Unpredictable Giants epitomise 2010 season
With five weeks of the regular season remaining, the 2010 NFL campaign remains about as wide open as I can ever remember.
And that seems to be something I have written quite a lot in recent years. That is one of the beautiful things about the NFL - you always get a pretty crowded and hotly contested race to the Super Bowl.
It is amazing that with just over a month to go in a 32-team league, there are 18 clubs who are either leading their division or are within one game of being in first place. There is no clear favourite to play in the title showdown in Dallas in February and even fancied teams can get knocked off every now and then.
If one team encapsulates the unpredictable nature of the 2010 season, it is the New York Giants.
One week they're awful, the next they look like Super Bowl champions-elect, and then they slide back into mediocrity and threaten to fall out of the playoff race all together.
As they stand right now, the Giants are in pretty good shape with a record of seven wins and four losses. That is good enough for a share of first place in the NFC East Division but it has been far from smooth sailing for coach Tom Coughlin's men.
The Giants suffered a sloppy and mistake-filled end to 2009, losing eight of their last 11 games after opening the year with five straight victories.
Discipline problems looked set to rear their ugly head again early this season as the Giants struggled to a penalty-filled week one victory over the Carolina Panthers before hitting the self-destruct button during a week two thrashing at the hands of the Indianapolis Colts.
That was followed by a disappointing week-three loss to the Tennessee Titans and it appeared as if the Big Blue were going to suffer another frustrating year.
But Coughlin is one of the better coaches in the NFL and he got his players straightened out. The Giants went on a five-game winning run and were proclaimed as Super Bowl favourites in November.
Of course, that put the mockers on New York and they suffered back-to-back defeats at the hands of the Dallas Cowboys and Philadelphia Eagles. But for a late comeback against the Jacksonville Jaguars last weekend, the Giants would have dropped three straight.
So you can see why this is a tough team to work out as the playoffs draw ever nearer.
Quarterback Eli Manning perfectly demonstrates the Jekyll-and-Hyde nature of the Giants. He is a tough, strong-armed and gutsy player who can give them a lot of highs. He has thrown for more than 20 touchdowns in each of his six seasons in the NFL and that is no mean feat.
But with Manning there are lows to go alongside the highs. He has thrown 16 interceptions this season and needs to take better care of the ball. There were encouraging signs for the Giants last weekend as he did not toss an interception against the Jags.
But he needs to produce more games like that and must not make the kind of mental errors that have dogged his career with some regularity. In 2007, Manning threw 20 interceptions in the regular season but was virtually perfect in the playoffs, leading New York to an upset win over the New England Patriots in the Super Bowl.
Interestingly, the Giants have asked Manning to go back and study film from that Super Bowl run in order to eliminate some mistakes from his game. We will see if that makes a difference in the coming weeks but I will need to see it to believe it. Manning definitely has the talent - he just needs to be more consistent.
There are also pluses and minuses at the running back position. Ahmad Bradshaw is young, exciting and has the pace and power to take every ball to the endzone. But he is fumble-prone and lost his starting job last week because he couldn't be trusted to hang on to the ball in crucial situations.
Bradshaw may be approaching the key milestone of 1,000 rushing yards for the season but until he can figure out his fumble problems, he will make Giants fans nervous, particularly with the balls now being a little slicker and harder to handle in the cold weather. And, of course, every defender in the league knows he is capable of putting the ball on the ground when under pressure.
The Giants will still use Bradshaw and former starter Brandon Jacobs in equal measure because they provide a useful one-two punch. Bradshaw has younger legs and speed, while Jacobs is big, powerful and tough to bring down.
The problem with Jacobs is that he is prone to sulking, sideline outbursts and finding trouble.
When he was demoted in favour of Bradshaw at the start of the season it would be fair to say he didn't take the news too well. Against the Colts, he has a hissy fit, threw his helmet into the crowd, was benched by Coughlin for the remainder of that game and fined $10,000 by the NFL.
Against Philadelphia two weeks ago, Jacobs made obscene gestures to the Eagles fans ahead of the game and was involved in arguments with the opposing supporters. That cost him another $20,000 in fines from the NFL.
If he can get his head on straight, Jacobs can be a force of nature in the backfield. But all too often he has been banged up and slowed by injuries. That's why Bradshaw - fumbles and all - will remain a focal point of the ground attack.
Injuries have hit the Giants along the offensive line and they are also going to be without wide receivers Hakeem Nicks and Steve Smith for another couple of weeks. But when those guys are healthy again and ready to line up alongside Mario Manningham and tight end Kevin Boss, Manning has plenty of targets and can spread the ball around as the Giants make a playoff run.
Defensively, new coordinator Perry Fewell has lit a fire under a unit that performed poorly in 2009. The Giants are deep along the defensive line and the likes of Justin Tuck and London-born Osi Umenyiora can really make life hell for opposing quarterbacks. They bring a great deal of speed and athletic ability to their defensive end positions.
While Manning and the offence get a lot of attention, it could be this defensive unit that powers a run to the post-season.
The Giants are far from perfect. They blow hot and cold and they struggle to find true consistency. But even with his interception problems, they have a playmaking quarterback in Manning, offensive weapons around him, dominant performers on defense and they are well-coached.
In today's NFL, that might just be enough to be considered a serious contender.
Week 13 on BBC Radio 5 live sports extra
It's an early start on BBC Radio 5 Live Sports Extra this Sunday as we're on air from 1800 GMT, due to the Ashes Test starting later that evening. And we will catch up with two teams very much in the thick of the NFC playoff race as the San Francisco 49ers visit the Green Bay Packers.
Despite only having four wins to their name this season, the 49ers are just one game out of first place in the miserable NFC West. They will lean heavily on veteran running back Brian Westbrook this weekend as Frank Gore is gone for the year with a hip injury.
The Packers have seven wins this term and are one game behind the Chicago Bears in the NFC North. They are clearly the more talented of these two teams and I think Aaron Rodgers at quarterback gives them an edge most weekends.
I see the Packers taking this game to keep their division title hopes alive, consigning San Francisco to the also-rans department in the process.
