Tag Archives: New york football

Musings, observations and the occasional brilliant insight on the Giants week 2 loss to the Colts.

– This game was over by the half and I didn’t sit through the rest of the game to see garbage time TD’s.  At 24-0, the Colts had the Giants beaten and demoralized.  Save for a long pass to Mario Manningham in which Eli Manning, had he released the ball a second later, wouldve been hit and possibly fumbled the ball.

-The killer play was Dallas Clark’s TD to make it 17-0.  Over the head grab, Willie Mays style, to get a TD to extend the Colts dominance.   The Giants never were in this game and it reeks of them being unprepared which is something rarely seen in a Tom Coughlin led team.  The line played horrifically bad and worse they didn’t make a single adjustment.  Even when they went into shorter drops the Colts’ Dwight Freeney and Robert Mathis would get to Eli.  David Diehl and Kareem McKenzie were badly mismatched and worse, never received any help.  Not a single time.

– The worst part was that it seemed the game plan, instead of playing to their own strengths (which would’ve worked well considering run defense wasn’t their strength) was to play to theirs.  They tried to catch the Colts off guard and air it out except they couldn’t get anything going in the passing game since Freeney and Mathis were pasted onto Eli’s jersey it seemed. The playcalling (which put the Giants down in the first place) gave Indy a big lead and Peyton, over anyone else knows how to milk a lead and bleed the clock.  Offensively playing to the Colts strengths was bad but defensively operating out of a 4-1-6 (tackles and ends-linebacker- defensive backs) formation Peyton called run after run and Joseph Addai made the Giants pay.  They took the pass away but they couldn’t stop the run which was also because the Giants were unable to get into their rotations which affected the freshness of the group.  The run kept the Giants off balance for the eventual play action which Peyton and Dallas Clark executed to perfection.

– The domination done by Freeney and Mathis told the story that’s been of major concern for the Giants: the offensive line which has been a strength for many years, is on its last legs and clearly needs an injection of youth.  Not just in next years draft but it has to be of high priority for years to come.  William Beatty is still not where the Giants want him to be, which is sad since they were begging him to beat out Rich Seubert in training camp for the job.  The group has been together so long and done such a good job that it was almost overlooked by GM Jerry Reese, who other than Beatty hasn’t used a high draft pick on a O-lineman since 1999 when it selected Luke Pettigout.  That line is all over the age of 30 and watching Eli Manning protected by a bad O-line is a sad and pathetic sight.

– Eli’s performance was completely affected by his inability to get protection.  He’s not the most graceful in the pocket or nimble so it was kind of hard to get away from the constant pressure.  It was clear that Eli’s mental clock was sped up and he feared the pass rush almost always and he played scared for most of the day.

– The worst part of the gameplanning was that the Giants went away from the run.  The DNA of the Giants is a power running attack and yet they consistently went away from that philosophy instead being happy to throw the football and air it out since it seems they have fell in love with their air attack.  Ahmad Bradhsaw, who is the unquestionable number one RB on the team, had a gaudy 5.2 YPC and consistently makes yards on his own and with Brandon Jacobs benched for temporarily going insane, Danny Ware got some action and was able to show some skills as well.  In years past, the Giants would’ve went head on with their running game and attacked the Colts and punished them and taken time off the clock.  But they played right into the Colts hands each and every time and gave them nothing but more and more time operate their offense.  It was as if the Giants were GIVING the game away.

– Brandon Jacobs actions from Sunday night are NOT excusable.  First off, I don’t care that he was trying to throw his helmet to the padding: thats B.S..  He should’ve played without a helmet for the rest of the game and Coughlin should’ve sent him back in.  Its becoming increasingly clear that Jacobs is no longer the punishing back, but not because he can’t do it, its because he’s showing he doesn’t WANT to do it.  On the play that apparently started the whole mess, Jacobs was supposed to run straight ahead and instead tried to cut and make a Chris Johnson move and try to get to the opposite edge against speed rushers like the Colts.  The Colts strength is speed, which again is playing into the hands of the Colts.  By doing that, it gave them more time to line up the blow to the knees.  Meanwhile if you see a big 6’4 260 pound guy coming at you full speed 95 % of the league is bracing for the impact and not trying to clip the knees.  I realize he’s taken a pounding but his role has been clear since day one.  He’s the enforcer.  He sets the defense up for Bradshaw’s cuts.  But Jacobs doesn’t WANT to run north and south, he must think he’s Barry Sanders with all the cuts and the moves he does, but he isn’t.  Jacobs went to the sideline and, according to him, the helmet slipped while he was trying to fling it to the bench and it got thrown about 10 rows deep where a fan caught it and tried to make some money off of it but to no avail.  Jacobs should be fined.  Jacobs should be suspended by the Giants but neither of those things will happen.  He was irresponsibly reported to be mouthing off to Colts fans but it was later changed to: he was apologizing to fans for throwing it up there which I CAN believe.  I don’t think he meant to throw it up there but when it happened he was genuinely concerned for the fans safety.  As for rumors he requested a trade, hold your horses: it wont happen.  The Giants won’t just give Brandon Jacobs up because he asked for it.  Clearly there needs to be an understanding.  That needs to come from Jacobs.  Jacobs has NEVER been a true number one and like I wrote from day one, neither is Ahmad Bradshaw.  But the Giants named Bradshaw the starter and Jacobs has to understand that.  To change that, he has to get back to being Brandon Jacobs.  80% of the league still fear him and don’t want anything to do with trying to tackle him.  If he comes in with a chip on his shoulder and runs north and south the Giants will be successful and ONLY then.  His runs help set up Ahmad Bradshaw’s cuts and Danny Ware’s jukes.  The ONE thing I want to see moving forward from the Giants is that.  Getting back to the running game and the Giants season hinges on that game plan coming back.

– Week two didn’t go as the Giants had hoped but with Kevin Boss getting back and hopefully getting back to the power run game, its time to get back to old school football.  They ran into a determined Peyton Manning who was not going to let his team go down 0-2 and get beat by his younger brother in his season home opener.  There were too many forces at work but in reality I’m making too many excuses for how poorly the Giants played.  With that idiotic game plan they would’ve been destroyed by the Browns.

TEAM GRADE FOR WEEK TWO: F