Here are a few thoughts and observations after the Sunday night debacle at Lincoln Financial Stadium in Philadelphia. The Eagles destroyed (and that’s putting it lightly) the Giants 27-0 in a game that Eagles fans will be reminding Giants fans for a long time.
1. Quick paced attack- Reliving last night’s game wasn’t fun or easy as a Giants fan but for the sake of delivering more of an in depth analysis of the game I had to. First, a few quick thoughts about the overall play of the game. The Eagles were better than the Giants because they played faster than the Giants. From the jumps the defensive line got, to the way Shady McCoy got to the second level to how ferocious the offensive line was in neutralizing the pass rush, it was simple that the Eagles were just a flat out better team last night than the Giants. Take for instance the first half possessions for the Giants and Eagles. The Giants had 6 possessions averaging 4 plays, 7 yards and 2 minutes and 35 seconds of possession. The Eagles had 7 possessions averaging nearly 6 plays, 40 yards and 2 minutes 15 seconds of possession. IF I would’ve given you those two numbers and asked you who you thought would be leading at halftime, you would’ve guessed the Eagles, but you would’ve thought they had kicked a bunch of field goals. But that’s how quickly the Eagles strike. The Eagles averaged 26 seconds between the end of the play and the time they snapped the ball. That’s how they attack, and that’s how they were able to wear down the Giants interior from making any noticeable impact.
2. Line of scrimmage victories- I wrote about this last week and the biggest key to the last few weeks of fantastic play were the individual one on one match ups that the Giants were winning. Jason Pierre Paul was dominating his counterpart. DaMontre Moore was dominating his counterpart. They were winning individual battles allowing the secondary to be aggressive and force turnovers. Last night, that script got flipped and the Eagles won every significant individual battle. And there were key match ups the Eagles were winning which we will get into later, but this is the defensive scheme. The Giants stocked up the secondary to allow the front four more time to win their battles and to upgrade the personnel recognizing not only the Giants weakness in that area, but also the fact that the league was changing. Despite what Seattle and the start that Dallas has taught us- a stout defense and a strong ground game can STILL win- the league now is pass happy. Having defenses that can defend the pass is important, especially given that the speed at which the passes are coming out of the quarterback’s hands have dramatically increased (except for Eli last night). So its important to have defenders to win their battles on defense. Doing so against a line that was missing Jason Kelce and Evan Mathis (two of their three best players) was imperative for the Giants to win and it was almost set up for them to do so. On the other side, The Eagles have two known sack artists- Trent Cole (he of the 9 career sacks in 17 games against the Giants and 1 last night) and Connor Barwin (3 sacks last night), but you wouldn’t know it. It seemed that every time the Eagles lined two men over the center, they got off at the snap and were giving Eli no time to read his progressions.
3. Justin Pugh was terrible. So was JD Walton- Three weeks in a row, the Giants offensive line seemed to have come together at the right time and playing well. Then the Eagles struck with multiple stunts and blitzes over the center, creating concern that there is a definite weak spot in the offensive line that other teams, namely the Cowboys this upcoming week will try to copy cat. If they don’t take care of that, it doesn’t matter how much quicker the routes get, Eli will be sitting on his ass. Pugh had a brace over his right arm which the Eagles realized and went to work on. Hey, any weakness the opposing team shows, you have to attack it and credit the Eagles with finding two very weak links and attacking it constantly. Will Beatty was ok, and Weston Richburg, even with his horrible penalty- which I kind of understood in the context of a game that the Eagles were just brutally beating the Giants down and him feeling the need to send a message- he played reasonably well. If you looked at the other side, there was a particular graphic that showed how much better the Eagles offensive line was playing and you almost got the sense that they were playing so many extra guys. The Giants fixed that by leaving an extra TE and FB to help in blocking assignments, but that leaves fewer weapons for the offense and Eli to go to.
