In 2007 when the Giants made their improbable Super Bowl run, aside from Eli Manning playing the football of his life, the one other constant for the Giants was their incredible pass rush. In the Super Bowl against the Patriots the Giants sacked Tom Brady 5 times including 2 sacks from defensive end Justin Tuck. Only the 1984 Los Angeles Raiders with 6 sacks against the Washington Redskins, the 1989 San Francisco 49ers with 6 sacks against the Cincinnati Bengals, and the 1985 Chicago Bears with 7 sacks against the New England Patriots had more sacks in a Super Bowl than the Giants in 2007. The Giants may even have a better pass rush this season and it will be essential if they want to advance to the NFC divisional round for them to get to Falcons quarterback Matt Ryan early and often.
During the regular season the Giants were tied for 3rd in the NFL in sacks with 48. All-pro defensive end Jason Pierre-Paul was 4th in the NFL with 16.5 sacks, Osi Umenyiora had 9 sacks in just 9 games, and Justin Tuck had 5 sacks despite missing 4 games as well. The Giants do a terrific job of moving around their defensive ends, especially Umenyiora and Tuck, who can also slide over to the defensive tackle position.
The Giants pass rush is so important because of how much the Giants secondary has struggled this season. The Giants were hit hard by injuries with their cornerbacks this season and it was very costly. Their best cornerback Terrell Thomas tore his ACL in the preseason and had to miss the entire season and their first round draft pick Prince Amukamara missed the Giants first 9 games with a foot injury. Therefore, Big Blue really struggled against the pass, especially when their defensive line couldn't get to the quarterback and the opposing QB was able to scan the field and pick apart the Giants defense. The Giants were 29th in the NFL in pass defense, as they allowed 255 passing yards per game and they will be picked apart by the Falcons big receivers Roddy White and Julio Jones and the Falcons 8th ranked passing offense, if there is no pressure on Matt Ryan.
The Giants pass rush dictates if they walk away with a win or a loss. In the Giants 9 wins, they averaged 3.3 sacks per game including a 6 sack performance against the Cowboys in a winner-take-all NFC East game at the end of the season. In their 7 losses Big Blue averaged just over 2 sacks per game and during their 1-5 stretch in the middle of the season the G-Men averaged just over a sack per game.
However, it will not be an easy task for the Giants to get to Matt Ryan. The Falcons allowed just 26 sacks all season, which was the 2nd least in the entire NFC only behind their division rival the New Orleans Saints. Atlanta allowed just 1 sack in their final 3 regular season games against the Jaguars, Saints, and Buccaneers.
Justin Tuck added some fire to the battle in the trenches between the Falcons offensive line and the Giants defensive line with his comments about the Falcons offensive line this week.
Justin Tuck said, "We know they have that quote unquote reputation. But in a way it kind of is exciting. Most people, you know would call them dirtbags. But it is what it is. We go to make sure we do our job and if we are doing our job well, then they will be upset and they will be trying to do things to get us off our game and we got to take that as a compliment. But in the same sense you got to protect yourself and hopefully the referees have 20/20 vision this week."
The Falcons fired back later in the week though. Falcons offensive coordinator Mike Mularkey said, "We thrive on doing things right. We thrive on playing physical. We've been doing that for four years. Nothing is ever preached beyond the whistle. Ever."
Falcons right tackle Tyson Clabo said that the Falcons play "to the whistle and we're going to continue doing that. That's just kind of the way we play, that's why we've had the success we've had hers, and we're not going to stop. We're not going to hit anybody late or do anything like that, we're going to play to the whistle, you know, and if you want to call it dirty, call it dirty."
Eli is overlooked as the little brother. Giants are going all the way!
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