Michael Strahan had almost hung up his cleats before the start of the 2007 season. The veteran defensive end entered the 2007 offseason after a disappointing year, in which he recorded the lowest sack total (3) of his career since his rookie season and played in just nine games due to a Lisfranc fracture that he suffered against the Houston Texans.
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And it seemed like Strahan wouldn’t return for his 15th NFL season with the New York Giants. However, not only did the defensive end return to play and lead his defensive unit in his 15th year, but he also hoisted his first Lombardi trophy with the Giants. Now, years later, Strahan recalled his last season, acknowledging the doubts he had over his return, especially after New York dropped the first two games of the 2007 season.
“I came back the week we’re playing our first game,” said Strahan on the Roommates Show. “We have the Cowboys. We go to Dallas. They put up like 45 on us. Then we come home, the second game against Green Bay, they put up 35 on us. We had 80 points in two games. I remember sitting on the sideline, ‘What did I do?’ I was just chilling on the beach, ‘What did I do?’ And I knew this was going to happen. Come back here with these bums.”
When the Giants opened training camp in 2007, Strahan was nowhere to be found. Instead of reporting to camp, the then 35-year-old veteran was contemplating retirement after 14 NFL seasons. Strahan eventually returned only days before the Giants’ regular-season opener against the Dallas Cowboys, and his struggles were hard to miss.
He wasn’t in a position to perform at his usual level. In fact, head coach Tom Coughlin wasn’t even certain whether Strahan would be ready for the season opener against Dallas. The Giants had a two-game roster exemption available in case he needed more time to prepare. Nevertheless, Strahan played in that opening game.
The Giants lost 45-35, and Strahan came off the bench rather than starting. He recorded five total tackles, four solo tackles, one assisted tackle, and zero sacks. In Week 2, the Giants faced Brett Favre and the Green Bay Packers. Strahan started the game, but his production was even lower. He recorded just one solo tackle, with no sacks, as the Giants suffered a 35-13 defeat.
Evidently, the criticism was warranted, as the Giants’ defense ranked 29th in the league after the first two weeks. Michael Strahan, however, didn’t care about the past, as he ranted about the negative narratives over the team’s performance.
“We’re not worried about last week,” said Strahan at that time. “I guess that’s what everybody here gets caught up on. Last week is over. A lot of you covered this long enough and I’ve played long enough to realize the more you hang on to what happened in the past the more likely you are to repeat it, and in our case you don’t want to repeat.”
The Giants’ turnaround began in Week 3. Their Week 3 opponent was the Washington Redskins, and the Giants needed a win to prevent their season from spiraling out of control. They won 24-17. However, the most important moment came late in the fourth quarter.
Washington had an opportunity to score from the Giants’ 1-yard line with less than a minute remaining. But New York’s defensive front stopped the Redskins on consecutive running plays, preserving the victory. From Week 3, the Giants won six straight games before their bye week. Michael Strahan, meanwhile, was efficient in the team’s winning streak.
His first sack of the 2007 season came against Philadelphia in Week 4, when he recorded a sack in the Giants’ 16-3 win. The following week against the New York Jets, he didn’t record a sack, but the Giants continued winning. His best performances came against the San Francisco 49ers, when he recorded 2.5 sacks in the team’s 33-15 win, and then against the Detroit Lions, he had 3 sacks in the matchup.
Strahan finished the 2007 season with nine sacks and 57 tackles before eventually winning the first Super Bowl ring of his NFL career. But for Strahan, stats didn’t matter at that stage of his career. In fact, it was the time he spent with his teammates in the final season of his career.
“What helped me in my last year is I came back and said, ‘I don’t really care about stats. I don’t care about Pro Bowls. I don’t care about sacks. I don’t care about nothing. I came back to have fun with the guys,'” Strahan added. “Because the previous 14 years, when you’re the captain or the leader, I’m always worried and got to make sure this guy’s good and that guy’s good, and this guy’s good.
“And then my last year, I’m like, ‘You know what? That’s grown-ass men. If you can’t get yourself ready for a game, that’s on you. I need you to know your responsibility; that’s great. But we get out there, you just need to know them. I can’t worry about every individual guy knowing his stuff. I want to finally have one year where I can look back and say, ‘You know what, I actually just had fun. I just played for fun and not the pressure.’ And it ended up being a freaking Super Bowl year, which was not the best team I’d ever been on, but it was the best team in terms of guys who didn’t want to let each other down.”
Michael Strahan finished his career with 141.5 sacks, 854 combined tackles, and 666 solo tackles, while also earning seven Pro Bowl honors. But his 15th season carried significant weight for him, considering it ended with a Super Bowl win when Strahan wasn’t even considering returning to play for another year.