To get ready for this Sunday’s divisional battle, Hog Heaven asks a few questions about the New York Giants. Dan Benton, our MVN counterpart at AOL Fanhouse and Giants 101, was kind enough to answer. 1. By now, the Giants and their fans must realize that keeping Tom Coughlin as coach was a mistake. How would Norv Turner have improved the team? That depends on what Giants fans you ask. The Giants struggles don’t really stem from Tom Coughlin, they stem from a defensive coordinator who runs a defense without the proper personnel. And if anyone really wants to place blame, it has to be on the front office. The same thing happened last year with Tim Lewis’ defense, yet somehow, Coughlin still led them to the playoffs for the second consecutive year. Bottom line, there is no way Norv Turner could have done that. He would have been as valuable to the Giants as Joe Gibbs has been to the Redskins so far. [Trick question. The correct answer is Norv Turner would have helped the Giants and the Redskins by coaching the Cowboys.] 2. I confess that I haven’t paid attention. Tim Lewis was let go as defensive coordinator to be replaced by Steve Spagnuolo. Was Lewis the real problem on defense, or did he just take the hit? How does Spagnuolo’s defensive approach differ from Lewis? Who are those defensive guys in Giant blue? I don’t recognize them. Prior to this season, the blame was placed on Lewis, but it’s starting to appear as if it wasn’t his fault. Although he had a completely different approach than Spagnuolo, he didn’t have the type of players capable of playing those defenses. And as I noted previously, that appears to be the case with Spagnuolo as well. The Giants front office has done a terrible job acquring that fit their coordinators (at least defensively) systems. It boils down to the players quickly adapting to something they’re clearly not capable of doing, or the coordinators changing his scheme. Unfortunately, neither of those things are going to happen. 3. Michael Strahan retires from training camp, then saunters into the Meadowlands and starts? Does this mean we will win in Iraq? I hate getting political, but we’ve already won in Iraq despite what the conspiracy theorist and obviously confused democrats will have you believe. But again, I won’t go down that political path any further because I don’t dare set off “those people.” (You know, the same people that protest a war by being violent.) 4. The injury bug that infested the Redskins last year seems to be visiting the Jints. What’s your assessment of depth at running back, wide receiver and defensive line? In addition to Brandon Jacobs, which injury hurts the most? Visiting the Giants? Apparently, you haven’t been paying attention. The Giants have suffered significantly due to injuries for at least three years running. What the Redskins dealt with is laughable compared to what the Giants have dealt with. And I can’t assess anything at the moment because it changing daily. There is no telling who is healthy and who isn’t at any given time. However, that said, the Giants do have very good depth at both positions and that has shown this year. Additionally, you can’t really pinpoint which injury “hurts the most” with New York because they are changing — ask ESPN about that. One injury is supposed to be season ending, and it turns out to be day-to-day. Another injury is supposed to be day-to-day and is turns out to be season ending. 5. Next time around, what’s the Giants gameplan for beating the Dallas Cowboys? I don’t think the Giants needs to adjust their offensive gameplan. Eli Manning made the Dallas Cowboys his bitch, and I imagine he’ll do the same next time. Defensively, the only thing they need to do is stop a single Cowboys drive. That’s it; just one. If they do that, Manning will lead them to victory. BONUS. New York is the largest sports market. The new Meadowlands stadium will house both the Giants and the Jets. Yet the capacity will be 82,000 seats, smaller than FedEx Field (92,000) and the new Cowboys stadium (100,000). Why so small? 82,000 seats is significant. Could it fit more? Absolutely, but you have to remember, the Jets are playing there. No reason for the Giants to spend even more money and have the Jets lose it on their end. Thank you, Dan. We answered Dan’s questions about the Redskins. You can see our response on AOL Fanhouse today.
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