First off, before I begin my Giants post game reaction piece, let me tell Jet fans this: I apologize for not being able to watch the Monday Night contest against the Dolphins. From the three quarters I did see I can opine this:
The Jets have to be worried about the transition from ground and pound to this new airborne offensive that they have tried to undertake. This is not a new shift in philosophy either. This has been going on for two years since they traded for Braylon Edwards AND Santonio Holmes. They have tried to surround Mark Sanchez with the weapons he needed to be successful. The problem has been that the offensive line in that time has regressed. They are better when they are doing the pushing around and not the other way around. The defensive lines have been getting great push against the Jets front every single week and thus made the running game almost a non factor. When the weather gets worse, I have to imagine the team will need to lean heavily on the run and while they have the pieces that have been successful in the past, I can’t tell you with any bit of certainty that the Jets will be able to automatically revert back to what the fans have been screaming them to go back to.
This brings us to this: the Jets have shown themselves as a reactive organization. Reactive to the fans. Reactive to the media. Reactive to their own head coach who has made several big boasts that have fell flat up until this point. We won’t even touch his comments on Norv Turner (which I agree completely by the way and I’m sure if you polled all 32 head coaches, would agree with Rex’s sentiment), but this kind of mandate by the organization to follow the lead of their head coach was a flawless philosophy until now. Now, the (im)perfect mix of less than optimistic personalities and offensive struggles have led some players to head straight to the media because they feel as though the Jets would react in a way to fix the situation even though the fixing must be done internally. The trade of Derrick Mason for a 7th rounder was an absolute joke and did not send the kind of message I feel the Jets may have hoped. Santonio Holmes bellowed out about the offense’s inability to get anything moving because of the offensive line’s lack of ability to block, but I don’t see him being traded for two first rounders (more on THAT trade in the next post). If this administration’s policy is to follow its coach’s lead, we are seeing the negative side.
Now, I see the positives too. Rex’s comments have allowed the Jets to NOT hear questions about Mark Sanchez’s obvious regression. Its becoming clear that the Sanchize has been less than what the organization had hoped and the Jets now face a schedule that they will be favored in 5 of the next seven games. Say they split the Bills series. They would come out of that stretch of 7 games 4-3 which would make their record 7-6. Unless they beat the Chargers OR the Patriots, you have to figure that the Jets will be singing the same old tune down the stretch of the season where they hope and pray teams lose so they can sneak in. Now consider that the team right in front of them, the Bills would be favored in 2 of those seven games (depending on how you feel about the Cowboys), and if they split with the Jets, they would be tied with the Jets. So it would come down to the final two games and the Jets play against the Giants and the Dolphins. The Giants will probably be fighting for a playoff spot and there is the whole bit of New York pride on the line in this game along with the subplot of Plaxico against his former team and against a Miami team, at Miami, who would LOVE to knock a decisive blow to the Jets (though this suck for luck may have them tanking this game to make it a perfect 0-16 season). The Bills play against the Broncos and against the Patriots who by Thanksgiving time will have sown up a playoff spot and may look to rest their players and consider another factor for resting their guys: The Jets may need the Pats to knock the Bills out of the playoffs. What do you think the Pats will do if it means knocking the Jets out of the playoffs? The Jets had better hope the Bills fade. Then again, if the Jets don’t run out a string of victories they won’t see the playoffs. Have you seen the rest of the AFC? As the Jets have proven the last two years, a good defense and a decent run game even with a rookie QB can make the AFC Championship game, but only good QB’s get to Super Bowls. This is the problem with the Jets. Do they have a good QB? Over the next 7 games, Mark Sanchez will be forced to try and win some games and if he isn’t up to it, the Jets may find themselves in not just a bad position for this season (another one where Rex promised to win the Super Bowl), but also moving forward.
Ok, now that we’re off the Jets, let’s delve into this Giants game with my usual bit of positives and negatives and my final thoughts on the upcoming second half schedule.
