NFL-Giants: NY Giants football news

The Hartford Courant names a few keys of the game sfter reviewing how the Giants defense simplified things for the Redskins game:

1. The Giants have to contain the Falcons running game while still playing their own brand of football. In other words, dictate the game to the opponent – beat them at your game instead of playing their game.

2. Score a lot. Force the Falcons to pass more. Of course that requires a few things:
2a. Protect Manning.
2b. Overcome any noise issues.

I think we can do it. Now all the Giants players and coaches need to do is go prove me right.

We have a few articles on how Whitfield is mad at the Falcons GM. Here’s one in the Star Ledger, here’s one in Newsday, here’s one in the Post (which adds that Feeley is also mad at “Bitch McKay”). It seems like every other paper has one too, but let’s move on.

Eli Manning faced the Falcons in his first start. He’ll need his extra experience because he might need to do a lot of damage for the Giants to won this game. The Falcons defensive line is real good and their linebackers are good too so running is going to be difficult (although New Orleans was able to do it so there’s still hope for Tiki Barber and Brandon Jacobs).

The Falcons are hoping too, hoping that they can get into the endzone which they haven’t been very good at lately. Despite that, you’ve got an Atlanta paper that worships the glory of the Falcons amazing running game or something like that. Hopefully, the bye week didn’t give them time to find a solution to their red zone woes.

Injury wise, Gibril Wilson is questionable because someone stepped on his toe. Sounds crazy, but apparently they knocked the toenail out. I’m sure it’ll hurt but that’d be a cool place for a tattoo.

Despite the surprisingly good defensive tackle play the Giants have seen so far his year, I couldn’t help but take notice when I read this on John Murphy’s Yahoo column:

Kansas State defensive tackle Quintin Echols became a real pro prospect during the second half of last season, especially after games against Texas Tech, Texas A&M and Colorado. His hard work off the field, which included paying closer attention to his diet and staying up late watching game film, led to him becoming more of a vocal leader on the field.

The senior has ideal size for a nose tackle (6-foot, 320 pounds) and has recorded 18 tackles, 2½ tackles for loss and two forced fumbles in six games. He has shown good quickness off the ball, has been timed around five seconds in the 40-yard dash. He can help collapse the pocket of opposing offenses when he fires off the ball low and keeps his pads underneath him. That tends to keep blockers off balance and gives them a small target thanks to his compact/stout frame.

What more can you ask for? A big man with size to stuff the run, speed to pursue, and explosiveness to collapse the pocket. Plus he’s known for his good work ethic. Almost oo good to be true…

It may not happen against the Falcons, but Bob Glauber reminds us that Strahan is close to breaking LT’s franchise sack record. Steve Serby writes about the same thing.

Something else that may not happen against the Falcons, is Sinorice Moss getting on the field. However, he did say that he hoped to play Sunday… Jeremy Shockey is another health question mark for the Giants.

We know the Giants will have their hands full with Vick and Dunn. Still the Falcons haven’t been an offensive juggernaut recently so the Giants defense might have another good day.

We should also find out if the Falcons defense is for real. They have been doing well so far and should be getting Abraham and Hartwell back. Still the guys they’ve been beating up on:

Granted, Atlanta hasn’t faced the NFL’s more high-octane offenses.

Carolina without wide receiver Steve Smith is like a gun with no bullets.

Tampa Bay couldn’t score in a harem.

And Arizona … well, Kurt Warner might consider returning to his old job stocking grocery-store shelves.

I want to start talking about the next game, but the Giants vs. Redskins game is still the one making all the news. The biggest concern for Giants fans is Shockey’s foot / ankle injury. It might be time for Giants fans to accept that Shockey is injury prone. Shiancoe is a good backup, but maybe we need a third tightend who’s more of a pass catching threat than Rich Seubert. Still, watching Seubert come in as a blocking tightend was pretty cool so maybe we should keep him as our #3 tightend.

The best news is that Giants coaches are finally letting their players outplay (instead of trying to out-think opponents):

To a man, the Giants talked about how their coaches flipped their focus during the bye week. Instead of complicating the defense, Tom Coughlin and defensive coordinator Tim Lewis opted to simplify it.

