The 2011 season was the New York Giants' 87th in the National Football League (NFL) and their eighth under head coach Tom Coughlin. They played all of their home games at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey. Although the team failed to improve on their 10–6 mark from 2010, the Giants were able to qualify for the playoffs, and in another Cinderella run that paralleled what they did in 2007, they won Super Bowl XLVI, again versus the New England Patriots, their fourth Super Bowl win in franchise history.
Many analysts predicted a rough year for the Giants. Despite highs and lows throughout the season, the Giants, with a 9–7 record, returned to the NFL playoffs for the first time since 2008, winning the NFC East and finished the season as the NFC's #4 seed. New York finished 10–6 in 2010 but failed to qualify for the playoffs due to not having any tiebreakers over any NFC playoff team. The Giants entered their week 17 match up with the Cowboys with both teams tied for the division lead with 8–7 records. The Giants took a 21–0 first half lead and while the Cowboys closed the gap to make the score 21–14 early in the 4th quarter, the Giants held on to defeat the Cowboys 31–14, clinching the divisional title and a playoff berth.
In the playoffs, the Giants defeated the Atlanta Falcons, top-seeded 15–1 Green Bay Packers, and the San Francisco 49ers to win the NFC championship. The Giants defeated the New England Patriots in Super Bowl XLVI, which was a rematch of Super Bowl XLII from 4 years earlier in which the Giants defeated the previously undefeated Patriots. As in 2007, 1990, and 1986, the Giants played their eventual Super Bowl opponent during the regular season. The Giants also played the Packers and 49ers during the season, losing both games in the final minutes of play.
The 2011 Giants were the first team in NFL history to reach the Super Bowl with a negative regular season point differential (-6, 394 points scored, 400 points allowed). With a 9–7 record, the Giants became the third NFL team to win fewer than 10 games in a 16-game season and reach the Super Bowl, but became the first of the three to win the Super Bowl. The previous teams to go 9–7 and reach the Super Bowl (the 1979 Rams, who only needed two playoff wins were the first, and the 2008 Arizona Cardinals) were both defeated by the Pittsburgh Steelers. Additionally, upon defeating the Patriots in Super Bowl XLVI the Giants became the first NFC East champion to win the Super Bowl since the Dallas Cowboys in 1995 (the Giants were a Wild Card team as the #5 seed when they won Super Bowl XLII).
The 2011 Giants were an aberration from other great Giants teams of the past who were built around tough, physical defensive play and an offense built around a power running attack. Despite Jason Pierre-Paul having a breakout Pro Bowl season with 16.5 sacks, the defense was ranked in the bottom 10 in points and yards allowed and was top 10 in penalties. Their normally durable rushing attack of Brandon Jacobs and Ahmad Bradshaw was ranked last in the NFL with 89 rushing yards per game as a team. The standout of the year was the quarterback play of Eli Manning who threw a career-high and franchise record 4,933 passing yards with 29 touchdown passes. Manning engineered 6 regular season game-winning drives in 2011 and threw 15 touchdown passes in the 4th quarter, NFL records that still stand. He improved upon his interception total, lowering it to 16. He had 2 more game-winning drives in the playoffs, the NFC Championship and Super Bowl XLVI. Manning's 5 career game-winning drives in the playoffs are tied for third in NFL history with Joe Montana and became the fifth player to win multiple Super Bowl MVP awards. Manning's play subsequently led to the breakout of undrafted wide receiver Victor Cruz and the emergence of Cruz and Hakeem Nicks as the best wide receiver duo in the NFL. Cruz set a franchise record 1,536 receiving yards from 82 receptions, while Nicks had 76 receptions for 1,192 yards.
