Last night's loss by the New York Giants was frustrating. They had a chance to steal a game they truly had no business winning, but even after finding a way to take a fourth quarter lead, they managed to blow the game behind awful special teams, untimely penalties, costly turnovers and decisions that made you just shake your head. That all combined with the fact the Giants are a team with a ton of key injuries made for a second Sunday in a row that can only be described as frustrating. Here were my top 5 frustrating moments:
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| Eli Manning's fumble added to a frustrating night of football (Star-Ledger) |
- Eli's Fumble. So Eli Manning decides to scramble on an important 4th down and 6 with 2:51 left and actually has a first down. I repeat: ELI MANNING SCRAMBLED ON FOURTH DOWN AND ACTUALLY RAN PAST THE MARKER. Awesome! Well, until Manning decides he needs to get down and instead of a) sliding feet first, b) running into the defenders and trying to get more yards, or c) just dropping to a knee, Manning chooses d) and bellyflops (or something just as graceful that may not have words until now). And in doing so, he fumbles the ball and basically ends the game for the Giants. True, the game wasn't over there (look at what happened in the Texans-Jets game), but nothing could be more frustrating then how that play ended. And The Blue Screen reports that the team is frustrated by what Tom Coughlin is calling "a callous disregard for the football." Can't think of a better way to describe this bonehead play. As the Star-Ledger's Steve Politi wrote: "[Manning] is a Super Bowl MVP with a $100 million contract. He has to be smarter than that at this stage of his career." Yup.
- Pierre-Paul's jump. Most will remember the 4th down run for a TD (which was awesome playcalling by the Eagles, so I tip my hat there even though the frustration of how lucky the Eagles got on that play from the bobbled snap to Osi's just-miss of the ball still bother me), but the most frustrating play on the drive (to me) was the offsides on Jason Pierre-Paul, a rookie I really do like but once in a while gets caught making rookie mistakes like this. I'll just let ESPN's Matt Mosely take over here: "The Eagles faced a third-and-5 from their 45-yard line when Pierre-Paul was called for being offside. That put the Eagles in a much better situation, allowing them the luxury of trying to throw on third down. We may never have heard about "39 Crunch" if not for Pierre-Paul's mistake. How can a team coached by the ultimate disciplinarian make so many critical mistakes? It's a mystery to me, but the Giants once again had a double-digit penalty game. And this was after they only had six penalties in a loss to the Cowboys." It will not be easy to practice under Coughlin this week.
- Not taking a timeout before halftime. Timeouts are perishable goods and I don't understand why some teams leave them sitting on a shelf (these aren't rollover minutes). The Giants left 3 very good timeouts on the shelf in the first half and at least one of them could have been useful. The Giants had stopped the Eagles at the end of the half with about 20 seconds left and a 4th and 19 coming up. Instead of calling the timeout, the Giants let the Eagles run the clock down to 4 seconds and call their own timeout. If it was 4th and 4, I can see not calling the timeout there and giving them a chance in case you jump offsides--but it was 4th and 19 and they elected not to call the timeout as I screamed at the television. "True," I said to Ben W as we watched it, "it was unlikely the Giants would do anything on a kickoff return, but wouldn't you at least like the chance?" In the end, the move looked a lot worse when the Giants blocked the kick and returned it back quite a few yards. Now the Giants looked really foolish because instead of a chance at a quick play and then a long FG, they let the clock expire.
- The Giants' second quarter offense. The Giants defense (read: Justin Tuck) was actually very impressive in the 2nd quarter, holding the Ealges to two field goals (and a blocked FG) with drives that started in the red zone, but the offense was just atrocious. The Giants had the ball 3 times in the 2nd quarter. The first possession was 1 play for 1 yard and a Bradshaw fumble. The second possession was 2 plays for -2 yards and an interception. And the third possession was a robust 5 plays, 20 yards...and ended in a punt. The Giants defense had a huge game but the Giants offense just couldn't keep them off the field. Bradshaw has been the biggest offender here and I'm not sure what the solution is at this point. He has the Tiki Barber-like "oopses" and although Brandon Jacobs is not that sure-handed, you wonder how much the touches will shift after another fumble-laden performance (remember, Bradshaw had another fumble that was overturned).
- The Special Teams ain't all that special. Will Blackmon and Matt Dodge should just be cut now. Politi called it "a Pop Warner kicking game" and I think that's about right. Dodge has some boomers but he also has way too many shanks to be on a contending team. And Blackmon joins Reynaud as inept returners on this team. Can they not put Aaron Ross or DJ Ware or Ahmad Bradshaw back there to return? I rather Hakeem Nicks and his elusiveness (though even he had a fumble on the Giants opening drive) rather than the garbage the Giants have shown.
