FanHouse SamMadison

Because the NFL season never ends, we present our 2009 Offseason Roadmaps for front offices to navigate through the summer.

The New York Giants were an afterthought in 2007, but made their way to a Super Bowl title. In 2008, the Giants found a way to earn home-field advantage in the NFC playoffs, only to last one game. Their playoff loss to Philadelphia was certainly disappointing, but the fact that they earned the top seed after the drama they went through was impressive in itself. Now, it's time for the Giants to re-tool, reload, and get back to the Super Bowl.

Man, Andre Woodson has had a tough go of it, dating back to the Senior Bowl when his draft stock commenced downward spiral. At one time thought to be a first-round pick, the former Kentucky star fell to the Giants in the sixth round, proceeded to struggle mightily during the preseason, and now finds himself released.

According to the Star-Ledger Giants blog, Woodson and backup Anthony Wright didn't make the final cut, which means that ... wait, what? David Carr is the only other quarterback on the roster after Eli Manning? Really? Wow, that's a lot of faith in the Giants offensive line and Elisha's ability to take a hit.

In any event, New York will probably try to sneak Woodson onto the practice squad, which should be pretty easy given the glut of mediocre quarterbacks currently flooding the market.

In other Giants personnel news, both R.W. McQuarters and Sam Madison made the roster despite speculation that one or both of the cornerbacks might be on the wrong side of the final 53 today. Sinorice Moss, the team's 2006 second-round pick, also avoided the Turk, which probably had a lot to do with New York releasing Brandon London.

But seriously, Mr. Mittens?

We learned several things during the Super Bowl. Among others, we learned Eli Manning isn't going to get booed at Giants Stadium any more, we learned that its not a good idea to trademark perfect season phrases before you win all your games, we learned David Tyree's name and we learned that signing Asante Samuel isn't a good idea for the New York Jets.

That last one might take you by surprise, so I'll explain. The Giants dominated perhaps the best passing attack in league history with a cornerback crew consisting of the rookie Aaron Ross, the achy Sam Madison, R.W. McQuarters, James Butler Corey Webster and Kevin Dockery. No slight on any of those guys, but there's not a Lester Hayes in that group. The Giants dominated because of the way their defensive line and linebackers got after the quarterback. Take away a QB's time and protection and you take away a good chunk of his effectiveness.

That's why the Jets should forget about forking over heaps of cash for Samuel and concentrate on upgrading their anemic pass rush this offseason. He's a fine corner but the Jets could have a dozen of them and it wouldn't make a whit of difference if they don't start treating offenses the way the Giants treated the Patriots on Sunday. Samuel is a fine player but he shouldn't be wearing a Jets jersey next season.

When Tom Coughlin and the New York Giants refused to lie down for the undefeated New England Patriots, they knew and understood the potential consequences. Unfortunately, those consequences landed three key starters on the sidelines.

Although the news on center Shaun O'Hara and linebacker Kawika Mitchell seems positive, it's the news regarding starting cornerback Sam Madison that has everyone worried.

According to Mike Garafolo of the Star-Ledger, Madison didn't suffer an abdominal strain as previously reported; he actually suffered a pulled muscle in his rib cage. It's an injury that supposedly causes tremendous pain and has kept the veteran out of practice all week.

In addition to Madison, cornerback Kevin Dockery (hip) missed practice again yesterday, leaving Aaron Ross and Corey Webster as the primary starters and R.W. McQuarters as the backup.

Should Madison and Dockery both find themselves on the sideline this weekend in Tampa Bay, the Giants will be forced to start Webster as they did in practice. And unfortunately, that's exactly what Buccaneers quarterback Jeff Garcia wants to hear.

First of all: congrats to Tom Coughlin and the Giants for not laying down against the Patriots last night. They had absolutely no reason to play their starters, and could've used the extra week's rest to prepare for their wild-card matchup against the Buccaneers next week. Instead, New York almost upset the previously unbeaten Patriots.

But in the harsh light of day, these are some stark realities for the Giants: three starters were injured on Saturday night, and if you believe in such things, the team expended a lot of emotional energy in the loss. Center Shaun O'Hara and linebacker Kawika Mitchell left the game with knee injuries, and cornerback Sam Madison was sidelined with an abdominal strain.

Now the question becomes: how serious are the injuries? Followed closely by: when will the Giants play their first-round game? The New York Times' Fifth Down blog offers a hint:

To get you ready for week 17, FanHouse is previewing all 16 NFL games. Here is the New York Giants/New England Patriots preview.

