Ravens post mortem I

I am starting to get really impressed with this team.

In the parking lot before the game, performing the mandatory pregame tailgate ritual, I observed some troubling signs. I had enormous trouble getting the charcoals lit no matter how much lighter fluid I put on the coals, mostly because I had trouble lighting the match. Even with my normal trick of putting the briquettes in a paper bag and lighting the match inside the paper bag, so the match was shielded from the wind, I had trouble keeping the fire going. Before you think I'm one of these crazies that looks for supernatural omens for the outcome of the game - calm down, I think you know me better than that. I was not worried that a bad tailgate experience = lost game for Giants. The troubling sign was the wind itself. Wind blowing out the flame before the coals were going, wind making paper plates fly all over the place, even knocking over a hot dog or two, portended trouble for the passing game. My concern was that the Ravens defense was great against the run, would commit even more to stop it and the wind would stop the Giants passing game. I was worried that in a low scoring, wind blown game, anything could happen and the fact that I think the Giants are better than the Ravens would be mitigated by the weather conditions.

Silly me. Giants can run against anybody. Ravens have a powerful interior DL and they stopped the Giants several times for no gain on running plays. But Giants OL is so good and the running attack has become somewhat varied, that they can manufacture a running game against nearly any team. Ravens came into the game allowing 65 yards per game on the ground. Although that number was probably somewhat better than it should have been because they played a soft-ish schedule, it still shows they are very good run stoppers. Last year, Giants seemed to have 1 primary running play which they executed well and did predictably - the stretch off tackle run. They ran occasionally between the tackles, but the running attack was conservative. This year, the Giants have added a counter play where the RB takes a step one way, influences the defense to flow that way and then reverses himself and runs in the opposite direction. With the power of Giants running game, defenses sell out to stop the run, swarm to the ball and overpursue, leaving big running lanes on the back side of the defense. This is particularly effective with Giants runners: Jacobs is huge and they have to bring a lot of people to stop him; Ward is shifty and can find the holes and Bradshaw is sneaky fast and explosive.

To compliment the runner, the OL is not of enormous size, though they are pretty tough. But what makes this OL go is how athletic and smart they are. Snee is so quick and so agile that he can pull quickly and get to the perimeter in good shape. O'Hara and Seubert are so stout in the middle that they can fill the lane left vacant by the pulling Snee and Diehl is also very quick and can get downfield. On these counter plays, the OL starts out pushing the DL in the direction they think the RB is going, in the direction that he took his first step. They let themselves get beat slightly and take the DL in the direction they want to go, sometimes called an influence block. Then, when the RB cuts back to the other side of the field, the DL is slightly out of position, but more important the OL has them set up for the perfect blocking angles to keep them moving away from the RB. Then it's up to the TE, FB or WR to lead the blocking on the back side of the field and turn it into a big run.

On Jacobs first 35 yd run on first TD drive, it was not a counter play, it was a straight dive off tackle to the right side of the OL. Jacobs hit a Raven defender and bounced off, taking it back to the left side of the offense, which had the same effect. Ravens were swarming towards the ball, but Jacobs scooted back to the left before they could catch up. On Bradshaw's 75 yard run, it was a counter play and once Bradhsaw got through the first layer of defenders, he cut back to the opposite side, found a crease and made a big play. BTW - I'm still impressed that the Raven DB caught him from behind. Opposing defenses have to commit so much to stop the run that a counter or cutback can turn into a big play with these RBs. The three RBs are different in character: Jacobs is brute force; Ward is polished and quick; Bradshaw is lightning quick and tough. Of the three, Ward is the best pass receiver out of the backfield, but the thing that all 3 have is great vision, great feet and great desire.

Giants have now run for 200 yards in 3 straight games against teams that have very strong defenses - Cowboys, Eagles, Ravens. Overall they have run for 200 yards in 5 of their 10 games. To use the vernacular - that's sick. It's supposed to happen once or twice per year and the Giants have done it in half their games.

There were a few bothersome things to take from this game, but it may only be nitpicking. Perhaps because of the dominance of the running game, the Giants passing game has not been as sharp as it can be. The INT Eli threw at the goal line could have iced the game if Giants had scored a TD there, going into halftime with 24 point lead. I don't know how Eli missed Ray Lewis in the middle of the field - he was stationary and red zone turnovers are a killer.

The kickoff return coverage has not been strong, seemingly all year. Giants are giving away too much field position and the kick return team has not been good either. I'm not sure why Hixon is not returning kicks. I guess he has a slightly more prominent role in the offense than Bradshaw does, so they want to spread the load - but Hixon is fast and a great returner. Bradshaw is more quick than pure fast, though of course he does have good speed.

I was disappointed that the Giants could not punch it into the endzone after Bradshaw's 75 yard run, but it does attest to how tough the Ravens defense can be and therefore, how good the Giants offense was the rest of the game.

The other troubling thing is that this is the second week in a row that Giants did not get much of a pass rush. Giants will need a pass rush next week against Arizona. More about the defense in a later post.