Giants: looking ahead

Turnovers - way too many turnovers, both from the passing game as well as the running game. Some of the interceptions, as has been said over and over, have been on the WRs for not holding on to balls that they should have had and some are on Eli for being inaccurate with his throws. The interesting thing is that these are virtually all physical mistakes and can theoretically be fixed. There have been virtually no interceptions that have come as a result of bad reads by the QB, sloppy routes by the WRs or the QB and WR not being on the same page. There also have been no INTs that came as a result of Eli trying to squeeze a throw into a space that is too narrow. To me, that is somewhat encouraging. The offense is playing very effectively and needs to tighten up on some of its execution to be really strong. What everyone is focusing on in the Cowboys game is that the Giants had 5 turnovers and still won the game. What is more remarkable is that they turned the ball over 5 times.... that's 5 possessions that were unproductive.... and they still scored an amazing 41 points.

The other interesting thing is that sometimes with big play WRs and an attacking passing game, you sometimes take more chances and, while you get more points, you may also have more turnovers. Giants have to find the right balance of staying aggressive to make plays and not taking undue risks. The last INT against the Cowboys was a perfect example - there is no way that a pass should have been called with 3:35 left and the Giants holding a lead of 18 points. But, once Gilbride called it, Eli should have thrown the ball away when he saw nothing was there. His confidence in himself making a play on every pass probably did him in there.

ST have gotten a little better, certainly the punter seems to have straightened things out and Tynes had his best game in two years this past Monday night, but they have to get tighter on the kickoff and punt coverage. It seems like every game there is a big return or two that hurts the team. They have the athletes to be good on ST, the coach needs to coach 'em up better and the players need to play more carefully.

Giants have to give JPP more responsibility and keep developing him so he can be a menace in the second half of the season. They also need to get Linval Joseph more playing time at DT. This is not because the DE and DT position are lacking - quite the contrary, they have been playing great. Both of my recommended moves are predicated on the fact that with Kiwanuka now gone for the season and with Osi playing on a sore knee and a presurgical hip, we might suffer an injury and be down to only 2 DEs. I guess we still have Tollefson on the roster, but I wouldn't be comfortable with him staring and playing 40 snaps per game. Therefore, if the Giants get JPP ready to take a full load, it would protect the team against injury and develop flexibility and depth. Getting Joseph ready to play DT allows Fewell to slide Canty out to DE for say 10 snaps per game and give the Giants depth and flexibility everywhere along the DL. It makes sense and it gives the Giants a better view of the quality and talent of those rookies.

Slowly work DJ Ware into the lineup and give him some snaps. Badshaw has been great and Jacobs has played well. However, both play so hard that an injury is not out of the question. Get a backup some reps now, when the starters are healthy, so he'll be ready in an emergency.

Did anyone notice that the Packers have a S who was making hits and plays all over the field Sunday against the Jets. His name was Charlie Pepprah and he is playing really well. The reason I noticed him and recognized his name is that he was drafted by the Giants a few years ago and was among the last cuts of training camp. When your ex-draftees are starting on other teams, it shows that your drafts are good and your talent is deep.

At the risk of rocking the boat, I really want to see the Giants use Beatty when he comes back from his broken foot. He doesn't need to start right away and take Diehl's job, but he needs to get some live game reps. The Giants are obviously high on him, otherwise they would have put him on IR when he broke his foot. He missed 6 weeks already and is probably 1-3 weeks from coming back. If they thought he was an ordinary player, or was a long term project that was not ready to help right away, they would have put him on IR, waited for him for next year and signed another player to help right now. Keeping him on the roster indicates that they think he is ready.

I was hoping Andrews would get worked ino the lineup at G, but Snee and Seubert are playing so well that he can't displace them. He is the backup at T, and Diehl, while still the weakest spot on the line has improved and is playing better. MacKenzie at RT has been positively lights out, especially in the running game. So while it seems that the best spot for an upgrade would be at LT, it's not clear whether it should be Andrews or Beatty. It is dangerous to the chemistry of the team to simply bench Diehl right away. I don't see why you can't do the same thing on the OL that the Giants do so effectively on the DL, which is to give the starters a blow now and then so they are fresh and ready for the 2nd half (of each game and of the season). Further, the Giants would get a read on how good they really are. Work Beatty and Andrews into some kind of OL rotation and we will find out what they've got.

I am a little more nervous about the Seattle game than I should be. It is a game the Giants should win on talent alone, but somehow it is always a tough game when they travel out there. Furthermore, now that the Giants are no longer under the radar, every team is going to give them their best game. The good news is that the Seahawks have a poor defense and a porous OL, which mean that the Giants match up well against them.

A look ahead to the Cowboys

Romo out. Felix Jones out. Jason Witten with broken ribs and, if not out, probably somewhat limited.

On defense the Cowboys (highly overrated) defensive backfield has their 3 top CBs out.

Seems like we should have an advantage but somehow I'm nervous. Even though Romo is out, the Cowboys have the best skill position players in the NFL. The only pair of WRs that can compare to Cardinals Boldin and Fitzgerald are the Cowboys TO and Roy Williams. I know Brad Johnson is almost as old as I am, but at one time he was a very capable, accurate thrower. Maybe he needed a few games to get the cobwebs out and to oil up his rusty hinge/throwing arm, and he breaks out of it this week. Even with Brad Johnson at qb, you cannot underestimate the Cowboys offense. But you can assume that our defense, which is playing at a fairly high level will hold the Cowboys from exploding with tons of points. Cowboys weakness on offense this year, even when Romo was in there, seems to have been their OL. There is nothing that matches up better with our defense than a somewhat leaky OL. So I think we can assume that even if Johnson plays well, Cowboys won't put up a ton of points. My game plan if I were Cowboys would be to be fairly conservative on offense, try to shorten the game by getting Marion Barber running and hope he has a big game.

My question is - what should the Giants offensive game plan be? Should we assume that our defense will shut down Cowboys offense and the only way we could lose the game is if we make some mistakes and turnovers. That would argue for a fairly conservative game plan. Don't take too many chances, assume Cowboys will not score more than 14-17 points and we can play it safe assuming that even if we play conservatively we will score enough points to win.

Or - we could go for the throat, look at the Cowboys secondary, realize that it is the weak part of the defense when they are healthy and now that they are not, they are even more of a vulnerability. Frankly, I would go for the jugular and try to play aggressively. I have confidence in Eli that he will not make a lot of mistakes and he will be smart with the ball.

If I were the Cowboys, my defensive game plan would be to blitz and gamble all day long. With a beat up DB-field, if you play it straight and conservative, the only way to win is to take some chances. That's especially true when your offense is less likely to bail you out by scoring lots of points. So even though Giants should be appropriately aggressive, they have to watch out for an aggressive, attacking, blitzing game plan from the Cowboys.

That old Wade Phillips, he's a crafty defensive coach. You got to watch out for that guy.