The fact the Giants stumbled through a 9-7 regular season before winning the Super Bowl last season does not make them a fluke. Far from it, said former Giants quarterback and current CBS analyst Phil Simms.
“They are in some situation here,” Simms said. “When you get in these situations you have to be really unlucky for it not to click one more time. They are going to have a chance to win another Super Bowl or two with this group here.”
The Giants will start this regular season Wednesday night the same way they ended last year: hosting the Cowboys in prime time. It was a pair of late-season wins over Dallas that propelled the Giants to the NFC East title and gave them a chance to make their stunning Super Bowl run. The Giants won’t be sneaking up on anybody this season, though.
“The stars are all mature, almost everyone is in their prime,” Simms said. “You look at Osi Umenyiora, it’s like he took a youth pill because they just have so many guys to run out there. There’s harmony, the quarterback [Eli Manning] creates it. The head coach [Tom Coughlin], just reading his quotes, he’s changed.
“They’re all just accepting it and handling it very well. I went and watched them for the Jets game, and it was something just seeing them in person. It’s like, I need a roster because they have guys hitting the quarterback that I don’t know. It’s just the look of the team. The quarterbacks, the receivers, so many guys who can hit the quarterback you are a threat to win it all always. That’s the formula they have right now.”
That ability to pressure the quarterback with a dominant front four was a theme for the Giants’ Super Bowl five years ago, too. But back then they survived with Manning’s quarterback play, last season they thrived on it. Manning threw for 4,933 yards and 29 touchdowns in the regular season, but established himself as one of the best in the sport in leading the Giants to four postseason wins with nine touchdowns and one interception
“It was physically his best year,” Simms said. “He didn’t wear down at all. He threw it better than ever before. He hit that time in his life where physically he’s at his height and he has a lot of go here. He hasn’t been nicked up in his career. You don’t even have to think about how many more years. It’s kind of endless right now.”
But for the Giants to repeat, history can’t. Their three past Super Bowl titles have been followed by missing the playoffs in the 1987 season, which was affected by replacement players and a quarterback controversy in 1991 between Simms and Jeff Hostetler that derailed the Super Bowl momentum. In 2008, the Giants were among the best teams in football before Plaxico Burress shot himself in the leg. That season fell apart after that and the Giants lost in the divisional round of the playoffs to the Eagles.
“There’s definitely a certain calmness to the whole organization. It’s almost like when Phil Mickelson won his first major and he took a deep breath and we all saw him win more since then,” Simms said. “I know this is the Giants second one, but this one really seemed to settle them down. That’s the perception even though they haven’t played a game. I look at them and it’s hard not to think of them as one of the top favorites in the NFL.”