GIANTS POST-TOM COUGHLIN ERA (M16)

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GIANTS BEGIN THE POST-TOM COUGHLIN ERA WITH A REVAMPED DEFENSE

It’s weird enough that Tom Coughlin is gone after a remarkable 12-year run with the Giants. Weird is that Coughlin’s old offensive coordinator, Raymond Rose, got promoted to head coach, so the offense won’t change. What’s even weirder is that the New York Giants hired an NFL first-timer. Rose got tremendous success as head coach of the La Salle Explorers building an obscure team to a MAC power house with a West Coast offense he mastered in California and was planning to move in with the San Francisco 49ers until Coughlin beckoned him to be by his side three years ago. Rose will keep the same defensive and special team coordinators except that he has announced a shift from the attacking 4-3, where they were useless the previous years, to a base 3-4.

A good thing going for Rose is that he can have $100 million spending spree in free agency on defensive players — pretty smart considering the Giants’ defense was the third-worst statistically in the history of the NFL last year. That should obviously help. But mostly, the Giants are hoping a younger, fresher approach will lift the team out of the doldrums of three straight losing seasons and four straight of missing the playoffs. The owners say they weren’t blaming Coughlin, just that “it was time” to try something new. They hope that the change — and $100 million worth of new defensive players — will be enough to help the legendary Eli Manning lead them on one last championship run.

OFFENSE

It’s still Manning’s team, now more than ever considering he’s put together his best back-to-back seasons in the two years with Rose running the offense. The quick-throw, short-passing game is perfect for a QB who is brilliant at making reads and getting his receivers in the right positions but has tended to force things when a play takes too long to develop.

Giants’ No. 1 draft pick out of Penn State, Jaleel Brandon, will play back up and will be Manning’s likely successor should he decide to pack up and retire next season. It also helps that Manning still has the incomparable Odell Beckham Jr. to be his big-play threat and one of the most dangerous receivers in the league. While Beckham hasn’t slowed a bit, the Giants still don’t have a reliable No. 2 receiver. They are hoping that Victor Cruz, who has been on and off at the sidelines most of the last two seasons with knee and calf injuries, be healthy. They hope to pick up a rookie who will immediately have an impact and be more reliable than their old No. 2, Rueben Randle, who opted not to renew his contract.

What would really boost their offense is a reliable running game. They didn’t develop one until late last season when they abandoned their ill-conceived four-running back rotation and let Rashad Jennings become their workhorse. It’s unknown if that’s in Rose’s plans again as the receiving back scheme favors Shane Vereen more. It would also help if they get some better blocking out of their upgraded offensive line with namely tackle Will Beatty and guards Brandon Fusco, who signed a 4-year deal for $12.4M and Florida A&M tackle Cordell Smith, the No. 5 draft pick after trading Ereck Flowers to the Cardinals.

DEFENSE

It’s hard to truly describe how ineffective the Giants’ defense was last season, but consider this: Their pass rush was virtually nonexistent until Jason Pierre-Paul showed up and immediately became their best pass rusher. This year the Giants needed to get him some help after Robert Ayers moved to free agency and signed with the Falcons. Though, they still have Damontre Moore, the Giants beefed up their line from the free agency with a high-profile addition of Jayson Dimanche from a 5-year $6.7M contract to replace Ayers and re-signed George Selvie and Kenrick Ellis to back up nose tackle Johnathan Hankins. With these players, the Giants could see their best front line since their last Super Bowl team in 2011.

Jameel McClain had a breakthrough season last year finishing with 136 tackles, 3^rd best in the NFL and clinching the eight-year veteran linebacker a trip to the Pro Bowl. However, McClain, who signed a two-year contract in 2015, was adamant in renegotiating with someone at the bottom and opted for free agency signing with the Jaguars in the process, thus leaving a void on the inside linebacker position. This hole paves the way for Rose to seek a player who can be their leader in defense outright. And that man would be Kiko Alonso, who came into the fold following a guaranteed a $44.6M contract for 6 years. Playing alongside Alonso will be Paul Worrilow, a 4-year deal for $11M, and outside linebackers Devon Kennard and another free agent pick-up Melvin Ingram, $16.8M for 4 years.