With all these frustrations comes the fact it could have been worse. The Eagles receivers dropped a ton of open passes, the Eagles stalled out in the red zone three times and had a field goal blocked. But even with it, you felt the Giants had a chance to win and steal one in Philly. Instead, they leave Week 11 with the real possibility they will be on the outside looking in when the playoffs start. The Giants sit at 6-4 with the 5-5 Redskins breathing down their necks and a slew of teams at 7-3 including the Bucs, Eagles, Bears, Packers and Saints. The Giants have a three-game stretch of winnable games they must take: Jacksonville and Washington at home and then the Vikings in Minnesota. The last three games of the season are no sure bet (Philly at home and then at Green Bay and at Washington) so it may take a sweep of the next three to propel the Giants into the playoffs. Can they recreate their 2007 magic and make the playoffs or is the 2009 collapse happening again? We'll find out soon enough.
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In case you didn't hear, Hakeem Nicks is out for at least three weeks with a leg injury...
ReplyDeleteMatt Dodge has a cannon for a right leg. I mean, that thing is nasty. G-d help the poor defender who someday flings his body in front of a Dodge rocket...that guy will regret blocking such a powerful kick. In fact, I predict that Dodge will someday lead the league in punting average. But not yet, and not anytime soon. He needs some time to develop in the minor leagues for a while.
ReplyDeleteWhat? There's no minor leagues under the NFL? Okay, too bad, then it's time to cut Matt Dodge. He's too green, too much of a liability on a team that has playoff potential. I can't even watch every time he lines up to receive that long snap. So guess what, it's time to GET THE HECK OUT OF DODGE. (Someone had to say it...)
Totally agree that Eli's fumble was inexcusable. I sometimes forget how unathletic Eli can be. I mean, the guy makes most of the necessary plays with his arm and his head, but he's not so good at improvising on his feet. For a $100 million QB with a Super Bowl ring + MVP, that play is something you never want to see. A true game-ender.
ReplyDeleteOn the other hand, I'm not so upset about the Pierre-Paul offsides. It was tough to swallow at the moment, but fortunately (since it was 3rd and almost 6) the Giants still had an opportunity to stop them on 4th and less than a yard. They just didn't do it. Good defenses pick each other up, and the G-men failed that time. So I think we should all restrain ourselves and not get down on JPP, who will probably become Osi 2.0 in a year or two.
Anyone else feel like muting Cris Collinsworth last night?? The man couldn't shut the hell up about Philly's "outstanding protection" of Mike Vick. Sorry, not buying it. The Giants rushed 4 pretty much all night. Given that Philly rarely features an empty backfield, on the vast majority of plays it was 4 Giants vs. 6 Eagles (five lineman and an RB). When Celek was in there, it was actually 4 vs. 7. Rarely do those matchups result in pressure on the QB.
The few times the Giants blitzed (usually with a corner such as Rolle or Ross) I feel they met with a lot of success. They rolled him out to his right, where Vick is forced to tuck and run rather than throw to Maclin/Jackson downfield. And one time it resulted in a sack/fumble by Tuck. So my question is, why on earth didn't the Giants blitz more? Was sitting back in coverage where Vick could pick apart the secondary (thanks to enjoying that 6 vs. 4 blocking advantage) a better option in Coughlin's mind?? Why not try putting more pressure on Vick? The Giants have the best d-line in the game (arguably) and they didn't use it enough with the help of their backers and corners.
Last thing. There are 2 reasons why the Giants are where they are: injuries and turnovers. One problem can be fixed, the other can't. To the Giants RBs, QB, and WRs: hold on to the damn ball, throw the damn ball where you're supposed to, and stop tipping the damn ball.
Did anyone else think that Eagles kickoff returner was dead when he took that hit on the 2nd half kickoff?
ReplyDeleteYeah...that injury was scary. That's a tough one to watch, even if it is the hated Eagles.
ReplyDeleteJay, as far as the blitz was concerned, I think the Giants got lucky quite a bit when receivers dropped passes. I think the blitz looked better in that light. But I think that they had a much better gameplan than Washington with the blitzing.
But I did agree with you that the Eagles were putting a lot of guys in protection. I think Brent Celek caught one pass because he was so busy protecting Vick's backside from Osi.
Hmm, I think the Pierre Paul play is more frustrating than Eli's. I'm sorry but I consider it the play of the game. This is what is often overlooked in football games. Penalties are huge and sometime they alter the game completely. The giants stopped the Eagles on 3rd down. He essentially gave him another chance which is always a bad thing. Also, the Giants were winning at the time and get the ball back. I know, they could go 3 and out or turn the ball over and the Eagles still could have won but the bottom line is they would have had a chance to run some clock out with the offense. And I do know the 50 yard run never happens if it weren't for the offside.
ReplyDeleteI actually give Eli the benefit of the doubt on this one (gulp!). It's a freak play and they were losing at the time anyway. As mentioned, he's not an athletic person so he's not used to running like this. Granted, I'm upset that he didn't slide headfirst. I just don't think because he makes $100, he shouldn't be susceptible to making an occasional mistake (he does throw too many INTs though)
But look at his brother for example, chump yet again. Big #'s, and throws an INT as he's going for the win against NE, classic!