Can New York Giants defend their Super Bowl title in the 2012 season? (Part I)
When the New York Giants had started their 2011 National Football League (NFL) season campaign, no one knew how far they would go.
They eventually won the Super Bowl XLVI after defeating the New England Patriots in the NFL title game.
That is an old story now and the challenge in front of them is to retain the title, which is even tougher than winning it in the first place. In order to determine Giants’ chances in the upcoming season, it is essential to have a brief look at their last
season’s performance.
Giants in the last season
Their start was not the best as they were defeated in two of their four preseason games. When the regular season started, the Giants faced serious competition from Dallas Cowboys and Philadelphia Eagles with the latter playing as favourites to win the National
Football Conference (NFC) title.
As the season progressed, Eagles failed badly, giving room to Giants and Cowboys to fight for the dominance in the NFC East division.
Giants capitalised on Eagles’ slump, and strengthen their position in the division after winning six of their first eight games.
Despite registering good winning record, some flaws in Giants’ defence were obvious and there was a need to overcome them.
It did not happen and the Giants had to pay the price. They went on to lose four games in a row, seriously jeopardising their chances of reaching the playoffs.
It was their good fortune that the Cowboys also underwent a similar slump towards the end of the season and by that time the Giants had luckily started finding their rhythm and their defence in particular was supporting the team well.
Giants won one more game than Eagles and Cowboys, who won eight games each in the season, and secured a playoff berth.
The playoffs witnessed an entirely different Giants’ unit. They were more confident, more disciplined and above all they were combining nicely, following head coach Tom Coughlin’s plan effectively.
In the wildcard game, the Giants defeated Atlanta Falcons in a surprising manner and did now allow the opponents to register any scoring move. The only points Falcons got in the game was by sacking Giants quarterback Eli Manning in his own end zone.
Giants next game was against the Green Bay Packers who were the then defending Super Bowl Champions and had lost only one game in the season. The Packers were favourites and it was also said that they would win the title once again.
To be continued...
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