It seems clear that the Giants are a better team this regular season than they were last year. Almost exactly one year ago, the Giants played the Cowboys at home, like they did this past Sunday and it might be interesting to take a look back and compare the two games to see signs of progress and change for these Giants.
The setting was similar: it was an early November game - the 11th to be exact, compared to the 2nd of November this year. It was week 10 last year and week 9 this year, close enough for valid comparison.
In that game last year, the Cowboys won 31-20 and the game wasn't really as close as the 11 point margin indicated. Cowboys had 323 yards of offense, 240 of them through the air. Giants were fairly effective against the Cowboys running game and held them to only 80 yards rushing. Romo hit TO for two long TDs, one 25 yards and the other a 50 yard play. Romo had plenty of time to throw and was sacked only once allowing him to make these long plays down the field. The score was tied at half time 17-17, but Giants got a little help in the first half on some dumb penalties by the Cowboys that helped some of their drives. In one particular example, Cowboys scored a TD with 37 seconds left in the first half to go up 17-14 but committed a mindless taunting penalty on the ensuing KO return that gave the Giants great field position. This allowed Eli to complete one intermediate pass to Shockey and Tynes kicked a 40 yard FG to tie it at the half.
Giants offense was shut down in the second half scoring only 3 points, being hurt on one drive by a holding penalty that negated a TD run by Brandon Jacobs and forced them to settle for a FG. After that failed drive, they never really got close to scoring again. Manning was harried all day being sacked 5 times and was hurried and knocked down many other times, thrwoing 2 INTs under this pressure. One of the INTs was a desperation pass at the end of the game and did not really hurt the team. Cowboys strongly controlled the line of scrimmage on both sides of the ball and this was the real difference in the game.
By contrast, this year Giants won 35-14 and the game was not really as close as the score indicated. Giants ran for 200 yards and held the Cowboys to less than 200 yards of total offense. It is remarkable that you win a game by 3 TDs when you give away 3 turnovers and a defensive TD. It shows how dominant the Giants really were in this game. I know Romo was not playing, but this game was won at the line of scrimmage as much as it helped that Brad Johnson was in the game. Just as last year Cowboys won the battle at the line of scrimmage on both sides of the ball, thie year the Giants dominated that battle.
Cowboys front 7 is really good and got to Eli for 4 sacks, but somehow that stat is misleading. While they did get the sacks, it sure seemed like Eli had tample ime to throw most of the time.
The contrast between Cowboys controlling the game last year and Giants dominating it this year could not be more stark. Missing your starting qb makes a huge difference, but it doesn't affect the way the defense tackles runners and rushes the passer. Missing your qb affects your passing game of course and affects your running game because the defense does not have to respect the pass. But it doesn't affect it as much. The Cowboys OL looked completely over matched where last year they looked dominant.
Wednesday, November 5, 2008
A pause for some consideration
We are all excited about the Giants first half, but we should probably moderate our glee with some analysis.
Everyone is pumping up the NFC East as the best division in football and touting the Giants as the best team in that toughest division. On the surface there is reason to accept the strength of the division; the cumulative record of the NFC East against the rest of the league is 18-6 which by any leasure is pretty impressive. However, we should take a look under the numbers, since your record is always determined by the quality of your opponents. This year, the NFC East is playing the pitiful NFC West. The NFC West is a division that has the Cardinals sitting on top at 5-3 and every other team in the division: Rams, Seahawks and 49ers are a miserable 2-6. The NFC East also plays the AFC North this year which has two good teams at the top in the Steelers and the Ravens but has two very beatable teams at the bottom in the Browns and the Bengals. I am not saying that those other divisions are like playing Pop Warner football, but the record of that NFC East might be slightly inflated and would not seem as powerful if the the opponents were, for example the NFC South and the AFC South this year.
In particular, while the Giants played poorly and lost to the Browns, they have cleaned up against the NFC West and have 3 of their 7 victories against the 2-6 teams in that division. Giants have beaten the Steelers, Redskins and Cowboys, three teams that are over .500, but the tough part of the schedule is coming up and duplicating their first half 7-1 record over the second half of the schedule is extremely unlikely for the Giants.
