GIANTS 101

The New York Giants have come crashing down to earth in 2012. Barring a loss by the Minnesota Vikings, Chicago Bears and Dallas Cowboys, Big Blue will wrap up its 2012 campaign this weekend at MetLife Stadium. However, deserved or not, the team is still going to have a considerable presence in Hawaii at the Pro Bowl. Today, the NFL announced that wideout Victor Cruz, defensive end Jason Pierre-Paul and right guard Chris Snee will all make the trip west to play among the best the NFL has to offer in February.

Each of the players the Giants are sending to the Pro Bowl this season are going based upon reputation more so than on the field production. Victor Cruz has had 50 or less receiving yards in seven games this season and is nearly 500 yards off the pace he set last year. Jason Pierre-Paul has 10 less sacks and 20 less tackles than he did in 2011. Chris Snee is 30 years old and is having perhaps the worst season of his nine year career.

Make no mistake about it, being selected to attend the Pro Bowl is an honor. However, it would be easy to put a number of players in this league over the three guys the Giants are sending.

For example, Atlanta Falcons wideout Roddy White has nearly 250 more receiving yards than Cruz has this year and has not dropped anywhere near the 10 balls that Cruz has let hit the floor. Even Cowboys wideout Dez Bryant has 271 more receiving yards than Cruz to go along with three more touchdowns. Cruz is a talented player, but he was not among the top four wideouts in the conference in 2012.

Another example could be Anthony Spencer of the Dallas Cowboys over Pierre-Paul. Spencer has 26 more tackles and 3.5 more sacks this season than JPP. The same argument can be made for Chris Clemons of the Seattle Seahawks, Greg Hardy of the Carolina Panthers and Cameron Jordan of the New Orleans Saints, each of whom compare favorably production wise to JPP this season.

Obviously, not all of these players were doubled and chipped at the line of scrimmage like JPP was, and their statistics do not prove that they are better players than him. However, teams found a way to contain Pierre-Paul in 2012 and it's hard to argue that he had one of the top three best years of all the defensive ends in the NFC.

Meanwhile, kicker Lawrence Tynes was named a first alternate, quarterback Eli Manning and kick returner David Wilson are second alternates, and center David Baas and safety Stevie Brown are fourth alternates.

Regardless of who is going to the Pro Bowl, the Giants have a game on Sunday that they desperately need to win to keep their miniscule playoff hopes alive. These players should not be focusing focusing on their Pro Bowl selections for at least another four days.

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Tags: Atlanta Falcons, Carolina Panthers, Chicago Bears, Chris Snee, Dallas, Dallas Cowboys, Football, Jason Pierre-Paul, MetLife Stadium, Minnesota Vikings, New York, New York Giants, NFL, Roddy White, Victor Cruz

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