- [Will] The New England Patriots built a dynasty
that might be the best the NFL has ever seen.
But if they had an achilles heel of any sort,
it was the New York Giants.
Thanks to the miracle of miracles,
New York knocked off what could have been
the greatest team of all time in Super Bowl 42.
And four years later, with New York's playoffs beginning
in week 16, the Giants again rode the arm
of Eli Manning into an even more unexpected playoff run.
With a pair of 1000 yard receivers,
a thunder and lightning duo at running back,
and a bend but don't break defense
that made life miserable for opposing quarterbacks,
New York tore through the best of the NFC,
and back into the Super Bowl,
where once again the Patriots were waiting.
And, once again, you know the drill.
With less than a minute to play,
Ahmad Bradshaw accidentally crossed the goal line,
as the Patriots made no attempt to stop him.
New England's act of desperation failed,
as the Giants defense made sure
Brady's Hail Mary went unanswered.
- [Announcer] Gronkowski can't get it, incomplete.
- New York sat atop the NFL
for the second time in five seasons.
Eli earned another Super Bowl MVP award,
capping off his best season in the league.
The offense was littered with play makers.
The defense knew when to turn it on,
and their GM Jerry Reese had proven he knew
how to put together a team,
even as parts were being stripped by others.
Reese and head coach Tom Coughlin had managed
to capture lightning in a bottle twice,
and delivered the Lombardi Trophy
to the nation's biggest market.
With all eyes on them, they looked to do it again.
But sometimes the bright lights of New York
just make it easier to see when everything goes wrong,
and all we can ask is what happened?
Before the confetti could be cleared,
the Giants went straight to work,
trying to prevent a hangover.
Already over the salary cap, they had some decisions,
thanks to 20 unrestricted free agents.
But that's where Reese thrived.
New York's General Manager had been
with the team since 1994,
working his way up from the scouting department,
to Director of Player Personnel,
before landing the GM gig ahead of 2007.
He took pride in identifying talent
without getting blinded by big names,
making moves he felt were best for the team,
even if it meant losing fan favorites,
or pissing people off.
One such person was defensive star Osi Umenyiora,
who straight up called the GM a liar a year earlier
over contract talks, which led to him holding out.
And while he eventually suited up,
he'd once again have to deal with Reese this offseason.
He'd get the restructured deal he sought,
but only after the Giants made enough cap space.
They began by releasing Brandon Jacobs,
then letting Mario Manningham walk.
Some holes got patched with one year deals.
Eli's contract was reworked
to free up another seven million,
and Reese identified cheaper offensive reinforcements
in the draft.
They did just enough for some to actually believe
a repeat performance could come in 2012,
and once football was actually back,
their Super Bowl defense got off to a good start.
They jumped out to a record of six and two,
as a rejuvenated running game made things easier
for Manning and the Giants D.
But, well, you know the title kind of gives it away.
They couldn't keep it up.
Entering week 15, they sat at eight and five,
with the division still up for grabs.
But facing the Falcons, Manning threw a pick
on just the second play of the game.
A couple plays later, Michael Turner powered through
from a yard out.
Matt Ryan added three touchdowns,
including this 40 yard deep strike to Julio Jones.
- [Announcer] In the endzone, he's got it.
Touchdown!
- But really a single point would have done the trick.
The Giants suffered their first regular season shutout
since 1996.
The following week, still in the playoff hunt,
Manning managed to throw a touchdown pass
to Domenik Hixon, late in the fourth against Baltimore,
but all that did was make the final score
slightly less lopsided.
Once they no longer controlled their own playoff fate,
they took their frustration out on the Eagles,
only to have it not matter in the end.
Just like last year, New York finished nine and seven,
but went about it very differently.
While Jason Pierre-Paul again led the team in sacks,
he did so with a total that had plummeted.
And, although the defense topped their 2011 turnover mark,
they also gave up more yards than any team
not facing league sanctions due to bounties.
Offensively, Ahmad Bradshaw was the loan holdover
to see his numbers improve.
But his 1000 yard season, and Super Bowl winning touchdown,
weren't enough to save him.
In February, he was the headliner
for a series of cuts made by Reese,
who once again faced 20 plus free agents,
and a need to create cap space.
A month later, the once disgruntled Umenyiora
found a new home in Atlanta,
who he quickly proclaimed to be
the most talented team he'd ever seen.
He was with the Giants for both Super Bowls.
Reese once again handed out one year contracts,
and asked Super Bowl starters Corey Webster
and David Diehl to take pay cuts.
The money saved was then used
to line Victor Cruz's pockets,
locking up the receiver for the next six years,
despite having just 23 starts to his name.