Everyone is pumping up the NFC East as the best division in football and touting the Giants as the best team in that toughest division. On the surface there is reason to accept the strength of the division; the cumulative record of the NFC East against the rest of the league is 18-6 which by any leasure is pretty impressive. However, we should take a look under the numbers, since your record is always determined by the quality of your opponents. This year, the NFC East is playing the pitiful NFC West. The NFC West is a division that has the Cardinals sitting on top at 5-3 and every other team in the division: Rams, Seahawks and 49ers are a miserable 2-6. The NFC East also plays the AFC North this year which has two good teams at the top in the Steelers and the Ravens but has two very beatable teams at the bottom in the Browns and the Bengals. I am not saying that those other divisions are like playing Pop Warner football, but the record of that NFC East might be slightly inflated and would not seem as powerful if the the opponents were, for example the NFC South and the AFC South this year.
In particular, while the Giants played poorly and lost to the Browns, they have cleaned up against the NFC West and have 3 of their 7 victories against the 2-6 teams in that division. Giants have beaten the Steelers, Redskins and Cowboys, three teams that are over .500, but the tough part of the schedule is coming up and duplicating their first half 7-1 record over the second half of the schedule is extremely unlikely for the Giants.
Monday, November 3, 2008
Cowboys post mortem II
Some other notes:
Terrel Thomas looks like a very good player. He has a very compact and efficient running style - he looks like a sprinter. He runs very erect, without much wasted side to side motion; he looks like he is not even exerting himself, but he was step for step with TO and Roy Williams in several man-to-man match ups he had with both of them. On one play late in the 3rd qtr, Bollinger lobbed a pass to TO when Thomas had man-to-man responsibility on him. Thomas looked like he was trapped inside and was blocked out from getting to TO, becasue he was coming out of a bunch formation and there were a lot of people in the way. When the ball left Bollinger's hands, it had TD written all over it and it looked like Thomas had no chance to get there. However, Thomas showed great make up speed, closed on the ball and the WR very well and arrived just as the ball did, applied a good hit to TO and knocked the ball loose. I was very impressed. It looks like another excellent draft class for Jerry Reese this year.
One final observation:
It's way too early to declare the Cowboys dead, but we can certainly say that they are long shots to make the playoffs right now. There are 3 teams in front of them in the division race and a few others ahead of them in the wild card race, so they no longer control their own destiny. They need to win 5 of their last 7 to have a good chance to get into the playoffs and they have tough games against the Steelers and Ravens as well as 3 NFC East division games, 2 of which are on the road. Their other two games are pretty easy against NFC West teams Seahawks and 49ers, but the way they are playing, 5-2 in those 7 games is far from a lock.
Terrel Thomas looks like a very good player. He has a very compact and efficient running style - he looks like a sprinter. He runs very erect, without much wasted side to side motion; he looks like he is not even exerting himself, but he was step for step with TO and Roy Williams in several man-to-man match ups he had with both of them. On one play late in the 3rd qtr, Bollinger lobbed a pass to TO when Thomas had man-to-man responsibility on him. Thomas looked like he was trapped inside and was blocked out from getting to TO, becasue he was coming out of a bunch formation and there were a lot of people in the way. When the ball left Bollinger's hands, it had TD written all over it and it looked like Thomas had no chance to get there. However, Thomas showed great make up speed, closed on the ball and the WR very well and arrived just as the ball did, applied a good hit to TO and knocked the ball loose. I was very impressed. It looks like another excellent draft class for Jerry Reese this year.
One final observation:
It's way too early to declare the Cowboys dead, but we can certainly say that they are long shots to make the playoffs right now. There are 3 teams in front of them in the division race and a few others ahead of them in the wild card race, so they no longer control their own destiny. They need to win 5 of their last 7 to have a good chance to get into the playoffs and they have tough games against the Steelers and Ravens as well as 3 NFC East division games, 2 of which are on the road. Their other two games are pretty easy against NFC West teams Seahawks and 49ers, but the way they are playing, 5-2 in those 7 games is far from a lock.
Cowboys post mortem I
There's only two things I root for every football Sunday - for the Giants to win and the Cowboys to lose. When both happen on the same Sunday, it's a very good weekend. When it's the Giants who apply the loss to the Cowboys it's even better. And the only thing better than the Giants beating the Cowboys is the Giants beating the living spit out of the Cowboys. When the calendar has turned to November and there's a crisp hint of fall in the air and a football fan's dreams turns to playoffs, all these things come together and combine for a perfect storm. All in all yesterday was a pretty darned good day.
