Are the New York Giants Statistically a Better Team Without Tiki Barber?

The 2007 New York Giants went into the bye week with a 6-2 record and a chance to be in first place in the NFC East with a victory over the Dallas Cowboys on November 11. The Giants' success in the first half of the NFL regular season has surprised both experts and fans. This success also has many people wondering if the Giants truly are a better football team without Tiki Barber on the roster.

Many journalists have speculated that Tiki Barber's "retirement tour" through the NFL during the second half of 2006 regular season was a major distraction for the Giants. While I can't personally comment on that I can investigate the statistics. That's exactly what I have done. The question is simple. Are the New York Giants statistically a better football team in the first eight games of 2007 without Tiki Barber? To figure this out I selected a handful off offensive players from the Giants (including Tiki Barber in 2006) and compared their stats thus far to the stats they accumulated in the first eight games of the 2006 regular season. Here are my findings.

Through the first eight games of the regular season in 2006 Tiki Barber had 830 rushing yards. That comes out to 103.75 yards per game. Barber was unimpressive as a receiver and his stats aren't noteworthy. His best day as a receiver during that eight-game stretch was the season opener in which Barber had 61 receiving yards.

What I found to be surprising was that Barber had only one touchdown during those first five games. It is true that Brandon Jacobs had become the feature back for the Giants in the red zone. I still figured that Barber would have scored more than once during those first eight games.

Speaking of Jacobs, his stats in the first eight games weren't too shabby for a guy who was mainly used in short yardage and red zone situations. Jacobs had 277 yards and four touchdowns for the Giants in their first eight contests.

Jacobs and Barber were quite the effective one-two punch for the Giants last season. In their first eight games they combined for 1107 rushing yards and five touchdowns. Simply stated, those stats were exactly what the Giants and their staff were expecting from the duo.

Let's jump ahead to 2007 now. With the loss of Tiki Barber and the injury bug biting the Giants early this season the running game has been more of a three-headed monster. Thus far Jacobs has 450 rushing yards and two touchdowns. Derrick Ward, who filled in nicely for the Giants when Jacobs was injured, has rushed for 448 yards. He also has two rushing touchdowns and one receiving touchdown. Reuben Droughns, who has often been used at fullback for the Giants thus far, has seen a decent amount of carries in 2007. Droughns has run for 155 yards and three touchdowns.

Combined, Jacobs, Ward and Droughns have rushed for 1053 yards so far in 2007, 54 less than the Barber-Jacobs combination in 2006. However, this year's trio has seven rushing touchdowns and eight total scores if you count Ward's receiving touchdown.

Statistically speaking the New York Giants' rushing attack is not suffering at all from the loss of the All-Pro and future Hall of Fame running back. Barber's retirement as well as injuries to both Jacobs and Ward have done little to slow down the running game so far in 2007. What about other offensive players, though? Are they better or worse now that Tiki Barber is gone?

It's been speculated that quarterback Eli Manning has been a better player this season now that the offense is officially his. Is that really the case? During the first half of the 2006 NFL regular season Manning had 1851 passing yards (roughly 231 per game), 15 touchdowns and nine interceptions. In the first eight games of 2007 Manning's numbers are actually slightly down from last season. Manning has thrown for 1584 yards (198 yards per game), 13 touchdowns and nine interceptions this season. It is important to remember, though, that Manning was not 100 percent at the beginning of this season.

The receiving core hasn't seen any great improvement nor has it gotten worse this season. After eight games last season Plaxico Burress had 31 catches for 510 yards and 5 touchdowns. This season has been slightly better for Burress, who currently has 37 catches for 564 yards and eight scores. Amani Toomer actually had better stats at this time in 2006. Then Toomer had 32 catches for 360 yards and 3 touchdowns. In 2007 Toomer has caught 30 passes for 355 yards and two touchdowns. Tight end Jeremy Shockey has the same amount of catches as he did after eight games in 2006 (31). Shockey actually had five touchdown catches in 2006 after eight games. He has two this season.

Combined, these three players had 94 catches for 1380 yards and 13 touchdowns after the first eight games of the 2006 regular season. This year they've caught a total of 98 balls for 1277 yards and 12 scores. All in all not much has changed from last season.

So what does all of this mean in the end? Statically speaking, the New York Giants are not better offensively after the retirement of Tiki Barber. However, it is safe to say that the Giants' offense has not gotten worse without Barber. In reality, the 2007 New York Giants are almost a mirror image to the 2006 edition. Both teams had a fantastic start that had fans imagining a playoff birth and maybe even a little more. Can the Giants avoid the slump the befell the team in the second half of the 2006 season and win the NFL East in 2007? At this point of the season, statistically speaking, it is not crazy to think that the Giants could either finish either 11-5 or 9-7 depending on which way the team goes after the bye week. Needless to say, it's going to be a very interesting final eight weeks of the season for the Giants and their fans.