The 2010 New York Giants defensive line is looking like the 2007 defensive line that stopped Tom Brady and the Patriots in Super Bowl XLII.
So far this season, the Giants have 16 sacks, 10 of which came during Sunday night’s game against the Chicago Bears. Nine came in the first half, an astonishing blow to starting quarterback Jay Cutler who ended up leaving the game with a concussion with 58 seconds left in the first half after hitting the ground for the ninth time.
The ten-sack game fell two short of the record for most sacks in a game that the Giants set after sacking Donovan McNabb 12 times in a game in 2007.
This year’s D-line features four players from the defense that went on to win Super Bowl XLII in 2007: Justin Tuck, Barry Cofield, Mathias Kiwanuka and Usi Umenyiora, still doing as much damage to quarterbacks as they did then. So far this season, these four players account for 13 of the team’s 16 sacks and 82 of their tackles.
Defensive end Tuck has 26 tackles along with three sacks after four games into the season, Cofield has 19 tackles with two sacks, Kiwanuka has eleven tackles with four sacks and Umenyiora has ten tackles with four sacks. These numbers are extremely impressive considering they have 12 more games to play this season.
In 2007, Tuck had 48 tackles with ten sacks, Umenyiora had 40 tackles with 13 sacks and five forced fumbles, Kiwanuka had 35 tackles with 4.5 sacks and Cofield had 29 tackles with one sack.
Looking at these numbers, it's easy to tell that the Giants defensive line is off to a quick start and that quarterbacks better be paying attention and watching the clock when facing them– unless they want to go down as quick as Cutler and the Bears did on Sunday.
