Maybe last year's stunning Super Bowl victory wasn't as huge of an upset as it appeared to be. Make no mistake that stopping an 18-0 team from perfection is a monumental upset, but the New York Giants may have just been getting started with that historic win back in February. There is no question right now who the best team in the NFL is at the end of the first quarter of play.You can say the Dallas Cowboys or San Diego Chargers have better offenses when everything is clicking, and you might be able to say the Tennessee Titans have a better defense. But the Giants are the most balanced team in the NFL. HANDS DOWN!
The Giants have perhaps the most underrated offensive line in all of football. They have made a star out of Brandon Jacobs and the other two backs simply get the job done as well. The Giants receiving core is very deep and just got done hammering the Seahawks without Plaxico Burress. Most importantly, Eli Manning has not come back to Earth after his amazing playoff run last year. I doubt he'll join the elite ranks of Tom Brady and his older brother, Peyton, but he is becoming a superstar who will be the Giants man for years to come.
Perhaps the most stunning part of this team is the bottomless depth of the primary portion of the defense. This team lost the future hall-of-famer, Michael Strahan, to retirement, and Osi Umenyiora to a season-ending injury. But even without those two studs, the Giants defense has not missed a beat. Mathias Kiwanuka, Fred Robbins, Justin Tuck and others have been simply outstanding. The one knock on the Giants defense last year was their secondary, but that part of their team has improved greatly this year. Remember Aaron Ross is a year older and the rest of the secondary has fallen in line.
The only part of this team that you have a chance to exploit is their special teams. If you can dominate field position and somehow stop their running game, maybe someone can stop this team. As it stands right now though, I don't see a team beating them. The Cowboys are showing major warts, the Eagles are nobody without Brian Westbrook, and it may be too soon to take the Redskins real seriously. Outside of the division there really isn't another big time team in the NFL. Maybe the Panthers can get there, but it is a really weak conference outside of the East. Of course we know the AFC empire is crumbling down before our eyes. As I said many things can happen (injuries, breakdown of team chemistry), but it is hard to imagine the Giants won't have a great shot to win their second consecutive championship.
Pat Morgan
1 comment:
There's no doubt that they have dominated their opponents, but their schedule has been light. Let's see how they do against some tougher competition, especially within the division.
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