So far so good… The Giants got the 2009 regular season off to a good start with a workmanlike 23-17 win over division-rival Washington at the Meadowlands on Sunday afternoon. And while the final score was just a tad too close for comfort - the Giants had to field an onside kick in the final two minutes after Washington had cut the deficit to an unconverted TD - the ultimate result probably flattered the Redskins who didn’t score an offensive TD until those final two minutes. Indeed, at the time they started their final drive of the game with just over 3 minutes left on the clock, the Redskins had been outgained 350 to 200 yards by the Giants and were it not for a TD on a fake FG at the end of the first half this one would have been more of a laugher.
However, while the effort against the Redskins was workmanlike, the Giants were never consistently that crisp or intense over the course of the contest. The running game really never got going and, in particular, the Giants really struggled to in short yardage and red-zone situations. In the long run, though, the fact that the Giants may not have been all that sharp and this past week may not be necessarily a bad thing. Super Bowls aren’t won in September or October in the NFL where the regular season is more a marathon than a sprint and there is a lot to be said for building to a peak in the later weeks of the schedule. At the same time, of course, in the very competitive NFC nobody wants to get too far behind in the early going because making up ground later will not be easy. All that said, here are some random thoughts from Sunday’s win over Washington.
The offensive player of the game was WR Steve Smith, who, at least for a week, answered the question whether the Giants’ had anyone capable of stepping up and replacing Plaxico Burress as the team’s go-to receiver. Smith had 6 receptions for 80 yards, including one twisting, acrobatic catch in traffic that would have made Plaxico proud. Smith also clinched things when he came up with the Redskins onside kick try, and, for good measure, also made the final block on fellow WR Mario Manningham’s 30-yard TD reception. For his part, Manningham served notice that he is going to fun to watch this fall as he danced down the sidelines for that score in the process leaving a handful of would-be Redskins’ tacklers in his wake. Meanwhile, TE Kevin Boss also had an excellent afternoon as he caught 3 passes for 62 yards and consistently stretched the Washington defense. It would still be nice, though, to see Boss also used more as an underneath receiver on a regular basis.
DE Justin Tuck was named the NFC defensive player of the week after posting 1.5 sacks and 2 tackles for loss against the Redskins, however, CB Corey Webster gets our defensive game ball against the Redskins. Webster took star Redskins’ WR Santana Moss, who had 79 catches and over 1,000 yards last fall, completely out of the game holding him to just 2 receptions and a measly 6 yards, while making a highlight-reel interception of his own. Nice game also by Chase Blackburn, who got the start at WLB with the absence of Michael Boley, and didn’t look out of place; in particular, Blackburn sniffed out a couple of gadget plays by the Redskins that he helped turn into losses. SS Michael Johnson also had a couple of nice sticks.
Meanwhile, undrafted free agent CB Bruce Johnson gets the nod for rook of the week. Johnson was forced to move up to the nickel corner because of injuries to Aaron Ross and Kevin Dockery, and while the Giants gave him lots of help, was more than solid in coverage. Dockery also chipped in three tackles including an assertive open-field stop of Clinton Portis that denied the Redskins a first down deep in Giants‘ territory. Meanwhile, 2009 first rounder Hakeem Nicks was the only other rookie to get on the stat sheet. Nicks dropped the first pass that came his away, but caught two others later on before being forced out of the game with an ankle injury.
Overall, though, it was a hardly the start the Giants, or their rookies, had in mind when the team gathered for the opening of camp early last month. Neither LB Clint Sintim nor WR Ramses Barden were even activated for Sunday’s game. And while it wasn’t a total surprise that Barden didn’t dress, it has to be a disappointment that Sintin, the team’s second round pick who was one of the stars early on in camp, also was kept on the sidelines. Meanwhile, TE Travis Beckum did dress, but didn’t get on the field for any regular snaps. For the record, when the Giants went to their 3-TE package, back-up OT William Beatty lined up at one TE with Darcy Johnson at the other, while Kevin Boss was the motion man out of the wing-slot.
Save for two plays, QB Eli Manning played a solid game. Manning completed 20 of 29 passes as he did a nice job distributing the ball. And while he still threw a few too many ducks, Manning generally found the open man and put the ball where it could be caught about as well as he has ever done. Manning also made maybe the most athletic completion of his career when after tucking the ball away and starting to lumber up field he spotted Boss breaking open over the middle, pulled up and put the ball right on Boss’ numbers for a big gain.
