Player-by-Player Analysis of the 2005 Giants

Dr. Giganto

I've got some time on my hands, so I figured I'd go through the Giants roster and talk about how each player played, and give everyone a grade for the regular season.

QB

Eli Manning: Season can be summed up in one word: Inconsistency. Looked great one game, terrible the next. Showed a knack for late-game heroics. Good poise and leadership. Poor accuracy at times. Decent mobility in the pocket to avoid sacks. 3762 passing yards, 24 TDs, 17 INTs

Grade: B-

RB

Tiki Barber: The MVP of the team, and a legitimate league MVP candidate. 1860 rushing yards, over 500 recieving yards. 3 200+ rushing-yard games. Lost goal-line carries to Brandon Jacobs, but was still the primary driver of the offense.

Grade: A+

Brandon Jacobs: Served as mostly a short-yardage and goal-line back. Tough to tackle on his own. Suffered from predictable play-calling when he came into the game. Scored 7 TDs on only 38 carries. Got the job done more often than not

Grade: B+

Derrick Ward: Tiki's primary spell man. Only a handful of carries a game, and didnt make the most of them either.

Grade: C

Jim Finn: Had a great year blocking for Tiki. Was used a bit in the passing game too. not a huge part of the offense, but did his job and did it fairly well.

Grade: B+

Chad Morton: Returned punts throughout the year, and assumed kick returning duty after Ponder was mysteriously inactivated. Routinely gave the Giants good field position.

Grade: A-

WR

Plaxico Burress: The big free-agent pick-up started out hot, but then cooled off considerably. Has a knack for making the hard catches look easy, and the easy catches look hard. Taller than most cornerbacks, and uses that to his advantage. Seems to lose interest sometimes. Good blocker on running plays.

Grade: B+

Amani Toomer: Experienced a resurgence this year, after a TD-less 2004. 7 TDs as the 3rd recieving threat (behind Burress and Shockey). Made some great acrobatic TD cacthes, notably against St. Louis and Seattle.

Grade: B+

Tim Carter: Great speed, and gained some good yardage on reverse runs. Made a few big 3rd down catches, but dropped many easy catches. Never developed into the 3rd reciever the Giants were hoping he'd become.

Grade: D

David Tyree: Didn't do much in the passing game, but is a force on special teams, where he was elected to the Pro Bowl. Great at both making tackles and downing punts inside the 20.

Grade: A-

Willie Ponder: Was one of the NFL's best return men before inexplicably being deactivated for the last few games of the year. A non-factor int he passing game.

Grade: A-

TE

Jeremy Shockey: Another solid year for Shockey. Presents match-up problems against all opponents. Injuries limited his production once again, and does have a propensity for dropping easy passes. Decent blocking as well.

Grade: B+

OL

Luke Petitgout: Penalties, penalties, and more penalties. Hit rock bottom in the Seattle game, committing 5 false starts. When not committing penalties, is actually a decent left tackle. Did a good job blocking for Tiki and protecting Eli.

Grade: C

David Diehl: Played pretty well, and showed good flexibility, switching positions after injuries hit the offensive line.

Grade: B+

Shaun O'Hara: A solid year. Not much more to say other than that.

Grade: B

Chris Snee: Like Petitgout, was plagued by penalties, though not to the same extent. When not penalized, played pretty well.

Grade: B-

Kareem MacKenzie: Had a good year, but was not as dominant as expected when coming over from the Jets. Still, a significant step up from previous RT's.

Grade: B

DE

Michael Strahan: Another great year. 11.5 sacks. Noticably thinner this year, made him quick enough to get around offensive tackles, but still strong enough to use the bull-rush.

Grade: A

Osi Umenyiora: Break-out year. 14.5 sacks led the NFC. One of the fastest DEs out there. Sometimes gets taken out of a run play easily, but incredible pass-rushing ability from the strong side makes up for it. Showed versatility by effectively dropping into coverage on zone blitzes.

Grade: A

Justin Tuck: Likely to be Strahan's replacement when he retired. Showed a lot of ability and potential in limited playing time. Played well on special teams as well.

Grade: B

DT

Kendrick Clancy: Very underrated player. Showed ability to get into the offensive backfield and cause havoc. Did a good job occupying blockers, allowing the LBs to make tackles in the running game.

Grade: B+

Fred Robbins: Did his job effectively, though unspectacularly.

Grade: B

Kenderick Allen: See Robbins above. Came out, did his job, made a few big plays here and there. Probably a little more effective than Robbins.

Grade: B+

William Joseph: Played well when healthy, but two injuries limited his time on the field. Still waiting for a productive full season.

Grade: B-

LB

Antonio Pierce: Was having a great year before being sidelined by injury. Made big plays against both the run and against the pass. The leader of the defense. Helped the Giants hold down runners such as Shaun Alexander, Clinton Portis, and Steven Jackson.

