 Giants will miss Michael Strahan 1992 doesn't seem as long ago as it was, but consider this: in that year, most people didn't have cell phones yet, the Internet as we've come to know it did not yet exist, George Bush Sr. was president, Jay Leno had just taken over as host of "The Tonight Show", and "Cheers" was still on the air. Whoa. Seems like an entirely different world. Here's another mind-blower from 1992 - it was the last year Michael Strahan did not play for the New York Giants. He was then a senior at Texas Southern University, a player totally unfamiliar to most football fans. What felt like two or three eye-blinks later, Strahan was on "Late Night With Conan O'Brien" this month, explaining why he had decided to end his 15-year NFL career. Watching Strahan josh with O'Brien - himself an unknown writer/producer for "The Simpsons" in 1992, and now less than a year away from succeeding Leno as "Tonight Show" host - it was hard to envision a Giants team without the outspoken, gap-toothed colossus, who made life miserable for quarterbacks, running backs and offensive linemen for a decade and a half. To put Strahan's NFL tenure in perspective, he played two years longer than Giants' defensive icons Lawrence Taylor and Harry Carson. When Carson retired, there was still Taylor; when Taylor retired, there was Strahan.
With Strahan gone, Osi Umenyiora appears to be the unquestioned leader of a Giants' defense that managed to get in Tom Brady's face enough times to keep the New England Patriots' offense at a low-octane level in Super Bowl XLII last February. Umenyiora had 13 sacks last season compared to Strahan's nine. Even Justin Tuck - considered the Conan to Strahan's Leno by inheriting Strahan's full-time role - had more sacks than Strahan last season, recording 10. But who will provide the fire? Umenyiora? Probably. Tuck? Quite possibly. New acquisition Renaldo Wynn? Maybe. For certain, though, New York will miss Strahan. The Giants will be a lesser team, even if they post more regular-season victories than last year's 10, which seems likely. You don't just replace a Michael Strahan, just like the Green Bay Packers won't just replace Brett Favre. The Miami Dolphins are still trying to replace Dan Marino. And the San Francisco 49ers have never had any receiver quite like Jerry Rice. No, not even T.O. Strahan's moods often shifted faster than presidential polls. Much of the time he was affable, but often he collided with the New York and even national media. Radio, television and print journalists had run-ins with Strahan over the past 15 years.
But that was just Strahan being Strahan, being honest about how he was feeling at the time. That persona was the same on the field - Strahan letting it all out, Strahan being Strahan. Michael Anthony Strahan's professional football career began on the first day of the 1993 NFL Draft, when then-Giants General Manager George Young - architect of two previous Super Bowl championship teams - chose Strahan in the second round. Strahan was actually the Giants' first pick in that draft, since Young had spent (and as it turned out, squandered) the team's first-round selection of 1993 by taking Duke quarterback Dave Brown in the first round of the 1992 Supplemental Draft. By rule, any team making a pick in that draft forfeits their choice in the same round of the following year's NFL Draft. After a few seasons, it was apparent Strahan was anything but second-round caliber. In retrospect, he was the best defensive player and perhaps the best overall player selected in 1993. Like Strahan, No. 1 overall pick Drew Bledsoe was a member of two Super Bowl teams, one losing the big game and one winning it; Bledsoe's Patriots fell to Green Bay in Super Bowl XXXI and stunned the St. Louis Rams in Super Bowl XXXVI. But in that win over the Rams, Bledsoe was merely a reserve quarterback behind the young phenom Brady. Strahan was the Giants' marquee defensive player both times he participated on Super Sunday. Strahan gradually developed into a ferocious pass-rusher, and in 1997 - his fifth NFL season - Strahan finally arrived at elite status when he pounded out 14 sacks. He followed that with 15 in 1998, then after watching his numbers dip in 1999 and 2000, Strahan rolled to the all-time sack record for one season, recording 22.5 in 2001. He was rewarded with NFL Defensive Player of the Year honors. Strahan posted double-digit sacks three more times - in 2002, '03 and '05. His 2003 season was especially impressive because while the Giants went staggering through a 4-12 nightmare, Strahan was still doing all he could, racking up a league-best 18.5 sacks. The Giants' 17-14 shocker over the previously unbeaten Patriots in Superbowl XLII provided an ideal ending to Strahan's playing career. Strahan is apparently destined for a studio or announcer's booth. With 141.5 sacks in the regular season, 9.5 more in the postseason (a team record), and seven Pro Bowl selections, he is certainly destined for Canton, Ohio. Yes, the Giants' defensive line will be OK. It has fewer question marks than the offensive backfield had this time last year, in the wake of running back Tiki Barber's retirement. Plenty of teams would love to have defensive ends half as good as Umenyiora or Tuck. But the Giants will never be the same without Strahan. This season, and maybe the next several, '92 will have more significance than just being the number on Strahan's old jersey.
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