Congratulations to the New York Giants
I am a Giants fan and if you told me at the beginning of this year that they would have won the Superbowl I might have actually laughed. For a while there, I wasn’t even sure they were going to make the playoffs. Most of the year I was just hoping for Tom Coughlin to get fired.
I don’t think anyone actually though that Eli Manning would be ready this season to take the team as far as he did. Eli certainly delivered, this was no fluke, he was clutch down the stretch and through the playoffs. I don’t even think he was even playing up to his full potential and it was certainly enough. Brandon Jacobs certainly didn’t look like an adequate replacement for Tiki Barber. He had some good games throughout the season but he also battled injuries that killed any momentum he tried to muster. Michael Strahan is certainly the unsung hero of the team. To think that Strahan almost retired before the season started, he really was a clutch player for this team in his performance and leadership for the defense. I don’t think anyone can really criticize Plaxico Burress anymore, he had a tremendous first half of the season and played well enough down the stretch, considering he was fighting a nagging ankle injury for most of the season. His ankle wasn’t that bad in the playoffs but there were times towards the end of the season where you can tell he was hurting badly and he still fought through it and made clutch grabs. Another player that I think was so important to this team was Ahmad Bradshaw. Bradshaw provided a perfect variation of style in the Giants running game that may have been the main reason they were able to produce effectively with their offense.
Finally, before this season I wanted Tom Coughlin fired so bad. I hated some of the calls he made last season and it never seemed like the team even respected him. He deserves a lot of credit because not only did he seem like a different coach this year but he didn’t make those stupid calls that hurt the team in the past. The team was his this year and it makes you wonder if the lack of respect had a lot to do with the departure of Tiki and maybe even the absence of Jeremy Shockey.
As everyone has already mentioned, the Giants clearly don’t need Shockey because Kevin Boss did a great job for them. I do think he was a distraction as well but was that because he didn’t respect the coaching staff? Can any player not respect this coaching staff now? Things might be different with Shockey this year, especially if they trade him. If he is on the team next year, we might actually see a more productive Shockey and maybe he can become the great Tight End that everyone was hoping for.
It will be interesting to see how they fare this year. It is always tough for an underdog Superbowl champion to live up to the hype that surrounds them. I certainly wouldn’t be surprised if they barely...