In the end, though, QBs are ultimately graded by how well they take care of the football and Manning turned it our twice against the Redskins on a fumble and interception. The fumble can be excused as Manning had his face mask grabbed on the play although there was no call by the officials. The interception, though, was more egregious as for the too-manyth time in his career Eli he tried to get the ball 30 yards downfield to a receiver who was double-teamed while throwing off his back foot. Worse, the throw was totally unnecessary as it came deep in their own territory with the Giants sitting on a reasonably comfortable 10 point lead late in the 3rd quarter. Fortunately, Justin Tuck and the rest of the Giants defense rose up and held the Redskins to a FG in a situation in which a TD could have really changed the flow of the game.
It also maybe a good time to ditch that particular play once and for all. In fact, Manning’s interception came on what was virtually the same play that resulted in the disastrous interception early in the playoff game with Philadelphia last January when the Eagles returned a Manning pick to the Giants one-yard line. Its a waggle route on which Manning roles to his right after faking a handoff to the left. For the play to have any chance, though, the DE has to be fooled into over pursuing the play down the line of scrimmage. If he doesn’t bite, though, the DE has an clear, unblocked path to Manning whose only escape route is to backpeddle and put up a prayer off his back foot. What’s especially frustrating is that even when it works, the play doesn’t usually generate much more than a few yards!
Meanwhile, Giants’ RB Brandon Jacobs likely won’t be including too many clips from Sunday’s game in his career highlights film. Jacobs averaged less than 3 yards per carry against the Redskins as he totaled only 46 yards on 16 carries. Jacobs appeared to be a little tentative at times when hitting the line of scrimmage and just didn’t seem to have his usual power and drive. In particular, Jacobs wasn’t able to convert a number of short yardage chances including a fourth and inches at the Washington 5-yard line. At least on that one Jacobs could contend that there wasn‘t much push by the offensive line. Later in the game, though, he literally froze in the Giants‘ backfield on a 3rd and one in the 3rd quarter. The play was a sprint draw and after taking the handoff Jacobs took a step to his left, stopped and took a step to his right when he saw a blitzing DB coming up field and eventually was tackled right on the spot for a 4-yard loss. What made the play odd was that there appeared to be a nice lane straight ahead through which Jacobs could almost have strolled to the first down.
Meanwhile, OG Rich Seubert is likely thankful he won‘t be seeing Washington DT Albert Haynesworth again until December 21st when the Giants play the Redskins in D.C. Truth be told Seubert would probably be just as happy to never see Haynesworth again after being manhandled on Sunday. The failed 4th down gamble in the 2nd quarter was perhaps Seubert’s worst moment. He actually got some help from David Diehl on the play and only had to seal off Haynesworth’s pursuit lane, but appeared to literally just fall off the block allowing Haynresworth to fill the hole and stuff the play at the line of scrimmage.
Second-year CB Terrell Thomas also probably had some uncomfortable moments in the film room on Monday. Thomas got the start in place of the injured Aaron Ross and actually didn’t appear to have any problems working off the corner on early downs, but really struggled to stay with quicker Washington receivers like Antwan Randle El when lined up in the slot in nickel packages. And continuing a somewhat disturbing trend from pre-season, Thomas missed a couple of open-field tackles, although he did deflect a pass late in the game. SS C.C. Brown also took a bad angle on the Redskins’ second TD late.
The highlight of the day for the Giants, though, came when DE Osi Umenyiora, who missed the entire 2008 season with a knee injury, announced that he was back in the game when he not only stripped the ball from Washington QB Jason Campbell, but scooped it up and dashed 37 yards for a TD that really put a dagger in the Redskins early on.
In watching the game tapes, though, one got the feeling that Umenyiora still isn’t back to 100%. In fact, the forced fumble and recovery was the only play that Umenyiora made all day against the Redskins and even that play was something of a fluke as he was actually being forced well wide of Campbell, but was able to reach out and knock the lose as he was going by. In particular, Umenyiora just didn’t look that explosive coming off the snap and seemed content simply to try and run around Washington LT Chris Samuels. For the most part, though, Umenyiora just ended up taking the great circle route to the QB and too often ended up running himself out of a lot of plays. It wasn’t until mid-way through the 4th quarter that Osi finally made a hard cut back to the inside after taking a step upfield and drove to the pocket, in the process leaving Samuels floundering on the edge. Unfortunately for Osi the Redskins ran a quick slant on the play and the ball was out by the time he got to the QB, but it was the first real sighting of the old Osi. Fact is that even after a player returns from a serious knee injury it can still take time to fully regain their original physical strength and timing. Then there is the emotional side as it can also take the player time to regain the confidence that the knee will actually hold up in the heat of the game. Hopefully as the season progresses there are more and more sightings of the old Osi.
