What the SB Demonstrated

It's easy to say the Giants were SB contenders the day after they won the Super Bowl. People weren't saying that at the beginning of the year, or even halfway through the season, but I guess it's a lot easier to claim it now...after it's happened.

 

You think the Jets would have beaten the Pats in the AFC championship game in 2004 after losing two games to them during the regular season by a 36-14 margin?

2002 they had no chance at all at the Super Bowl even after the late season run. Chad went 8-4 with them not 10-2 and the oppponent they lost too in the end had beaten them 4 of the 5 last contests including one with Chad at QB.

In both cases there was a team standing in their path that they could not beat given the respective talent on the rosters.

In 1998 they had a legitimate shot at beating the Broncos after Vinny's 11-2 run with 7 straight wins going into the AFC Championship game.

 

The Raiders were not a great team in 2002, we could've beat them. They were getting kind of old themselves. They were 11-5 and we had that game 10-10 at the half. Hall also missed a field goal so we could've gone into the half up 13-10

 

Yes, hindsight reigns supreme here on this board. All of you would have said this year's Pats were unbeatable too except they lost yesterday. That's why they play the games.

NE in 2004 was doable, we've won there, they are a division opponent, not impossible. I'd have liked our chances better with a healthy Chad and a real kicker, but you take what it is. We won at San Diego those playoffs and had a 15-1 Steeler team dead to rights on their own field, all with Chad playing when he shouldn't have been in there. Not unlike what the Giants just did this year, you think they are the best team in the NFL?

 

On any given Sunday...

 

i thought that it was already established that dominant offensive and defensive lines are are keys to having a good football team, i did not need to watch the super bowl to understand that. here are a few things i got from watching the super bowl:

1. the importance of drafting well.. meaning acquiring good players that fit a teams needs and are able to come into the nfl and be effective almost immediately.. look at the giants 07 draft: aaron ross, steve smith, jay alford (the guy who demolished brady on one of the pats last desperation plays, for those of you who dont know), kevin boss, and ahmad bradshaw.. all of these players had huge impacts throughout their super bowl run

2. the importance of coaching, especially the ability to be able to adjust gameplans based on previous games.. the giants lost to the cowboys twice, the packers, and the patriots in the regular season, and were able to beat them all in a row in the playoffs. there is a press conference with strahan where he compliments spagnoula (or however you spell it) and talks about how critical some of the adjustments he made towards the end of the season were, and how he really hopes he stays as their DC next year

3. the importance of pressuring the quarterback.. which most of us do already know, but this super bowl reinforced that maybe more than any single other game ive seen. brady was swarmed all day.. there was a ridiculous stat at some point in the game that showed how many times he was knocked down, i think it was 11 and that wasnt even including the sacks and other times he was hurried. even when brady did have some time, he was a little off with his timing to moss throughout the game... they got into his head, which should be expected if a qb is running for his life on every couple plays. thats obviously not something brady is used to.

thats what i got from the super bowl.

 

The Jets likely would have lost such a game. That's true.


Here's the problem with your statement.
What did the Cowboys and Patriots do to the Giants in the 2007 regular season?
What did those teams do to the Giants in the postseason?

 

Yes because the Giants have comprable playmaking talent to both of those teams. I always thought the Giants were better than GB and a little weaker than Dallas but comparable. The last time I thought the Jets fielded a team that was top 4 in the league was 98. If you look at the Giants lineup other than the Pats, Cowboys and a healthy SD squad they are right there man for man. The Jets were never right there we were always next tier. The big difference for the Giants with Eli playing well they are as good as any team in football because of the surounding cast and Eli has always been able to make plays against any kind of D, his problem has been turnovers and inconsistency not ability. The last time we had a QB who could beat top D's and the surrounding cast to be a top level team was 98 and we were a legit SB contender that year.

 

We need to give Clemens a chance. If we upgrade the line, he'll be fine, in fact maybe better than Pennington. Remember Clemens has a stronger arm.

 

Awesome. :up:

 

Completely agree with you and I fixed it a little

That 04 team absolutely was capable of going to the Super Bowl. That defense was able to get pressure on the QBs and a lot of the average Joes in that secondary (T-Buck, Tongue, Barrett) were playing damn good ball in the playoffs. That Jets team had a ton of momentum, with a solid win against a very good San Diego team and had the Steelers on the ropes. Even sans Abraham, that defense was miles ahead of what we have now.

Sure they probably would have lost but its no absolute. When you get to the conference championships, all you need is a few breaks to get to the Super Bowl.

 

Recently the Giants have beaten the Cowboys more than they've lost to them up until this season. They had no reason to believe that the Cowboys were going to come out and dominate them in the playoffs based on the matchups of the last few seasons.

The Jets had lost 5 out of 6 against New England from 2002 to 2004 and had no reason to believe they'd be able to play with them in the AFC championships. The Jets had lost 4 out of 5 to Oakland going into the 2002 AFC championship game. Basically the Jets were going to be little brother against either of those teams based on the last few years.

Now take the Giants, who lost two to the Cowboys this season but split in 2006 and 2005 and swept two from the Cowboys in Manning's rookie season.

Huge difference in attitude going into that game than going into either the actual matchup in 2002 for Jets-Raiders or the hypothetical matchup in 2004 for Jets-Patriots.

Momentum is a big part of the equation in the NFL post-season, and the Jets limped into the playoffs in 2004 - losing 4 out of their last 6 games.

 

In 02 we went into the playoffs with a healthy QB and a real shot to do some damage in the playoffs.

In 04 Pennington was hurt, he got one big play against SD and than did nothing against the Steelers, nothing. The only reason we were in that game was their Rookie QB handed it to us and we still couldn't generate any O. That team was crushed in the AFC finals a week later as we would have been with an injured QB going against that Pats team who we couldn't score against when Pennington was healthy. In the first game we played them with Pennington healthy we put 7 points on the board and they crushed us when we played them when Pennington came back later in the year.

We obviously need a better team to get to the playoffs but getting to the playoffs is different than being a legit contender. Until we resolve our QB issues and the lines we aren't going to contend seriously. Fact is we aren't even chasing the Pats we are chasing the Bills and pretty soon the Dolphins. In the case of the Bills they are a lot further along than us on resolving their QB situation and they are better than us through most of their starting lineup. We had playmakers all over out team in 04 along with good lines and a very good running back having his career year and we weren't a serious contender because we had an awful passing game by the end of the season.

The Giants biggest problem has been Eli's inconsistency but he has always been able to make big plays against any defense much like Vinny did for us in 98.

If we really want the formula for winning a SB, instead of just trying to make the playoffs or build up our lines, we should study Archie Mannings DNA.

 

They would rather study Chad's Dna and clone another weak armed, slow Qb who crumbles under the least bit of pressure and is a coaches k**s ass to keep his job because he plays the game.

 

You mean to say that you think CP is not a quality player & can not lead us to SB 43?

 

That's what I've gathered from his last 83,497 posts.

 

You have 83,498 posts to dispute that.

 

Not even if he had the 2000 Ravens Defense.