Camp Tip Sheet: Why They Won’t be Super

Here follows TGI’s ultimate primer for training camp ’09 as the Giants look to reach the top of the NFL mountain once again. This is installment two, why they won’t be super.

An Eli regression – We all know in this bottom-line business that you’re only as good as your last game. That doesn’t bode well – at all – for the quarterback. Sure, no one on the coaching staff or any of his teammates made life any easier for Eli Manning in last year’s playoff disaster, but he sure contributed quite heavily to the mess as well. We’re confident in the new WR corps, but how long it takes Manning to grow comfortable in the pocket without having big numbers 17 and 81 as options will go a long way toward determining if this is a Super Bowl caliber team or not.

No Spags – We here at TGI have repeated over and over again our faith and trust in Bill Sheridan. However, there’s no saying how quickly, if at all, Sheridan will be able to make Giants fans forget about Steve Spagnuolo, who left to lead the Rams. Spags not only had an excellent head for calling games, he had a tremendous rapport with his players. It’d be a lot to expect Sheridan to be able to duplicate both those qualities immediately. But since this is a win-now defense, any potential slippage could hurt big time.

The Birds – We didn’t think the Eagles were better than the Giants ever after they knocked them off in Giants Stadium during the playoffs. With that said, Philly was real close to making the Super Bowl. And all they did this offseason was draft a couple of impact offensive players in Jeremy Maclin and LeSean McCoy that could help put them in the driver’s seat. Say what you will about the Cowboys and Redskins, but the NFC East sure looks to be a two-team race at this point.