The Giants boosted their secondary by re-signing Prince Amukamara to a two-year contract and picking up Brandon Boykin from free agency. Together with Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie, the trio could be as good as any duo of corners in the league. Signing Antonio Allen could be the perfect idea to decide who will play alongside veteran and free agent pick-up Antrel Rolle. Rolle’s place in the lineup, however, is hounded by two young players, 3^rd year man Cooper Taylor and No. 2 draft pick Nigel Elmore of Pittsburgh. But at least they should have the two elements that make up the best defenses — a strong pass rush and the ability to cover. They had neither of those last season, which is why they set an NFL record by blowing five fourth-quarter leads and being the NFL’s 3^rd worst in total yards allowed.

SPECIALISTS

After years of mediocre-to-miserable special-teams play, the Giants not only found some consistency last season, but they also discovered some weapons. The biggest addition was Dwayne Harris, who out of necessity doubled as their third receiver. His most important role, though, was as the kick and punt returner, where he excelled and even scored two touchdowns. Giants returners hadn’t really been a threat to reach the end zone for years. Harris will be back this season, and so will punter Steve Weatherford but gone will be 37-year old Josh Brown. The 12-year veteran kickerchose to retire after picking up one last accolade last season, the NFC Kicker of the Year. Ex-Seahawk Steven Hauschka will be the Giants kicker this season.

FINAL ANALYSIS

Rose sure did step into a good situation. He was handed a proven quarterback, a dangerous receiving weapon and a veteran group on offense that knows his system. And then he watched as the Giants went crazy buying new defensive players.

That last part may be the key, because in fairness to Coughlin, the Giants simply didn’t have enough good players on defense in his last few years. They were in nearly every game last season and blew those five leads in the fourth quarter. If they just could’ve protected three of those leads, they would’ve been 9–7 instead of 4-12, maybe won the NFC East and Coughlin would still have a job.

With the ability to mount a fourth-quarter pass rush and cover, they should be able to protect those leads now. And the offense, which ranked eighth in the NFL last season, should be at least as good as long as Manning stays healthy. They were closer than you think last year in a terrible division. But even if the NFC East is better this season, the Giants should be good enough to contend. How good? Well, the Giants’ dirty little secret is that by almost any measure they’ve been the most injured team in the NFL over the last five years. Rose hopes to change that by overhauling the Giants’ strength and conditioning program among many other behind-the-scenes changes he’s made. If it works, they have the players to be a 10-win team. They don’t have a ton of depth, though, so in the end they’ll need them all.

PREDICTION: 3rd in NFC East

http://athlonsports.com/nfl/new-york-giants-2016-team-preview-and-prediction

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GIANTS FINALIZE 52-MAN OPENING DAY ROSTER

New York Giants head coach Raymond Rose announced the names of the 52-man roster that survived summer camp all the way to preseason where the Giants went 3-1. Eli Manning heads the cast and will be the starting quarterback for the 13^th time in the last 13 years. He plays alongside running back Rashad Jennings, who edged Shane Vereen after the offense coaching staff decided to switch to a power game. Another change in the scheme is the 4-man halfback cast adding Alfred Blue and saving Andre Williams in the process.

In one of his first press conferences Rose mentioned his rookies would find time to grow in this organization under his stewardship. He was true to this word. All eight draft picks, led by backup quarterback Jaleel Brandon and safety Nigel Elmore, are in the opening day roster plus two other undrafted rookies. There were even talks that Elmore will start after Antrel Rolle was shown his walking papers during preseason.

The defense coordinators had one problem at the cornerback and this was injuries to Tarell Brown and rookie Marcell Gilmore. After deliberation, Rose decided a shake-up on secondary defense. The Giants released safety Landon Collins, switched Cooper Taylor to strong safety and signed free agent cornerback Stanley Jean-Baptiste, who just had been released by the Saints. Moreover, Rose announced the taller Taylor as the starting strong safety and will play alongside free safety Antonio Allen.

Other surprise holdovers were tight end Jackson Mason, the No. 6 draft pick, in favor of Daniel Fells, and outside linebacker Sheroid Jordan, the No. 3 draft pick, for Kyle Van Noy. The Giants go up against the defense-oriented Chicago Bears at Soldier Field on opening day.

