In wrapping up our series comparing the 2007 and 2011 Super Bowl-winning New York Giants teams let's turn back to the good folks at What If Sports. Back when we started this little project I ran a simulated game between the two teams 25 times and found that the 2007 team won 19 of those games.
That, however, was not a big enough sample to get conclusive results from. So, the folks at What If Sports agreed to use their equipment to run a full study. They simulated games between the two teams 1001 times. The 2011 Giants won 61.6 percent of the simulated games, with an average score of 29.2 to 24.8.
A few numbers for comparison from the simulations:
Quarterbacks
2007 Eli Manning -- 20.9 completions, 35.9 attempts (58.1 percent), 269.8 yards, 1.81 TDs, 1.56 INTs
2011 Eli Manning -- 23.3 completions, 33.5 attempts (69.7 percent), 326.8 yards, 2.62 TDs, 0.95 INTs
Running Backs
2007 Brandon Jacobs -- 11.1 carries, 59.4 yards, 5.4 yards per carry
2007 Derrick Ward -- 8.6 carries, 44.7 yards, 5.2 yards per carry
2011 Ahmad Bradshaw -- 12.1 carries, 44.1 yards, 3.7 yards per carry
2011 Brandon Jacobs -- 7.4 carries, 26.7 yards, 3.6 yards per carry
Receivers
2007 Plaxico Burress -- 4.5 receptions, 66.4 yards, 14.9 yards per catch
2007 Jeremy Shockey -- 4.4 receptions, 56.4 yards, 12.9 yards per catch
2007 Amani Toomer -- 3.7 receptions, 53.2 yards, 14.3 yards per catch
2011 Victor Cruz -- 5.1 receptions, 85.4 yards, 16.6 yards per catch
2011 Hakeem Nicks -- 5.0 receptions, 74, 0 yards, 14.7 yards per catch
2011 Jake Ballard -- 3.0 receptions, 45.8 yards, 15.0 yards per catch
2011 Mario Manningham -- 3.0 recpetions, 42.3 yards, 14.0 yards per catch
Position-By-Position
Offensive Line -- 2007
Tight End -- 2011 (you guys disagreed with me here)
Wide Receiver -- 2011
Running Back -- 2007
Fullback -- 2007
Quarterback -- 2011
Defensive Line -- 2011
Linebacker -- 2007
Cornerback -- 2007
Safety -- 2011
Special Teams -2011