Some news organizations, among them The St. Louis Post-Dispatch, said that the Giants' victory in the Super Bowl made them the NFL's version of the 2011 World Series champion St. Louis Cardinals, saying that these two championship teams had been given the last rites by many near the end of the season, but emerged as champions at the end. The 2012 Stanley Cup champion Los Angeles Kings also followed a similar path to the Cardinals and Giants a few months later, qualifying for the final playoff spot in the Western Conference in their penultimate regular season game only to dominate in the playoffs, just losing a record-tying low of four playoff games, en route to the franchise's first championship.
This season was the final time the Giants qualified for the playoffs under Coughlin, and would not reach the playoffs again until 2016 and would not win a playoff game again until 2022. As of 2025, this is the most recent time the Giants have won the NFC East, as they currently hold the longest active division title drought in the conference, at 14 seasons.
Offseason
Draft class
Todd McShay (ESPN), Steve Wyche (NFL.com), Pat Kirwan of NFL.com, New Era Scouting, and DraftKing.com predicted that the Giants would use their first round pick (19th overall) to draft Gabe Carimi (who went 29th overall), a left tackle for the Wisconsin Badgers who won the 2010 Outland Trophy as the nation's top collegiate interior lineman, and was a Consensus All-American. Charles Davis of NFL.com predicted that they would draft Mike Pouncey (who went 15th overall), a center/offensive guard from the University of Florida. They instead drafted Prince Amukamara, an all-American cornerback from the University of Nebraska.
Round Selection Player Position College 1 19 Prince Amukamara CB Nebraska 2 52 Marvin Austin DT North Carolina 3 83 Jerrel Jernigan WR Troy 4 117 James Brewer OT Indiana 5 6 185 Greg Jones LB Michigan State 198 Tyler Sash S Iowa 202 Jacquian Williams LB South Florida 7 221 Da'Rel Scott RB Maryland The Giants traded its fifth-round selection (#150 overall) and a 2012 conditional draft selection to the Minnesota Vikings in exchange for RB Darius Reynaud and QB Sage Rosenfels. Compensatory selection.
Players
Movement In the first week of the offseason the Giants signed some road free agents and former members of their 2010 practice squad to reserve/future contracts in order to bolster the roster for the 2011 season. In early March the team signed potential free agents to contract extensions: on March 2 the team signed running back D.J. Ware to a two-year extension and on March 3 they signed wide receivers Domenik Hixon and Darius Reynaud to one and two-year extensions, respectively. They also offered tenders to some of their restricted free agents but the effectiveness of these tenders rely on the ongoing CBA talks.
Free agents Position Player Free agencytag Date signed/released 2011 team LB Chase Blackburn UFA November 29, 2011 New York Giants CB Will Blackmon Released January 2, 2011 New York Giants OT Kevin Boothe UFA New York Giants TE Kevin Boss UFA August 5, 2011 Oakland Raiders RB Ahmad Bradshaw UFA New York Giants CB Courtney Brown RFA did not play LB Keith Bulluck UFA did not play WR Michael Clayton UFA New York Giants DT Barry Cofield UFA Washington Redskins S Deon Grant UFA New York Giants WR Derek Hagan UFA Oakland Raiders WR Domenik Hixon UFA March 3, 2011 New York Giants S Michael Johnson UFA Detroit Lions DE Mathias Kiwanuka UFA New York Giants OT Jamon Meredith ERFA March 3, 2011 New York Giants TE/FB Bear Pascoe ERFA March 3, 2011 New York Giants WR Steve Smith UFA Philadelphia Eagles QB Jim Sorgi UFA did not play DE Dave Tollefson UFA New York Giants RB DJ Ware RFA March 2, 2011 New York Giants LB Gerris Wilkinson UFA Jacksonville JaguarsRFA: Restricted free agent, UFA: Unrestricted free agent, ERFA: Exclusive rights free agent
Roster
Staff
Staff changes On March 9, 2011 the assistant special teams Thomas McGaughey accepted a job at LSU as special teams/defensive line coach of their football team. He had been with the Giants since 2007. On June 24, 2011 it was reported that Larry Izzo would become the Giants' new assistant special teams coach once the NFL Lockout had ceased.