4. On the bright side, Eli didn’t play terribly- Now this is all in context of his stat line. And by stat line i mean one important stat- he didn’t throw an interception. Again, he didn’t throw for a touchdown. He was sacked 6 times and only completed 57% of his passes. But he wasn’t forcing it to receivers who were double and triple covered. The consequence of not throwing an interception is the indecisiveness you saw. He seemingly took forever sometimes to make his reads and add to the pressure that he was surrounded with, Eli never had a shot. The positive I take from that is, he’s breaking from some old habits. He’s not shifty in the pocket like Aaron Rodgers but he’s not complete unaware either. Some of those hits couldn’t be avoided unless he had ESP. Eli is more athletic than people give him credit for but he wasn’t escaping out of the pocket that many times. He wasn’t trying to do too much. This is still a new offense that he’s operating in and this mentality of not forcing it will be beneficial later on when his offensive line hopefully improves and the receivers have a better feel to break out of some of the routes. Now that Victor Cruz is gone, Eli will be breaking in a bunch of new receivers who may not be as familiar with Eli’s mannerisms and on the same wavelength as him so it will take some extra time get on the same page. Patience Giants fans. Patience.
5. The play that cost Victor Cruz the season was the right decision- Hindsight being 50/50 (right Cam?), its easy for people to say that going for it on fourth down was a bad decision given that it cost Victor Cruz the season. I think its bad given the result of the play but the decision was the right one. The Giants were down 20-0, just forced a turnover and were finally deep in Eagles territory. At the 3 yard line, you have to go for it. These are the critical plays that can turn the momentum. It was still the third quarter and the Giants with a TD would’ve cut the deficit by two scores and who knows how the rest of the game goes? Had Cruz not injured his patella, its a fair bet to assume that he would’ve caught that pass. Instead, the shock of seeing Cruz go down, seeped into the defense and the Giants let up a TD drive to make the game out of reach at 27-0. It was a 14 point swing, but in many ways was more. This game will ultimately define the season as the beginning of the end, or the beginning of something special- no middle ground for anything else.
6. Secondary play still strong- The secondary for the most part was strong and forced two more turnovers leading to chances. The Seahawks and Niners have shown that with strong secondaries, you can force sacks by making the QB start dancing and scanning the whole field. The Quarterback is most comfortable when he drops back, sees his first option is open and he steps into the throw. Anything short of that, the quarterback has to be careful. Some quarterbacks even go from first, then second option straight to the dump off option (running back or fullback in the flat) or throwing it away. That’s because their internal clock has been compromised by the rush that’s coming. The Giants were not getting pressure consistently enough to stop Nick Foles from making those kind of inconsistent throws, but when they did you saw the interception that Zack Bowman made- it was an aggressive move because he left his receiver to make the grab. Antrel Rolle’s interception saved another 3 points at the least, from being scored. The Giants rushed four, Foles looked for his first option and then went to his outlet which was Darren Sproles, who pre-snap lined up wide, motioned across the line and then went right next to Foles who was in shotgun, barely stopped (he has to be in a full stop before they snap it), and then went to the flat. Foles threw to a spot, Rolle had already planted himself in that spot and just leapt and caught the ball. With Trumane McBride now out on the IR, the Giants have lost their two slot covering cornerbacks. The Giants will be tested these next few weeks now that they will be using their reserves for the remainder of the season.
7. Foles is regressing and McCoy was impressing- I’m not insinuating that he’s a bad quarterback, but just pointing out that the new car smell is off and there’s enough footage there for teams to rely on and gather tendencies. Foles however didn’t have a running game the first five weeks, and thanks to the Giants less than stellar run support, Foles got that back. He was running more plays off the read option as the game wore on. The Giants could not stop the runs that bounced to the outside because there was no gap discipline. The Giants became reactive and with a shifty back like McCoy you can’t do that. The Giants never learn their lesson- never did with Brian Westbrook and now with McCoy. As for Foles, his throws seem to sail from time to time, but there’s an athleticism there that can excite you if you’re a Philly fan. He’s big, and he moves very well within the pocket. Guys like that can’t be brought down with one hand or go down easy. He moves laterally very well, as evidenced by escaping a would be sack by Cullen Jenkins who went free over the middle. Foles just moved laterally with easy and shed the would be sack and threw a dart for a completion. HIs toughness especially can’t be questioned after the blatant, but legal, blindside shot by Redskins NT Chris Baker that started a fracas between both clubs. Of course Eli is no slouch either at 6’5 himself, but having big sturdy QB’s with a hint of athleticism is important for a team that runs so many plays so quickly.
