Same Old Giants Fall Apart in Green Bay

Walking onto the Frozen Tundra of Lambeau Field (TM) yesterday afternoon, the Giants had the late-season luxury of controlling their own playoff fate.  Win and they'd be in.  The Packers, meanwhile, really had to sweat.  They had to beat the Giants, beat the Bears next weekend, and still their playoff ticket wouldn't be officially stamped.  So to say this was a must-win game for both teams would be an understatement.  And I couldn't have been more excited.  This is how late December football is supposed to be: two playoff-caliber teams playing a do-or-die game in the freezing cold with the season on the line.

Photo Credit: NY Daily News

Except only one team played like the entire season was at stake.  The Giants apparently never recovered from the hangover they sustained after collapsing at home against the Eagles last week.  Ever since they had that fateful 31-10 lead against Philly with 8:10 to go in the 4th quarter, the Giants have been outscored 73-17.  As painful as that statistic is to read, the actual gameplay has been even harder to watch.  Put simply, the Giants have played some awful football.


Note to Tom Coughlin and the Giants: no more lollygagging!!!


So, where to start?  Let's begin with the Giants' pass defense.  Due to a recent concussion, Aaron Rodgers was something of a question mark heading into the game, but he surgically dissected the Giants' secondary like it was a practice squad.  One thing I could not figure out through the entire game -- and apparently the New York Times also picked up on it -- was why Perry Fewell had the Giants in a Cover 2 scheme against a Packers team that's packed (heh heh) with talented deep-threat wide receivers in Greg Jennings, Jordan Nelson, and Donald Driver.  Play after play, there was Rodgers throwing to a receiver at least 5 yards in front of the closest DB.  You could see that Green Bay made an early (and obvious) adjustment to the Giants' defensive scheme.  In fact, on the first play of the Packers' second possession, Jordy Nelson took a slant 80 yards right up the seam for a TD.  This defensive approach may work next week against Rex Grossman, Chris Cooley & Co., but it was a weakness that the Packers exposed in a big way.  The result was Rodgers passing for 404 yards and 4 TDs.  Ouch.

Read more>>

A Look at the Giants: Black and (Big) Blue

8-4. That's a pretty good place for this Giants team to be considering they started 1-2, have suffered through a ridiculous amount of injuries on the offensive end, and looked to be dead at halftime of the Jaguars game two weeks ago. Now, with a game coming up against the Vikings this week followed by a home game against the Eagles next week, the Giants have to be eying a division win. But while it's fun to look ahead, let's take a look back at this big Giants drubbing of the Redskins.

Brandon Jacobs had the Giants off to the races Sunday (NYT)

It's a bad idea to judge a team right after playing the Washington Redskins, but with all the Giants injuries, it was impressive to see how they methodically worked their gameplan on offense. Brandon Jacobs got 8 touches for 103 yards and two TDs (I don't have a problem resting him at the end of the game...Jacobs' biggest issue is he gets run down from so much physical running) and Bradshaw carried 25 times for 97 yards and a pair of TDs (getting him to 1,000 yards on the season). The most important part for me about the early run success is it allowed the Giants to start fast for the first time all season.

Derek Hagan has filled in fantastically at wide receiver catching eight tough passes on Sunday for 65 yards. Rich Seubert has adjusted to playing center so well that not only is he not a liability, but if you look at most of those Giants runs, Kevin Gilbride was running his backs right up the middle with Seubert--and the guards Chris Snee and Kevin Boothe--leading the way. Bear Pascoe has been awesome as well, having to fill in at fullback and not only throwing "some hellacious blocks", but proving to be a viable passing option as well coming out of the backfield (and with Kevin Boss and Travis Beckham gives the Giants three legit passing TEs). And on special teams Danny/D.J. Ware gave them a legit kickoff return man (can we just cut Darius Reynaud at this point?) while former Redskin Devin Thomas had a superb game on special teams with the triumvirate of a big tackle, punt downed inside the 5 and a blocked punt.

But while the offense was impressive, let's not forget what the defense did: 6 turnovers--and it could have been two more if Deon Grant had held on to an easy interception or pounced on a fumble he had his hands on. When Mathias Kiwanuka went down with a season-ending neck injury, the Giants looked to be in trouble but Jason Pierre-Paul (like Justin Tuck when Kiwi went down in 2007) has stepped up big time. Two more sacks for Pierre-Paul after two last week to go along with a forced fumble, a defended pass and a fumble recovery. He seems to be motivated by teammates and coaches challenging him. And the man plays special teams with speed that is usually reserved for guys half his size.

