I just watched Bob Papa's recap of the 2014 season and I was strucked by how this season could have easily been a playoff season, even with the injuries. It gave credence to what Jerry Reese said in his press conference about some of the losses this year owing to the failure of the defense, offense and special teams in various games. This actually gives me some optimism going into next year, if we can have everyone back healthy and on the same page.
But there were at least 4 gams (ARZ, DAL, SF, JAX) the Giants definitely should have won, which results in a 10-6 season and two additional division games that were winnable that would have put us into the playoffs (DAL and PHIL) at 12-4.
Here are the should/could have won games:
Week 2 Arizona: Special teams sh** the bed
Week 7 Dallas: Donnell Special
Week 11 SF: Really Bad Eli
Week 12 Dallas: Defense not worth a damn
Week 13 Jacksonville: Offense coughed it up
Week 17 Philly: Specials Teams, Defense and Offense missed plays
Next year we supposedly have an easier schedule, but we have to beat Dallas my goodness!
I think the loss of Tuck on the DLine and Beason with the LBers was pretty big. Additionally, we need that guy on the Oline too, like a Chris Snee, Rich Seubert or David Diehl.
You need your leaders on D to be able to also lead by example by making big plays, otherwise it falls on deaf ears which appears to have happened. Rolle did Not have even an average year .....
I think we are 2-3 years away assuming our guys can stay healthy, we draft well, and get good free agents.
I don't think we are a good team. I think our offense still needs work and more talent. Our DC our system is god awful, and we lack talent as well. Maybe we can turn it around, but my expectations is 2-3 years away.
Spags...in your face guy. TC
is all talk..and a lamb on gameday.
Gets tough w rookies. Lamb
w veterans. Parcells would have
benched Eli several times.
That's a very throw away way to look at things. If you don't see how easy it is for teams to turn things around in the NFL then you aren't paying attention.
As mentioned above, the fact that it is sometimes the offense, sometimes the defense, and sometimes the special teams is an argument we are farther away from winning than if it were just one facet of the team we could focus on.
This team has some good pieces in place, but there is a lot of work to do before this is a playoff team.
Or you can look at it this way: the QB generally played well (top ten ish) and they still went 6-10 and were out of the playoff race by the end of October.
A team is not a good team or close, in the current day NFL, when that happens.
I think we are 2-3 years away assuming our guys can stay healthy, we draft well, and get good free agents.
Fix the oline, keep and add a little talent on D and stay healthy and they are a playoff team. . If you have a QB you are never that far away. .
10-6 is around 88% but ask the eagles about that.
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I think we are 2-3 years away assuming our guys can stay healthy, we draft well, and get good free agents.
Fix the oline, keep and add a little talent on D and stay healthy and they are a playoff team. . If you have a QB you are never that far away. .
Unless your team sucks to a point where it makes having a franchise QB irrelevant, like the Giants do (and Falcons and possibly now the Saints).
They've missed the playoffs 5/6 seasons now. If being a contender isn't far away, it's only because it's been the general existing reality for years now, outside of one bizarre, but glorious hot streak.
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I think we are 2-3 years away assuming our guys can stay healthy, we draft well, and get good free agents.
Fix the oline, keep and add a little talent on D and stay healthy and they are a playoff team. . If you have a QB you are never that far away. .
We have a QB yet our record is getting worse. I agree we need OL. We need more skill players to help. Outside of OBJ, I am not confident on everyone else. I am going to treat Cruz like the team did with Wilson, and assume he won't be back to normal, but if he is, then very good.
The D needs LBs, safeties, and let's about the DL. Also, the system sucks, so that's a big one.
We have a QB but can we maximize his prime while we get all shit squared away? I guess we have to see but I think it will take more time.
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In comment 12071577 AnishPatel said:
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I think we are 2-3 years away assuming our guys can stay healthy, we draft well, and get good free agents.
Fix the oline, keep and add a little talent on D and stay healthy and they are a playoff team. . If you have a QB you are never that far away. .
Unless your team sucks to a point where it makes having a franchise QB irrelevant, like the Giants do (and Falcons and possibly now the Saints).
They've missed the playoffs 5/6 seasons now. If being a contender isn't far away, it's only because it's been the general existing reality for years now, outside of one bizarre, but glorious hot streak.
*if not being a contender, not being
Our 6 wins came against 5 teams with a combined record of 27-55.
We did not beat any teams that went to the playoffs.
Per John Mara's definition, we did not play any meaningful games after November 23.
Without Beckham on the roster, the Giants would have been unwatchable.
There, I fixed that for you.
I know and accept, it is what it is, but it is not crazy to understand that with OBJ, a good Eli and a healthy defense, the Giants can make the playoffs next year,.
Significantly overly optimistic premise.
They consistently lost in the trenches on both sides of the ball. They lost the turnover battles. They lost in the secondary on defense. They lost the special teams battle of field position and the special teams battle of big plays.
They flat out stunk and any attempt to explain it away as bad luck or close losses is complete and total bullshit.
They stunk. Period.
If we had just 1/2 the injuries to starters that we had, this team would have been considerably better.
Remember, every time you say what if the Giants didn't do this/that, the other team can say the same thing....
Significantly overly optimistic premise.
+1
Since the start of the 2012 season, the Giants are 6-19 against teams that finished the season with a winning record.
After a while, the sample size gets too big to explain away 6-19 as just saying the Giants have had some "bad luck" in these games and that a play here or there would have them on the better side of this record.
It doesn't change the outcome to think that way - it just changes the perspective you have on what might be possible next year. I really believe it's a matter of choice - you can choose to be pessimistic and think this team is a long way away from competing, or you can believe that we were closer this year than our record indicated, and with the return of healthy players, continued improvement of the young guys, and another good draft/free agency period, we could be able to seriously compete for the playoffs next year.
Maybe not dominant - like the 2008 team was - but good enough to win the division and be in the playoffs where anything can happen.
But, none of that changes what this team was/is since mid-2012.
A huge problem with this team is coaching on defense, it is systemic, lack of confidence in the DC by the players, etc.
Really? Which of their 6 wins were they lucky to win?
I can think of several of their losses where I believed they outplayed their opponents overall but loss on a couple of crazy plays (Jacksonville, for example).
I can see the argument that they weren't any better than 6-10, but for the life of me I can't really see the argument that they were lucky to be 6-10.
Look at the Stafford stat last night. 0-17 in road games against winning teams. You will not have much success when you can't beat the better teams occasionally. We used to be able to. The past 3 years - not so much.
Giants were competitive against Dallas in both games and against Philadelphia in the last game. Against Dallas, Giants were just good enough to lose and were definitely outplayed in all three of those games. Giants never did have the look of a playoff team.