Reese maintained high expectations,
even after saying goodbye to more starters,
but New York proved to be consistent
in their inconsistency,
as they dropped their first six games,
including four by double digits,
to make it the franchise's worst start since 1976.
Injuries hit them hard,
particularly at spots they previously
hadn't needed to worry about.
In the prior eight seasons,
offensive linemen Diehl and Chris Snee
had started all but 12 games for the Giants,
including both Super Bowls.
But Snee's 2013 came to an end
during a week three shutout against the Panthers.
Diehl managed to play in 11 games,
but once the cracks started to show,
they couldn't be patched.
With permission from his seven year old daughter,
he retired the following January,
and a few months later, Snee did the same.
They were gifted their first win of 2013,
thanks to Josh Freeman's one and only start as a Viking.
By the time they were getting things together,
it was too late.
The injuries wouldn't stop on their way to seven and nine,
including Cruz, who needed knee surgery
before season's end.
But hey, with that new contract,
he could afford all the surgeries he wanted.
Cruz was extremely easy to cheer for.
He was a local kid from Patterson, New Jersey,
who the Giants signed as an undrafted free agent in 2010.
As a rookie, he tore up the preseason
and made the roster, but was put on IR
after appearing in three games.
When he returned in 2011, he was practically unstoppable,
stepping up after Reese let the other Steve Smith
walk in free agency.
In their week 17 play-in game against Dallas,
he took this third down completion 74 yards to the house,
to open the scoring in what would be
a monster individual performance.
- [Announcer] And he takes this one in for a touchdown.
- He hauled in another 10 for 142
in the NFC Championship game,
and was the latest Giants receiver
to become a household name.
So after knee surgery ended his 2013,
it was even tougher to see it happen again a year later.
Six games into the season,
Cruz tore his patellar tendon
while the Giants were getting shutout by the Eagles.
As both teams gathered around the wide receiver,
his season came to an end.
He immediately went under the knife,
and returned in time for the following training camp.
But, an injury to his calf
would eventually also need surgery,
and force him to miss the entire 2015 season as well.
He managed to come back for 2016,
and while he appeared in all but one game,
he did so without much impact.
In February of 2017, the Giants released Cruz.
After signing his extension,
he appeared in just 35 of a possible 64 games.
That hurt the Giants.
Not just the money tied to Cruz,
but also considering that the 2014 offseason
saw the departures of Hakeem Nicks,
and defensive leader Justin Tuck,
whose second sack on Tom Brady
helped throw off the Patriots final drive in the Super Bowl.
Ballhawk DB Corey Webster wouldn't return either,
just two seasons after leading the team in interceptions.
Even Co-Owner John Mara went public with his frustration.
In his postseason press conference,
he referred to the offense as broken,
and hinted at differing viewpoints among the braintrust.
One thing they could all agree on
was that the Giants needed help.
And they found it in the first round
of the 2014 Draft.
The Giants selected Odell Beckham Jr.,
who quickly gave reason for hope.
Or, at least offered a distraction.
Beckham made the highlight of the regular season,
when he sailed over Brandon Carr,
whose attempt to stop the rookie drew a flag,
but couldn't prevent him from scoring.
- [Announcer] That may be the greatest catch
I've ever seen in my life.
- [Announcer] It's in the conversation.
- [Announcer] Wow!
- While they'd lose that game to Dallas,
the future felt bright.
Until a week later.
The Giants faced a Jaguars team
that would finish the season three and 13.
New York found themselves up 21 nothing
in the second quarter, but Jacksonville managed
a sack fumble on Manning,
which they recovered in the endzone.
Then, Bortles hit Marqise Lee for a 30 yard touchdown,
and after Manning found his tight end,
the ball popped out, which Johnathan Cyprien returned
for the game winning score.
The result capped off a seven game losing streak,
and mathematically eliminated them
from the playoffs before November was over.
Ownership was not too happy,
and made it clear that changes could be coming.
For those playing at home,
that's three straight playoff misses
after winning it all.
But for the second straight offseason,
head coach Tom Coughlin received
a one year contract extension.
In Coughlin's defense, he had kept the team motivated,
and fighting, despite all the injuries.
Plus, you earn a little leeway
when you win multiple Super Bowls.
Even Coughlin knew that was running out, though,
and the lack of a long term extension was proof enough.
His job didn't get any easier leading up
to the 2015 season.
Mathias Kiwanuka, who the Giants drafted in 2006,
was released in February.
Exiting with him was their leading tackler from 2011,
and current team captain, Antrel Rolle,
who priced himself out of the Giants' plans.
They stemmed some of the bleeding
by franchising tagging Jason Pierre-Paul,
their best remaining defender.
Taken in the first round of the 2010 draft,
JPP was another feather in Reese's cap.
While he, like much of the team,
battled through injuries,
he managed to post two double digit sack seasons,
since becoming the starter in his second year.
