Will the Giants have what it takes to make a run at Super Bowl LII?
New York Giants Defense
The headliner of the New York Giants 2016 campaign was their greatly improved defense.
Big Blue’s defense posted abysmal numbers in 2015, ranking 30th for points against and allowing 27.6 per game on average, per Pro Football Reference. Comparing 2015’s defensive stats to the 2016 stats makes your jaw drop and honestly makes you wonder how?
The answer is simple. Jerry Reese’s summer shopping budget was $200 million and he purchased all the right materials.
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The additions of Olivier Vernon, Janoris Jenkins and Damon “Snacks” Harrison propelled the Giants into the top five defenses in the league. They jumped from allowing 27.6 points per game (ranked 30th out of 32), to 17.8 and ranked 2nd in the entire league. If that isn’t impressive, I don’t know what is.
New York Giants Offense
The problem that persists is their offensive capabilities. Scoring only 19.4 points per game was Eli Manning and the explosive Odell Beckham. If it wasn’t for OBJ making several game-saving scoring plays, the New York Giants may have missed to playoffs entirely.
The love story that Victor Cruz presented to Giant’s fans and executives made our hearts warm in the beginning of the season. But as 2016 progressed, everybody seemed to get a little confused as to why the nostalgia of 2011 wasn’t resurfacing.
New York Giants
Now, Cruz and the Giants have parted ways and the addition of former New York Jet Brandon Marshall brings all of the chips, but not the salsa.
Marshall is only one year removed from a prolific 1,500 yard and 14 touchdown season. This should give Giants fans and Eli Manning great hope for 2017.
Despite his previous temper and anger management issues, Marshall is a number 1 receiver and his willingness to take secondary role behind Beckham is selfless. He will immediately help Beckham in the passing game, as secondaries will need to keep track of two receivers. Having two dangerous receivers will create more one-on-one opportunities.
With the hopeful addition of a tight end and offensive lineman in the draft, the Giant’s offense should see the improvement needed to push past the wild-card round. Hopefully, it will be enough to send the New York Giants on one of Eli’s historic Super Bowl runs.
Championship Season?
Great first week of workouts! Grinding hard with one thing in mind!! #BigBlue #SnacksSeason
— Billy (@snacks) April 21, 2017
Take it from “Snacks,” they have one thing in mind and that’s Super Bowl Sunday.
The defensive players pushed management to keep them together this offseason. And besides Johnathan Hankins taking his talents to Indianapolis, the Giants have retained most of their starting 11.
This bodes well for a playoff run, simply because a team needs chemistry to play at their highest potential. Last year, we saw three new faces, all of which are Pro Bowl caliber players without any prior experience together.
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With the help of Landon Collins and JPP, the defense was the main reason the Giants were able to make it to the playoffs.
Flashback to the pivotal moment in the Wild Card game against the Green Bay Packers where Rodgers threw up a prayer and Randall Cobb made the catch. That play will forever haunt Giant’s fans, but without that play the Giants may have stuck around a little bit longer.
Rodgers felt pressure the entire first half. And despite being able to avoid being sacked, Rodgers anticipated pressure on every play.
The insanity of the “Hail Mary” catch was the deciding moment, and unfortunately destroyed the New York Giants moral. This time around, the offense will have a little more gusto in case the impossible happens.
Overall, Big Blue has an upgraded squad. And with holes to be plugged through the draft, there will be depth in case of injury. With the hiring of new strength and conditioning coach Aaron Wellman, major injuries decreased in 2016.
If the Giants can stay healthy throughout the season, there’s nothing stopping them from making a run at Super Bowl 52.