NY Giants are NFC East favorites

[Nas]

If anyone has access to this insider stuff, please post the rest of the article

 

NY Giants are NFC East favorites

 

The hottest topic in the NFL the past couple of weeks has been Vince Young's comment that the 2011 Philadelphia Eagles are a "Dream Team".

 

What is lost in all of the hype surrounding that quote is that, as stocked as Philadelphia's roster is, there are multiple reasons to think they might not even be the best team in the NFC East.

 

That honor could very well belong to the New York Giants.

 

The Giants as NFC East favorites? The team that lost Steve Smith and Kevin Boss in free agency (with Smith adding insult to injury by signing with the Eagles), lost Plaxico Burress to their cross-town rivals and had first-round draft pick Prince Amukamara go out with a foot injury should be considered a favorite to win this division?

 

In a word, yes.

 

Here are eight items that show why the Giants shouldn't be written off as second-place contenders in the NFC East.

 

Michael Vick wasn't anywhere near as good as his 2010 numbers suggest

 

One of the reasons Philadelphia won the NFC East in 2010 is that Vick had a near-MVP campaign, but the fact is he benefitted from more luck than maybe any other quarterback in the league.

 

To read more about why the New York Giants -- and not the Philadelphia Eagles -- are favorites in the NFC East, you must be an ESPN Insider.

[Storm]

If anyone has access to this insider stuff, please post the rest of the article

 

NY Giants are NFC East favorites

 

Those first couple reasons just sound like sour grapes from Giants fans....

[JackStroud]

is anybody an Insider?

 

This is Historic- An ESPN article that makes sense and actually realizes the Giants are a top 5 team.

[Lubeck]

 

 

http://www.bigblueview.com/2011/8/17/2368171/nfc-east-at-least-somebody-thinks-the-giants-will-win-it

 

Directly from Joyner's post:

 

1. Michael Vick wasn’t anywhere near as good as his 2010 numbers suggest
2. Eli Manning wasn’t anywhere near as bad as his 2010 numbers suggest
    
   Joyner says only 19.4 percent of potential interceptions thrown by Vick actually turned into interceptions, while 52.1 percent of potential interceptions thrown by Manning actually became interceptions. The law of averages dictates that percentage should even out.
3. Hakeem Nicks and Mario Manningham are much better matchup-busters than DeSean Jackson and Jeremy Maclin
    
   Joyner offers statistical evidence that Nicks and Manningham perform better against top corners than Jackson and Maclin, and offers that the Giants simply throw the ball in their direction more to offset the losses of Steve Smith and Kevin Boss.
4. The Giants can largely absorb the loss of Boss/Smith with more passes to Nicks/Manningham
    
   My take: I will stick to my prediction that, if he stays healthy this season, Travis Beckum surpasses Boss's career-best of 42 receptions. The Giants are looking for somebody to control the middle of the field, and Beckum could be that guy.
5. Jason Pierre-Paul and Marvin Austin could make the strong Giants pass rush even stronger
    
   My take: In the end, I doubt the Giants wind up missing Barry Cofield much. Linval Joseph should also have a lot to do with that.
6. Steve Weatherford could vastly improve the Giants punting
7. Pat Flaherty will help New York weather the offensive line changes
    
   My take: Flaherty is one of the best in the business. We are already seeing lots of praise for new left tackle Will Beatty. Beatty can't help but get better having to face Osi Umenyiora and Jason Pierre-Paul every day. If he can handle them, he should be able to handle just about everybody. New center David Baas is a veteran, and he should be fine.
8. Kenny Phillips is healthy
    
   My take:I will go a step further. The health of Phillips, the fact that Antrel Rolle is in his second year, the return of Deon Grant, eventual help from No. 1 pick Prince Amukamara and the apparently strong camp Terrell Thomas is having should all be positive things for the Giants secondary in 2011.

[NightFire]

I concur on Vick being lucky. I'd be shocked if he plays that well again this year. The Eagles have a great secondary but after that it's a very mixed bag. Let's just hope the Giants decide to stop shooting themselves in the foot at every opportunity.

[JackStroud]

yeah no more face forward slides by Eli......

 

Eli I hate to tell you this but you're supposed to slide on your ass not your face

 

and no I do not agree, Vick was not lucky, he's good, but the rest of his team is just ok.....they have a lot of holes to fill

 

We have to shed these idiots

[Sephiroth]

This is the year that Michael Vick will turn back into Michael Vick.

 

I have my popcorn ready for when the wheels come off.

[Treehugger]

This guy's feeling pretty good today about yesterday's article.

[CrazedDogs]

This is the year that Michael Vick will turn back into Michael Vick.

 

I have my popcorn ready for when the wheels come off.

 

He flipped the fuck out against the Steelers yesterday. Vick can't mentally handle adversity... heheh, the mental side of the game, Vick's only flaw.

 

I normally think KC Joyner is a total douche, and I have no idea how' 'scientific' his turnover luck stat really is, but it sure bears out what I saw from Vick (and Eli) last year - that the law of averages was taking a holiday. But Vick, of course, sees all those good bounces as his real level of performance... and I can't wait to see how he reacts when those bounces don't go his way in a game that counts, because these days he doesn't have dogs on which to take out his frustrations.

[Zelmo]

He flipped the fuck out against the Steelers yesterday. Vick can't mentally handle adversity... heheh, the mental side of the game, Vick's only flaw.

 

I normally think KC Joyner is a total douche, and I have no idea how' 'scientific' his turnover luck stat really is, but it sure bears out what I saw from Vick (and Eli) last year - that the law of averages was taking a holiday. But Vick, of course, sees all those good bounces as his real level of performance... and I can't wait to see how he reacts when those bounces don't go his way in a game that counts, because these days he doesn't have dogs on which to take out his frustrations.