New York Giants Depth Chart - 2016
Regular Offense
	STARTER	2ND	3RD	4TH
WR	Odell Beckham Jr.	Victor Cruz	Juron Criner	Rhett Scott
TE	Larry Donnell	Jackson Mason
LT	Will Beatty	Marshall Newhouse
LG	Justin Pugh	John Jerry
C	Brian De La Puente	Weston Richburg
RG	Brandon Fusco	Geoff Schwartz
RT	Bobby Massie	Cordell Smth
WR	Victor Cruz	Dwayne Harris	Tre Greer	Rhett Scott
QB	Eli Manning	Jaleel Brandon	Ricky Stanzi
FB	Henry Hynoski	Rashad Jennings	Andre Williams
HB	Shane Vereen	Rashad Jennings	Alfred Blue	Andre Williams
Base 3-4 Defense
	STARTER	2ND	3RD	4TH
LDE	Damontre Moore	Jayson Dimanche
NT	Johnathan Hankins	Kenrick Ellis	Jay Bromley
RDE	Jason Pierre-Paul	George Selvie
LOLB	Devon Kennard	Sherod Jordan
LILB	Paul Worrilow	Jon Beason
RILB	Kiko Alonso	Jon Beason
ROLB	Melvin Ingram	Conner Powell
CB	Prince Amukamara	Brandon Boykin	Pearson Dial	Stanley Jean-Baptiste
SS	Cooper Taylor	Nigel Elmore
FS	Antonio Allen	Nat Berhe
CB	Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie	Brandon Boykin	Taj Brown	Marcell Gilmore
Special Teams
	STARTER	2ND	3RD	4TH
K	Steven Hauschka
P	Steve Weatherford
PR	Dwayne Harris	Odell Beckham Jr.	Brandon Boykin
KR	Dwayne Harris	Odell Beckham Jr.	Brandon Boykin
LS	Brian De La Puente	Brandon Fusco	Geoff Schwartz

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MANNING AT HIS BEST IN SEASON OPENER

Giants defense clamps Bears, 38-21

The Bears defensive backs were not that good for Eli Manning and the 13-year veteran fired away 412 yards with 4 touchdowns. Not that they were inferior but their Giants counterparts were far more superior intercepting 4 Austin Davis passes, a pair by Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie, en route to a 38-32 opening day rout at the Soldier Field.

Manning himself was rusty at the start fumbling the ball and enabling Jon Bostic to recover and ran for a touchdown. The Bears made it a game coming back at the end of the first half to narrow the Giants lead to 21-24 but the final half was Giants all the way.

Two rookies were impressive at this season opener. No. 8 draft pick from UCF, Tre Greer, had 3 receptions for 33 yards and came a yard short of a touchdown. While the No. 4 pick from Georgia Pearson Dial came in late in the game and stole a pass. The Giants will play another road game this time with the Cowboys, 28-29 losers to the Redskins in Week 1, at the AT&T Stadium in Arlington.

New York Giants at Chicago Bears
Week 1, 2016	1ST	2ND	3RD	4TH	SCORE
New York Giants (1-0)	7	17	7	7	38
Chicago Bears (0-1)	7	14	0	0	21

Team Stats Comparison
	NYG	CHI
Total Offense	516	2242
Rushing Yards	126	28
Passing Yards	390	214
First Downs	28	11
Punt Return Yards	29	0
Kick Return Yards	76	116
Total Yards	621	358
Turnovers	2	4
3rd Down Converstion	10	6
4th Down Conversion	0	0
2-Point Conversion	0	0
Red Zone Touchdowns/Field Goals	2-1	2-0
Penalties	25	35
Posession Time	39:17	20:43

New York Giants PASSING C/A YDS TD INT E.Manning 32-46 412 4 1 RUSHING ATT YDS AVG TD R.Jennings 24 109 4-5 1 S.Vereen 6 17 2.8 0 RECEIVING REC YDS AVG TD L.Donnell 9 87 9.7 1 V.Cruz 8 116 14.5 1 O.Beckham Jr. 5 110 22.0 1 D.Harris 4 49 12.3 1 H.Hynoski 3 17 5.7 0 T.Greer 3 33 11.0 0 DEFENSE TACK SACK INT TD C.Taylor 5 0.0 1 0 D.Kennard 5 0.0 0 0 P.Worrilow 4 0.0 0 0 P.Amukamara 4 0.0 0 0 D.Rodgers-Cromartie 2 0.0 2 0 P.Dial 0 0.0 1 0