8. Are the Giants out of it? The answer technically is no. But Sunday’s game is suddenly a must win. The Cowboys are off a huge win over the Seahawks where they dominated the defending Super Bowl champs in their building which never happens. Could the Giants be catching the Cowboys at the right time? A let down game? Let’s hope so. If THAT Cowboys team shows up Sunday the Giants have zero chance. They controlled the clock and that offensive line destroyed the Seahawks up front. Its not like you can overload the box either against the Cowboys. With Dez Bryant and Terrance Williams, Romo has two great options and then there’s Jason Witten, Romo’s BFF. If the Giants want to entertain ANY kind of meaningful football in December, they will have to win Sunday. SUNDAY IS A MUST WIN.
9. What else needs improving? I think the offensive and defensive play calling was very poor. Special teams, which I said was going to be huge, was another area that the Eagles once again dominated. They forced 10 punts and had great starting field position. The little battles like that are what ultimately help you win a game. Starting in Giants territory on most of the opening half’s drives gave an offense that likes to move fast, a shorter route to the end zone than they are used to. The Giants went to their fourth punt returner with Michael Cox fielding two. There are still areas for improvement there. The Giants never consistently ran the ball outside because Andre Williams isn’t a quick back. They should’ve used Michael Cox or lined Beckham in at RB much like Seattle does with Percy Harvin. Utilize his speed on end arounds. I would’ve liked to see them get their playmakers the ball quicker and give them a chance to make plays. If you know that the rush is coming, quick ins or outs should’ve been the audible. I never got the sense that they were making an attempt. The defense got into Eli’s face and definitely affected his timing. Before anyone starts getting any thoughts- NO, Ryan Nassib should NOT get consideration to start.
10. Random NFL thoughts- The Cowboys had the biggest statement victory of the year. Yes, the Eagles made a statement by dominating the Giants, but the Seahawks were considered the class of the NFL and winning in Seattle was considered almost miraculous for the team victorious at Century Link. But the Cowboys not only won but dominated the defending Super Bowl champs. The Cowboys have finally found the formula. A dominant running game, ball control offense and their receivers making big plays here and there, help you win games. An interesting stat that was brought up on Mike and Mike yesterday was that the Cowboys are still letting up the same amount of yards per play as they were last year when their defense was one of the worst in the league. What’s the difference? Opposing offenses are running nearly 12 less plays per game. That’s almost 100 yards of offense that’s lost. They are middle of the pack when it comes to opponents converting on third downs. They have limited the opportunities. Their defense is still susceptible and credit Rod Marinelli for crafting game plans that have allowed this MASH unit to be successful with all the changes they have had to go through. The Cowboys have an opportunity to really prove they are for real by beating the Giants this Sunday. How serious they are to be taken will be if they dominate the Giants on Sunday which I’m sure people will expect. Poor Geno. Can’t make anyone happy. No one bought any of the crappy reasons for him missing a team meeting despite the fact that he wasn’t the only Jet to make the same mistake. Then, he cost people who bet on the Jets a ton of money when he threw a late pick six which allowed the Broncos to cover. I think they have a good opportunity on Thursday night against a Patriots team who will be coming in short handed. The NFL’s brain trust really needs to explain how fining Colin Kaepernick $10K is reasonable after fining Julius Thomas $8,500 for a bad hit to Calais Campbell who will miss three weeks. The No Facts League is at it again. Also, declining the Players Association to have Goodell testify at the Ray Rice hearing will only lead to further speculation about Goodell’s handling of the whole situation. Sometimes being so tone deaf and hoping time will heal everything isn’t the right answer. I hope the Senate gets involved and forces Goodell to talk because I think its ridiculous he doesn’t. There are answers that I don’t think we will get from this NFL sponsored investigation that may have come on a witness stand. I have to give a ton of credit to Aaron Rodgers. He’s clearly a student of history. Knowing he was in the building that Dan Marino built, he took one out of the Hall of Famer’s playbook with the fake spike. He took a huge chance by throwing it in bounds and risking his guy getting tackled in bounds. The Packers were out of timeouts. But for guys like Rodgers, those plays just somehow have a way of working itself out. He also threw it to a rookie which is also ballsy considering he took a chance that the rookie had the wherewithal to know the situation. Finally, Vontaze Burfict needs to be suspended. He went with full intent to twist Cam Newton and Greg Olsen’s ankles. This is another opportunity for the NFL to put their foot down and use common sense. Here’s hoping they choose wisely this time.
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