– If we’re going to beat up Eli Manning every week for his inconsistent play, then conversely, we have to give the man credit when he comes through with a solid game and that he did. The man seems to respond to negative criticism every single week and seemingly comes up with his best game. Its not a mystery that if Eli Manning doesn’t turn the ball over, they will win the game. Usually good quarterbacks avoid the pitfalls and mistakes and know how to pull close games out because they wait for the other guy to make the mistake and this week, that other guy was Ryan Fitzpatrick who made two very critical mistakes and only ONE of them was an interception which we’ll get into.
Let’s turn our attention back to Eli. In his losses, he’s 42/71 (59.1%) with 3 TD’s 4 INT’s and 688 yards. In both games, he had an interception returned for a touchdown. That’s 14 points he gave the other team and both INT’s ended up costing the Giants the game. Then there are his wins where he is 83/125 (66.4%) with 8 TD’s and 1 INT. That one INT had a return of about 6 yards. Now you all must be saying that the Giants MUST be running the ball better in the games they are winning: in the Bills game they ran for 122 yards, against the Cardinals they ran for 54 yards, against the Eagles they ran for 102 and against the Rams they ran for 112 yards. Fred Jackson is averaging a 100 yards by himself each game. In fact, this was the first game over 60 yards that a Giant running back had this season. Think about that for a second. The Giants in their 4 wins averaged 97.5 yards while in their losses they got 75 and 69 yards TOTAL for an average of 72 yards per contest. Yes, those numbers are better but not the kind of defining stats that you would expect to see. So if Eli is to blame for their losses which you can make a case he is, then he must be hailed for the Giants victories. It is on the strength of Eli’s arm that the Giants move forward in whichever direction they go.
Let’s also consider for a second last week that I felt as though Mario Manningham was being under utilized in the offense. I saw Manningham’s body language and it screamed out frustration. He wasn’t getting good looks and every throw from Eli seemed like an impossibly difficult task to accomplish. The ball sailed over his head or a bad throw or there were five defenders around. But I saw Eli go to Manningham time and time again on several passes that said to me that he was building his confidence. This way, the Giants now have three viable receiving threats in the offense to go to when they need to. I can’t tell you that in the beginning of the season the Giants would have that kind of depth at the receiver position especially when they let Steve Smith walk to Philly and the dream team. But Eli has done a fantastic job in working all three into each week’s game plan. Cruz still has a case of the dropsies which I’m sure can and will get worked out but from all the reports I’m reading you’re seeing Eli, at age 30, become the kind of leader that everyone can not only follow but hear. You see Eli switching up plays at the line of scrimmage. Pre-game he’s tossing with Hakeem Nicks and Victor Cruz a regular practice he had with Steve Smith and Plaxico Burress back in 07-08. Eli is staying at the facility late and studying more and more game film and slowly removing that concept that he is NOT a smart quarterback. For the first time since 2003, there is only ONE Manning playing in the NFL as Peyton sits with the neck injury but we are seeing the family DNA on display. A strong willed QB leading a bunch of receivers and tight ends on a game winning drive while operating in the no huddle offense. Sounds kind of familiar doesn’t it?
– I’ve been bashing this group for some time, mainly one guy though, but the cornerbacks continue to play at a very high level. The NFL is completely pass friendly and in order to compete your secondary has to play at a very high level. Its weird though. The secondary hasn’t been great. The passing defense is ranked 21st in the NFL which means they are below average giving up 246 yards per game which might not mean much but consider that still left on the Giants slate are the Patriots, Saints, Packers and Cowboys (twice) which are 1, 2, 3 and 8 respectively in the area of airing the football. But the Giants force turnovers and are pretty damn good at it. They are in the top 10 in both interceptions and forced fumbles and are +4 in turnover differential which is good for top 10 in that area. That’s usually the best indicator of why a team is successful. If they are good at keeping the football and not making mistakes and forcing them, those teams have a good rate of sustaining their level of play. Corey Webster was the hero in this game having two critical interceptions. Both were underthrown passes by Ryan Fitzpatrick. The Giants were smart in their game plan. They saw that he was not successful when he tried to make the deep pass and so the Giants continually forced him into making deep throws.
