Part 2

THE DEFENSE

Now, it’s the defense’s turn. The good news is that Osi Umenyiora really returned to form this year. Between him and Justin Tuck the Giants obviously have a formidable pair of pass rushers. If the two of them aren’t the best tandem in the league they’re certainly on the very short list. Between them they had 23 sacks and 16 forced fumbles. It’s no surprise that the Giants performed best when they had the lead and the two of them could just go get the passer. The defensive line has long been a strength of the Giants and this year was no different. In addition to the two big time players, rookie Jason Pierre-Paul started to find his footing late in the year and despite playing very little early on in the season contributed 4.5 sacks on his own.

The problems with the Giants defense though begin to materialize as you move further away from the line of scrimmage. To call the linebacking corps mediocre would be vastly over stating your case. The combination of Goff, Boley and Bullock nominally the three starting LBs was woefully overmatched all season. While adequate at stopping the run , the trio proved so weak in pass coverage that often the Giants would bring in Deon Grant, their third safety, to play linebacker in passing downs. While the strategy proved reasonably in pass defense (Grant had 3 interceptions) it allowed savvy teams to exploit the Giants small personnel package and gouge them for chunks of yardage underneath, with screen passes and even running plays in passing downs. The best example is what Payton Manning did to them in week two, with Grant on the field for most of the game, Payton decided to stop throwing the ball, and just start handing off. The Colts averaged over four yards a play on the ground and ran for 160 yards while cruising to a 38-14 victory.

The bottom line is that the Giants just don’t have enough talent on the field at the linebacking position to get the job done. Ever since Antonio Pierce got hurt late in 2009 and was forced to retire it’s been a problem. It was a problem going into the draft last year and the Giants only attempt to address was to draft a guy named Phillip Dillard in the fourth round. This year, Dillard had fewer tackles than Mario Manningham. It’s hard to lay the blame for the lack of production this year at anybody’s feet other than GM Jerry Reese, and along with a couple of special teams needs we’ll get to shortly must be his number one off season priority.

Next up, is the secondary. Again, I’ll start with the good. Terrell Thomas has turned into an excellent pro-bowl caliber player. In his third year in the league he had a breakout season leading the team in both interceptions and tackles (although a cornerback leading the league in tackles is more of an indictment of the linebackers than anything else). After a couple of years of seasoning he developed the football intelligence to go with the physical skills that got him drafted in the second round out of USC. Which is important because the Giants other corner, Corey Webster, seems to have lost a step. During the Giants title run in 2007, and then during the 2008 season Webster quietly developed into an absolutely top notch shut down defensive back, consistently covering other teams’ best players and taking them out of the game. But in 2010 Webster was often exploited deep down the field when the Giants line gave the QB time to throw the ball downfield. Combine that with the fact that nickel cornerback Aaron Ross’s hamstrings are pretty much shot sapping him of the speed that was by far his greatest weapon and you have a team that has trouble covering if the QB has time to throw.

The only position left to talk about then is safety. And boy does safety Antrelle Rolle love to talk. The Giants big off season acquisition is clearly an upgrade over the dreck they had playing out there last season, but while the Giants tried to use him in all sorts of creative ways the results were clearly a mixed bag. His versatility is supposed to let him rush the passer with abandon, as well as ball hawk, but he only had half a sack and one interception. Sure his presence both in the pass rush and in coverage helped other players get home, but he also made some costly mistakes. In their critical week 16 loss to Green Bay, he was out of position faking a blitz, and unable to get back in time to stop a simple slant route from turning into an 80 yard TD for the Packers first score. And in week 17 he got burned over the top for a late Redskin TD. Still though, he’s more good than bad, and while he isn’t as good as he thinks he is, he’s still good enough to play the position on a winning team.

His partner back there, Kenny Phillips, is an interesting case as well. When Phillips went down at the start of the 09 season it left a gaping hole at the back of the Giants defense, one that was largely blamed for their awful performance down the stretch. This year, with Phillips back the Giants were undeniably better, but at the same time it’s hard to say it was because of him. Once hailed as a dynamic athlete and playmaker, I’m hard pressed to remember his name being called a single time this year. It’s hard to know whether that has to do with his abilities or whether the defensive scheme was geared towards leaving him deep down the field to allow Rolle (and Grant when he was in the game) to be the more active playmakers. Here’s what I do know though, if Phillips is the dynamic playmaker the Giants claim then he needs to have more than one interception and one tackle for a loss over the course of a season.

So, having broken it down position by position, the Giants defense is the polar opposite of their offense. The defense does one thing very well, and that one thing covers up for a multitude of sins. Put Tuck and Umenyiora in a position to go get a quarterback who has to throw the ball, and an opposing offense will have a very long day (at one point this season the Giants knocked out a quarterback in four consecutive weeks). On the other hand a team with a balanced attack that doesn’t need to come from behind will consistently exploit the weak linebacking corps, and a team with a mobile quarterback who can buy time (paging Mike Vick and Aaron Rodgers) will exploit the weaknesses in the secondary. It’s a defense that is dangerous but exploitable, but one that certainly plays up to its talent level, but it’s a talent level that is clearly uneven.

SPECIAL TEAMS
They stink. The punter needs to go. They don’t have anybody that can return a kick worth a damn. And their coverage was average if I’m being kind. But hey, at least Lawrence Tynes can kick a field goal. So they’ve got that going for them, which is nice.


LOOKING FORWARD
The bottom line is that much as some fans might want to blame Coughlin for missing the Giants were a good but not great team this year, and more or less leveraged their talent as well as could be expected. They had several significant holes they needed to scheme around and those have to be addressed in the off-season. They need a punter, a middle linebacker, and probably a speedy cornerback. Offensively the road to improvement is less clear cut. They are the proverbial jack of all trades, which has served them well for the most part, but in order to become dominant they cannot be a master of none. Either by changing personnel or philosophy the Giants need to develop one thing they are dominant at. One trait where they can line up over the ball, everybody knows what’s coming, and the defense can’t stop it.