Giant Disappointment

When a respective teams starts 5-0, you expect them to make the playoffs. But not so for the 2009 NY Giants. In the end, they close The Meadowlands with an embarrassing 41-9 loss to the Panthers, a team familiar with dashing the hopes of NY fans hopes, much like the Panthers did in the 2006 Divisional Playoffs.

For the Giants it was supposed to be a Super Bowl contending year. With an improved defense that was getting Osi Umenyiora back, in addition to acquiring guys like Rocky Bernard, Chris Canty, & Michael Boley, the Giants defense was supposed to overcome the perceived lack of firepower they had with the absence of a big time WR. Their pass rush was supposed to dominate opponents every week. It seems unreal how the complete opposite happened during the season, and that the Giants are eliminated from playoff contention going into Week 17 at Minnesota. The defense has to take the brunt of the blame, allowing the 5th most points in the NFL. Umenyiora couldn't stop teams from running it to his side for huge yards, likely slowed by the last years knee injury, Michael Boley had nagging injuries all year, & Chris Canty missed half the season on his way to accumilating 12 tackles & 1/2 sack. Many fans put the blame on Defensive Coordinator Bill Sheridan, who never seemed to efficiently use his gifted personnel.

In my opinion though, you have to wonder what happened to Brandon Jacobs? Last season Jacobs was signed to a 4 year $25M extention following two 1000 yard seasons. This year he followed that up with his worst yards per carry output since his rookie season (3.7) plummetting from his 5 yard a carry average from the past 2 seasons. If you look at the first half of yesterdays game, it was a microcosm of the season. The Giants defense couldn't stop the Panthers on 3rd down, they couldn't create a single turnovers, while their offense made numerous. 5 of the 6 Giants first half possession ended in turnovers or in 3 & outs. The one possession that didn't end in a turnover or a 3 & out was a 4 possession drive. Jacobs had 5 rushes, for a total of 1 yard. The Giants abondoned the run, while Carolina wore them down & ran it to the tune of 247 yards. The game was over, & so were the Giants playoff hopes.