What Went Right
Not much.
Brandon Jacobs
13 carries, 76 yards (5.85 YPC), one TD
Jacobs looked positively dominant this game, despite the fact that the Cards burned the frigging house down to stop him, putting 8 or 9 men in the box every time he took the field. The biggest indication of Jacobs' stellar running was his 12.5 YPC on FIRST DOWN!! The line and Hedgecock blocked well for him, and Jacobs hit his holes with power, making for a few very effective runs. Sadly, he only ran on 4 first downs, and only had 13 carries all game. Not good numbers for a team that is supposedly centered around the run.
Hakeem Nicks
4 catches, 80 yards (20 YPC), 1 TD
Granted, 62 of his 80 yards came on one catch, but that was a great heads-up play by a rookie. Bravo to Nicks for staying in the play on a ball to someone else, keeping his eyes on a tipped ball, then finishing the play in the end zone. He almost looks like a veteran player out there, and is likely to work his way into a starting role opposite Steve Smith by year's end. He also should have drawn a pass interference penalty in the end zone in the 2nd Quarter, when Bryant McFadden was guilty of some blatant face-guarding and jersey grabbing.
Defensive Blitzing
They didn't do it as often as Bill Sheridan boasted (only 16 blitzes on 38 called pass plays), but it was effective when it happened. The blitz, by my count, resulted in 1 interception and 2 sacks (19% called blitzes resulted in impact plays). Makes you wonder why they rushed only 4 men on the other 22 passes. I've always understood that blitzing is like running the ball: the more you do it, the more effective it is late in games. The Giants sustained neither, even though they did both effectively.
Corey Webster
Despite a weak performance against the Saints last week, where Webster wasn't the worst out there, number 23 has been fantastic this year. Larry Fitzgerald, arguably the best receiver in the NFL, was held to 2 catches in the first half by Webster. However, in the second half, Webster was rarely assigned to cover Fitz, and he lit up for another 4 catches for big gains (CC Brooooooooooooown!!!). Nonetheless, for the first half, Corey Webster eliminated Larry Fitzgerald from the game, which is tremendous. I just need to know why Bill Sheridan took him off Fitz in the second half (and ruined the game plan).
Justin Tuck
5 tackles, 1 forced fumble
This is mainly for that fumble Tuck forced in the first quarter, as he had a somewhat quiet game after that. But on that particular play, Tuck shot right by RT Levi Brown and grabbed Tim Hightower in the backfield. Go back and watch the play again, if you're able, and you'll see that Tuck spins Hightower to the ground not by any part of his body, but by the ball, which directly resulted in the fumble. Great play by Tuck, and an extremely smart move. Also, kudos to Tom Coughlin for challenging that play, as it was totally the right call.
What Went Wrong
Game Planning
As mentioned above, I'm extremely disappointed in how Kevin Gilbride got away from the running game this week. The Giants had 23 first downs (16 earned), and ran the ball only 9 times on those first downs, only 4 of which were by Brandon Jacobs. This guy is viewed league-wide as the tone-setter for the NYG offense, and only ran it on 25% of the Giants' first downs?! Also, on plays where the Giants needed 3 yards or less, they called pass plays on 5 of them, even though Jacobs converted a 4th and 1 in a big way in the fourth quarter. A 37/25 Pass-to-Run ratio is unacceptable for this team. I get that they want to take advantage of the speed of the receivers, but you run to set up the pass. There was no play action in this game, and Arizona blitzed like crazy as we didn't use run plays to slow them down. The Giants started this game with 3 straight pass plays, basically telling the Cardinals "We're not even gonna try to run it on you." What happened to asserting your dominance on the ground and dictating the pace of the game?!
CC Brown
Once again, CC (Can't Cover) Brown had a rough day. I kept track of how many plays he messed up by either missing tackles, getting there late, or blowing coverage, and I counted 6 big ones. In the NBA, this is called being "posterized," as in, "You're the guy getting stiff-armed on the Beanie Wells poster," or "you're the guy way in the background on that Anquan Boldin catch when you should have been covering him." Brown was nowhere near the screen pass to Tim Hightower that set up the Cardinals first touchdown, and a review of the tape reveals that covering Hightower was Brown's responsibility on that play. Why wasn't he withing 15 yards of the receiver, then? Bad safety play could completely sabotage a good team this season.