Of course, a thorough a$$-kicking of the Cowboys is only great for a regular season weekend. For the playoffs, last year's excruciatingly close victory, where the Cowboys thought they were the better team and the Giants held the great Romo, TO and his offense to 3 points in the 2nd half - I have to admit, that was pretty darned good also and might have been better. But enough gloating - let's talk about the game. Before I digress into a little review of the game, I have to denigrate Wade Phillips for one of the most classless acts I've seen in professional sports. You all know what Parcells used to say - you are what your record says you are. You win your last game: you're the champs. If you don't, the guys that beat you are better. End of story. Yet Wade Phillips, after the Giants beat the Cowboys in the playoffs last year on the way to winning Supe XLII in Arizona, held a press conference where he gave no credit to the Giants and said that the Cowboys were the better team. He said: "Cowboys controlled the first half, controlled the game, were the better team, and the better team lost." Not exactly the kind of sportsmanship and the kind of example we want to set for the youth of America. No class. On to yesterday's game.
Cowboys did in fact try to play fairly conservatively on offense, trying to force feed the ball to Marion Barber. Their pass patterns were mostly short drops to try to beat the Giants pass rush. They tried only 1 or 2 balls down field, one was a gorgeous catch by Roy Williams for about 30 yards. Giants defense was very stout against the run and completely shut down Barber. he broke away for one long run, but overall was stopped cold. Often when your defense isn't afraid of opposing offense's passing game, it can commit to the run by dropping an extra safety down to the line of scrimmage and having 8 guys in the box to take away the run. Giants stopped the run very effectively and they occasionally brought a safety up to the line of scrimmage, but mostly it was good solid DL play and aggressive charges by the LBs that shut down the running game. Giant DL was often just flat out winning their 1-on-1 match ups with the Cowboys OL. The Giant DTs don't get enough credit - Cofield and Robbins, the starters, are playing excellent football. Alford got a lot of playing time yesterday and played well also. DTs that are hard to move and are themselves quick and can penetrate into the backfield greatly disrupt the running game. When Giants move Tuck inside on obvious passing downs, and he gets pressure up the middle, it is very difficult for the opposing qb to avoid the pressure.
The Cowboys have some very good players on defense in their front 7. They are very quick and when Eli tried to hold the ball too long and make a play down the field, they got him in some trouble. Cowboys blitzed a lot and gambled a lot, as we thought they might in an effort to get some turnovers and set up their offense with a short field, because with all the injuries on that side of the ball, the offense needed all the help it could get. But the Cowboys came out with a fairly simplistic game plan on defense and the Giants handled it fairly well. On the first drive of the game, Cowboys sold out to stop the Giants power running game. On one play, I counted 10 players at the line of scrimmage with only a single high safety backed off the line of scrimmage. In that first drive, the first few times the Giants tried to run the ball, they were stopped cold because of this extra defenders up at the line. Eli and Gilbride saw that defensive formation and threw 5 times in a row, moving the ball fairly easily down the field. When the Giants had a 1st and 10 inside the Cowboys 30, after having been thrown on 5 times in a row, Cowboys moved back into their more traditional 3-4 defense. Then, Eli and Gilbride ran it 3 times in a row with Ward right behind the right side of their OL and Ward ended up with 1st and 10 at the 13. After that, there was one incomplete pass to Ward followed by the TD to Boss. I think the opening drive, 11 plays 75 yards, 6 points sent a message and set the tone for the game.
It's hard to estimate what the affect was on the Cowboys of missing their qb was; obviously Romo being in there would have made a huge difference. The threat of throwing down the field would have made the Giants less run conscious and would have opened up more running room for Barber. Furthermore, Romo himself would have been able to make better throws and would have been able to move away for more effectively from the Giants pass rush. But I will say this: the Cowboys OL is not nearly as good and effective as it was last year. I don't know exactly why they are a little worse, but it sure looks like Flozell Adams got old in a hurry or perhaps he's injured. Truthfully, Flozell was always a puzzling player. He was huge, and had enormous quickness, but the coaches always had trouble motivating him and he was often out of shape. Parcells did well with him and past OL coach Sparano may have done very well with him, but he looks unmotivated, lethargic and unfit. Sparano is showing himself to be a very good coach with the job he's doing with the Dolphins this year, so maybe he was able to get the most out of Flozell last year; this year the huge OT looks like he's mailing it in. He's very vulnerable to outside speed rushes, not a good vulnerability if your playing LT. At the other OL positions, Colombo is a solid if unspectacular player at RT but their interior OL looked very vulnerable yesterday. Giants got a lot of pressure up the middle, got very good penetration against the interior OL of the Cowboys. So, while it is true that it would have been a different game with Romo in there, the complete control of the line of scrimmage and great pressure that Giants had on the qb, makes it hard to imagine how Romo would have won the game for the Cowboys.
