick Gosellin of The Dallas Morning News, there was. Each year, he ranks the special teams play for the entire NFL and releases his rankings. The 6-10 Giants were 2nd in the league behind only the 5-11 Baltimore Ravens on special teams.
In 2014, the Giants ranked 25th in these special teams rankings. Gosellin tabulates these rankings by assigning points for 22 special teams categories like kicks, punt returns, field position, etc.. So, what accounted for this huge jump in the rankings?
One huge factor for the leap is Dwayne Harris. Many scoffed at his 5-year $17.5M contract, but not only did he score on a punt return and a kick return, but made a significant impact as a receiver. He improved the averages for punt return yards and kick return yards from 2014 as well.
Josh Brown helped swing the rankings making a league-high 93.8 percent of his field goals. The coverage on his kickoffs was also improved. The Giants allowed just 20.3 yards per return and finished 5th in that category.
So with such a vast upgrade in special teams, how did the Giants finish with the same record as last season? Eli Manning certainly improved statistically. Manning and the Giants finished 7th in the NFL in passing yards per game, the same as 2014. The Giants finished 6th in points per game with 26.3, an improvement over the 23.8 they scored in 2014 where they finished 13th. Despite how much the four-man rotation was criticized during the season, the Giants finished the 2015 season averaging almost exactly the same amount of rush yards they did in 2014.
You guessed correctly. It was the atrocious defense. Steve Spagnuolo’s defense finished 32nd in total yards allowed, which was actually worse than Perry Fewell’s 2014 defense that finished 29th. The Giants dropped from 18th in passing yards allowed per game to 32nd. Perhaps the biggest drop off is in total sacks, which is not surprising at all if you actually watched the Giants defense. In 2014, the Giants finished 4th in the NFL with 47 sacks. This season, the pass rush amassed just 23 sacks finishing 30th in the league.
Granted, Jason Pierre-Paul missed a significant portion of the season, but one man alone does not account for that gap in sacks. So, as much as the special teams improved the Giants’ field position and even added points to the board, the defense in 2015 folded making those gains almost irrelevant.