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Carl Banks Interview on WFAN w/ Joe Benigno & Evan Roberts 10/23/09

COUGHLIN'S CORNER

By Michael Eisen - Giants.com 10/23/09

GIANTS VS. CARDINALS GAME RELEASE

By Giants.com 10/23/09

A look ahead to NY Giants vs. Arizona Cardinals

The Colts, with Peyton Manning at the helm, had success throwing at Cardinals' cornerback Antonio Rodgers-Cromartie. Will the Giants, with Eli Manning at quarterback, do the same?

By Mike Garafolo - Star Ledger 10/23/09

Pennsylvania Hall calls for Ernie Accorsi

By Ralph Vacchiano - NY Dailynews 10/23/09

Giants vs. Cardinals Preview

By Paul Dottino - WFAN.com 10/23/09

GREAT BLUE NORTH GIANTS DRAFT REPORT Vol 4, No 9 October 23, 2009

When good people go bad!!! One just got a feeling that the Giants might be in for a long afternoon last Sunday in New Orleans when CB Corey Webster had a 3rd and long pass slip through his fingers and into the hands of a receiver for a 15-yard gain that kept the Saints first scoring drive alive. One just never expected, though, that the afternoon would be quite that long!


In fact, it was so bad it is hard to know where to start, but let’s begin with the positives. And there were really were some. The return of WR Domenik Hixon gave the Giants return game a huge boost, while fellow WR Hakeem Nicks, the Giants #1 pick at the 2009 draft, had a breakout game of sorts hauling in 5 passes for 144 yards and a TD - his third straight game with TD reception. Only thing we can’t quite figure is why Nicks didn’t play much until the second half. Indeed, it is hard not to make the case that Nicks should soon be starting while the sometimes brittle Mario Manningham gets worked as a situational receiver. Bottom line is that all three look like terrific young receivers and it’s going to be difficult for opposing teams to cover them all.

The Giants also ran the ball reasonably well against the Saints with both Brandon Jacobs and Ahmad Bradshaw averaging around 5 yards a pop. Problem was that the Giants got so far behind so early they really couldn’t afford to try and force the run. Meanwhile, 2009 second rounder Will Beatty played the entire second half at RT in place of Kareem McKenzie, who injured a groin, and did not look at all out of place, although clearly the Giants need to get him on a rigorous strength training program this off-season.

Perhaps the best thing to come out of Sunday’s debacle in New Orleans was that the Giants really didn’t lose any ground to their NFC East rivals. Dallas had a by while both Philadelphia and Washington were stunned by AFC West bottom feeders Oakland and Kansas City respectively. That the Eagles lost to the Raiders - the same sad sack Oakland crew that the Giants had embarrassed the week before - was a particular shock, while Washington was left in total disarray after losing at home to the Chiefs. Indeed, the Redskins made the almost unprecedented mid-season move of for all intents and purposes demoting head coach Jim Zorn who was stripped of his play calling duties in the wake of the loss. 

Stripped is a word one also might use to describe the Giants’ defense in New Orleans, or gashed, or riddled as the league’s number rated coming into the game gave up almost 500 yards of total offense including 369 through the air. Indeed, Saints’ QB Drew Brees put on a clinic as he completed 23 of 30 passes - including 15 in a row at one point when the game was still in doubt - and four scores. And this was a true total unit breakdown as the Giants got no pressure from the defensive front, while the secondary couldn’t cover anybody. Meanwhile, defensive coordinator Bill Sheridan did a much better impression of long departed and barely lamented former predecessor Johnnie Lynn rather that Steve Spagnuoalo whom he replaced this year. 

At least for last week this is what it looked like on tape by unit:

The ends: The heart and soul of the Giants is supposed to be the pass rush of DEs Osi Umenyiora, Justin Tuck and Mathias Kiwanuka, but the unit barely registered a pulse Sunday in New Orleans. Tuck did get some penetration with some spin moves, but the Saints generally had someone available to chip him when he did get loose. Tuck also was able to get some separation going wide, but almost always had to go too deep to get around the edge and for all intents and purposes was running himself out of a lot of plays. Not much sign that his shoulder was a problem though. 

Meanwhile, it's hard to know what’s going on with Umenyiora. Umenyiora was going up against a backup LT and should have had a field day, but on most plays rather than exploding up field was basically standing up off the snap and doing a lot of head faking and bobbing and hand fighting, before finally putting his hat into the blocker and tying something of a bulrush. Part of the problem was that Umenyiora may have been playing the run first, but even on sure passing downs he looked indecisive and seldom got much penetration. On the other hand, Kiwanuka generally was coming hard off the snap, but tended to run himself out of the play as he usually was forced to take too wide route around the blocker.   

The tackles: Hard to describe a bunch of 300-pounders as invisible, but the trio of Robbins, Cofield, and Bernard seldom got off the line of scrimmage on Sunday and almost never got off their blocks. Indeed, if it wasn’t for a couple of ill-timed off-side penalties by Robbins, the unit would have had absolutely nothing to show for their efforts in New Orleans. 

