By Ryan G. Murphy, WNBC.com
Welcome to the first edition of Who’s Hot / Who’s Not here on WNBC.com. After spending countless hours breaking down the stats and crunching the numbers using complex mathematical formulas, here are who’s hot, who’s heating up, who’s luke warm, and who’s a little chilly for Big Blue.
HOT:
Giants Defense & Osi Umenyiora: the defense has allowed only one touchdown in the last 10 quarters. Umenyiora leads the NFL with seven sacks on the year; he had one against the Jets on Sunday. The Giants defense yielded only 55 yards rushing to the Jets, the lowest by a Giants opponent since last December 10 against Carolina.
Plaxico Burress: This guy just can’t be stopped so far. He’s having a career year on one ankle. Burress takes about two quarters to get into the swing of games as of late, but Burress has seven touchdowns in five games this season – tied for the league lead with Randy Moss. Burress is ranked 9th in the league with 410 receiving yards and fourth for most catches for 20+ yards (8).
Gibril Wilson : Wilson is one of the unsung heroes of the Giants’ defense so far in 2007. Wilson has 38 tackles for the Giants, 34 solo, and two picks. In the first two weeks we became accustomed to seeing Wilson’s back, as he was generally chasing receivers into the end zone, but he’s been a big part of the secondary’s solid play over the Giants’ 3-game win streak.
Heating Up NBA Jam Style
The new “Thunder and Lightning – Brandon Jacobs and Derrick Ward: If Jacobs can stay healthy and hold onto the football and Ward can continue to be a dependable, hard cutting back for the Giants, we may see the resurgence of “Thunder and Lightning.” Jacobs looked great on Sunday carrying the ball 20 times for 100 yards including a rumbling touchdown. Ward scored his first career rushing touchdown for the Giants and was a nice compliment to Jacobs’ hard running style. We’ll see in coming weeks how the Giants decide to use this running-back tandem.
Aaron Ross: This guy’s stock shot through the roof Sunday as he notched two picks – one he ran back for the game-clinching touchdown. Ross didn’t play the entire first half after breaking an unspecified team rule. Maybe the two picks got Ross out of Coughlin’s dog house.
Luke Warm:
Jeremy Shockey: Shockey caught his first touchdown pass of 2007 on Sunday, a 13-yard reception from Eli Manning inside the red zone. Shockey has only 18 catches this season for 230 yards, but he’s averaging over 12 yards per catch. Many Giants fans would like to see Shockey start heating up and seeing the ball a bit more.
It’s a Little Chilly Over Here
Giants’ Special Teams: Two weeks ago kicker Lawrence Tynes missed a short field goal attempt and extra point. Against the Jets, the Giants’ special teams gave up a 98-yard kickoff return for a touchdown and were a missed-shoestring tackle away from it happening again. The unit isn’t ice cold, though, averaging over 24 yards per return, and the clear exception to getting chilly has been Jeff Feagles and the punt coverage unit, which has been spectacular over the last two weeks.
Sinorice Moss: Moss has only four catches for 27 yards on the season. His longest catch of the year was for 17 yards. Right now, Moss is essentially the Giants third receiver. It’s unlikely that Burress will be able to carry the receiving load for the Giants on one ankle for 16 games, so someone off the bench is going to have to step up.
