Eagles post mortem III

I said in my "Look ahead to the Eagles" post that on a neutral field Giants would win by 10 points. If Giants had made the two point conversion after their last TD and if you believe Vegas that the home field is worth 3 points, then the margin would have been exactly 10. I'm just saying.

I hate going for a 2 point conversion that early in the game. I especially hate it if you are ahead and want to pad the lead a bit, like Giants did. In this game - Giants missed the 2 points and therefore were up 12. Eagles scored a TD which reduced the Giants lead to 5. Eagles got the ball back with 3:30 left. If they had scored a TD with 1:00 left, for example, the 6 points would have put them up 1 point. Then, they could have gone for the 2 point conversion and if they make it, they are up 3. After trailing by 3, if Giants move down in the last minute to kick a FG, they would only have been able to tie the game. By contrast, if they had taken the sure one point, they would have been up 13, and if the same events played out, if/when Eagles had scored a second TD they would have kicked the 1 point conversion since 2 would do them no good and they would have been up by 1 point. Then, if Giants had moved down for a last minute FG, it would have been to win the game, not tie it. The only time to go for the 2 point conversion is when you absolutely, positively need it.

Giants play calling was very conservative Sunday night. They threw down the field hardly at all. They ran a lot - very effectively - no complaint there. Except they did not take any shots down the field. Their passes were intermediate, which at least stretches the defense a little, but nothing deep. I think they were very concerned with the Eagle pass rush and blitz packages, and they were confident that they could run on the slightly undersized Eagles front. They were right. It's hard to complain when you put up 36 points, but a good deep passing game is important.

On the 3rd and 1 in the 4th qtr where Ward was stopped giving the ball back to the Eagles for one last try - the entire stadium, and all of the millions of eyeballs watching the game on TV absolutely KNEW what the play call was gong to be. The entire Eagles defense was withing 3 yards of the ball at the time it was snapped and the play had absolutely no chance of working. Giants should let Eli fake a handoff, roll out to his right and either run if it is open, throw a short ball to a TE if it is wide open or flop to the ground if nothing is there.

On defense, Giants are blitzing less, relying on the DL to get a pass rush and the much improved DB-field to stay with their receiver. Corey Webster is a star. Michael Johnson and Kenny Phillips play very, very well at S. Terrell Thomas looks like he will be a good player also. I haven't heard when Dockery is coming back, but I wouldn't rush him.

An ex's-and-o's note: play action passing is made more effective by the entire team showing run, not just the qb faking the ball to the RB. The defense is taught not just to look into the backfield becasue they can be tricked by the qb. Rather, they look at and key on the OL, usually the G to see what play is coming. On a running play, the OL pushes forward and tries to push the DL backwards to make room for their RB. On a passing play, the OL usually sags backward and forms a semicircle around the qb to protect him. The T sometimes steps backwards even on running plays if it is going to the other side of the line and he engages his man later, so that is not as reliable a read as the G. Sometimes on short passes, where the qb takes a 1 or 3 step drop, the OL punches forward as if it were a running play to give the qb some throwing lanes. If they push forward, the DL can not get their hands up and block the vision of the qb, becasue they are engaged with the OL. Giants do something interesting on play action passes to fool the defense more and they did it a few times against the Eagles. They actually had Snee pulling from his RG position and running to the left side of the offense on a passing play. Since the G is usually a key for the defense to read the play and since the Giants like to pull their G's often on their bread and butter off tackle running play, this is a very effective way to get the defense to bite on the run and give Eli a clean pocket to throw in. Snee starts to pull, then slows down and helps block on the left side of the DL. C O'hara fills his slot and if necessary, Seubert and Diehl slide to the right side of the defense to fill the space left by Snee and Snee blocks on the left side, where he pulled to.