One problem we did sense was that the Giants front four was lining up very tightly. On the one hand, that made it an even longer way to the edge for the DEs. At the same time, it meant that whenever a d-lineman did make a move, they often ended up running into either their own man or an offensive lineman who was actually blocking someone else. Part of the problem may have been that the Giants were keeping everyone in tight to defend the run, but even on passing downs there wasn’t separation up front.

The linebackers: The trio of Pierce, Blackburn and Clark are experienced veterans who can hold their own if there is a pass rush, but truth be told are arguably the slowest LB threesome in the league and are going to be exposed if opposing QBs have the kind of time Brees had on Sunday. They also lack the burst to be factors when blitzing. Pierce did have a hit on Brees on one blitz, but on several others on which he came on a late blitz from his regular MLB station the ball was out before #58 even got to the line of scrimmage. We hate to say it - well actually we’ve been saying it for a couple of years now - Pierce is no longer a three-down NFL LB, and while he’s still a great coach on the field, if there is no pass rush its almost like the Giants are playing with 10 men and a coach on the field in passing situations. We also had to wonder if any thought was given to giving some snaps to players like Bryan Kehl and/or Gerris Wilkinson who if nothing else are faster than the likes Pierce, Clark and Blackburn. Certainly they couldn’t have done much worse than the veteran trio which has combined for 1.5 sacks, no interceptions and 3 pass breakups through the first third of the season to date.

The secondary: For the most part, Brees stayed away from CBs Corey Webster and to a lesser extent Terrell Thomas and instead took advantage of mismatches all afternoon when star New Orleans’ WRs Marcus Colston and Lance Moore were covered, and we use the term in its loosest - both literally and figuratively - context, by a safety. We don’t want to pile on safety C.C. Brown who had about as bad a game as a starting NFL safety can have as he gave up big play after big play; indeed, on just about every key New Orleans completion #41 was in the area, while on most of those that he wasn’t around on he just appeared to be out of position. We are prepared to cut Brown a little slack as he is a natural run-stuffing SS being asked to play out of position as a FS. Still, there is no reason that a pro DB got caught flat-footed on so many balls in there. Meanwhile, nickle CB Kevin Dockery got burned for two TDs and another long gainer in his first extended playing time of the year, although it did appear he expected help - the aforementioned Mr. Brown - on both the scoring plays that had disappeared.   

The scheme: In fact, we were a little stunned that from the get-go the Giants didn’t line-up Webster, their best cover corner, on Colston all over the field, while putting Thomas head-to-head with Moore and daring the Saints to beat them either attacking the Giants best defenders or going to their second-tier guys. Indeed, it appeared that coming in the Giants’ defensive game-plan was to first stop the Saints’ running game and second not give up any big plays. Unfortunately, that played right into Brees and the Saints’ offense hands as they continually froze the Giants with play-action fakes and found great gaping holes in the Giants’ very soft zone coverage's.

Its also hard to imagine a Steve Spanuoalo protégé so reluctant to blitz, but the Giants haven‘t been as vanilla on defense as they were in New Orleans for years. Obviously, the coaches, including Tom Coughlin and DC Bill Sheridan, were concerned about having an Antonio Pierce or CC Brown get caught in man coverage against a Reggie Bush or Jeremy Shockey, but ultimately the way to help a vulnerable secondary is through pressure and the Giants brought precious little of it in New Orleans until the matter was long settled. Indeed, the Giants blitzed just twice in the first half - and ironically got their only two hits of the first 30 minutes on Brees on those two plays - and by the time the Saints put the game away at 41-17 late in the 3rd quarter had still blitzed only 5-6 times.    

DC Bill Sheridan did admit on several occasions after the game that the Saints, who were coming into the game off a bye, had changed up a lot of their tendencies and that he had been slow to react. Sheridan also admitted that the Giants should have tried to get after Brees much earlier, however, it is also hard not to note that the Giants’ blitzes this year, even in games that they have won easily, have borne little of the type of creativeness that marked former DC Steve Spanuolo’s teams, or for that matter that of Saints’ defensive coordinator Gregg Williams on the other sideline Sunday. The Saints D was continually looking for edge - and got on blitzes that forced the fumble just before the half, as well as an Eli Manning interception early in the second half  - by trying to create blitzing lanes, overloading one side or the other etc. On the other hand, the Giants’ blitzes this year have been rather scattered without much sense of co-ordination or design. And that problem gets magnified to a degree when the guys the Giants have been forced to use in their blitz packages aren’t very fast.

And the overall softness of the Giants’ defense Sunday in New Orleans was best exemplified on a play mid-way through the 3rd quarter when the Giants still in shouting range at 34-17. New Orleans, though had a 3rd and 17 at the Giants 41 and if the D needed a stop right there and then if they were to have any hope of mounting a comeback. So the Giants came with a straight four man rush and Brees was able to keep what ended up being a killer scoring drive alive by hitting a receiver for 19 yards and a first down in front of Brown who at the time the ball was released was 25 yards downfield with no one running by him when the ball was released. And Aaron Rouse, the deep safety on the side of the field on the play was actually 30 yards downfield when the ball was released without a Saints’ receiver in sight! 

