Five days removed from the first preseason contest against Baltimore, here is your New York Giants 2006 Season Preview and relevant predictions.

Offense

Elijah is looking to build on a solid sophomore campaign and has virtually all of his offensive weapons returning this year. Despite sputtering down the stretch in 2005 and looking positively green during his first playoff game, there are still a lot of reasons to be very optimistic - chief among these is the fact that in the past two seasons, no other QB in the league has led his squad on more two minute drill scoring drives than Eli. Jared Lorenzen will likely back him up if necessary. Plaxico Burress and Well-Dressed Amani Toomer will lead the WR position along with Special Teams Pro-Bowler David Tyree and much hyped draft pick Sinorice Moss. Questions about Plax's effort on the field were raised sporadically throughout the season and significantly during the playoff debacle; those questions will need to be answered in a hurry as he his still the undisputed #1 target of the passing attack. Shockey will start his 5th season at TE (barring any recent concussion setbacks) and will be backed up by Visanthe Shiancoe and the oft-maligned Boo Williams. Tiki is coming off a season in which he ran and caught for almost 2400 yards, tops in the league by leaps and bounds, but he's 31 years old and questions regarding his durability will resurface. He will be spelled more often by Brandon Jacobs and Derrick Ward but will easily break 1200 yards rushing and 400 yards receiving in 2006. The O-Line is serviceable and the starters will be Luke Petitgout, David Diehl, Shaun O'Hara, Chris Snee and Kareem McKenzie.


Defense

The Giants look to lead the league in sacks this year thanks to the terrorizing combination of Strahan and Umenyiora at DE (the two lead the league in DE sacks during the 2005 season.) By far the biggest defensive issues last season occurred when linebackers started dropping left and right; LaVar Arrington was brought in to anchor the position but questions about his knees abound. Carlos Emmons and Antonio Pierce round out the position. Sam Madison and Corey Webster will start at the corners and sandwich Gabril Wilson and newcomer Will Demps at strong and free safety. The starters at defensive tackle will be Fred Robbins and the underachiever from "THE U", William Joseph.

Special Teams

Special teams were generally strong during 2005 save for a few Jay Feely gaffes, but I'm convinced it's out of his system. Jeff Feagles returns for punting duties; speedster Willie Ponder and old-timer Chad Morton will be in charge of kick and punt returns, respectively. Ryan "You-Couldn't-Pick-Me-Out-Of-A-Crowd-If-You-Tried" Kuehl is the long snapper.

Schedule and Predictions

While some people believe Strength of Schedule isn't a useful statistic with all of the turnover and parity in the NFL, no one can deny that it won't be easy for the Giants in 2006, who enter the season with the #1 ranked SOS. Here is my game-by-game breakdown for the 2006 regular season:

Week 1, vs. the Colts: Loss, 17-20

Week 2, at the Eagles: Win, 31-10

Week 3, at the Seahawks: Win, 14-10

Week 4, BYE

Week 5, vs. the Redskins: Win, 28-24

Week 6, at the Falcons: Win, 20-14

Week 7, at the Cowboys: Loss, 28-21

Week 8, vs. the Bucs: Win, 17-10

Week 9, vs. the Texans: Win, 24-6

Week 10, at the Jaguars: Loss, 14-13

Week 11, at the Titans: Win, 28-10

Week 12, vs. the Cowboys: Win, 38-28

Week 13, at the Panthers: Loss 17-7

Week 14, vs. the Eagles: Win, 21-13

Week 15, vs. the Saints: Win, 24-16

Week 16, at the Redskins: Loss, 21-10

2006 Predicted Result: I have the Giants finishing at 11-5 and taking a wild-card spot; I believe the division will go to the offensively dangerous Redskins at 12-4. After that, it's anyone's guess. The NFC East is easily the toughest division in the NFL and the G-Men will have their work cut out for them.