“It was guys being more prepared,” said Pierce, who, along with Brandon Short and Gibril Wilson, had a team-high six tackles. “Coach simplified some things for us, trying to make things easier so we could just read and react, not think as much. We went out there and had the performance we were looking for.”

If that continues, we should see more defensive domination from the Giants who simply have good players. However we must remember that Brunell is the weakest of the 4 QBs the Giants have faced to date. Will the Giants be able to outplay the NFL’s best offenses or will they need to outscheme them at some point?

The Redskins blogger I exchanged questions with asked where the hell was Sean Taylor? Apparently Taylor was busy threatening Brandon Jacobs. If you like reading people who criticize the Redskins defense, here’s another article, this one from the Washington Times. Interestingly, he says that Carlos Rogers may never be ready to take over for Shawn Springs. That’s why I called Carlos Rodgers a reach on April 24, 2005. I freely admit that when I’m right it might be more luck than skill but I’m still going to brag about it whan I’m accuarate.

Back to the posisitve stuff, the Giants. Glauber tells us about Tiki Barber’s motivating message that the Giants have to make themselves good. It also helps that Barber does more than talk; Tiki leads by example. Steve Serby reminds us that Tom Coughlin also gets a lot of credit while Paul Schwartz reminds us that the Giants needed this win badly.

We played a good game. A few Giants penalties were irritating, and when the Giants got the ball at their 44 in the 4th quarter and couldn’t put the game away, that was disappointing. But overall we played a good game. I mean after the offense failed to put the game away the defense stepped up. Washington gave us the ball back. Tiki Barber had some nice runs to pick up yards and eat up the clock. It was like watching Giants football again. Then Brandon Jacobs comes in and picks up a big first down with a nice run. Sweet! We kick a field goal to go up 19-3 and the game is pretty much over with less than 3 minutes left.

The Giants defense deserves credit. Brandon Short did well replacing Carlos Emmons. Nice to have linebacker depth! Speaking of backup linebackers, Chase Blackburn did a nice job on special teams cover units. The starting linebackers played well enough, but not great. Pierce dropped an interception and Arrington wasn’t in on many tackles. That’s fine with me; it’s a team game and we don’t need one guy to have big numbers. If everyone gets the job done all year like they did today, the Giants are all set.

The Giants defensive line played well. Despite a number of blatant holds that went uncalled, we got good pressure from our front four. Strahan and Robbins picked up big sacks. Cofield still looks like a real NFL defensive tackle – great value from the rookie considering we got him late in the fourth round. The only downside here is that Osi Umenyiora had another quiet game. He did sack Brunell in garbage time. I didn’t see the helmet to helmet hit the refs called. I think they gave Washington 3 points by blowing that call so I don’t balme Osi there.

The secondary kept the Redskins receivers mostly covered. Sam Madison and Corey Webster get most of the credit from me. RW McQuaters played well when he was in. The Giants safeties still need to do more for me to be 100% satisfied.

Who am I kidding? I am 100% satisfied. We held them to under 100 yards passing and rushing. No way they could win with our defense dominating like that. 86 yards passing? 78 yards rushing? The Redskins 3.9 yards / rush isn’t bad but we had them much lower early in the game when it really counted. The Redskins 3.6 yards / pass is just bad (for them obviously). Something woke up our pass defense.

On offense, the Giants didn’t put up big points but they moved the ball consistently, put together long drives that wore down the Washington defense, and didn’t turn the ball over. In other words the offense played well. They did get lucky when Petigout recovered Tiki’s fumble (Sean Taylor made a nice play there – no need to worry about Tiki) but there’s nothing wrong with a little luck.

The offensive line didn’t give up a sack. Eli did face some pressure, often from the blitz (nice job by Jacobs picking some blitzers up) but came through with the big passes. Eli hung tough and there is no question – he is our QB and we’re lucky to have him. If you think stats are important his completion percentage was closer to 70% than to 60%: 23-33, 256 yds, 1 TD, no interceptions.

