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How great could the 08 Giants have been?


Jimmy Austin

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My friend (Giant's fan) and I were talking about great SB teams as of recent (like within the last 10-15 years) then he brought up the 08 Giants possible being one of the better SB teams of that era if the Plaxico incident does not happen. That team was on a tear before that incident.  My question is that if that incident does not happen. Does this team win the Superbowl and would they of been one of the better recent SB teams? 

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It's very possible. They beat all 4 teams that wound up in their respective conference championship (granted they split with Philly, but the loss came after Plaxico's incident).

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What? If anything they were one of the weaker super bowl teams of the past 15-20 years. The 2007 and 2008 teams were basically the same, so no. Honestly in today's NFC they'd probably be the 3rd or 4th best team.

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If Plaxico Burress does not shoot himself in the leg, the Giants very likely appear in their second straight Superbowl in 2008.  Whether they beat the Steelers, I have no idea.  For context, with Plaxico Burress the Giants went 10-1.  After Burress shot himself, they went 2-3 to finish the regular season. 

 

For all of the talk of "Well, Eli Manning was their QB", through week 12 Eli Manning had thrown 19 touchdowns to 7 interceptions (three of which were in the Giants sole loss up to that point) and the Giants offense had only failed to score 26 or more points three times.   Had the Plaxico incident not happened, we would probably be talking about a very different career for Eli Manning.   The 2007 playoffs were Eli Manning''s emergence as a quarterback and that continued in 2008 until Plaxico Burress shot himself, leaving Eli with Steve Smith (the other one), Dominick Hixon and Amani Toomer to throw the ball to.  Eli Manning may be a below average quarterback with a dead arm only propped up by the sheer skill and ability of Odell Beckham Jr. in 2018, but once upon a time, he was actually a pretty good quarterback. 

 

On the flipside, if Plaxico Burress does not shoot himself in the leg, the Giants do not draft Hakeem Nicks.  Given Plaxico's age, while I think the Giants could have won the Superbowl in 2008, I don't know if they have the receiver talent to make it back there in 2012. 

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3 hours ago, Crickett said:

If Plaxico Burress does not shoot himself in the leg, the Giants very likely appear in their second straight Superbowl in 2008.  Whether they beat the Steelers, I have no idea.  For context, with Plaxico Burress the Giants went 10-1.  After Burress shot himself, they went 2-3 to finish the regular season. 

 

For all of the talk of "Well, Eli Manning was their QB", through week 12 Eli Manning had thrown 19 touchdowns to 7 interceptions (three of which were in the Giants sole loss up to that point) and the Giants offense had only failed to score 26 or more points three times.   Had the Plaxico incident not happened, we would probably be talking about a very different career for Eli Manning.   The 2007 playoffs were Eli Manning''s emergence as a quarterback and that continued in 2008 until Plaxico Burress shot himself, leaving Eli with Steve Smith (the other one), Dominick Hixon and Amani Toomer to throw the ball to.  Eli Manning may be a below average quarterback with a dead arm only propped up by the sheer skill and ability of Odell Beckham Jr. in 2018, but once upon a time, he was actually a pretty good quarterback. 

 

On the flipside, if Plaxico Burress does not shoot himself in the leg, the Giants do not draft Hakeem Nicks.  Given Plaxico's age, while I think the Giants could have won the Superbowl in 2008, I don't know if they have the receiver talent to make it back there in 2012. 

I feel like they would of beaten Pittsburgh. They played them that year in PIT and the Giant's D-line was all over Roethlisberger. 

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What happens if the Eagles don't tie against the Bengals that year?  They are 9-7 instead of 9-6-1

The Bears, Dallas and Tampa all finished 9-7 and missed the playoffs.  Chicago beat Philly in the regular season and Dallas beat Tampa.  If those tiebreakers get someone else in instead of Philly, do the Giants win against a team that could've beaten a Tavaris Jackson-led Vikings team and then get Warner in Arizona?  Too many hypotheticals...

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Not that great.  They were one of the weaker #1 seeds I can remember, with or without Plax.  Let's not forget this is a team that lost 35-14 on MNF to the 4-12 Browns.  They beat up on some bad teams early in the season, though they did beat 5 winning teams

The fact that they won against all 4 conference championship game participants seems impressive in itself, until you take a look at the competition itself. There were two 9 win teams in the NFC Championship Game, which pretty much sums up how bad the conference (and the league) was as a whole that year.  The Ravens and Steelers were probably more potent teams, but not by that much because the #1 seed in the AFC that year was the Kerry Collins-led Titans out of all teams.  I wasn't particularly impressed with the 08 giants, both before and after Plax shot himself 

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15 hours ago, Danger said:

What? If anything they were one of the weaker super bowl teams of the past 15-20 years. The 2007 and 2008 teams were basically the same, so no. Honestly in today's NFC they'd probably be the 3rd or 4th best team.

One spot ahead of Philadelphia!

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7 hours ago, SteelKing728 said:

One spot ahead of Philadelphia!

Sorry I should have corrected myself, 4th or 5th best team. I would definitely take the Rams, the Eagles, and the Vikings over that Giants team, debatably the Saints too.

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Could of. Remember they would still be buoyed by the upset in the 2008 Super Bowl (2007 season), so they'd be eager to prove they're not 1 year wonders. I think though once Burress had his incident that really stopped the brakes on that team. 

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