The Giants have missed the playoffs for the last four seasons, which is a big reason why Ben McAdoo is the team’s new head coach and why they spent heavily on free agent additions for their defense.
The changes on defense matched with the continuity on offense that was ensured with McAdoo’s promotion from offensive coordinator has one key member of the team feeling like the end of the playoff drought is ripe. Quarterback Eli Manning was asked on Wednesday whether he thought the 2016 Giants are a playoff team.
“Yeah, definitely,” Manning said, via the New York Post. “We added some great players in the offseason. We were aggressive in free agency, but still have a lot of our core guys, especially on offense, back and I think we made some good moves on defense. We’re getting some guys back healthy. It’s just a matter of, hey, the talent is there, can we put it together, can we find a way to win the games and play our best football when we need to?”
Manning ran through a couple of reasons why the Giants might not be able to translate that talent into success, including injuries and “how you’ll respond in critical situations in games.” Both were sore spots in the last few years of Tom Coughlin’s run on the sideline and changing things on those fronts could prove to be as crucial to the team’s hopes as any of their offseason maneuvers.