What it all means: The bottom line is no one really knows. Hopefully, the loss in New Orleans was an aberration of sorts in which the Giants, coming off three solid weeks in a row, came out flat against a good team that was on its game. Indeed, Rule #5 in this business is never ever judge a player or team on just one game. And the Giants are still 5-1 with a 1.5 game lead on the rest of the division. We have also not made enough of the fact that the Giants went into the game without four defensive starters and that not having LB Michael Boley, CB Aaron Ross and FS Kenny Phillips, in particular, affected what the Giants could do in their game plan. 

It may not take long to find out who are the real Giants, however, as they host Kurt Warner and the high-flying Arizona offense featuring WR Larry Fitzgerald on Sunday evening at the Meadowlands. And here’s a hint. You aren’t going to cover Fitzgerald with a Pierce-Brown double-team no matter what kind of pressure the Giants get. A big key Sunday will be whether Anquan Boldin, the Cardinals’ other ace receiver will be able to play Sunday. He is listed as a game-time decision, but did reportedly practice yesterday.   

This and that … We originally blamed LT Dave Diehl for missing the blitz pick-up resulting in a Manning sack and fumble at the end of the first half, but the real culprit on the play was TE Kevin Boss who had leverage on that side … And while we normally are a strong proponent of going for points at the end of the half from just about anywhere on the field within reason, we were hollering for the Giants to take a knee on Sunday. True there was still enough time to possibly get into FG position even without any timeouts left, however to us it's all about a feel for the game. The Giants were down only 10 points and would be getting the ball to start the second half and had just gotten a huge boost with the goal line stand. The one thing the Giants could absolutely not afford to do at that time was turn the ball over and give those points and the momentum right back to the Saints… It probably didn’t make much difference on Sunday, but the Giants were victimized by at least four blatant terrible calls, including a PI call against Corey Webster after some incidental contact with Colston that is just never called PI in the NFL. And C Shaun O‘Hara must be wondering what he ever did to the refereeing fraternity after he was called for a second phantom hold this season on a play that cost the Giants a TD late in the game… Hard to believe but David Carr actually had a better QB rating than Brees did on the day. In fact, after completing 4 of 5 passes including one for a TD, Carr had a perfect QB rating, while Brees missed perfection by a couple of points. And don’t know if they keep records of such things but that makes it two weeks in a row that a Giants had a perfect rating after Manning’s great game against Oakland two weeks ago… Had to be a disappointing homecoming though for Manning, a New Orleans who had not played there since high school. And you could tell Eli was pressing as he was far more animated than usual and got after a few teammates after missed assignments … For those who follow college football, the Alabama sophomore RB Mark Ingram, who is starting to get some serious Heisman Trophy consideration, is indeed the son of former Giants WR Mark Ingram, best remembered for that sensational 14-yard run in the 1990 Super Bowl win…  Meanwhile, several former late round Giants’ draft picks have shown up on the NFL transaction wire over the past week or so. Houston. For example, signed G/T Tutan Reyes, who had a solid camp with the Giants this summer, but got caught up in the numbers game, while Detroit has added Giants’ 2008 6th round DE Robert Henderson to its practice squad. Ironically, to make room for Henderson, the Lions released DB DeAndre Wright, the Giants 2009 6th rounder. Wright, though was almost immediately signed to the Minnesota practice team. On the other hand, Philadelphia released DB Stoney Woodson, the Giants7th rounder this past April, from its practice squad.




Have a much better weekend than the last one!!!

London 'may stage four NFL games'

Patriots, Buccaneers Arriving In London Today
For Sunday's Game At Wembley Stadium

By BBC.co.uk - 10/23/09

NFL.com Giants vs. Cardinals Preview

Giants incredible offensive line streak in jeopardy

By Bob Glauber - Newsday 10/22/09

Giants’ Defense Joins in Some Group Therapy

Michael Johnson, right, and the Giants gave up 4 touchdown passes to the Saints' Drew Brees.

By Joe LaPointe - NY Times 10/22/09

After New Orleans loss, NY Giants defensive coordinator says he'll blitz more

Giants defensive coordinator Bill Sheridan said he wishes he'd blitzed more against New Orleans quarterback Drew Brees.

By Jenny Vrentas - Star Ledger 10/22/09

Giants' Ahmad Bradshaw decides not to kick the boot as precaution

By Ohm Youngmisuk - NY Dailynews 10/23/09

Running back Brandon Jacobs wants New York Giants to keep running

Brandon Jacobs, who has struggled in Giants' ground game this season, believes Big Blue should continue to run the ball even in situations when the team is forced to throw it.

By Ohm Youngmisuk - NY Dailynews 10/23/09