NFL-Giants: NY Giants football news

This BBI message board thread seems to be from a former high school coach of Will Blackmon who is taking Kiwanuka’s place on the roster now that Kiwi is on IR. Certainly makes it easier to root for Blackmon and though it may be unfair to blame Reynuald for the Giants uninspiring return game (some blocking would be nice), nothing wrong with spicing things up.

This is a blog entry you should check out if you like the Xes and Os as it goes into pretty good detail on a Giants blitz scheme.

The Giants beat the Cowboys today despite a number of turnovers from the offense (5, 3 interceptions and 2 fumbles) and a special teams breakdown (punt return for TD). The defense was stout and knocked another starting QB out (Romo with a broken collarbone). You hate to see guys get hurt but you like to see your defense bringing it to the bad guys.

Other than giving up a Dallas 73 yard drive in 8 plays and 1:15 (that cut the lead to 41-35 with under a minute to play) the Giants defense saved the day. They were able to keep getting their jobs done despite watching the offense and special teams try to give the game a way a few times.

Tynes had a nice night (did anyone seriously expect him to make the 53 yarder?). Most Giants did, really, mistakes from Eli Manning, Ahmad Bradshaw, and Brandon Jacobs notwithstanding.

Not much I can say, really. Our defensive line depth looks to be OK for now with Umenyiora and Canty playing very well. It sucks for Kiwi personally (this being a contract year). Here’s the article.

Interesting video commentary here about the new NFL and the league’s desire to remove “devastating hits” from the game. Was this devastating?

Or just good football?

Anyway, here Matt Millen says there are so many receivers in bad spots because receivers and QBs can’t read defenses. It’s also suggested that this is not the players’ fault – defenses are too complicated these days.

Giants improved to 4-2 after beating Detroit. The main reason the Giants beat the Lions would be winning the turnover battle as the two teams seemed pretty even otherwise (which could be slightly unnerving considering Detroit was down to their 3rd string QB after the

What I found interesting:

Osi is on fire with the sacks and forced fumbles and it is awesome.

Bear Poscoe should be the new Giants fullback and I don’t see where Madison Hedgecock belongs on Big Blue.

Ahmad Bradshaw is a very good NFL RB – today he had more help than usual in terms of good play from the FB (see above) and holes from the offensive line. 19 carries, 133 yards, 7 yards per rush average. Nice.

Still have to wonder about Matt Dodge – some good kicks but the fumble was rough…

See the recap and other stuff in the videos section on NFL.com.

This blog has a great analysis of what went wrong for the Houston Texans last Sunday. He focuses mostly on Schaub’s poor play and Fewell out-coaching their guy. It’s a good analysis with gifs to show you a few plays that demonstrate what he’s saying.

5 weeks in.  Giants sit atop the standings of the NFC East.  Sound familiar?  A somewhat decent short term memory can bring you back to 5-0 mark that Big Blue posted just a season ago.  What followed those first five games however is something we wish our memories could flush down the toilet.  While a 3-2 record is nothing to go all crazy about, I beg to offer the notion that this has been a much more impressive start to the quest of an NFC East Championship because of how the Giants are playing against, at the very least, playoff contenders.  While 3-2 does not separate them from their division opponents, they appear to be the class of the division.

Dallas Cowboys (1-3)

As usual, Dallas won over the prediction portion of the season that, well, means absolutely nothing.  They are still coached by what appears to be a clueless fan.  They still put more yellow flags on the field than almost every team (2nd most per game in the league).  Their offense is sporatic and erratic.  And DeMarcus Ware is the only defensive player in the front seven worth scheming around.  Despite a beautiful, enormous stadium, they are 0-2 at home and 0-1 in the division.  They face an uphill climb as they approach their remaining 12 games and lets be honest, when has Dallas ever responded well to adversity over the past decade? 

Philadelphia Eagles (3-2)

Talk about an ongoing quarterback controversy.  First:  A trade of a legit franchise player within the division.  Second: A poor start by Kevin Kolb and an injury that put Mike Vick behind center every down.  Third:  Monster performances by Vick that had Eagles nation talking Super Bowl (Are you surprised?).  Fourth:  The inevitable injury to Vick occurs which leads to..Fifth:  A gutsy performance by Kolb on the road in primetime that leads Philly to their third win.  What we will see from here on out behind center is anyone’s guess, but the Eagles are hands down the best coached team in the division.  They bring a balanced attack on both sides of the ball and when every team here is matched up against each other at their best, I give the nod to these guys.  However such a young team with a sub-par offensive line is a recipe for failure down the stretch, thus I see them being a bubble team in December.

Washington Redskins (3-2)

Prior to kickoff weekend, I was telling anyone that would listen to me, watch out for the Redskins.  Think about it.  Two things have kept Washington from being a year in, year out contender.  The Quarterback.  The Head Coach.  Arguably the two most vital components to a winning franchise.  They went from current Raiders backup Jason Campbell to Donovan McNabb, one of the most winning signal callers in NFC East history in an era where the division was consistently strong.  They also went from Jim Zorn, current quarterbacks coach in Baltimore, to Mike Shanahan, a probable hall of famer after he retires.  Talk about upgrades!  They have always had a tough defense and after seeing them give up just 7 points to Dallas, 12 to the Eagles, and 13 to the Packers in their three victories, it is hard to believe this team will disappear by Thanksgiving as they have in years past. 

While The Giants have company at the top of the division, they have hit a stride that looks nearly unstoppable.  Eli Manning, other than his scary INT total right now, appears to be in front of a young arsenal leading the way to a top tier passing attack.  The two headed monster out of the backfield has had two strong weeks in a row and the offensive line finally seems to have gotten their chemistry back.  If the defense can keep just 80% of their current level of play, they will finish stronger than what we had here in 2007.  Super Bowl bound?  Lets hold off on that now.  Winning the division is first and foremost and the Giants seem to be right where they were at this time a year ago.  Lets hope the result is different.

Sure the offense gets some credit for scoring early and forcing the Texans to pass more than they probably wanted to, but the defense is the story of this win of the Texans. Even when running was a real option, Houston running back Arian Foster (NFL’s leading rusher, averaging 6.1 yards per carry) was held to 25 yards on 11 carries for a 2.3 average.

The Giants secondary contained Andre Johnson as well as can be expected. Some speculated that the ankle slowed him but this indicates the ankle was not an issue and the Giants defense just did the job: “he felt no soreness in his ankle in the locker room after Sunday’s loss to the Giants. Johnson racked up 95 yards on five receptions and a team-high 13 targets against New York.”

The defense forced some turnovers, neutralized the Texans’ big threats, won in the trenches all day. Victory!

This Perry Fewell quote is why I hate zone blocking offensive lines:

“When you play a team like this, they like to cut block you and that type of thing and they get your hands down, so they take your mind off of ‘I’ve got to stay in this gap or I’ve got to do this,’ because (the defensive players are) trying to protect themselves a lot. So, we’ve just got to get over that mental barrier of, ‘Hey, it’s going to happen man, but we’ve got to be where we need to be though.’”

Plus it’s just more manly to take your guy head on and push him around and football is supposed to be a manly sport. Anyway, here’s hoping that the Giants defensive line can protect their knees, stay in their gaps, and throw the Texans’ offensive lineman around on Sunday.