Last year's Super Bowl run for the New York Giants was characterized by clutch play down the stretch from quarterback Eli Manning and late-season dominance from the team's deep defensive line.
Manning has picked up where he left off, but the Giants aren't rushing the passer with much success in 2012. Their eight takedowns rank 24th in the NFL and New York failed to register a sack in Sunday's 41-27 win over the Cleveland Browns.
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Somebody made the mistake of asking coach Tom Coughlin if he's content with the play of his linemen.
"How can we be satisfied? We didn't touch the passer again," Coughlin said, according Paul Schwartz of the New York Post.
Justin Tuck told Newsday he's frustrated with the lack of production and floated a theory: Opponents have caught up with how the Giants operate.
"Like I said last week, we'll just continue to pound it and guys are figuring us out so we've got to do some different things and try to free up our guys," Tuck said. "I don't think it's about effort or anything like that, I feel as though it just isn't going our way right now. But we don't make any excuses about it -- we'll just continue to try and get it right."
This team is one year removed from ranking second in the NFL with 48 sacks. They've dealt with a few injuries and players such as Tuck aren't getting any younger, but the league has seen Big Blue cohere late in the year on two title runs over the past five seasons. Opponents have learned not to count them out.
Follow Marc Sessler on Twitter @MarcSesslerNFL.
