November 16, 2004
Why did the Giants lose again?
Neil Best writes that Emmit Smith hurt the Giants as a Cardinal just as he used to as a Cowboy. In another piece Best writes about Emmit's reactions to questions about his age; he is 35. Smith is one reason the Giants lost.
Here's another: Bertrand Berry had two of his four sacks in the fourth quarter when the Giants gained only 35 yards.
Berry notes that Warner holds onto the ball longer than most quarterbacks. He didn't cause any turnovers, so we can't quite say that Waner is one of the reason's we lost. Nevertheless Shaun Powell wants to see Eli Manning play.
We can blame the passing game overall:
New York's Tiki Barber rushed for 108 yards on 21 carries, but had only 28 on nine attempts in the second half.“They decided to sell out and stop the run, and we weren't able to respond with anything in the pass game,” Barber said. “We didn't protect Kurt, and that put us in a bad position as the game went on.”
Another reason the Giants lost is because they had 10 penalties for 97 yards. Arizona had 3 for 15. Ralp Vacchiano writes that penalies are pushing the Giants further and further from the playoffs.
A lot of things are hurting the Giants. The passing game and the penalties are the biggest culprits now.
Posted by James Trotta at November 16, 2004 12:16 AMI do think it's time to switch to Eli, but not simply because you've dropped a couple games that you should have won.
Kurt Warner has shown that when he's hot, he's deadly. But when he's cold, he just keeps on his downward path and has no ability to right himself.
Warner is damaged goods for the rest of this season. Get Eli in there and keep him there, regardless of how he performs. Because he can use the reps to gain experience he'll be able to use next year, and Warner will not be able to perform at a high level again this season.
Posted by: Tom at November 16, 2004 8:27 AMNo QB in the world will have any passing success with the Giants until they get an offensive line that can at least slow down the pass rush, and get some real PRO receivers, not the pretenders that now exist on the Giants team, such a shame to see the best QB in history have to suffer such humilation with such a loser team!
Posted by: Ted at November 16, 2004 11:06 AMFor three season, three season ago, he was great. What's he done since? I mean aside from selfdestruct and hurt his team through stupidity and selfishness? Best QB in history? On what crack addict planet?
Posted by: Tom at November 16, 2004 1:43 PMmy only worry is that eli will get hurt. I definitely feel its time for Eli to step in. Warner definitely holds onto the ball too long. You cannot tell me that these last few games don't remind you of when the Giants played the Rams when Warner was on their team. Sack. Sack. Fumble. Sack. The guy has no business holding on to the ball as long as he does - especially when he knows that rush is coming. I know he is a good qb but he won't be able to break the bad habits this late in his career. This is a good time to put Eli in and see if he can do it or at least get him in sync for the future.
Posted by: seamus at November 16, 2004 3:30 PMWell I don't know if it's worth arguing over now that Manning will start against the Falcons, but I would add that Coughlin defended Kurt some more yesterday, saying he doesn't hold onto the ball too long, etc. etc. Kind of reminds me of when he was defending Dayne even though he still made the switch to Cloud...
Posted by: James Trotta at November 16, 2004 5:52 PMJames, I think Coughlin is just helping the players with their egos. When you demote a worker of any stripe it is important to keep up their morale. Demoting them is hard enough. No reason to tear them down.
Posted by: seamus at November 17, 2004 12:33 AM