2011 New York Giants staff Front office President/CEO – John Mara Chairman/executive vice president – Steve Tisch Senior vice president/general manager – Jerry Reese Vice president of player evaluation – Chris Mara Assistant general manager – Kevin Abrams Director of pro personnel – David Gettleman Director of college scouting – Marc Ross Assistant director of pro personnel – Ken Sternfeld
Head coaches Head coach – Tom Coughlin
Offensive coaches Offensive coordinator – Kevin Gilbride Quarterbacks – Mike Sullivan Running backs – Jerald Ingram Wide receivers – Sean Ryan Tight ends – Mike Pope Offensive line – Pat Flaherty Assistant offensive line – Jack Bicknell, Jr. Offensive assistant – Kevin Gilbride, Jr. Defensive coaches Defensive coordinator – Perry Fewell Defensive line – Robert Nunn Linebackers – Jim Herrmann Secondary/cornerbacks – Peter Giunta Secondary/safeties – David Merritt Defensive assistant – Al Holcomb
Special team coaches Special teams coordinator – Tom Quinn Assistant special teams – Larry Izzo
Strength and conditioning Strength and conditioning – Jerry Palmieri Assistant strength and conditioning – Markus Paul
Schedule
Preseason
The Giants' preseason schedule was announced on April 12, 2011. Week Date Opponent Result Record Game site NFL.comrecap 1 August 13 at Carolina Panthers L 10–20 0–1 Bank of America Stadium Recap 2 August 22 Chicago Bears W 41–13 1–1 MetLife Stadium Recap 3 August 29§ New York Jets L 3–17 1–2 MetLife Stadium Recap 4 September 1 at New England Patriots W 18–17 2–2 Gillette Stadium Recap § – Due to Hurricane Irene, the Week 3 preseason game against the Jets was moved up to 2:00 p.m. from the originally scheduled time of 7:00 p.m. (EDT). Then, later in the evening of August 26, the game was rescheduled to Monday, August 29 at 7:00 pm. EDT
Regular season
Week Date Opponent Result Record Game site NFL.comrecap 1 September 11 at Washington Redskins L 14–28 0–1 FedExField Recap 2 September 19 St. Louis Rams W 28–16 1–1 MetLife Stadium Recap 3 September 25 at Philadelphia Eagles W 29–16 2–1 Lincoln Financial Field Recap 4 October 2 at Arizona Cardinals W 31–27 3–1 University of Phoenix Stadium Recap 5 October 9 Seattle Seahawks L 25–36 3–2 MetLife Stadium Recap 6 October 16 Buffalo Bills W 27–24 4–2 MetLife Stadium Recap 7 Bye 8 October 30 Miami Dolphins W 20–17 5–2 MetLife Stadium Recap 9 November 6 at New England Patriots W 24–20 6–2 Gillette Stadium Recap 10 November 13 at San Francisco 49ers L 20–27 6–3 Candlestick Park Recap 11 November 20 Philadelphia Eagles L 10–17 6–4 MetLife Stadium Recap 12 November 28 at New Orleans Saints L 24–49 6–5 Mercedes-Benz Superdome Recap 13 December 4 Green Bay Packers L 35–38 6–6 MetLife Stadium Recap 14 December 11 at Dallas Cowboys W 37–34 7–6 Cowboys Stadium Recap 15 December 18 Washington Redskins L 10–23 7–7 MetLife StadiumRecap 16 December 24 at New York Jets W 29–14 8–7 MetLife Stadium Recap 17 January 1 Dallas Cowboys W 31–14 9–7 MetLife Stadium Recap
Standings
Regular season results
Week 1: at Washington Redskins
The Giants opened the 2011 season where they had finished the 2010 season, on the road at FedExField against their division rival Washington Redskins to mark the tenth anniversary of September 11, 2001; both teams' cities were attacked by the terrorists that day.