 

I knew this from having watched the games last year, but just to confirm for myself I watched the video of Eli's 25 picks, and 8 of them, 8 of them, are balls that receivers got at least a full two hands on. Another one was tipped up in the air by a defensive player at the line. Another one or two were miscommunication/wrong route by the receiver type. Mind you the remaining 14-15 picks included some awful throws. Even just taking out the dropped passes that leaves 17 picks. I'll take 4000 yards 31 TD's and 17 INT's any single day of the week.

 

This whole Eli threw 25 interceptions things really bothers me. Anyone watching those games knows that while Eli certainly makes mistakes, he isn't a 25 INT quarterback. A TON of those balls really and truly just took ridiculous bounces.

 

 

 

-Z

[Treehugger]

I knew this from having watched the games last year, but just to confirm for myself I watched the video of Eli's 25 picks, and 8 of them, 8 of them, are balls that receivers got at least a full two hands on. Another one was tipped up in the air by a defensive player at the line. Another one or two were miscommunication/wrong route by the receiver type. Mind you the remaining 14-15 picks included some awful throws. Even just taking out the dropped passes that leaves 17 picks. I'll take 4000 yards 31 TD's and 17 INT's any single day of the week.

 

This whole Eli threw 25 interceptions things really bothers me. Anyone watching those games knows that while Eli certainly makes mistakes, he isn't a 25 INT quarterback. A TON of those balls really and truly just took ridiculous bounces.

 

 

 

-Z

Yes and no. It was s bad year for tips but every QB has to shoulder that from their receivers. 31:25 (1.24 TDs/INT) is not good. 31: 17 (1.82 TDs/INT) is still less than the 2:1 ratio analysts talk about for a "good" QB (though Dress Brees' was worse at 1.5; Peyton's was just shy of 2 as well). Tom Brady's was a staggering 9:1 last year.

[Allstarjim]

I give Eli some leeway with about 7 or 8 of those picks... but every QB has them. Eli would be the first to say he made some bad decisions last year. Some of those tips were inaccurate passes that, yes, could have been caught... but by no means would you say looking at some of those passes it was an accurate throw.

 

Eli needs to step it up this year. I think with the number of pass attempts he's been having the last couple of seasons, 15 is an acceptable number. Closer to 10 would be outstanding. He was nowhere near that last year and he definitely shoulders a great deal of the blame for that. He has to get better with his accuracy and decision making to eliminate some of those bad plays. But I think he will.

[Zelmo]

Yes and no. It was s bad year for tips but every QB has to shoulder that from their receivers. 31:25 (1.24 TDs/INT) is not good. 31: 17 (1.82 TDs/INT) is still less than the 2:1 ratio analysts talk about for a "good" QB (though Dress Brees' was worse at 1.5; Peyton's was just shy of 2 as well). Tom Brady's was a staggering 9:1 last year.

 

Agreed that every QB needs to deal with them but the amount that it happened last year was a total anomaly. And shave it down to 31:17 and you're right around the ratio you're talking about.

 

Like I said, Eli definitely makes mistakes, and though he flashes it occasionally, he is not an "elite" quarterback by any non-fanboy, reasonable definition of the term. But he wasn't as bad as the 25 INT stat makes him look.

 

Oh and yeah, Brady's year last year was simply nuts. Off the charts.

 

 

 

-Z

[Treehugger]

Just for shits 'n' giggles:

 

QB TD:INT 2010 Reg Season

 

1 Tom Brady NE 9.00

2 Josh Freeman TB 4.17

3 Matt Cassel KC 3.86

4 Michael Vick PHI 3.50

5 Ben Roethlisberger PIT 3.40

6 Matt Ryan ATL 3.11

7 Aaron Rodgers GB 2.55

8 Joe Flacco BAL 2.50

9 Philip Rivers SD 2.31

10 Kyle Orton DEN 2.22

11 Matt Schaub HOU 2.00

12 Peyton Manning IND 1.94

13 Kerry Collins TEN 1.75

14 Jason Campbell OAK 1.63

15 Ryan Fitzpatrick BUF 1.53

16 David Garrard JAC 1.53

17 Drew Brees NO 1.50

18 Jay Cutler CHI 1.44

19 Alex Smith SF 1.40

20 Shaun Hill DET 1.33

21 Jon Kitna DAL 1.33

22 Mark Sanchez NYJ 1.31

23 Carson Palmer CIN 1.30

24 Eli Manning NYG 1.24

25 Sam Bradford STL 1.20

26 Donovan McNabb WAS 0.93

27 Chad Henne MIA 0.79

28 Matt Hasselbeck SEA 0.71

29 Derek Anderson ARI 0.70

30 Brett Favre MIN 0.58

31 Jimmy Clausen CAR 0.33

[mikmak]

I'm glad many are picking my Redskins to go 2-14. Much better to be under the radar than the talked about team and I think we'll quite a bit better than 2-14. Line playing much better, defensive line much improved, and better receivers. We're a better team than last year and another year into Shannahan's system. Running game is starting to look like a Shannahan running game where any back you put in there starts looking real good.

 

I could see the Giants winning the East but I could also see them going 8-8 or something. They haven't gotten better talent wise this off season, they've gone the other direction by losing some pretty significant players. That being said you guys still have a lot of talent and the Eagles "could" be a lot worse than advertised.

 

 

Not sure what to make of the Cowboys, they could be a much better team this year than last.

 

 

As for Eli. I think he's gotten to where he's close to "as good as it gets" which isn't bad because he's pretty good. He's durable, several notches about average. A guy who can manage an offense and "sometimes" win the game for you but not a QB who keep defenses up at night wondering how they are going to figure him out. A definite franchise quarterback that most teams would be very happy with.