Last Season: 6-10, third in NFC East
Key Acquisitions: RB Shane Vereen, DE George Selvie, NT Kenrick Ellis, KR Dwayne Harris. S Brandon Meriweather
Key Losses: DE Mathias Kiwanuka, OLB Spencer Paysinger, OLB Jacquian Williams, CB Walter Thurmond, CB Terrell Thomas, S Stevie Brown, S Quintin Demps.
(This article will not feature a fan perspective because the author is already a Giants fan, so the entire thing is a fan perspective)
I’m already sick of Odell Beckham Jr. Don’t get me wrong, I love that he’s on my team, I love his potential and his talent, and I’m grateful that he managed to turn a 6-10 season into something memorable. But holy sh*t I wish people would stop talking about him. Beckham is practically Jerry Rice to a lot of people aready. The Giants fanbase worships him and I just want to yell at them “Slow down guys, take it easy, he’s just a second year player for F*cks sake!” I want Odell to turn into Jerry Rice but it’s too early to canonize the guy. Expectations for this year are already so astronomical that there is no way he’s going to live up to the hype. His first game under 100 yards and without a TD is going to cause people to say he’s in a slump. Haters will jump right on the bandwagon if he ever has a mediocre game. The hype is insufferable. He’s just a second year player. Back off, shut up, and let him play. He’s not a hall of famer yet.
As for the rest of the team, I expect nothing but mediocrity. The past few years have not been kind to Eli and the Giants.
The Giants have spent two seasons as the most injured team in football by a wide margin. There has been a lot of speculation about why. My bet is that Tom Coughlin is so old he hasn’t discovered modern science and refuses to alter his training plans for the players. Our starting left tackle already tore his pectoral muscle and is out till week 10. Cruz may not be ready for a while, and certainly won’t be himself. Oh, and JPP blew his goddamn hand up and now only has 9 fingers and is in a standoff with the organization concerning his future.
The Giants D-line is highly suspect. Hankins is a future star, but there isn’t much on the rest of the line. Robert Ayers showed promise before injury last year, Demontre Moore just hasn’t panned out, Markus Kuhn is bad. George Selvie, the new guy, hasn’t done much besides one good season in Dallas two years ago. The linebackers are still underwhelming, even if Devon Kennard shows promise. The Cornerback situation is okay, simply as long as Prince and DRC manage to stay healthy, otherwise we get Jaron Hosely (shudders). The safety situation is abysmal. Landon Collins is already the star, and he’s a rookie. Then we have Cooper Taylor and Brandon Meriweather. Yes, that Brandon Meriweather. That’s how bad it is. We willingly signed a known headhunter and bad player and worst of all he improved our situation.
Spags is back at the DC helm, a move celebrated by a lot of casual Giants fans who apparently didn’t realize that he sucked at all his jobs after he left us in 2008 and no longer has the all-pro D-line that won us Super Bowl 42. How he will work out now is anyone’s guess.
The lone bright spot of this team will (hopefully) be the offense. Despite an ever shifting offensive line, Eli has some weapons. Rashad Jennings looked effective last year till he got hurt. Williams started to play better by the end of the season, and preseason stud Orleans Darkwa should balance out a run game. On top of that, the Giants got Shane Vereen, who isn’t a great runner but is very effective as a pass catcher, which is something Eli has sorely needed for a while now. OBJ and Cruz’s return will get all the attention, but it’s the addition of Vereen I’m most excited about, which means he’ll probably tear his ACL week 2.
TE Larry Donnell briefly reached stardom last year with a 3 TD game against the Skins, but didn’t do jack after that and actually has a horrid fumble problem.
But none of this matters because the Giants are going to win the Super Bowl anyway.
The stars have aligned perfectly for the 4 year prophesy to come true. The Giants will beat the Patriots in the Super Bowl. In 2007 and 2011 the Giants faced the AFC east in the regular season, then beat the Pats. In 2007 Coughlin was on the hot seat, about to be fired. Then he won and got an extension. In 2011, 4 years and lots of bad performances later, he was once again on the hot seat. It’s now 2015, and most assume that if the Giants have another bad year, Coughlin is gone. The situation is perfect again.
in 2007 the Patriots were rocked by a cheating scandal, then proceeded to take out their revenge on the league. The Patriots just escaped another cheating scandal, and you can bet Brady has a bone to pick.
In 2011, Peyton Manning was two seasons removed from an ugly Super Bowl Loss. Guess what? 2 years ago, Peyton suffered a horrible Super Bowl loss. Time for Eli to rub it in some more. People have once again decided Eli is a bad QB, which is when he likes to strike.
It’s fate. The Giants are going to win. The miracle pass this season will be caught by Preston Parker, a 40 yard strike within the final 2 minutes and he’ll catch it between his thighs. So if you had hopes for a Super Bowl this year, I’m sorry. It just won’t happen. Put your money on the Giants boys, lets ride this train till the end. Bow to your overlord.
