random Thursday thoughts

Giants OL

Looking at it closely and carefully, Locklear did not have a great game Sunday at RT. He let his man in a few times and gave up some pressures on Eli. The QB was able to step up and get rid of the ball, but under other circumstances it could have led to a hit or a sack. Beatty was near perfect on the other side. If Diehl forces his way back into the lineup it should be at RT. I hope the coaches see that.

Tuck and DL

Everyone had been wringing their hands about the apparent lack of pass rush from the Giants so far this year. Unfortunately, once sacks became a statistic that everyone tracks, it has been the only way we measure a DL. The truth is that frequent pressure, forcing QB to release early and not hold the ball forever is more improtant than an occasional sack. Tuck had no sacks on Sunday, in fact did not even have a tackle in the entire game, but I counted about 4 times when he was in Smith's face and I thought it might have been his best game of the year. Other people picked up the sacks, so people will still worry about Tuck's numbers, but he looked good to me against the 9ers. Kiwanuka on the other hand, did both. He played a huge game, getting pressures, making plays in the running game and getting a huge sack also. JPP played great as always. The DTs, especially Linval Joseph were excellent as well. Joseph flies under the radar on this high profile defense, especially the DL. But he is an excellent player, playing at a very high level. he is purportedly the strongest man on the team and he is very quick for a man his size. Getting pressure up the middle and not just from the outside makes the pass rush much more effective.

Passing game

Eli threw for about 175 yards in the first half and then was content to sit on the lead and let the running game take over in the second half. But let's not whitewash it - the passing game was definitely out of sync in the second half. It's terrible that they did not score a TD on either of the short fields provided to them by the defense on Rolle's two INTs. Nicks is still sore and not at full strength, so maybe that contributed to the lack of production at the goal line. But the Giants have to be sharp in their passing game for the very tough games coming up in this part of the schedule. The next two weeks - Redskins @ home and Cowboys @ Dallas are critical games for a successful season. In the Washington game, the Redskins defense is not that good, especially with Orakpo gone, but the offense is dangerous with a  dynamic player in RGIII. Giants offense will not be able to waste opportunities.