The QB and WR's are the teams three best players. They may run more if Wilson is the real deal. But they have def been a pass happy offense of late, regardless of the reason. They have led the league or been at the top of the league in passing plays greater than 20 yards. Ultimately they would love an equally balanced attack, but when describing this team over the past few years , it is def a passing offense..
It all depends on what you mean by a "pass first offense" or a "pass happy offense". The Giants have never given up on the running game and always run a balance of run versus pass plays if you base it on the number of plays. It is true that their pass game has been more effective than their run game the past two seasons especially in 2011 but that is not my definition of a "pass first offense".
Poor choice of words. Yes, "pass happy" is more what I meant.
Anyway, the point was that the Giants pass a hell of a lot more than the Niners, not what type of offense the they run.
This past season the Giants had more pass attempts (103 more) than the Niners, that's true. An average of 6.5 more attempts per game.
But as the Giants were 21st in the league in pass attempts, and the Niners were 31st in attempts, to say the Giants are "pass happy" or that they "pass a hell of a lot more than the Niners" is quite an overstatement. After all, 20 teams attempted more passes than did the Giants this year.
And as you acknowledged, and as danielboone stated, while the Giants have arguably been more effective with their pass game the last couple of years, that is not the same as their offense being a "pass first" or even a "pass happy" offense, relative to the rest of the league.
As to whether either the Giants' or the Niners' style of offense is or was more conducive to Manningham's effectiveness as a receiver, comparing him to his last year with the Giants and his first year with the Niners--Mannigham played in exactly the same number of games (12) in 2011 and 2012, he started the exact same number of games (9) in 2011 and 2012, he even received 3 more passes in 2012 than he did in 2011. His only fall-off in production in 2012 was his average yards per catch (13.4 in 2011, vs a pedestrian 10.7 average with the Niners).
So enough, already, with excuses for Manningham's "fall-off" in production with the Niners. Clearly his yac fell of, which has nothing to do with how many targets he had in SF.
"...Consistency is the hobgoblin of small minds." R.W. Emerson
I'm not singing for the future
I'm not dreaming of the past
I'm not talking of the first time
I never think about the last ~The Pogues