Sports
New York, New England, New Game: Led by their elite QB, the Giants are back in the Super Bowl
By Dave Meisel '13, Sports Staff Writer
February 2, 2012
“Believe it’s gonna happen.”
Those were the words Michael Strahan repeated over and over to the New York Giants’ sideline after they fell behind 14-10 with 2:42 left in Super Bowl XVII. Strahan assured his teammates and coaches, “the final score is 17-14.” Faith held strong, and they earned football’s ultimate reward.
That idea of faith has not been lost for this team. The Giants have gotten to where they are because of an organization’s faith in its plan, the coaches’ faith in their players and the players’ faith in each other, all inspired by the fans’ faith in their team.
There have been plenty of good reasons to give up on the Giants this season. They had an unimpressive offseason in which they let five starters go, two to division rivals. They lost three defensive starters in the preseason. There were more than a few times during the regular season where the Giants seemed dead, too.
The Giants never lost faith, and things came together just in time—but perhaps not exactly in the way they imagined. The Giants’ success has been a result of the expected meeting the unexpected. They knew they had the defensive personnel, scheme and philosophy that served them well in the past; get to the quarterback.
It was a matter of time before the players got familiar with each other and the system and got healthy. Everything finally seemed to come together in week 16, when Justin Tuck, Osi Umenyiora and Jason Pierre-Paul were finally all on the field together. The Giants sacked Mark Sanchez five times in a 29-14 win against the Jets and haven’t lost since. They wrought havoc on Tony Romo, Matt Ryan, Aaron Rodgers and Alex Smith in the following weeks.
The Giants didn’t know how their offense would shape up. Instead of featuring a bruising rushing attack characteristic of your daddy’s Giants teams, the Giants ended up with one of the most explosive passing offenses in the league.
The Giants have thrived using a re-imagining of the run-‘n’-shoot offense, a style popularized by the Houston Oilers in the 1990s. Kevin Gilbride engineered the emergence of that system with Warren Moon at the helm and now uses a more balanced variant led by Eli Manning. Manning’s career year helped the Giants’ receiving corps become arguably the best in the league. Hakeem Nicks is strong, fast and elusive. Mario Manningham was hampered by injuries this season but is a solid flanker. Jake Ballard has filled in well for Kevin Boss. And finally, who could forget the season that 2010 undrafted free agent Victor Cruz has had?
This is not at all to take anything away for the New England Patriots. The two teams have both their similarities and differences. Both teams are pass-happy, with defenses much improved later in the season. New England has gone through a lot of cornerbacks in the season, and has found unique solutions. Mainly, third receiver Julian Edelman has doubled as a nickel cornerback, having been available because of how many two-tight end sets the Pats use. But that’s where the similarities end.
While the Giants pick apart defenses with their tremendous wide receiver corps, New England’s tight end tandem of Rob Gronkowski and Aaron Hernandez plus Wes Welker has presented a nightmare matchup for defenses all year long. The diminutive Welker is incredibly quick despite not having the speed to stretch the field deep.
The Patriots are also tremendously coached. Bill Belichick does something new on both sides of the ball every week and always keeps teams off balance. Giants coach Tom Coughlin always has his team well-prepared, but the Giants’ plan is straightforward: We’re going to go after your quarterback; we dare you to stop us.
The Giants are going to take it home against the Patriots for the third time in a row. I believe it’s going to happen, and the Giants do too.