The Giants receivers hauled in some nice catches, didn’t drop too many (Shockey had what I felt was an important drop), and everyone showed up to play. Tim Carter might not lose the #3 job even if Sinorice ever gets himself healthy. Nice game Tim!

The offensive line had some nice run blocks and Tiki averaged over 5 yards a carry. Hard not to win when you do that.

On special teams, I already mentioned our coverage units when I mentioned Chase Blackburn. Tyree didn’t do much, but other guys were able to get the job done. Chad Morton looked better than he has all season. The Giants did miss a 47 yard field goal attempt, but we made 4 others.

Defense (awesome), offense (good against a strong redskins D), and special teams (better than the other guys) – we outplayed the Redskins in every phase of the game. Let’s build on this very solid effort.

If you’re counting the Giants are 2-0 in the NFC East. Washington is 0-2. Now we get to watch the Eagles and the Cowboys beat each other up…

Ernie Palladino has a good article on the Giants situation at WILL. Short is expected to start but also expected to play primarily on running downs while Wilkinson will play more in the base defense. With any luck, Wilkinson’s speed will help him cover more ground in the Giants empty looking zone. Also, he jad a couple stops for no gain or loss against Seattle (coming in for Emmons) and if he makes a few more big stops like that we’ll all be happy on Monday.

Well we’ll be happy on Monday if we get good play from our WILL and if the secondary plays well. At least Coughlin says they are doing better in practice.

I did a question exchange with a Redskins blog, an excellent idea that I can’t take credit for. You’ll definitely want to check out that blog now and before the Dec. 30 game and possib;y inbetween. Kind of like scouting behind enemy lines without the extremeskins crap. Anyway, check it out!

1. Which teams have defended Santana Moss best and what were their strategies for taking Moss out of the game?

Santana the Redskin has been very consistent with his number of catches per game. Never less than 2, never more than 10. The difference between a good game and a bad game for Santana is delimted in yards per catch. Santana is a two-way receiving threat, both as the short man in traffic as well as the streaking-behind-the-defense long man. Santana’s first TD catch of 55 yards against the Jaguars was caught six yards downfield, and Santana spun around a direct hit at the 10 yard line. The 68 yard TD catch in OT was long for that night at 25 yards.

Against the Cowboys, though, on Monday Night last year, Santana’s two TD catches were caught 30 and 45 yards from LOS. If Brunell can get it up there, Santana’s open.

The games where Santana has not been open deep or had the YAC on the production have been at the Giants (last season’s slaughter) and at home against the Raiders last season. In these games, he had a regular number of catches, but under 60 yards. I don’t figure this season’s games into that calculation. If I were though, it’d have to be the Texans, who held him to 50 yards on 6 catches. That’s his worst catch-yards this season.

2. Will the Redskins offensive tackles be able to handle Umenyiora and Strahan one on one?

Not sure. Osi and Michael have combined for 18 tackes and one sack so far. They are due for a breakout game, and even though history is against the Giants after the bye, this is as good a game as any.

Jansen v. Strahan and Samuels v. Umenyiora is going to be epic. If Redskins lineplay is like the Jaguars game, yes. The Redskins offensive line was moving the Jaguars’ defensive line back as the game wore on. If it’s the lineplay from the Minnesota game, no. The Redskins looked overmatched and bewildered by the Vikings’ rush schemes.

3. Many Giants fans are calling for a more aggressive defense that knocks receivers off their routes; could this be effective against the Redskins quick, short passes?

I thought the Redskins’ gameplan for the Texans would have been a great opportunity to test out some longer passes, the timing routes, some play-action. Instead, the narrative about the Redskins gameplan was about how the shorter, ‘high percentage’ passes would solve the attacking defense of the Texans. Whatever we thought we saw in Houston, it worked. All day.

The difference here would be that the Giants, though not up to their game yet, are a real defense and so I would assume the quality of attack would be of higher quality in New York than Houston. Mario Williams may be a great player someday, but right now, he’s worthless as the NOOP (Number One Overall Pick).

So to your question, I believe Al Saunders is showing a basic part of his philosophy with this part of the offense, that against an attacking defense, someone is out of position and so someone is open.

