A win is a win. Not a pretty 2nd half, but so far we're the only undefeated team in the league this year.
Some good things to take out of this game and some things that.... I don't want to say concerns.... let's just say that are some things that could mitigate the good feelings and that bear some watching.
Eli threw the ball very well, especially in the first half, and Plax was getting open all night. I didn't like the INT Eli threw in the second half. At the game, it looked like he just threw it to an open area where there was no Giants receiver. After looking at the play again on video, I see that he was trying to throw to Boss, but he threw it over his head and Smoot picked it off. Since he was rolling to his left, and a DE was about to hit him, I guess he wanted to make sure he got enough on the throw to get it to Boss and the ball sailed on him. Bad decision. At that point in the game, since he was outside the pocket, he should've thrown it away. Eli's stat line doesn't look great, completing a shade over 50%, but there were a few throw-aways, a few drops, and a few plays where the WR didn't turn around in time, which is something you can expect this early in the season, especially becasue the two WRs Toomer and Plax missed so much training camp. In terms of Eli's mechanics, though, he looked sharp. Plax could not be stopped. The Giants didn't attempt anything deep, which I was hoping to see a bit of. But Redskins played mostly 2-deep zone on passing plays, with a very fast safety in LaronLandry, so I guess Giants thought the medium and short routes were best. Still - an occasional shot downfield is smart, especially with the speed we now have on the outside in Moss and Hixon.
After a few sluggish moments in the running game, Jacobs and Ward both looked really good and the Giants got more than 150 yds rushing. More important than the runners themselves was the blocking by the OL and the blocking schemes. The OL was pretty sharp against a very good Redskin DL, despite the fact that they gave up some sacks in the 2nd half. The two major things I was worried about coming into the game were: would the loss of Shockey and so-so blocking by our TE's hurt the running game. Looks to me like it didn't. Boss was OK in blocking. And a few times, Giants moved Hedgecock (I love that guy) into a slot so he could get a seal block on the DE or LB more quickly and be as effective as a TE. Hedgecock is a devastating blocker. On one of Jacobs long runs in 2nd half he absolutely whacked the LB opening up a huge running lane.
Moss caught a ball on a beautiful route to the outside. I have hopes for him. Hixon hardly got in the game.
Giants were great on D last year largely because of their pass rush. And the pass rush was good in 4th qtr largely because we had a great rotation on the DL and guys were fresh. I don't understand why we don't do that with WRs also. Stands to reason that they get a little tired at the end of the game and would be fresher if they had a few series off earlier in the game. With the depth we have at WR (Manningham didn't even dress) it seems to me that this could be effective strategy and we'd be even more dangerous in 4th qtr. Also - I would like to see the following: on 1st down run a go route straight down the field with Hixon. If it's incomplete, while the DB is still tired and breathing heavy, run the same go route at the same heavily-panting DB with a fresh Moss who comes into the game to replace Hixon. Seems to me worth a try.....kind of like a line change in hockey.
Now the worries on the offensive side of the ball: with 240 yards of offense and a time of possession of about 20 minutes in the first half, we just have to score more than 16 points. I know we scored on all 4 first half possessions, but at least one or maybe both of the short FGs should have been TDs. That would have made the 2nd half a cruise instead of slightly tense. And we made enough successful offensive plays in the 2nd half that we should not have gone scoreless. It wasn't terrible - I don't think we went 3-and-out the entire evening. And - we missed 1st down conversions by an inch twice, but still.... Of the four second half drives, two were ruined by a sack and some penalties and one was ruined by Eli's pick. You can explain why it happened and understand it, but still.... Our offesne should be great, not "just" good. We have everything you need: a qb who can make all the throws, very good OL, good possession WRs, good speed WRs, best fullback in FB, depth and speed at RB. There is no excuse for getting shut out in a half and for scoring only 16 points in the game. I know Skins have very good defense, but we have to do better. We don't close out drives as often as we should. I hope this improves as the season goes along. We'll see.
