The Giants post game Reax

Ok, so the Giants lost.  I’m sure there have been many Giants fans waiting for Eli Manning and the Giants luck to run out but this is not going to be negative.  Not to say the Giants did nothing wrong, I’m saying that this game had more positives than negatives and I’ll go into that.  But first there’s one thing that I have to get off my chest before I say anything more:

– The San Francisco 49ers are for real.  Its a contrast in coaching acumen that the Giants go from Jim Harbaugh’s 49ers to Andy Reid’s Eagles.  These were two teams that were supposed to be in opposite ends of the spectrum.  If i had told you before the beginning of the season that out of the 49ers and Eagles, who would be 8-1 and who would be 3-6, I’m sure out of 100, 95 would’ve said Eagles, and 5 of you would’ve said the Niners JUST to be either negative towards the Eagles or be different.  The fact is alot of credit goes to Jim Harbaugh and if you think about the team, he only made a few systemic changes.  His biggest influence has been inside the locker room.  Inside the heads of these Niners.  They play with a swagger.  They are well coached.  They have COMPLETELY bought in.  This was a team with Vernon Davis (the burly TE who was a headache.), Alex Smith (a number one pick who was a bust) and a team locked into mediocrity it seemed for quite some time.

But NOW look at the narrative.  Alex Smith isn’t a game manager.  He sure did sling the rock ALOT for a guy who was considered a game manager.*  Vernon Davis is playing within the team concept.  Frank Gore was supposed to be a content RB who got his millions.  For a guy who got his money, he sure is still running pretty mad.**  Vernon Davis is a great blocking TE to go along with his splendid offensive skillset.  Then there’s the work of Patrick Willis.  The prolific LB, who for my money is THE BEST LB in the game.  He has a bookend in Navarro Bowman who plays off him perfectly.  Their front isn’t ferocious, they are just consistent and constant and eat up linemen to free the playmakers to make the plays and look at that secondary.  Donte Whitner from Buffalo.  Carlos Rogers from Washington.  Guys who had failed in other systems/teams but had talent now are thriving in the Bay.  Those aren’t by accident.  Jim Harbaugh is the reason.  He’s the guy who stirs the pot and keeps this team believing and focused.  The fact is, for the most part, he’s doing it with a team that you can make the case has been underperforming.

*= The magic of Harbaugh’s motivational ploy can be seen here.  No man has he worked more wonders with than Alex Smith who he chided the media for being so hard on, yet thanked them for continually underplaying his effectiveness as an NFL QB.
**= Every Titan fan/fantasy owner of Chris Johnson is right now shaking their fist at their computer screens. 

To be very honest, prior to this game, I thought the way the Giants were playing, they would blow the Niners out.  Plain and simple.  I did not respect the Niners and thought that they were not going to get far with Alex Smith as their QB.  I thought the only challenge would be stopping Frank Gore, which the Giants did albeit he was injured, but I thought if the Giants did that they would be in good shape because Alex Smith was not going to pick apart the Giants.

But the Niners threw on first down throughout this game and consistently were effective in the first half. It was by design and depending on whether you are in the Niner locker room or out of it, you either felt confident or less than confident that this was going to work.  Credit the Niners for flipping the script and keeping the Giants honest and not peeking to play the run.  Speaking of flipping the script:

– We always say teams that win in this league have to be solid in all three phases of the game and ladies and gents, the Niners BEST unit may be their special teams unit who played an outstanding game.  I’m not a punting expert so you’ll never hear me pine over Ray Guy for the hall of fame, but in a game like this field position is so important and so the Niners can play with anyone.  They kept the Giants starting deep into their own territory and hit the field goals they needed to.  David Akers (remember him Giant fans?) came in and hit field goals of 36, 52, 39 and 28 yards and added a beautifully timed onside kick which caught the Giants off balance.  Not only was it a great play because it worked, it was great because the Niners were going to get the ball back at the beginning of the second half and if the teams were going to continue to trade field goals, it was imperative to get the momentum of scoring first on their side, which they did by regaining possession.

– We’ll forgive Alex Smith for challenging Corey Webster, in my opinion the only above average corner the Giants have left standing, on three consecutive plays in the red zone to open the second half.  I dont know where the game plan was there.  With Ross out of the game, they should’ve thrown at Michael Coe who was covering the inside slot receiver but Smith NEVER made his eyes to that part of the field for some reason.  Weird.

