Daniel Shirey – USA Today Sports Images
You hear a lot of talk about how the New York Giants are inconsistent, and people asking how they can go from winning a Super Bowl one year, to missing the playoffs the next. Seriously, how could they be so different of a team from year to year?
Truth be told, they’re not. Everyone around them bounces up and down, but the Giants remain pretty consistent.
Take a look at the facts.
2012: 9-7 record, missed playoffs
2011: 9-7 record, won Super Bowl
2010: 10-6 record, missed playoffs
2009: 8-8 record, missed playoffs
2008: 12-4 record, lost in Divisional Round to Philadelphia Eagles
2007: 10-6 record, won Super Bowl
2006: 8-8 record, lost in Wild Card Round to Philadelphia Eagles
That means from 2006 (Tom Coughlin‘s 3rd year as head coach) until now, the Giants have fluctuated more than one game won or lost in either direction only once, in 2008. Aside from that anomaly, they have remained fairly consistent and managed to bring home two Lombardi Trophies in the process.
I bet everyone wishes their favorite team were that inconsistent.
The steadiness in wins and losses makes perfect sense when you take into account that for the most part, the primary players the Giants fielded have remained fairly steady. Like any NFL team in the free agent era, players come and go, but the nucleus of this team remains intact.
If you took practically any other team and had them finish with those won-loss records over the space of seven years (minus the two world championships), I guarantee you the coach would have been long gone.
Everyone else around the Giants seems to be the ones in the popcorn popper. During this same seven year span, the Giants are the only NFC team to go to more than one Super Bowl–meaning five different teams besides the G-men represented the NFC. While the AFC side has twice sent the Indianapolis Colts , Pittsburgh Steelers and New England Patriots as representatives.
When all is said and done in the 2013 regular season, the Giants will probably be sitting between 8-10 wins, and will either be lounging on their sofas come February, or hoisting their fifth Lombardi Trophy.
That, folks, is consistent.
————————————————————————–
Michael Collins is a Rant Sports Senior Writer, and Atlanta sports columnist. Follow him @GaSportsCraze on Twitter and here on Facebook
