New York Giants Top 5 Wishes for Santa
By Michael Stewart
Holiday greetings everyone as this is the season to be jolly. That is for everyone; except the Giants. The Giants have played 12 games thus far and have a 5-7 record in the NFC east. Looking over these 12 games, we can easily make a case that with a little luck and better management of the clock; the Giants could be sitting comfortably on top of the eastern division with a 9-3 record.
However; such is not the case as good teams find a way to win and bad teams find a way to lose. With the holidays upon us, I thought it would be fun to look inside the New York Giants wish list to Santa and see what they want. Below is my top 5 holiday wish list for the Giants:
- Pass Rush: Through the 1st 10 games the Giants have a total of 15 sacks. If that stat is not bad enough, the lack of a consistent pass rush to put pressure on opposing quarterbacks in non-existing. Furthermore; the Giants inability to get to the quarterback has caused a domino effect
- Running game: This has been a major problem all season and unless major changes are made; don’t expect this area to improve. With only 3 rushing TD’s through 10 games, the Giants are basically Eli Manning to Odell Beckham.
- Red Zone efficiency: The Giants ranked near the bottom after 12 games in the red zone with a 44% efficiency. Obviously, this needs to improve if they want to remain on top of the NFC east
- Stay healthy: I know every team has to deal with this issue, however; it seems that the Giants suffer the most injuries to players who are major cogs in their machine. Perhaps a lot of blame should go to GM Jerry Reese for not providing depth when these injuries occur. Nonetheless; this is a major problem that has affected the way to Giants perform and also their results in games.
- Wins: The Giants could be 9-3 at least with a better understanding of managing the clock and better defense in holding a lead. Losing to Dallas and the Patriots by 1 point really stings and giving up late leads against the Falcons and 49ers only makes it worse. In fact, of the Giants 7 losses, 5 have come with the Giants leading in the 4th quarter. Which translate that good teams know how to win and right now the Giants are not a good team?
Final Thoughts: Can the Giants still savage this season with playoff hopes; absolutely. Are the Giants considered a good team, a bad team or somewhere in the middle. There are a lot of holes on this team, aside from the five I mentioned above. GM Jerry Reese needs to turn this team around and point it in the right direction moving forward.