Eli Manning
Eli's been really good this year, so I'll go easy on him. But he wasn't throwing to open receivers on any of his interceptions. I'll give him a pass on the second one, as it was tipped at the line by a 6'8" defensive lineman, but the other 2 were bad decisions. This is partially the fault of Gilbride, who should have put the ball in the hands of Brandon Jacobs, not Eli Manning, to set the tone for this game. Either way, Eli needs to play better against good teams to take this team anywhere. The fact that the Giants suck against 3-4 defenses is immaterial, as they need to learn to beat those teams.
Notes
The refs had another rough game this week. Mostly, Alberto Riveron's crew called a decent game, but there were some flagrant fouls that were not called against the Cardinals. First, I have to look at the obvious pass interference on Bryant McFadden on Hakeem Nicks in the end zone. McFadden was guilty of face-guarding (never turning to play the ball), and even if they don't call that, he had Nicks wrapped up before the ball got there, so they could have called him twice. Second, and most egregious, was the helmet-to-helmet hit put on Kevin Boss by Antrel Rolle. It was obvious in live action, and replay made it clear. With the league's stance on player safety, how do they not call that by default, then pick up the flag if they're wrong?! Boss is lucky to not have a concussion, and those extra 15 penalty yards would have completely changed the 4th quarter as the Giants attempted their come back. And finally, on the play where Ahmad Bradshaw was called for punching Darnell Dockett, Dockett needs to be penalized for defensive delay of game, as he layed on top of Bradshaw and wouldn't let him get up, killing valuable comeback time.
Speaking of comebacks, if Mario Manningham catches that pass in the second half for an easy touchdown, this is a totally different game. When Eli throws a beauty right into his hands at the goal line when he's beaten his coverage, he's got to pull that in. According to the NBC play by play, that's Manningham's 7th drop of a catchable pass this year, in only 7 games. He's got to get that sorted out, or he won't be much use late in the year.
Again, sorry for the lateness, but I had to study this one. The usual Wednesday feature will be up this afternoon, and picks go up tomorrow. Here's hoping the Giants can rebound against the Eagles on Sunday!
~Freeze
The refs had another rough game this week. Mostly, Alberto Riveron's crew called a decent game, but there were some flagrant fouls that were not called against the Cardinals. First, I have to look at the obvious pass interference on Bryant McFadden on Hakeem Nicks in the end zone. McFadden was guilty of face-guarding (never turning to play the ball), and even if they don't call that, he had Nicks wrapped up before the ball got there, so they could have called him twice. Second, and most egregious, was the helmet-to-helmet hit put on Kevin Boss by Antrel Rolle. It was obvious in live action, and replay made it clear. With the league's stance on player safety, how do they not call that by default, then pick up the flag if they're wrong?! Boss is lucky to not have a concussion, and those extra 15 penalty yards would have completely changed the 4th quarter as the Giants attempted their come back. And finally, on the play where Ahmad Bradshaw was called for punching Darnell Dockett, Dockett needs to be penalized for defensive delay of game, as he layed on top of Bradshaw and wouldn't let him get up, killing valuable comeback time.
Speaking of comebacks, if Mario Manningham catches that pass in the second half for an easy touchdown, this is a totally different game. When Eli throws a beauty right into his hands at the goal line when he's beaten his coverage, he's got to pull that in. According to the NBC play by play, that's Manningham's 7th drop of a catchable pass this year, in only 7 games. He's got to get that sorted out, or he won't be much use late in the year.
Again, sorry for the lateness, but I had to study this one. The usual Wednesday feature will be up this afternoon, and picks go up tomorrow. Here's hoping the Giants can rebound against the Eagles on Sunday!
~Freeze
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