-Now why I say this is for one reason. Fred Jackson, outside of that one 80 yard run went 15 carries for 41 yards. The Giants never had a huge lead that would precipitate the Bills into evacuating the run game to go strictly airborne, but the Giants made the run game a complete non factor. I said a few weeks back that the Giants were going to have problems with bigger running backs who could muscle their way for a few yards. The Giants get themselves into so many 3rd and short situations that bigger backs who can hit the gut of the defense and push the pile for that one yard can make a huge difference. How different is that Eagles game if the Eagles actually had a competent big running back to punch it in from one yard? The Giants have a Fred Jackson of their own in Ahmad Bradshaw. A hard runner who punishes the ground and defenders. It takes two or three defenders usually to bring him down. Its a testament to his will power and his ability to be shifty and also tough to bring down. Its nice to see runners be able to hit holes and I believe the offensive line has been getting better. You see the difference between good centers and not having good centers. David Baas’ re-entry into the starting line up thanks to being off a week due to injury helped the O-line to have no kind of leakages that would’ve seen defenders in Eli’s face all afternoon. However, the O-line was able to keep it together and give Eli a clean pocket which helps a QB tremendously.
– Back to the cornerbacks though, this rag tag group and i mean that in this sense: remember 2007? This was going to be the duo for the next 7-10 years until Aaron Ross proved that he was allergic to being on a football field and Corey Webster proved to be just an above average cornerback which isn’t to say that he wasn’t good. Contrary. I think having a Corey Webster on a team is essential if you’re going to be a good team. Darelle Revis is on a planet all by himself. Its not even close between him and the second best and we are seeing the constant downgrading of Nnamdi Asomugha with every blown coverage that passes. Having a Corey Webster on your team is rare and if the Giants had Terrell Thomas I’d feel more confident heading into those games. Prince Amakamura is a complete question mark. He will need several weeks to get himself acclimated to the speed of the NFL which means while the Giants are trying to navigate through a very difficult schedule, the Prince will be getting his royal studies at the feet of some of the best quarterbacks. Its worrisome but the Giants will hope to see him mature very quickly if they ever want to make a meaningful run this year.
– The biggest negative and this has been a constant theme this season. Terrible tackling. The Giants have taken horrible angles on receivers and running backs and in a five minute span had some of the worst tackling i’ve ever seen. First of all, it was a great play call at the right time. Once Fred Jackson got into the open field, he did a semi circle on the field and ran away from Deon Grant who thought he was headed towards the corner. Mind you Grant had about a 8-10 yard window, but he bit on the wrong direction too early. Then, there was the final move which I have to give credit where credit is due, Fred Jackson did an unbelievable job at knowing where the pursuit was coming from and angling back to his left to avoid it and score the touchdown. Right now Fred Jackson is running like a man possessed but let’s be real, had Kenny Phillips made the lunge at his knees or below and tripped him up that would’ve been a two yard gain.
Then about five minutes later, Naaman Roosevelt, went 60 yards on a simple slant route thanks to another disgusting angle taken by the corners. Now I’m not saying that this is something that always comes up, but I’ve noticed over the first 6 weeks, the Giants have had several brutal games in terms of stopping those quick routes and its definitely a mode of attack that Giant opponents are taking against them. I’m here to tell you that in the coming weeks, the Giants may need to find a way to plug that hole with Tom Brady, Aaron Rodgers and Drew Brees rolling into town.
Moving on, the Giants will have to fix their tackling moving forward. But another encouraging victory. Still plenty of holes left that a bye week couldn’t hurt.
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