In fact, in the end the entire Giants defensive front didn’t get a ton of pressure on Campbell on a consistent basis on Sunday. Most notably, the Giants really didn’t get much consistent penetration up the middle which allowed Campbell room to step up get a lot of passes off. At the same time, though, the DTs did a much better job clogging up the middle against the Redskins run game with Barry Cofield, Rocky Bernard and Chris Canty each making at least one nice stuff.
However, after finally getting back on the field after missing almost the entire training camp with a slightly torn hamstring, it appears that Canty will be sidelined for another while. He will definitely miss the Dallas game on Sunday night with what is being described as a calf injury. In fact, the early-season injury situation, especially on defense remains a major concern, although there are a couple of positive notes. CB Kevin Dockery, for one, should be good to go Sunday against the Cowboys after he sat out the Washington contest. Meanwhile, the Giants should also have OLB Michael Boley in some capacity Sunday night in Dallas. Boley was activated this week after serving a one-game suspension for violating the NFL’s personal conduct code as a result of an old domestic violence charge back in his days in Atlanta, although its not clear how much he’ll play after undergoing surgery on his hip this summer.
At the same time, though, there still doesn’t seem to be even a timetable for the return of CB Aaron Ross who has been out with a hamstring issue pretty much since the start of training camp. There are also concerns that FS Kenny Phillips will be forced to play much of the year on a sore knee. If nothing else, it looks like Phillips will have to take a day or two off from practice on a weekly basis over the course of the season. Meanwhile, SS Michael Johnson was limited this week by a neck stinger, although he is expected to play Sunday night in Dallas.
And while it has been the defense that has been banged up to date, the offense took a couple of hits on Sunday when both WR Hakeem Nicks and back-up RB Danny Ware were nicked last Sunday against the Redskins. Neither injury appears to be all that serious, although both will miss at least 2-3 weeks. The loss of Ware, who broke the first commandment in the RBs code by putting his free hand down to brace his fall while returning the opening kick-off and dislocated an elbow for his troubles, though, is problematic because the Giants only kept 3 RBs on the roster.
To fill the gap at RB, the Giants claimed Gartrell Johnson off waivers from San Diego. Ironically the Giants had actually considered taking Johnson with their 4th round pick at the 2009 draft before settling on RB Andre Brown. Johnson was ultimately taken 5 picks later by the Chargers and made their original 53-man roster, but got caught up in the numbers game when San Diego needed to add some depth along their defensive line. And Johnson looks like he could be a nice fit with the Giants offense. He’s a bruising 220-pounder who ran for over 2,800 career yards at Colorado State, including over 1,500 as a senior last fall. Johnson is also a solid short-yardage back who is also a good blocker and receiver and could work at FB in a pinch. What you are not going to get from Johnson, though, is many big plays as he isn’t very fast at all with a 40-clocking in the 4.7 range. Still, Johnson is the kind of productive back who could very well stick even after Ware gets back. Indeed, the Giants liked Johnson enough to sign him over several proven veterans including Domenic Rhodes, T.J. Duckett, and Lorenzo Booker whom they reportedly had in for recent tryouts.
In fact, the Giants led the league in player transactions this week. In addition to activating Boley and claiming Johnson, G/T Tutan Reyes and DT Leger Douzable were released from the 53-man roster, while the practice squad got a makeover as DB DeAndre Wright, RB Allen Patrick and TE Kareem Brown were released while TE Bear Pascoe, CB Michael Coe and G/T Jacob Bender were signed.
CB Coe may be the most interesting practice squad addition, although all three new players have some upside. Coe was originally a 5th-round draft choice in 2007 by Indianapolis after emerging as a prime sleeper that year out of Alabama State. Coe played in six games as a rookie in 2007, but spent the 2008 season on injured reserve after undergoing knee surgery and then didn‘t play much this summer because of a groin injury. If healthy, though, Coe has decent size (5-11, 190) and better speed with a 40-clocking in the low 4.4 range. Meanwhile, the appropriately nicknamed Bear Pascoe was a 6th-round round pick by San Francisco this year, but was released prior to the start of the season. Pascoe was a good all-around TE at Fresno State with soft hands and the ability to get open underneath; he was also an outstanding in-line blocker who also excelled on special teams, having blocked several kicks in college, but like Johnson is rather slow with a 40-time barely under 5.0 seconds. For his part, Bender was another small-school sleeper in the 2007 draft where he was a 6th round pick by the Jets. Bender appeared in two games for the Jets in 2007 and then spent most of the 2008 season, on New England’s practice squad before finishing the year up on the 49ers’ active roster as an injury replacement. Bender has good size at 6-5, 315 and decent athleticism, but needs to be a little more physical and nastier to stick on the roster.
