Giants have a bad running game, who cares?

When it comes to the Giants' forgettable rushing attack this season, two story lines have emerged as Big Blue heads into its Sunday playoff game against Atlanta:

(1) The running game has been so bottom-of-the-league bad this year that the feet of Brandon Jacobs and Ahmad Bradshaw could prove to be the Giants' Achilles heel.

(2) Maybe Jacobs and Bradshaw -- who have historically been two talented backs -- could peak at the right time, powering their team through the playoffs.

Here's a third story line to think about: Who cares?

This is the high-flying NFL of the 21st century, and the mantra for teams with an elite passer such as the Giants should be: why ground and pound when the air is so fair?

In a vacuum, the Giants' ground game is not pretty, and there are plenty of reasons to recoil when you see Eli Manning hand the ball off:

- They rank last in total rushing yards (1,427)
- They're 22nd in total rushing attempts (411)
- They're last in yards-per-attempt (3.5)
- They're last in yards-per-game (89.2)

And yet, none of those numbers should make your heart beat any faster or palms get any damper as game day approaches.

Consider the case of another team this season. They're running game is ranked 27th in total yards (1,558). They have fewer total rushing attempts than the Giants (395). They're only posting a slightly better margin than the Giants in yards-per-rush (3.9).

But they happen to be the 15-1 Green Bay Packers, defending Super Bowl champs and team picked by Las Vegas as the most likely to win it all again this year.

Take the sub-par running game of the Detroit Lions. They're 29th in total rushing yards (1523) and 31st in total rushing attempts (356). But they've also scored the fifth-most points in the NFL this season.

In today's football, a team's success throwing the ball is a much better indicator of its talent than whether it can move the ball on the ground:

The top five passing teams in the NFL by total yards: New Orleans, New England, Green Bay, Detroit and the Giants. All five are in the playoffs.

The top five running teams in the NFL by total yards: Denver, Houston, Carolina, Minnesota and Philadelphia.

Only two of those teams are in the playoffs, and nobody with any real distance from the Rocky Mountains is giving the Broncos much of a shot at advancing beyond Wild Card weekend. Why? Because while Tim Tebow is a nice story, he's responsible for a passing game that ranks next to last in the NFL.

It's all about the guy under center.

And Manning has had quite a season for the Giants. They rank fifth in total passing yards (4,734), and even with that dead-weight running game, they're still eighth overall in total yards of offense (6,161). Atlanta? Even with the great Michael Turner and a more highly regarded running game than the Giants, they only place 10th in total yards of offense (6026).

Matt Ryan has had a very good season (4,177 yards, 29 TDs). Manning has been better (4,933 yards, 29 TDs).

On Sunday, look for the Giants to have an air of superiority. They won't have the ground.