Eli’s Play, Giants’ Defense are Championship Caliber

If the New York Giants win the Super Bowl on Sunday, most of the credit will probably go to quarterback Eli Manning who has been playing in a totally different stratosphere from all other quarterbacks this postseason.

And the credit will probably be well deserved considering how he has played so far in the playoffs. His numbers are up across the board from the postseason numbers he posted back when he last took the Giants to the Super Bowl in 2007.

Manning passed for 602 yards and four touchdowns in the three games leading up to the Super Bowl that year but he has thrown for 923 yards and eight touchdowns during three playoff games this year. Manning didn’t have a single 300-yard passing game in 2007 and actually had two games where he failed to reach 200 total passing yards.

This year he has already had two games of over 300 yards. One of those games was against a very stingy San Francisco 49ers’ defense in the NFC Championship game.

One thing that hasn’t changed from the 2007 season is how careful Manning has been with the ball. Manning didn’t throw an interception that year until he reached the Super Bowl. He only has one interception this postseason which is amazing considering all of the defensive pressure he has received coupled with the fact that he leads all quarterbacks so far in attempts and completions.

The Giants still hang their hats on defense though and their defense is playing better than they did that year. The Giants have three times as many sacks as they did in 2007 although they have the same amount of turnovers.

Even better is they have shaved four points-per-game off of the 17 points-per-game they allowed back in 2007. Sure most of that can be attributed to their near shutout of the Atlanta Falcons during the Wild Card game but in similar fashion to their 2007 playoff run, the Giants have only allowed one opponent to reach 20 points.

When you take the fact that the Giants already beat the New England Patriots earlier this season and take into account how well they are playing right now it’s hard not to see the G-Men coming away with another Super Bowl win. It’s never a good thing to count out Tom Brady or Bill Belichick but Manning and Tom Coughlin are proving to be a dangerous quarterback-head coach combo of their own.

So while the Giants 2007 run was amazing, their success pulling out a win in that Super Bowl will have absolutely no bearing on the outcome in this one. The Giants and their fans do hope that lightening will strike twice though giving them their second championship in five years. 

Roosevelt Hall is an NFL Blogger for The Sport Mentalist and also writes for both The Penalty Flag and Outside The Redzone. He can be contacted at RHall_TPFB@Yahoo.com. Follow him on Twitter @Sportmentalist.