On defense, you can be nothing but pleased. The DL was effective shutting down the Redskins running game. One of the things I was worried about coming into the game wa: would our DL be weaker against the run because of the upheaval caused by Strahan and Osi being gone. No worry last night - Redskins averaged 3.5 yards per carry. In fact, Redskins gained only about 200 yards on offense all night and nearly half of those yards were on the last 2 desperation drives when Giants defense was sitting back and giving up the underneath stuff. The other good things I saw were very good play from Ross and Webster at CB. I thought Ross was a tough physical CB who was a good, but not great cover guy. I thought his speed was only good. The one time he was tested deep last night he stayed right with Santana Moss on a deep ball. It was a well run route, double move and Ross showed great CB skills staying with him through the fake and then showing great make up speed to be right with him. Webster knocked down 2 or 3 passes. Phillips, the rookie safety is going to be great. On one play he came off his man and laid a hit on the WR (Moss I think). It was a big hit that knocked off Moss helmet and that prevented Moss from getting the 1st down. The most impressive thing to me on that play, however, was the instincts that a rookie safety showed coming off his man, and seeing the play develop. I am really impressed.
On the DL, our DTs were outstanding. At DE, Kiwanuka was actually better against the run that he was against the pass. Tuck was a beast as always. The good news to me was that Alford is really progressing. he looked terrific, several times putting some pressure on qb and getting penetration against the run to disrupt running plays. I think he is a budding star.
Last year our defense was led by the DE and the blitz packages. This year, I think we are greatly improved in the DB-field. We have upgraded the safety position and at CB, besides Webster and Ross, Dockery looks much improved. I think our DB will be the strength of this defense rather than the weakness, which it was last year. This will allow Spags to be even more creative and aggressive with his blitz packages. Look at it this way with the DBs - our best CB and starter through the entire season last year was Madison and he didn't even dress last night.
Despite the dominating defensive performance last night, we have to remember that the Redskins helped us out quite a bit and the coach appears to be completely clueless. The offensive game plan last night was puzzling. I understand that he wanted to establish the run and test our new DL to see if it could stop the run. But at one point near the end of the 3rd qtr, Campbell had attempted only around 13 passes. The running plays were also predictable, mostly Portis between the tackles. No screen passes, no draws, nothing outside. But mostly - no run-pass mixture. Maybe Campbell is not used to the west coast offense yet so Zorn wanted to run more. I don't know - but it was puzzling. So - while the Giants defense looked great, the Skins were helping them out with their play calling and general ineptitude.
Permit me to pontificate a bit about coaches. Zorn, with no experience as a HC or OC, was a surprise selection as Redskins coach and announced on his first day that he is going to bring the west coast offense with him from Seattle. I thought this was absolutely ridiculous. First of all - Jason Campbell is not your prototypical west coast offense qb. He is not quick to make decisions, is not quick and nimble footed, does not a have a particularly quick release, does not have a good touch on the short balls, and he has never played in that kind of offense before. He is a strong armed passer who stands tall in the pocket, does not throw well rolling out or on the run, thorws a pretty good (but soemwhat flat) deep ball - in short, he is a classic pocket passer, more similar in style to Elway than to Montana. That's the qb - now what about the rest of the team? Their OL is a power one, built by Gibbs and his style. Their WRs are the classic style also, not the elusive quick guys that a west coast style uses. In fact their WRs are not very good. They have Santana Moss - and he can play on my team anytime - but one of their WR is James Thrash who never was very good and is slowing down in his 12th year. Even a cusrory examination reveals that they are not a team well suited for this kind of offense. BUT - even if they are well suited and I have this COMPLETELY wrong, shouldn't a coach come in and actually evaluate the personnel, evaluate the schemes that are already in place, evaluate the playbook and decide what to do? Seems logical. But not Zorn... on day 1 he had it all figured out. Maybe the Redskins will turn things around and they'll get comfortable with this offense, but on the basis of what I saw last night, I would pencil the Redksins in for no more than 5 wins this year.
BTW - continuing in my rant about coaches, let me opine and contrast our expereince with DC Spags to what I described above with Zorn. Spags came in last year (I hope you remember) and everyone assumed that he would bring with him the same defense that the Eagles run under DC Jim Johnson: lots of blitzing, very aggressive, etc. So about a month or six weeks after he was hired, all the Giants assistant coaches were made available to the media for interviews. The media asked Spagnuolo if he had installed the defense yet and how he was doing teaching the defense to the team during the offseason. Spagnuolo said that he had not finished installing the defense because he was still evaluating personnel and still reviewing the defense from last year. he said: some things worked very well the previous year and he wanted to keep them in and not just change things for the sake of change. Not what the media wanted to hear. They wanted to hear - blitz, blitz, blitz, eagles, jim johnson, yada, yada yada. Not Spagnuolo: he was actually THINKING. That's a coach!!!
Giants have a soft early schedule and hard last half of the year - we have to build a good record early in the year
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