– Question I have coming out of this game is this: Do the Giants see Brandon Jacobs as a liability in the fourth quarter?  For the second consecutive week, the Giants left DJ Ware in the game.  Now, I can understand if this were Ahmad Bradshaw.  Bradshaw is clearly the better running back for this team, but to put Ware above him on the depth chart during the fourth quarter is questionable.  You can make the case that the Giants want a better pass catching option out of the backfield but Jacobs has been competent in that area.  No, I think this goes more to the fact that the Giants have very little patience for Jacobs doing his east/west running style instead of their more preferred running direction for him: north and south.  It makes me mad when i see a 260 pound running back who’s 6’4, as big as the LB’s who are coming at the point of attack, try and shimmy his way and dodge a tackler when he should be piling into them and forcing the issue.  I realize this is incredibly selfish on my part, but if a RB’s shelf life ends at 32, and Jacobs is 29, wouldn’t it make sense to get the most use out of your body and make the plays that made you a serious rb option years ago as opposed to changing your style to one that absolutely DOESNT suit you?  No,  I think his benching has more to do with his continued inability to get it.  He needs to run north and south which he had success with.  If not, DJ Ware’s performance shows that the Giants have capable shoes to fill in if need be.  At this point, Jacobs MUST perform out of necessity for his future earning potential No?

– Surprisingly the Giants were excellent on third down, converting on 50% which is one of their better outputs ALL YEAR.  The Giants massively struggled on third down all year, but this goes to show you that the Giants were moving the ball pretty well and easy on the Niners.  Its just when you run into the best defensive red zone team, and leave with 3 points, its better than getting nothing mindset kind of sets in.

– If you ever wondered about whether Eli Manning was an elite QB, just look at those two TD throws.  First the corner end zone toss to Manningham was as perfectly placed a ball as I have ever seen thrown.  Over the shoulder of the playmaker and put in a place that the defender can’t make a play on it.  Then, on the throw to Hakeem Nicks, Manning understood that Nicks had inside release so he threw it on the outside to negate that and force the issue knowing he had his best playmaker out there.  Unbelievable throw right over the defender’s head.  At the very least, the only way to stop Nicks from catching that was to get a pass interference penalty.  Amazing throw by a QB who is truly enjoying his BEST SEASON EVER as a pro.  Plain and simple.

– If you ever wondered whether football is a game of momentum you need ONLY remind yourself of how the Niners got the lead in the first place.  The Giants have had some crippling injuries that they have overcome, but I’ll tell you one that frightens me more than the rest.  Michael Boley left with a hamstring pull and never returned.  That’s bad.  Two plays later, Greg Jones blows a coverage assignment and lets Vernon Davis go right across the middle of the field and Alex Smith throws him a quick five yard pass which he takes for 31 yards and a touchdown.

Two plays later Manning rolls out, Manningham stops midroute while Carlos Rogers follows Eli Manning’s eyes and sees that Manning throws to the spot where Manningham is supposed to be and picks up the interception.  First play following that, Kendall Walker runs it in for the game clinching TD.  Fourteen points in 1:01.  THATS how quickly momentum can jump into a team’s favor.

For our coach em up section of the blog we look at the final drive, play by play brought to you courtesy of Yahoo.com.

1st-10, NYG20 6:35 E. Manning passed to V. Cruz down the middle for 5 yard gain
2nd-5, NYG25 6:01 D. Ware rushed to the right for 6 yard gain
1st-10, NYG31 5:26 E. Manning passed to D. Ware down the middle for 7 yard gain
2nd-3, NYG38 4:29 B. Jacobs rushed to the right for 4 yard loss
3rd-7, NYG34 3:46 E. Manning rushed to the left for 1 yard gain

Willis on back to back plays makes a tackle for a loss on Jacobs and then comes around the entire O-line to make a stop on a scrambling ELi Manning to force a 4th and 6.

Huge risk here.  Consider that the 49ers are in Field goal range if the Giants dont make it.  Its 3 and a half minutes left.  Its risky because the Giants are doing well defensively against the 49ers.  They have two timeouts to utilize and the two minute warning.  They have held the running game to absolutely NOTHING this entire game.  Conventional wisdom, and trust me Sunday conventional wisdom was thrown out the door all day, would tell you punt and live to fight for one more drive.  But I think philosophically the Giants have been playing to win this entire season.  They have been playing loose and confident and this fit in with the whole momentum of this team and so they went for it.  Beautiful throw by Manning, with pressure in his face, to Manningham in the corner.

4th-6, NYG35 3:25 E. Manning passed to M. Manningham to the left for 18 yard gain

The puzzling part here is WHY would Jim Harbaugh throw a challenge flag right?  Here’s why he was born to be a coach.  He read his team perfectly.  He knew that the Giants had been driving on them all game and they were bending but not breaking.  He knew Eli’s prowess in the fourth and wanted to give his team a respite and challenge a pretty close call.  He took a chance knowing that it would cost his team a timeout but give his players  a brief rest.  WHY wouldn’t he just call a timeout?  That’s more or less the bigger question for me.  I think it was just to throw a monkey wrench into this whole equation and add some confusion.  Look at Eli’s face when he sees the ref blow a whistle and the challenge flag comes on.  Its totally a “are you effin kidding me?” face.  It was classic.   The even better face?  Jim Harbaugh, knowing that his challenge was pointless had a cocky smirk when the ref announced the play would stand.  The time between the challenge till the next play started?  2:20 seconds.  He basically got two timeouts for the price of one.  BRILLIANT coaching and understanding of his team.