Giants' offensive line sparked by using formula from teams of the past

They ran.

It seems like a simple thing, the kind of activity you'd expect all football players to participate in. After practice a few weeks ago, when the Giants were off to an 0-2 start, the offensive linemen stayed after practice, spread out along the sideline, and sprinted back and forth across the width of a field.

The practical point of it was to get in better shape and be prepared for the up-tempo offense the Giants are now running. But there was a bigger component to it, as well, and it sparked something in the players.

"Sprints are a necessary evil sometimes, but when the offensive lines here had Snee and O'Hara, that was something they were doing," said rookie guard Weston Richburg, who was in high school when that fabled group of linemen won two Super Bowls. "We're trying to get back to those ways. The formula worked for them. We're trying to carry it out as well."

"There are a lot of things that those guys did, tradition things, things that we believe in now," guard John Jerry added. "Things that are definitely going to help us down the road. We're definitely willing to implement some of the things that they did because that was a very successful group."

As the line looks to the future -- this week's game against the Falcons and beyond -- it does so with a nod to the past. Four of the five starting linemen weren't even on the team when Shaun O'Hara and Rich Seubert and Kareem McKenzie were blazing a path to a championship. Three of them were never teammates with David Diehl or Chris Snee. Yet that is the group they are trying to emulate. And honor.

"We didn't do it last year," right tackle Justin Pugh said of running after practice. "It's something that Coach [Pat Flaherty] said they used to do and it's something that we're going to get back to doing."

Flaherty, the line coach, is the only leftover from last year's offensive staff to return to the Giants with the same title. He's also one of the few links to the glory days when the team had the same offensive line configuration for 38 consecutive regular-season games between 2006-10.

It was such consistency that made that group special. The current incarnation will make its fifth straight start together Sunday, far from record-setting endurance but still an upgrade from last year when no configuration of linemen lasted longer than three straight games.

The first time the current lineup was together on the field -- Will Beatty, Richburg, J.D. Walton, Jerry and Pugh from left to right -- was in the final preseason game. It took some time for them to jell.

"It always takes time, man," Jerry said. "That's one thing about offensive linemen. You have to get used to the guys you are playing with and get used to how people do things and trust each other more. That's definitely a big part of it."

For the last two weeks, they seem to be working more in concert. The Giants have rushed for 347 yards in those two games. It's the first time they have exceeded 150 yards on the ground in consecutive games since Dec. 5 and 13, 2010. After allowing four sacks and multiple hits on Eli Manning in the first two games, they have allowed one sack in each of the last two and kept Manning clean.

Things have clicked. The question now is, for an offensive line, once it clicks does it stay clicked?

"Yes," Beatty said bluntly. "Once you show you can do it, you're not only talking about it but you actually execute it, now all we have to do is keep it up."

"There's no doubt about it," Jerry said. "You're always going to hit on some rough spots in the road. You just have to be able to maintain and have a short memory and keep fighting."

And keep running. Because as silly as it sounds, as routine as it appears, as much of a pain in the neck it is to line up for sprints after practice, does it offer more to the group than a cardiovascular workout? Does it link them to the past? Hold them responsible to their predecessors? Help them continue to come together as a single unit?

"What do you think?" Beatty asked.

Probably.

"Good answer."