2007 Records:

New York Giants: 10-5 (2nd in NFC East)
New England Patriots: 15-0 (1st in AFC East)

Last Game(s):

Giants 38 - Bills 21
Patriots 28 - Dolphins 7

When the Giants have the ball: Although the numbers don't fully support the theory, the New England Patriots do not have a solid run defense and that's where New York must focus. Although the Pats give up less than 100 yards per game on the ground, it's been proven repeatedly when a team attacks that area, they can move the ball. So if Tom Coughlin and the New York Giants really want to prevent history, they'll have to pound Brandon Jacobs and Ahmad Bradshaw (assuming he plays) all day long in attempt to not only get into the endzone, but to keep Tom Brady and New England's offense off the field.

For only the third time this season, Bill Belichick and the Patriots defense may be forced to alter their approach. Again, that's only assuming the Giants follow the gameplan laid out by the Philadelphia Eagles and Baltimore Ravens. If not, New England can just sit back and wait for Eli Manning to make a mistake ... or five.

Last week, the Lions' horrid rushing performance against the Cardinals really began to circle the drain when Shaun McDonald was dropped for a 15-yard loss on an end-around. This week (besides fumbling the ball), with the Lions down by six, Jon Kitna twice looked for McDonald in Giants' territory, both resulting in interceptions. On the first, he didn't bother fighting for an underthrown ball. On the other, he played a more active role, tipping the pass to Sam Madison, ending a game that resulted in some post-game smack.

"Yeah, it's more difficult because that is not a better football team than us," quarterback Jon Kitna said. "We gave them the football game."

Strahan took offense to Kitna's take on the game.

"I honestly thought in the first half that was one of the worst teams we played that was 6-3," he said. "I don't quite understand why Jon would say that. Maybe we'll see them down the road and if that's the case, we'll beat that a-- again."

Let's face it; rookie cornerback Aaron Ross has stolen the show. There's no debating it, no ignoring it and certainly no way to avoid it. He's become the apple of New York's eye, and because of that, veteran cornerback Sam Madison has gone completely relatively unnoticed.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying Ross is undeserving by any means. Hell, he's anything but that. I am saying, however, that he's completely overshadowed the 180 done by the 33-year-old Madison.

"I've been talking about Aaron Ross for five weeks," Madison told a group of reporters, his voice suddenly rising almost to a shout. "I'm not answering any more questions about him."

Who can blame him for being a bit bitter? He's taken it in stride for five weeks now, all while doing everything he could to tutor and guide this young and upcoming star. Meanwhile, on the field, he's been completely shutting down everyone who has crossed his path with little to no recognition.

Things did not look good for them at halftime, but the Giants came out firing in the third quarter and it all began with Eli Manning. After completing only three passes and amassing an embarrassing 0.0 quarterback rating in the first half, he really turned things around and it seemed to set the tone for the rest of the team.

Meanwhile, the Jets seemed to head in the opposite direction following halftime. After jumping out ahead 17-7, they put it in cruise control and that eventually lost them the lead, and the game.

Chad Pennington threw three costly interceptions on the day, including a floater inside the 20 that ended a potential scoring drive. One of those interceptions fell into the hands of veteran cornerback Sam Madison, while the other two were hauled in by rookie cornerback Aaron Ross, who also scored his first NFL touchdown.

For Ross, this was a huge day. Prior to the game, Tom Coughlin decided to bench the rookie for undisclosed reasons. He did not make an appearance until late in the second quarter, but certainly made up for whatever it was he did wrong.

Additionally, the return of Brandon Jacobs proved to be something special for the Giants. Not only was he productive on the ground (20 carries for100 yards and a touchdown), it also allowed the Giants to use Derrick Ward (13 carries for 56 yards and a touchdown) in a variety of different ways.

The most frustrating part of being a Giants fan over the last three years has been the overwhelming amount of injuries. Not once in those three years have the Giants managed to play through a season without a significant injury. In fact, they'd consider it a good year if they only suffered a single significant injury.

Unfortunately, with a little over a week to go until the regular season begins, the Giants are once again facing those injury demons. It began early in the offseason when fullback Jim Finn was placed on injured reserve with a torn labrum and was promptly followed by cornerback Michael Stone going down with a hip injury.

Over the course of the next few weeks, the Giants lost tight end Darcy Johnson (knee), wide receiver Michael Jennings (Achilles), defensive tackle Marcus Bell (knee) and defensive end Dek Bake (back).