Giants need more from Eli Manning to keep momentum in 2017

It’s not easy to move on from an entrenched head coach with multiple Super Bowl titles under their belt. Yet, that’s what the New York Giants did after the 2015 season, dismissing Tom Coughlin and replacing him with Ben McAdoo.

After winning the Super Bowl in the 2011 season, the Giants went through a four-year playoff drought. McAdoo was promoted from offensive coordinator and got his first head-coaching gig in a high-pressure environment. The Giants responded with an 11-5 season, reaching the playoffs for the first time since hoisting the Lombardi Trophy.

There are a lot of reasons to think the Giants will make the postseason again. The defense got much better after general manager Jerry Reese spent big on the unit last year, and most of the core players are together again. Odell Beckham Jr. remains one of the most electrifying receivers the sport has ever seen, and now he has some veteran help in Brandon Marshall.

Defensive end Jason Pierre-Paul certainly isn’t lacking in confidence.

“I think the key is we added a lot of guys and people are like ‘Wow, this year has to be a team that goes to a Super Bowl this year,’” he told the New York Post.

But if they hope to get back to Super Bowl contention, they need more contribution from the offensive side of the ball — specifically, their franchise quarterback, Eli Manning.

Manning thrived with McAdoo as the offensive coordinator in 2015, setting a career high with 35 touchdowns. However, things weren’t as good in 2016. Manning still threw for 4,027 yards, but it was his lowest total since 2013 and his TD-to-interception ratio fell from 35-14 to 26-16. His yards-per-attempt average (6.7) was the lowest since 2007.

Eli has always been prone to boneheaded turnovers, but at age 36, those mistakes are harder to ignore and it’s fair to wonder how much he has left in the tank. Eventually the Giants have to find a true successor to Manning, and they probably won’t find it in their current crop of backups — Josh Johnson, Geno Smith, and third-round rookie Davis Webb.

Things might be easier for Manning if he had any serious help in the running game, which is an area the Giants are still working on.

The Giants were a pitiful 29th in the league in rushing yards, averaging only 3.5 yards per carry. Rashad Jennings, who’s currently a free agent, led the team with just 593 yards last season. It’s now up to Paul Perkins and Shane Vereen to resurrect the ground game.

Perkins, a 2016 fifth-round pick, broke out in the second half of the season. As a rookie, he recorded 456 rushing yards while averaging 4.1 yards per carry. The Giants seem committed to making him the lead back, with his only competition being Vereen, a pass-down specialist. Behind those two are career backups (Orleans Darkwa, Shaun Draughn) and fourth-round rookie Wayne Gallman. It’s still not an inspiring depth chart, even with Perkins’ potential upside.

Of course, the run game wasn’t helped by a bottom-tier offensive line, ranked 20th on Pro Football Focus last season. 2015 first-round pick Ereck Flowers was a disaster at left tackle, but the Giants are hoping he can make a jump in his third season. He’ll have to improve, because New York didn’t make any serious offseason additions on the blind side.

Left guard Justin Pugh and center Weston Richburg are good starters, but Pugh missed five games with injury and the middle of the line collapsed without him. The right side was a turnstile all year, but the Giants brought back right guard John Jerry and hope that another 2015 draft pick, Bobby Hart, can hold his own at right tackle. They also added free agent signee D.J. Fluker, who can play either right guard or tackle.

With the individual talent up front, there really aren’t many excuses for the line to be as poor as it was last season. A lot of the Giants’ offensive problems can solve themselves if the line just does a better job protecting Manning and opening up holes for Perkins.

With respect to Manning, there’s really not much doubt who the real face of the franchise is here. Odell Beckham Jr. has taken the league by storm since arriving in New York in 2014, and he has a good chance to be this generation’s most iconic athlete. An incredible player and magnetic personality, Beckham is must-see TV.

However, it’s not a one-man show in the Giants’ receiver corps. They have quietly built a strong supporting cast around Beckham. Brandon Marshall was brought in after the New York Jets cut him, and despite some struggles with the Jets’ motley crew of QBs throwing him the ball last year, he can still play at age 33. Sterling Shepard turned in a strong rookie year with eight touchdowns, and with Marshall in town, he can thrive in his more natural slot position. As far as starting receivers go, that’s a pretty good trio of talent the Giants can boast.

Even the tight end position could be interesting again. The Giants have spent years shuffling between mediocrities like Will Tye and Larry Donnell, but now they have an intriguing rookie in first-round draft pick Evan Engram. The Ole Miss prospect was touted as one of the better pass-catching tight ends in the draft, and Engram is capable of lining up in multiple positions, giving Eli a versatile weapon at tight end he hasn’t really had since Martellus Bennett’s brief run in 2012.

There is potential on this offense, but also a lot of question marks, so New York will need its defense to step up once again.

After Coughlin was forced out the door, Reese suddenly had the target painted on his back. The GM went into the 2016 offseason seemingly on the hot seat, and decided to invest on defense. Olivier Vernon (five years, $85 million), Janoris Jenkins (five years, $62.5 million), and Damon Harrison (five years, $46.250 million) were among the biggest free agent signings that spring, all in an attempt to improve the defense.

Normally, buying your way into contention doesn’t quite work out — it’s a classic last-ditch attempt by an embattled GM to save his job. The thing is, Reese’s spending spree ... actually worked? The Giants’ defensive DVOA jumped from 30th all the way to second, while ranking 10th in yards allowed and giving up the second-fewest points in the league (17.8) one year after allowing the third-most (27.6). It was a dramatic turnaround on every level, easily the biggest reason why the Giants went from 6-10 to 11-5.

It all starts up front, as most great defenses do. Vernon lived up to his price tag and led the team with 8.5 sacks. Pierre-Paul, wearing a custom-fitted glove on his mangled hand, had a tremendous comeback year with seven sacks and three forced fumbles, finally getting the big long-term contract he’s always wanted. “Big Snacks” Harrison was an unmovable force in the middle of the line, though Johnathan Hankins could be hard to replace after he left in free agency.

In the secondary, Jenkins teamed up with Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie to form one of the better cornerback duos in the league. Safety Landon Collins had an explosive breakout season with five interceptions, four sacks, and a defensive touchdown, getting named to the All-Pro first team as a result. Pro Football Focus recently ranked this unit as the best secondary in the league:

This defense is littered with great playmakers, and with most of them under contract and still in their primes, the Giants are in good shape on that side of the field. They didn’t even do much to address the defense in the offseason — re-signing linebacker Keenan Robinson and drafting tackle Dalvin Tomlinson in the second round ended up being their biggest moves.

On paper, this team has all the pieces it needs to win the NFC East and make a real run in January.

However, the Giants still have the ugly memory of that Wild Card round loss — Beckham and Shepard committed multiple back-breaking drops and the team in general just made too many unforced errors. You can’t beat yourself when you’re already playing Aaron Rodgers, and the Green Bay Packers predictably rolled to a 38-13 win.

Most of the core is back together, with some glaring holes addressed in the offseason, and this looks like one of the more talented rosters in the NFC. The Giants have a lot of promise, but they must cut down on the mental mishaps to contend in an NFC East that’s as fiercely competitive as ever. The Dallas Cowboys are still the team to beat, even if Collins disagrees. Meanwhile, Washington and the Philadelphia Eagles have enough talent to challenge the Giants in any given week. Any minor slip up could prove costly in this division.

Manning also looked old last season, and Father Time is undefeated. If he can’t play at the level he used to just a few years ago, how high is this team’s ceiling? If he’s nearing the end, how long is their contention window really open? Those are the million-dollar questions facing McAdoo and Reese, both in the present and future.