ok kids...ok...
looks like of all things, a giants fan is going to have to the voice of reason. who would have thought
is pumpster correct- of course he is. plax draws cover 2 or some other variance of pass coverage. he forces the saftey on the side he lines up on to drift to him in coverage at the very least. without him secondaries can run man and easily contain the giants remaining receivers.
jacobs missing is also key. he leads the team in rushing. he runs down hill. he breaks down defenses and tires them out and sets the table of ward and bradshaw late in the game. he's a truck that you have to stop, you have to line up 8 even 9 in the box to stop him and even after contact he still picks up yardage. bottom line is he moves the sticks in situations the other two backs can't. he also pass protects well, something they could have used against the dallas pass rush yesterday.
is body 88 correct- of course he is. a team is more than one or two players, it's a sum of it's parts. bradshaw averages one yard a carry more than jacobs, he just doesn't get as many touches, so his accumulated totals are lower. both he and ward can move the ball. it's the o-line that forgot to get on the plane to irving that lost that game for them last nite, as there was nowhere to run. i don't care who you are, if your o-line isn't making holes your running game is going nowhere.
plaxico being out is very key but this is easily overcome and leads back to the o-line again. run the ball. force that safety to stack up. loosen up the secondary. get yardage on the ground. the team that averages a 160 yards a game on the ground hasn't exisited in the last 3 outings. this ability translates clearly to the giants passing game, and is not limited to one person.
your both right. you just disagree on the extent to which the loss of those players means to that team. but there is no arguing it, it is tangible.