My opposing gameplan for the Redskins’ offense would be to take away that open man short by playing bump and run and man to man on the corners, forcing the Redskins to run in the middle and throw over the middle. They had success with that against the Jaguars, but at this point, that performance is still the exception.

4. Why hasn’t the Redskins defense looked as tough as they did last year?

Injury and scheme. Shawn Springs is still injured, and even though I have badmouthed Springs in the past, it’s obvious how much this defense relies on him. My beef all along with Springs has been that he’s got the injury bug. Never the same injury twice, but he’s been dinged so much in his career that you have to think that compensating of one injury leads to another. WTF your abdominal is torn off the pubic bone and you wait until training camp to have surgery?! Still, when he comes back, I think Gregg Williams will be more confident in the corners.

In the scheme department, I truly believe Williams’ philosophy is to protect the Redskins offense. As the Redskins offense has moved upwards statistically, the Redskins defense has moved down. It was ranked 3rd in 2004 (Gibbs’ first year back; 7th pass / 2nd rush), 9th in 2005 (10th pass / 13th rushing — how does that work?) and in this season so far, ranked #15 (26th pass / 5th rushing). The Redskins appear to prefer living on the edge. That means the offense has to get better, because the defense won’t at least until Springs gets back. Memo to Tim Lewis: pass over the middle and send the corners into man to man downfield.

5. Who’s going to win in the trenches and why?

The Giants offensive line will be challenged by the Redskins defensive line. The Redskins are improving and held the Jaguars to 33 yards rushing. Can’t blame that on the Redskins’ offense going out to a big lead. It was a back and forth game and the Redskins controlled the tempo on the ground the whole game. Tiki…?

The huge battle will be on the other side of the ball. If Robbins, Osi and Strahan can get it going early, that will limit the Redskins ability to use the run to set up the pass.

BONUS QUESTION: Regarding Chris Cooley, does every Redskin fan love the way he plays
or what? He’s easily my Favorite Redskin because he’s what a football player should be, tough but not flashy.

Chris is living the dream. Chris was a 3rd round draft pick, and played a key role in Joe Gibbs’ offense as the H-back in his first two seasons. 71 catches last year, Joe’s never had a TE or H-back that productive. He has a good sense for the underneath seams and as we saw against the Jaguars, can work the sidelines as well. He has not trended the same production this year, which is pretty much attributed to his Al Saunders role as a TE v. his Joe Gibbs as an H-back. As the season wears on, he should see more action.

Off the field, he’s the tabloid boy. He diddled not one but two Redskins Cheerleaders, Christy and Frankie, getting them both fired. Last I heard last season, he had took up with the second one as his girlfriend, but I also think I heard he’s moved onto blonder pastures. Like Sean Taylor’s upside v. his stupid penalties, Chris Cooley will be a favorite as long as he’s productive. The moment he drops off, the whole Spicoli thing won’t fly in town.

I recently did a question exchange with Curly R’s Redskins blogin which he answers my questions about the upcoming game and I answer his. Here are his questions and my answers:

1. Giants’ Offense. What’s your take on Eli? Is he developing? He’s already thrown 5 interceptions this season and been sacked 9 times. He doesn’t seem always to be on the same page as the receivers. What critical development factor is Eli missing and how long will the Giants’ faithful have confidence in him?

Eli’s passing has been more accurate than it was last season, particularly at the end of last season when he kind of fell apart. I believe two of the interceptions cam when Giants receivers knocked balls into the air that should have been caught but the other 7 are obviously an issue. It seems that the Giants offense doesn’t use enough high percentage passes. Typically, Eli is throwing the ball down the field. The longer the ball is in the air, the longer defenders have to make plays. To fully develop, Eli needs to do a better job of throwing the ball where there are no defenders who can make a play on it. I think he’s getting there, and that’s why Giants fans still have faith. We’ll have confidence in Eli for a long time. His come-from-behind heroics against Philadlephia gave us a good feeling that even the 1st quarter of the Seattle game couldn’t take
away.

