Giant Individuals in Super Bowl
Six New York Giant Players Who Must Come up Big
Eli Manning, Plaxico Burress, Brandon Jacobs, Osi Umenyiora, Sam Madison and Michael Strahan must register stellar efforts against the New England Patriots.
Although the New York Giants are going to require superlative performances by its entire football squad in order to defeat the 18-0 New England Patriots in Super Bowl XLII, six Gotham players in particular need to step up above-and-beyond the call of duty.
1. Quarterback Eli Manning
Eli’s coming. That, in itself, has never before intimidated an opponent because of Manning’s penchant of choking under pressure, making bad passes and playing erratically. But he’s been on a tear ever since the Giants nearly beat the Pats in Week 17 of the regular 2007 NFL season.
Manning is on a tear, and he’s going to have to continue his sterling play if New York has any chance at all against the juggernaut known as the New England Patriots. Manning’s only thrown one interception since Week 17, compared to eight touchdown passes. He’s broken 250+ yards twice, once against these very same Patriots.
His regular season completion percentage up until Week 17 was 55.3%. Against New England on Dec. 29, Manning hit on 22 of 32 pass attempts for a completion percentage of 68.8%, and a whopping Quarterback Rating of 118.6, his highest of the regular season. He also threw for four TDs. The game proved to be a catalyst for the Giants, a team that seemed to coalesce after the tilt.
He followed that with a 20-of-27 effort against Tampa Bay in the Wild Card game, garnering a QB rating of 117.1 and a completion percentage of 74.1%. Manning topped his QB rating a week later, in the divisional round when he racked up a massive 132.4 rating against Dallas. Less effective against the Packers at frigid Lambeau Field, he still played well enough to win, hitting both his top wide receivers for key completions.
These are the type of performances Manning absolutely must replicate against the Pats if the Giants stand any chance of ruining New England’s shot at The Perfect Season.
2. Wide Receiver Plaxico Burress
Playmaker Burress should first and foremost curb his tongue about how the Giants’ wide receiving corps is better than that of the Patriots. Why give such a team any more of an incentive to put a bad beating on New York?
That aside, the 6’5” Burress must come up big against a competent New England secondary. No matter who is assigned to guard him one-on-one – my bet is All-Pro cornerback Asante Samuel – Burress needs to make the kind of circus catches he excels at. He’s got to shrug off the double coverage the football world expects of the Patriots. At worst, he needs to serve as an adequate decoy to occupy Patriot defensive backs so fellow wideout Amani Toomer can get open on single coverage to make his own circus catches, like the one against Green Bay in the NFC Championship game.
3. Running Back Brandon Jacobs
Jacobs needs to employ his patented bowling ball style running to hammer New England’s defensive line and linebackers. Given a head of steam, stopping the 6’4”, 264 lb. running back is like trying to stop an runaway dump truck. He gained 100+ yards five times during the regular season while missing five games. He can literally batter the Pats’ defense into submission, and needs to play effectively to keep pass rushers out of Manning’s face.
When his number is called, Jacobs’ performance must offset that of the speedy Ahmad Bradshaw, who is an outside threat.
4. Defensive End Osi Umenyiora
Umenyiora is yet another Giants who should simply shut his mouth about New York’s opposition in the NFL’s biggest game of the year. Umenyiora popped off last week about the “dirty play” of the Patriots’ Matt Light, possibly in an attempt to call the attention of the game’s officiating crew to Light. The tactic doesn’t make a lot of sense, considering how the Patriots’ braintrust always seem to capitalize on such outbursts. Why give them more motivation?
There’s no question Umenyiora has to beat Light and whoever else New England assigns to negate his pass rushing efforts. During the regular season he racked up 41 solo tackles and 13 QB sacks. He’s been relatively quiet thus far in the post season, but there’s little question the Patriots respect his abilities and will strive mightily to stop him from getting to quarterback Tom Brady.
5. Cornerback Sam Madison
For whatever eerie reason, it appears as though Madison’s got Brady’s number. Even as a Miami Dolphin Madison exhibited some strange form of ESP when defending against the brilliant New England quarterback.
Although he didn’t get any picks in the Week 17 finale, he did make two solo tackles, getting injured in the process. He missed both the wild card and divisional rounds, but played nearly the entire game in Green Bay. And now the Giants have two weeks’ off before the Super Bowl. Sam needs to play a superb game against Brady & Co. if New York is going to emerge victorious.
6. Defensive End Michael Strahan
Yet another NY defender who needs to play at his very best is Michael Strahan. The Giants have been rotating Umeniora and Strahan with the 24-year-old Justin Tuck, but Strahan is the veteran who holds the NFL’s all-time quarterback sacks record, and he needs to play as though he’s 26, not 36.
He wrapped up the regular season with 45 solo tackles and nine sacks, but didn’t play outstanding football against New England in the season’s final game. He’s got to be on his game against the Patriots this time, both to pressure Brady and stop an underrated NE rushing attack.
