There are underachievers virtually everywhere you turn around the Giants. But the surest way to a free fall is to suddenly find yourself caught in the draft:
Jason Pierre-Paul. Hakeem Nicks. David Wilson.
The bottom line: If three of your past five first-round draft choices do not play like first-round draft choices, there is a good chance you will find yourself in a heap of trouble. There is a good chance you will find yourself 0-4 and searching desperately for answers … and a season.
The Giants began infusing their aging, battered offensive line with new blood in 2013 No. 1 draft pick Justin Pugh. Too little, too late. It’s much too early to judge Pugh, of course.
But look beyond the offensive line woes to these three culprits:
JPP is no longer the Monster of the Meadowlands.
Nicks is no longer Eli Manning’s go-to guy.
Wilson is no longer doing backflips in the end zone.
It’s killing the Giants.
No one wants to hear anymore that rustiness following back surgery has diminished No. 90, turned him into just a guy, stuck in quicksand, futilely flailing away at the quarterback, and JPP isn’t using it as an excuse. But the Giants’ defense is the Giants’ defense only if it can rush the passer, and it cannot rush the passer if JPP (one sack) cannot remember how to be the freak who instilled fear in the heart of the quarterback, especially with Osi Umenyiora in Atlanta.
“I think everybody’s expectation level was so high that he would come back and be superman,” defensive coordinator Perry Fewell said. “He has to work himself back into a football mentality and he has to keep working at his craft in order for his skills to rise to the top level.”
JPP was the 15th pick of the 2010 draft, and by the next season, the Super Bowl season, he appeared to be on his way to being the most dominant Giants defender since Lawrence Taylor. He was a force of nature with 16.5 sacks. If he doesn’t recapture that form — and there are never any guarantees following back surgery — Giants fans will rue general manager Jerry Reese passing on 49ers guard Mike Iupati, selected two spots later. How would he look on the Giants’ offensive line right about now? Not a fair second-guess, but just asking.
The NFL is a quarterback-driven league, but what drives the quarterbacks is big-play, game-breaking or game-wrecking receivers. The Calvin Johnsons. The Dez Bryants. The Andre Johnsons. The Larry Fitzgeralds. The Demaryius Thomases. The Brandon Marshalls.
Nicks was drafted 29th in 2009 to be one of those guys. He caught a combined 18 TD passes in 2010 and 2011, enjoying back-to-back 1,000-yard seasons.
“He’s a very confident young man who recognizes right away whatever it is you’re trying to point out to him and tries to do something about it,” coach Tom Coughlin said.
Nicks let a couple of balls go through his hands in Kansas City.
“That’s really rare,” Coughlin said. “He usually gobbles those balls up.”
Following a 2012 season in which he could not stay on the field, after an offseason in which the Giants showed Victor Cruz the money, Nicks was primed to reach up with those monstrous hands and catch a monstrous contract.
Nicks will have his chance to break out against a vulnerable Eagles secondary.
“It’ll be easier for all of us, not just me, just to get everything clicking again,” Cruz said. “When me and him are playing on the same page and we’re both making plays, life is good for us.”
Forget that Nicks can’t throw the ball to himself. He has 12 catches. And none of them are touchdowns. He has dropped the ball.
A perfect segue to Wilson, drafted 32nd in 2012, one spot behind Doug Martin. Coughlin thought Wilson’s fumbling problems, which surfaced in his very first game, were behind him. He thought wrong. They all did.
Wilson is the home-run hitter who keeps striking out. He is in a way a symbol of this Giants team: the underachiever who has lost his confidence. He wasn’t drafted to return kicks. He was drafted to replace Ahmad Bradshaw. He has 488 career rushing yards in 20 games. You can make the case Jim Brown would have difficulty running behind this offensive line. It doesn’t excuse Wilson dropping the ball and finding his way back to Coughlin’s doghouse.
Coughlin isn’t worried about Wilson’s emotional state.
“He doesn’t get down,” Coughlin said. “That guy’s pretty good about being up and staying up. He’s a battler and a fighter. I told him the other day we need him to get in the end zone.”
He has not reached the end zone in 38 carries, but Wilson is looking forward.
“Once you lose that chip on your shoulder, that’s when you lose a sense of competitiveness, so I always have a chip on my shoulder,” he said.
He feels he’s close to breaking one.
“It’s there … a lot of things are close, but ‘close’ don’t win games,” he said. “We gotta get it together and give our fans something to cheer for.”
It’s unfair to point a finger at Pugh after four games. But defensive end Mathias Kiwanuka (2006) isn’t playing like a No. 1 pick, posting just one sack. Cornerback Prince Amukamara (2011) is. Manning (2004) isn’t. But Manning (nine INTs, 11 turnovers) is the least of the Giants’ problems. If the coaches can figure out a way to keep him from being skittish in the pocket, from flinching with predators bearing down on him, he will find a way to rise above the rubble.
If JPP, Nicks and Wilson do not, the Giants are doomed.