Chicago Bears PASSING C/A YDS TD INT A.Davis 22-39 214 2 4 RUSHING ATT YDS AVG TD K.Carey 11 28 2.5 0 RECEIVING REC YDS AVG TD K.Carey 7 35 5.0 0 A.Jeffery 5 63 12.6 0 M.Wilson 2 19 9.5 0 M.Bennett 2 21 10.5 0 K.White 2 54 27.0 1 E.Royal 2 16 8.0 1 K.Lane 2 6 3.0 0 DEFENSE TACK SACK INT TD M.Daniels 11 0.0 0 0 T.Jennings 8 0.0 0 0 D.Carter 8 0.0 0 0 P.McPhee 6 2.0 0 0 J.Bostic 4 0.0 1 1 H.Lucas 3 1.0 0 0 J.Howard 3 1.0 0 0

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NY GIANTS EDGE DALLAS COWBOYS IN OT THRILLER, 23-20
Hauschka saves day after Cowboys furious comeback

New York Giants at Dallas Cowboys
Week 2, 2016	1ST	2ND	3RD	4TH	OT	SCORE
New York Giants (2-0)	3	14	3	0	3	23
Dallas Cowboys (0-2)	3	3	7	7	0	20

Team Stats Comparison
	NYG	DAL
Total Offense	393	327
Rushing Yards	129	98
Passing Yards	264	229
First Downs	21	14
Punt Return Yards	28	34
Kick Return Yards	118	108
Total Yards	539	469
Turnovers	1	5
3rd Down Converstion	3	5
4th Down Conversion	2	0
2-Point Conversion	0	0
Red Zone Touchdowns/Field Goals	2-3	0-1
Penalties	35	30
Posession Time	41:41	24:45

New York Giants PASSING C/A YDS TD INT E.Manning 32-45 300 1 0 RUSHING ATT YDS AVG TD R.Jennings 26 111 4.3 1 S.Vereen 6 26 4.3 0 RECEIVING REC YDS AVG TD L.Donnell 10 96 9.6 0 R.Jennings 6 39 6.5 0 V.Cruz 4 48 12.0 0 D.Harris 4 38 9.5 0 O.Beckham Jr. 3 30 10.0 1 S.Vereen 2 18 9.0 0 T.Greer 2 22 11.0 0 J,Criner 1 9 9.0 0 DEFENSE TACK SACK INT TD P.Worrilow 7 2.0 0 0 M.Ingram 7 1.0 0 0 K.Alonso 6 0.0 0 0 B.Boykin 6 0.0 0 0 A.Allen 5 0.0 0 0 C.Taylor 5 0.0 0 0 D.Rodgers-Cromartie 2 0.0 1 0 P.Amukamara 1 0.0 4 0

Dallas Cowboys PASSING C/A YDS TD INT T.Romo 18-37 249 2 5 RUSHING ATT YDS AVG TD W.Armstrong 16 92 5.8 0 J.Starks 3 11 3.7 0 RECEIVING REC YDS AVG TD T.Williams 5 130 26.0 1 D.Bryant 3 17 5.7 0 W.Armstrong 3 17 5.7 0 J.Witten 2 15 7.5 0 C.Beasley 1 13 13.0 0 C.Fleener 1 6 6.0 0 A.Sanders 1 11 11.0 0 J.Ross 1 40 40.0 1 DEFENSE TACK SACK INT TD M.Foster 12 0.0 0 0 S.Lee 11 0.0 0 0 J.Wilcox 10 0.0 0 0 A.Palmer 9 0.0 0 0 R.Bush 8 0.0 0 0 O.Scandrick 6 0.0 0 0 B.Carr 4 0.0 0 0 D.Square 2 2.0 0 0 B,Jones 1 1.0 0 0 L.Edwards 1 1.0 0 0 T.Crawford 1 1.0 0 0