With one week to go in the regular-season of The National Football League, The New York Giants are still mathematically alive for a playoff berth. You have a better chance of figuring out the square root of my stomach than trying to understand all of the scenarios needed for The Giants to qualify for the playoffs. More than likely The Giants will be home after next Sunday pondering where this season went wrong. The Giants did their usual thing of starting the season with a record of 6-2 for the sixth time under current head coach Tom Coughlin only to falter down the stretch. Through eight games The Giants held a three-game lead over The Washington Redskins and Dallas Cowboys in The NFC East. Now they find themselves staring up in the standings to these two teams who are set to do battle in The Nation’s Capitol on Sunday Night Football with the division crown on the line.
The Giants have gone away from the formula that has helped them win two Super Bowl Championships since 2007. Offensively, The Giants were able to protect quarterback Eli Manning and defensively they would make the game miserable for opposing quarterbacks. In the second half of this season, Manning hasn’t been protected as opposing defenses have been putting him in “The Malachi Crunch”. Quarterbacks that are facing The Giants once vaunted pass-rush are throwing the football at will, or in the case at Giants cornerback Corey Webster. Webster came into this season with aspirations of making The Pro Bowl, but he is in the midst of a terrible season. After Sunday’s 33-14 loss to The Baltimore Ravens, Webster was trending on Twitter well into Monday afternoon after Ravens wide receiver Torrey Smith torched him for 88 yards on 5 receptions. Smith joins a long list of wide receivers in The National Football League this season which includes A.J. Green of The Cincinnati Bengals and Dez Bryant of The Dallas Cowboys who have padded their stats this season by going up against Webster.
Last season saw The Giants vaunted pass rush amass 48 sacks which was third in The NFL. This season the unit is tied for 19th as they only have 32 sacks on the season. Defensively The Giants have been hurt by opposing quarterbacks getting the football out quicker to eliminate the terror that could be potentially brought on by defensive ends Jason Pierre-Paul, Justin Tuck, and Osi Umenyiora. Last season these three defensive ends accounted for 30.5 sacks which was highlighted by Pierre-Paul registering with 16.5 sacks. This season the three men have only combined for 15.5 sacks. Even when the three were unable to sack a quarterback in 2011, they were still wreaking havoc as they were constantly in the offensive backfield.
The Giants pressure up front predicates everything for the back seven of the defense. Linebackers Michael Boley and Chase Blackburn are allowed to freelance more while cornerbacks such as Webster and Prince Amukamara are allowed to be more ball hawks which allows them to get interceptions. In The Giants last seven games, the defense has only recorded 11 sacks with 9 of those coming in two games against The Pittsburgh Steelers and Green Bay Packers. Most football pundits questioned Giants general manager Jerry Reese in 2006 when he drafted defensive end Mathias Kiwanuka being that Tuck, Umenyiora, and Michael Strahan were stout defensive ends. Reese’s strategy led to The Giants sacking New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady five times en route to 17-14 victory in Super Bowl 42. Reese pulled the same move in 2010 when he drafted Pierre-Paul when The Giants already had Kiwanuka, Umenyiora, and Tuck. The Giants once again found themselves in The Super Bowl last season against The Patriots and the strategy once again was to put pressure on Brady. The Giants only sacked Brady twice, but they put enough pressure on him to make the unflappable one miserable as Big Blue beat New England once again in The Super Bowl.
Sunday’s game against The Philadelphia Eagles will more than likely be Umenyiora’s last in a Giant uniform as he is set to enter free-agency. At 31-years age, Reese will not invest a huge financial number into Umenyiora with a young defensive end on the team in the form of Pierre-Paul. I do not see Reese taking a cornerback in the first round being that he just drafted Amukamara in the first round in 2011 as the jury is still out on him. The Giants drafted cornerback Jayron Hosley in the third round of last April’s draft and Giant officials are high on his potential. The bottom line is that The Giants are a talented team that has fallen on the wayside down the stretch in 2012. Like a race car that has led the most laps during The Daytona 500 you don’t pull the car into the garage to end the race, but you simply add some more fuel and change the tires. Reese is in charge of the pit crew that will give The Giants the four tires along with a full tank of gas necessary to get back to contending for Super Bowls in The NFL. The game of football has always been won in the trenches and Reese and The Giants will get back to their roots.
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