Factoid
The New York Giants have a great reputation on defense. It’s a unit that’s helped them win two Super Bowls in the last five years. It came up big in both of those games, and also contributed to big wins on the road to get to those games.
It’s a group with a bunch of great pass rushers – Jason Tuck, Osi Umenyiora, Jason Pierre-Paul.
But is the actually a true, elite unit?
More specifically, is it a unit we should all be avoiding when submitting fantasy lineups? If you have Doug Martin this week, for example, do you hold him out to avoid having him running against the Giants?
The numbers say no. Hell no, in fact.
Only once in the last nine years have the Giants ranked better than 14th in scoring defense. In five of the past six years, they’ve been below-average.
During their current five-year run, with the two Super Bowls, only eight teams have allowed more points than the Giants.
It’s a unit, apparently, with a knack for coming up big in specific postseason games. It’s come up big at the key times on the big stage.
But this is not a great unit that we should be avoiding over a 17-week regular season.
BEST DEFENSES, LAST FIVE YEARS
(Average points per game since 2007).
Points
15.9 Pittsburgh
17.8 Baltimore
19.0 New England
19.6 Green Bay
19.9 Tennessee
20.0 San Francisco
20.1 NY Jets
20.4 Philadelphia
20.6 San Diego
21.1 Indianapolis
21.1 Washington
21.3 Chicago
21.3 Atlanta
21.5 Dallas
21.8 Cleveland
21.9 Minnesota
22.0 Cincinnati
22.1 New Orleans
22.4 Miami
22.4 Seattle
22.5 Jacksonville
22.6 Tampa Bay
22.7 Houston
22.7 NY Giants
22.8 Carolina
23.3 Kansas City
23.5 Buffalo
24.1 Arizona
24.6 Oakland
25.5 Denver
25.9 St. Louis
27.6 Detroit
—Ian Allan
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