He'd done more than enough to earn a second contract,
and he sought just that.
Hoping for a long term deal,
Pierre-Paul had until July 15th
before he actually had to sign the contract.
But, with less than two weeks before the deadline,
he suffered serious damage to his hand,
after a July fourth firework accident.
It resulted in his index finger being amputated,
and his future with the Giants being uncertain.
He'd eventually sign a one year deal
in the middle of the season,
and returned for the final eight games,
which was just in time for another decline.
New York dropped six of their final seven,
and once again, Beckham provided the highlight
of the season, but this time it caused concern
about the team's future.
Sorry to gloss over it,
but that Beckham-Norman spectacle is for another story,
which you can actually watch after this one.
The Giants finished with just six wins
for the second season in a row.
What made it tougher to swallow this time around,
was that six of those losses came
when they had the lead, or it was tied
with two minutes to play.
As the season closed, Coughlin resigned as head coach.
While some felt like his exit was overdue,
Coughlin had had almost too much success
for his own good.
When he rejoined the Giants in 2004 as head coach,
he was taking over a team that had won
just four games the season before.
He quickly jump started a turnaround
that saw New York win the NFC East
in just his second season at the helm.
Two years after that, he won the Giants' first Super Bowl
since 1990, and it's worth pointing out
that when they beat the Bills in Super Bowl 25,
Coughlin was there, as New York's assistant coach.
He knew how to navigate the media,
a task made especially difficult for New York based teams,
and made even tougher at times,
thanks to stories like Plaxico Burress shooting himself
in the leg.
But in spite of any distractions,
he had kept the team together for over a decade,
only to have finally had enough.
But less than a week after his resignation,
Coughlin flirted with the idea
of joining the division rival Eagles,
which made more sense in the coming months,
when it was revealed that he had actually been forced out
by Giants management.
And if he already wasn't happy about his exit,
it likely didn't help when his replacement,
Ben McAdoo, got the big money reinforcements
that Reese had previously taken pride in not chasing.
The GM saw the writing on the wall.
No one was safe.
Mara made that clear with his postseason press conference,
blaming the playoff drought on poor personnel decisions.
So after years of pinching pennies, he shelled out.
Reese brought in Olivier Vernon, Janoris Jenkins,
and Damon "Snacks" Harrison,
racking up a 205 million dollar free agency bill.
After back to back 10 loss seasons,
the Giants won 11 games,
and returned to the playoffs for the first time since 2011.
They looked like the Patriot slayers once again,
and even Rodney Harrison loved their chances
at winning it all.
But then, Odell and friends went to Miami
before their Wildcard game, hung out with Bieber,
and that was why the Packers throttled them, 38 to 13.
The Bieber curse, no other reason.
And, unfortunately for New York,
nine months wasn't enough time to air out the stink
that ended their season.
They went from being one of the favorites
to win the NFC, to 0 and five in a flash.
With their star receiver on IR after week five,
and the entire team struggling,
the spotlight shone harshest on Manning.
He'd been there through it all,
starting every game since he took the reigns
in week 11 of his rookie year.
His ability to bounce back and ignore the odds
had earned the team two championships.
At times it had also prevented a full rebuild,
as Manning proved he could win regardless of circumstance.
After all, this is the same guy
who demanded a trade on the night he entered the league.
He never lacked confidence.
But in 2017, it looked like that had finally been shook,
and even if his hadn't, that of Reese and McAdoo had.
Sitting at two and nine, they put an end to Manning's streak
of 210 straight starts.
But, at least they had totally thought it out,
and had a capable backup in Geno Smith.
That can't be right.
It definitely wasn't.
While Manning said all the right things
in regards to his benching,
Smith did it all wrong.
The Giants fell to the Raiders,
and Mara was quick to act.
With Reese and McAdoo gone,
a few days later Manning was back as New York's starter.
For all the success tied to Reese
across his years with the Giants,
the team's failures were also his to own.
They finished the year with just three wins,
and in the offseason, traded away one
of the last remaining reminders
of what they used to be.
With Jason Pierre-Paul in Tampa Bay,
and a youth movement in full bloom around Eli,
the 2011 season had long fallen out of view.
Time catches up with all of us.
Injuries unfortunately go hand in hand with football..
You can get slammed for spending too much money,
or for not spending enough.
And while success is measured in wins,
it doesn't matter if you can't win it all.
But once you do, it's easier to look past imperfections,
and while the 2011 New York Giants had more flaws
than most Super Bowl champions,
they were perfect when they had to be.
It just kept us from seeing their collapse
until it was almost over.
Thanks for watching this episode.
As promised, here's the beef history
for Odell Beckham Jr. and Josh Norman,
or check out another episode of Collapse.
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