2. Giants’ Defense. How serious is starting weakside linebacker Carlos Emmons’ injury and how does his loss affect the Giants’ defense? Will Allen and Will Peterson are gone, but the defense is giving up lots of points (over 30 per game) and lots of passing yards (nearly 850 yards in three games). What’s the problem with the Giants’ secondary and how are the Giants’ planning to control the Redskins?

Well, the injury is not unexpected. Emmons has had an injury every year he’s been a Giant. He was even injured when we signed him. How serious a loss Emmons is depends on the replacement noone has really seen, our 3rd round pick, Wilkinson (or less likely Brandon Short). Emmons strength is supposed to be covering the tightend from the SAM position, which he wasn’t doing in the first three games. Considering how soft the Giants zone looked with Emmons in there I don’t see how there could be a big dropoff. How could the giants zone get any worse? Emmons is a big, tough run stopper. Wilkinson is faster, but less experienced. I don’t have the answers but will he fill the right gaps? Will he be fooled by play action? Will he be a tough, reliable tackler?

To control the Redskins, Giants fans want to get rid of the soft zone and play tough. We remember the good old days when Giants linebackers were knocking receivers off their routes. Sadly, I don’t think that’s what the Giants plan to do, but they will try to tighten up that zone.

3. Giants Roster. Who’s your breakout player for 2006? If you had a mulligan on one player acquisition from last offseason, who would you use it on, why, and who would you have wanted in his place? What are the top two offseason priorities for this team?

Brandon Jacobs looks to be a breakout player for 2006. He’s running tough. Sinorice Moss has been the biggest bust so far since that quad of his has kept him off the field for a very very long time. However, rather than replace hime with another draft pick, I would say IR him and keep Curtis Deloatch (now with the Saints) on the roster. The Giants special teams miss Deloatch.

4. Tom Coughlin. If history served, tight end Jeremy Shockey would be benched for at least part of the Redskins game for comments about the Giants being outcoached and outplayed against Seattle. Wednesday, Coughlin said Shockey would start. Is Coach sacrificing principle for expediency, trying to win now and save the season and/or his job? Or was Shockey’s transgression simply not as serious as others that have earned a benching?
Is Coughlin losing the team? Where is the fanbase on Coughlin?

To my knowledge, Coughlin never said he’s bench Shockey. Most fans feel Shockey has a big mouth but in this case we agree that the Giants coaches need to do a better a job. We’re fine with TC’s handling of the players but not fine with the game plans on offense or defense. The penalties are frustrating as well but no one really knows how much of that is on the caoch and how much is on the players. I don’t see Coughlin losing the team.

5. Finishing Strong or Finished Off?. After winning the Division last season, expectations for 2006 were high for the Giants. The team had to deal with injuries and controversy on the week off, and the Giants already have a problem coming off the bye, where they are a combined 3-14. Can they turn it around? How do you see the NFC East shaking out?

It’s true that the Giants have sucked after byes for a while. I don’t follow statistics like that; to me the players control the game and history isn’t even an influence. Can they beat the Redskins? Yes. The Redskins have the weakest offense of the teams the Giants have played
so far (basing this on performance to date, not potential). Either the Giants defense will pull itself together and the Giants will win or the Redskins offense will have breakout game and the Giants will lose. I see the Giants winning the NFC East (the defense will wake up sooner
rather than later), Dallas finishing second (Strong defense will win some games and their receiving threats will win a few more for them), the Redskins third (I don’t see enough depth to withstand more than a couple of injuries), and the Eagles 4th (their injury problems are
already costing them games).

BONUS QUESTION: Tiki Barber. His first couple of seasons, he was finding his place on the team, and now he’s a bona fide star. What was your honest take when the Giants drafted him, and where does he fit now in the pantheon of Giants ball carriers?

He didn’t make much of an impression until he came in for Rodney Hapton one time. You could tell he was just much faster than Hampton and more exciting to watch. In other words, I didn’t notice when we drafted him but I noticed the first time I saw him play in an NFL regular season game and was impressed. Tiki is the greatest Giants running back. As elusive as Megget and as tough as Hampton who were the guys I grew up watching.

Disagree with my answers? leave a comment and tell us why.

Giants fans get punched and abused in Philly. No wonder they actually like Brian Dawkins, that less than human crapbag.