New York Giants: Anonymous Rival Buys Into NYG’s Hype This Season

New York Giants, Odell Beckham Jr., Saquon Barkley
Nov 18, 2018; East Rutherford, NJ, USA; New York Giants wide receiver Odell Beckham (13) celebrates his touchdown with running back Saquon Barkley (26) as quarterback Eli Manning (10) looks on during the second half at MetLife Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Vincent Carchietta-USA TODAY Sports

The New York Giants always have big expectations as one of the premier sports teams in the ruthless New York City market, but whether or not the team deserves the confidence of the fans and analysts this year is something that’s still under debate.

More optimistic predictions tend to believe that the team could make a quick turnaround behind their young talent, of which they now have plenty, while more cynical or realist voices might claim that the team took steps back by getting rid of stars such as Damon Harrison and Odell Beckham Jr., leaving them either worse or in the same spot as they were at the end of last year.

However, there’s at least one NFL rival who spoke anonymously with Street & Smith’s in their NFL preview for this year, and praised the Giants despite their offseason losses and the terrible last season that the team stumbled through to reach their current point.

“The one thing I know about Dave: He works really hard – always very conscientious, thorough. Pat Shurmur is a blueblood football guy. To me, that’s important. You see the good, the bad and the ugly over all those years of coaching in the NFL. So, now you have to try to eliminate the bad stuff and go to town,” the anonymous source said about Dave Gettleman and Pat Shurmur, the GM and head coach of the Giants respectively.

“They’ve got to get right tackle squared away. You bring in Kevin Zeitler, which helps, Will Hernandez had a good rookie year. Nate Solder was great in New England, but Tom Brady got the ball out so fast. Maybe the Giants need to speed things up a little bit and Eli Manning has got to get the ball out quicker,” the source said on the subject of whether or not the Giants are a better team than they were last year.

“You got Saquon Barkley there. There’s been a lot of positive things there. I would say the Giants have taken a step forward. They’ve got to get another good draft next year and another good draft after that, then I think you’re on the upswing,” the anonymous rival concluded.

However, the Giants also had a number of new players, including on the offensive line, last year. Only some of them panned out, and while the team definitely has more talent than they had at the start of 2018 in terms of balance and raw potential, we’ll just have to wait and see if those players can actually live up to their potential. By now, Giants fans are no stranger to players such as Ereck Flowers and Patrick Omameh not living up to what’s expected of them, and will be hoping it doesn’t happen again this season with a different cast.