Dallas on deck… Get ready for what could be one of the best games of the year when the Giants travel to Dallas to help the Cowboys open Jerry Jones new 100,000 seat football cathedral on Sunday evening. And whether the irony was intended or not the new Dallas stadium opener pits two franchises at the extremes of the pro football philosophical continuum. Jones and his Cowboys, for example, represent the flamboyant, every team for itself approach to the business, while more than any other team in the league, the conservative Giants were responsible for the league’s current corporate, share the wealth mantra that has made the NFL the most popular sport in North America.
Of course, it also won’t hurt that the Giants and Cowboys are long-time division rivals that have come to really dislike each other. The Cowboys do have something of a different look this fall having dumped enigmatic WR Terrell Owens who shuffled off to Buffalo, along with star SS Roy Williams. QB Tony Romo, though, is back and is coming off one of the best games of his career as he passed for 353 yards, including TD strikes of 80, 66 and 42 yards, to lead the Cowboys to a season opening 34-21 road win over Tampa Bay. At the same time, though, the Dallas defense was very soft allowing a less than inspiring Tampa Bay offense grind out 26 first downs and 450 total yards of offense including 175 on the ground.
As usual, the key match-up on Sunday night should be Giants’ LT David Diehl against Dallas OLB Demarcus Ware. Diehl has been known to struggle at times against top edge rushers such as Ware who led the league with 20 sacks last fall, although he was relatively quiet last weekend in Tampa Bay. Meanwhile, Giants’ DEs Osi Umenyiora and Justin Tuck will try and return the favor against Dallas OTs Flozell Adams and Marc Colombo. It will be interesting to see just how mobile Romo is on Sunday after he turned an ankle against the Buccaneers and was limited this week in practice. The Giants may also be able to exploit a somewhat iffy spot on the corner opposite Terrence Newman where Michael Jenkins and Orlando Scandrick are virtual co-starters, but neither has yet to come anywhere near the shut-down category.
This and that … Hard to believe but Dallas QB Tony Romo has thrown at least one pick in 30 of his 40 career NFL starts to date and only once has gone more than one game in a row without an interception. For the record, he didn’t have a pick last week in Tampa Bay… The Giants have not allowed an opposing receiver to gain 100 yards in 12 straight games, the second-longest such streak in the NFL after Washington which is at 14 games. That’s the good news, the bad is that the Giants themselves haven’t had a 100-yard receiver in 13 consecutive games, the third-longest current streak in the league after Oakland (23) and Chicago (14)… Next TD pass Eli Manning throws will be the 100th of his career. And in one of those ’doesn’t time fly’ deals Eli’s 99 career TD passes are already the 4th highest total in Giants’ history and he’s just a handful of games from moving into 3rd place past Fran Tarkenton who has 103. Eli, though, has a ways to go to catch either Phil Simms and/or Charlie Conerly who had 199 and 173 respectively. For the record, Eli has already moved into third place in career interceptions with 74!… If Hakeem Nicks, the Giants #1 pick at the 2009 draft, does end up missing some time with that ankle in jury, he’ll have some time to make it up as he is currently the youngest player in the league … While Steve Smith made the catch on the Washington onside kick in last Sunday’s waning moments credit to LB Bryan Kehl who picked off the only Redskin close enough to Smith to disrupt the play… With Nicks out for the next 2-3 weeks, figure that Sinorice Moss moves up to the #4 WR slot behind Smith, Manningham and Hixon. And Moss actually got in on a couple of special teams’ tackles against the Redskins including one on brother Santana… MLB Antonio Pierce may not make as many plays as he used to but he’s still about the most aware Giant out there. Pierce, for example, was the first Giant on the scene during a potentially nasty fight between CB Corey Webster and Redskins’ WR Santana Moss and while most players in that situation would have piled into the opposing player Pierce grabbed Webster, a player the Giants can ill-afford to lose for even a few plays, and pulled him away from the melee just to make sure he didn‘t get in any further trouble; it also wasn’t hard to notice that a lot of blue shirts rushed to Webster’s side during the incident, but no one from the Redskins ever really showed up…Nice coaching move by the Giants staff when after Ware was injured reducing the RB contingent to just Jacobs and Ahmad Bradshaw, both of whom had to play, they took Bradshaw off the KO return unit to save him an unnecessary hits…
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