Read more>>

This Year's Giants Look a Lot Like Last Year's Giants

24 hours after the New York Giants buried the Cowboys in Dallas, Giants fans are elated. Another game over and another quarterback knocked out. Moore, Cutler, Collins, Hill, and Romo has become a personal injury firm of beaten down QBs (and in the age of putting every hit under a microscope, all of those hits were legal). The passing game looks lethal and the defense looks dominant. The Giants are 5-2 heading into their bye week, tied for first in the NFC, on top of the NFC East, and looking like one of the best teams in football.

Overcoming injuries like Kiwanuka's is a sign of a good team (Star-Ledger)

And it really doesn't feel too much different than last year.

At the quarter mark last year, the Giants were 4-0 and looked unstoppable. I predicted 11 wins, but Jay was more bold saying they were a 13-win team "at worse". Yeah, well, it was much worse. The injuries piled up. They got embarrassed on Monday Night Football to fall to 5-4. The Giants finally won their first game in 42 days and looked like they could jump right back into the playoff race. And then they laid down to end the season.

So what's different a year later? Well Big Blue has turned into "Jet Blue" and the Giants offense seems to be more in sync. Osi Umenyora is back as a defensive force and Perry Fewell's defenses are not just imaginative, they're effective. But although the defense has looked better, they still have allowed the opponents to stay in the game every game this season--a bad sign for a team that's supposed to go deep into the playoffs. They turnover the ball way too much and although Eli Manning is probably on his way to a Pro Bowl, he still makes decisions that make us all show our "Manning Face". The special teams is anything but special and actually has been the Giants biggest problem area. And let's not forget this team is less than a month away from calls for Tom Coughlin to be fired.

My thoughts? I think this is a playoff team, but the road there is not going to be easy. The Giants have a bye week at the worst possible time considering they're hot and they're healthy. They come back from the bye and go right to Seattle to play a Seahawks team who is very, very good at home, play Dallas at home in a very winnable game, and then they have to go to Philly for a very tough division match-up. After playing Jacksonville and Washington at home (again, two winnable games) the G-men's last 4 games will truly test their might as they play at Minnesota, host the Eagles, and then close at Green Bay and at Washington.

Read more>>

Tommy's Gotta Go! The times they are a-changin in the Meadowlands

A quick note before we get started: the title of this post is a nod to the song "Scotty Doesn't Know" that was featured heavily in the highly underrated comedy Euro Trip.  Sung by the actual band Lustra, the ditty is heard multiple times in the movie with Matt Damon as the lead singer.  It is a truly awesome song that features, in its closing moments, a line of Scotty's Gotta Go! that I think works well here in the head coaching context of the New York Football Giants.

In 2007, the Giants lost their first two games by a combined 32 points and nearly started 0-3, save for a last second comeback on the road in Washington.  That win was the start of a six-game winning streak that rescued the Giants' season.  Head coach Tom Coughlin ended up leading the team to three straight playoff road wins (including a gutsy battle on the literally frozen tundra of Lambeau Field) and a most unexpected Super Bowl title by taking down the then-undefeated New England Patriots with a little help from an overpowering D-line and a ridiculous heave-and-catch by Eli Manning and David Tyree.

The key to that season?  Coughlin's personal turnaround.  Going into that season, Tommy C had a reputation for being an old-school hardass who worked his players relentlessly during OTAs, minicamp, and weekly practices.  He was no-nonsense and verbally abused his own guys frequently.  He didn't tolerate laziness or sloppy play.  How miserable was this man?  Nine months after winning Super Bowl 42, Coughlin was still voted the head coach that NFL players would least like to play for...by a whopping 5% margin over runner-up and noted cheater Bill Belichick!

But Coughlin realized that after the Week 3 comeback in DC, he needed to change his ways.  He had lost the confidence of his players and the team just wasn't playing up to its potential.  He saw a sign of improvement and he took advantage by loosening up, taking the edge off, and letting his players play.  The more hands-off he became, the better the Giants did on the field.  Less was more, and suddenly Coughlin was back in control of a winning team.

But there are problems once again in 2010.  Coughlin has lost control of his team and the G-men are floundering.  What's wrong and how do we fix it?

Read more>>