Grade: A-

Nick Griesen: A pleasant surprise filling in for the injured Barrett Green. Proved to be a more than capable replacement. Filled in at MLB after Pierce and Blackburn both fell to injuries.

Grade: B+

Carlos Emmons: Was fairly effective when healthy, but couldn't stay on the field. Gave it his all, though, and came back early from injury to try to help a depleted LB corps.

Grade: B-

Reggie Torbor: Another young player who showed good potential. Filled in for the injured Emmons, and did fairly well.

Grade: B

CB

Will Allen: Not a good year at all. The Giants secondary was lit up in the early part of the year, and then Santana Moss made Allen his plaything in Week 16. Plays the run pretty well, however. Still hasn't figured out that defensive players are allowed to catch the ball and run with it.

Grade: C+

Curtis Deloatch: Even worse than Allen. Teams picked on him all year. Was benched for the last two games of the year.

Grade: D

Corey Webster: Showed potential, but made a lot of rookie mistakes. Has a long way to go.

Grade: C

S

Gibril Wilson: Another good year, after his stellar rookie year was unfortunately cut short by injury. Wasn't the same force he was in early 2004, but was an effective blitzer and run-stopper. Big hitter with a nose for the ball.

Grade: A-

Brent Alexander: Led the team in interceptions, but was unspectacular otherwise. Lacked a little bit in pass coverage.

Grade: B

James Butler: Only came in during dime-back sets. Didn;t really do anything of note, but had a few big pass break-ups

Grade: B-

K

Jay Feely: Besides the Seattle game, had a great year. Led NFL kickers in points scored. Showed both strength and accuracy. Distance on kickoffs leaves a little to be desired.

Grade: A-

P

Jeff Feagles: Another great year for this wily veteran. Excellent at pinning the ball deep. Gets enough hang time to allow coverage to get downfield.

Grade: A-


Incompletes: Tim Hasselbeck, Jared Lorenzen, Jason Whittle, bob Whitfield, Mike Cloud, Visanthe Shiancoe, Chase Blackburn, Shaun Williams, Alonzo Jackson, Will Peterson, Kevin Lewis, Terrell Buckley, Damane Duckett, Barrett Green, Frank Walker, Matt Kranchick, Sean Burton, Ryan Kuehl, Adrian Awasom, Jay Foreman, Marcus Lawrence, Eric Moore, Rich Seubert, Tyson Smith, Jamaar Taylor, Roman Pfifer

Tyler Durden

Yay. This is my team.

I'm serious.

Can I rep TDogg several times over for the same thread.

Danny Diamond

Founder/Admin

This was a great post. Although part of me thinks Tom is grading on the New York curve. Or should I call it the New Jersey curve? Doh.....

Several of them stuck out to me with great points.


I actually think Eli should be graded a tad higher here. He has damn good numbers for a 2nd season player. He has all the tools to be an elite QB in years to come but B- to B is probably the right way to go in the end.



Wow, that's a high grade, but we know you love your Tiki Torches. I dont think he is even close to the NFL MVP but he has put up extremely impressive numbers. Guys that I would vote for over Tiki for MVP that come right to mind are Shaun Alexander, Brady, LT, Larry Johnson (yup even him)

I was one that thought Toomer was done. I think he went either in the last round or was drafted for a buck in most fantasy leagues. He pleasantly suprised me week after week. And Burress? Well, he is on the junk.

Here is another guy I didnt realize how good he was until I watched him on my fantasy team week after week. Sounds stupid, but you can see the patterns of players not on your home team alot better playing fantasy football. Shockey is a Stud. Raise that grade Tommy.

Freak

You can't put LJ or LT at MVP ahead of Tiki; their teams didn't even make the playoffs. I agree that if they had, both could have been legit candidates, but Tiki carried his team to the playoffs, and that is what makes him a VERY strong MVP candidate.

The only guys I think could snag it from him are Peyton, Brady, Shaun Alexander, or MAYBE Palmer.

Blitzkrieg

Administrator

There really isn't any doubt in my mind. Alexander is the MVP hands down. His team got the #1 seed in the NFC and he had 28 tds with over 1800 yards on the ground. He didn't have the highlight reel plays that Tiki had but he just straight up got the job done.

Other than him it's a toss up.

DMW

Apparently.

Dr. Giganto

Shockey's grade would have been higher if he wasn't cursed with "stone hands". He had 65 receptions, but he could have easily been above 70 if he didn't drop so many balls. Also, he's hot and cold, catching 10 balls against Dallas and 11 against Seattle, but then just 2 against KC and 3 against Washington.

I tried as hard as I could to be fair. It seems like most of the team got grades in the B- to B+ range, witht he exception of Petitgout and the corners who got lower grades, and Tiki, Strahan, Umenyiora, Wilson, Pierce, and the special teamers who were higher. I figure a B+ average is appropriate for an 11-5 team who won a competitive division