By Matthew Frank
The New York Giants return a lot of that same personnel from last year to this years offensive unit. Led by Eli Manning, the team has become more pass dependent as the running game has been run down mainly due to injuries and an aging line.
The big singing this year was the late acquisition of Shawn Andrews who was a former pro-bowler with the Eagles. While Andrews will not see a lot of time to start with, this could be a big time signing as Andrews is one of the best linemen in football. David Dehl will resume his play at left tackle. He was actually very capable last year, but really is more of a fill in then a true tackle type. You would like to see him move over to guard to fill in for Rich Seubert. Chris Snee continues to be one of the best guards in the game and rarely makes any mistakes in both run or pass protection. At center, Shaun O’Hara returns for another season. I like O’Hara as you can certainly do worse, but I think he is starting to slow down and is not getting enough push on run blocking. That being said, he has an excellent synergy with Eli Manning, and tends to make good line calls for picking up the blitz. Finally, we have Kareem McKenzie at the other tackle spot. McKenzie is one of those guys that you don’t hear a lot about and that means he is doing a good job. He isn’t the greatest run blocker in the world, but he certainly gets the job done and really stablizes the line. As a backup, Will Beatty will be filling in again. The former 2nd round pick played very well last year in the spurts he filled in, and he may be counted on doing a lot more should injuries come around.
The running backs are a big concern this year. Brandon Jacobs is heading into a due or die year after a miserable 2009 season. As many people pointed out, he was way too tentative at the line and needs to regain the slashing form he had two years ago. Amhad Bradshaw can be a dynamic back, but he is coming off of multiple foot and ankle surgeries. He really can be a great player, but you have to wonder if all of those surgeries are going to take their toll. Finally, Andre Brown will be backing them up after coming back from Achillies surgery. I was thrilled when they took Brown last year in the draft as I felt he was going to be a great pick up. That injury was one of those under-the-radar issues that came about last year. When Bradshaw and Jacobs wore down last year, nobody was there to pick up the slack. Of course, counting on a rookie running back coming off of major surgery might not be the best idea, but the Giants don’t have much of a choice as they didn’t draft anyone else.
At tight end we have Kevin Boss and Travis Beckum. Boss has greatly refined his game these past couple of years. While he isn’t an elite level catching talent, he is certainly the best of the second tier of players. Boss has also shown to be a capable blocker, though he does have some issues clearing out more physical teams. We have to hope that Boss avoids the concussions he has tended to have to far in his career. Beckum is a second year player who has shown so far to be a good route runner, but maybe not the best blocker in the world.
For the first time I think ever, the Giants have some elite talent at the wide receiver spot. Pro-bowler Steve Smith returns as the teams’ main target. Smith caught an outrageous amount of passes last year; especially amazing consider the rest of the receiving corp were rookies or largely untested. He’ll continue to be Manning’s security blanket. For the big play threat, Hakeem Nicks will fill in that role. Nicks certainly showed some great moments last year, but he has to cut down on the drops and work on refining his route running a bit. Mario Manningham is a capable wide receiver and can make the big play, but route running is a big issue with him. We should all remember how Chris Collinsworth consistently berated him on air for running poor routes last year.
Finally, we have Eli Manning who played really well last year, even through injury. You can tell that Manning is starting to gain a lot of trust with all of his receivers and getting into a big time groove. It would not surprise me if Manning has a huge year and is consistently one of the big players week in and week out. You have to especially consider the dynamic players the Giants have at the receiver position and the issues they seem to have at running back when looking forward to this year. The Giants are probably going to ask Manning to throw a lot more in the past and it seems like the entire unit may be up for the task.
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