Cowboys have great skill position players, a very good qb, and a crumbling OL, in my opinion. Their OL, even when healthy and playing well is huge, of massive size, but not very mobile. They are built to bully and bulldoze the opposing DL, but they seem to have trouble against quick, nimble DLs. Of course, this is a match up that plays right into the strengths of the Giants DL, with their speed based attack. Tuck and Kiwanuka have great speed and when they move Tuck inside on passing downs and Tollefson or Wynn outside, they are even faster. I don't like Tuck inside at DT on every passing down, but it surely was effective yesterday.
Giants did not blitz much at all on passing downs, at most they would bring a LB; but they relied very much on the DL beating the Cowboys OL 1-on-1.
On offense, the Giants were very good and dominant in the running game; it's hard to get 200 yards rushing against any team, let alone one of the elite defenses in football. The only negative I would bring is that Eli wasn't as sharp in the passing game as he can be and he made two very bad decisions. He made the mistake on the read that Plax turned up field on and turned into 6 points for the Cowboys. I can handle that - it happens. And on the first fumble, it looked like it was knocked out of his hand when he drew it back to throw, but it actually slipped out of his hands as he was cocking his arm. I am not upset about that either - it happens - maybe it was a slick ball. But the second fumble was a bad decision by Eli. he had plenty of time in the pocket before the fumble and should have either thrown the ball away or tucked it in with both hands to avoid the strip by the Cowboys DE, DeMarcus Ware. Fortunately it didn't ruin the game, but in a close game against a better team, they would have really hurt.
One other observation about the offense is that they were 5-for-5 in the red zone, not being afraid to spread the field and pass the ball. They also spread it out and scored on the two running plays by Jacobs and Ward, so maybe this will be the new formula - spread them out and either pass or run out of those formations.
Of course, a thorough a$$-kicking of the Cowboys is only great for a regular season weekend. For the playoffs, last year's excruciatingly close victory, where the Cowboys thought they were the better team and the Giants held the great Romo, TO and his offense to 3 points in the 2nd half - I have to admit, that was pretty darned good also and might have been better. But enough gloating - let's talk about the game. Before I digress into a little review of the game, I have to denigrate Wade Phillips for one of the most classless acts I've seen in professional sports. You all know what Parcells used to say - you are what your record says you are. You win your last game: you're the champs. If you don't, the guys that beat you are better. End of story. Yet Wade Phillips, after the Giants beat the Cowboys in the playoffs last year on the way to winning Supe XLII in Arizona, held a press conference where he gave no credit to the Giants and said that the Cowboys were the better team. He said: "Cowboys controlled the first half, controlled the game, were the better team, and the better team lost." Not exactly the kind of sportsmanship and the kind of example we want to set for the youth of America. No class. On to yesterday's game.
Cowboys did in fact try to play fairly conservatively on offense, trying to force feed the ball to Marion Barber. Their pass patterns were mostly short drops to try to beat the Giants pass rush. They tried only 1 or 2 balls down field, one was a gorgeous catch by Roy Williams for about 30 yards. Giants defense was very stout against the run and completely shut down Barber. he broke away for one long run, but overall was stopped cold. Often when your defense isn't afraid of opposing offense's passing game, it can commit to the run by dropping an extra safety down to the line of scrimmage and having 8 guys in the box to take away the run. Giants stopped the run very effectively and they occasionally brought a safety up to the line of scrimmage, but mostly it was good solid DL play and aggressive charges by the LBs that shut down the running game. Giant DL was often just flat out winning their 1-on-1 match ups with the Cowboys OL. The Giant DTs don't get enough credit - Cofield and Robbins, the starters, are playing excellent football. Alford got a lot of playing time yesterday and played well also. DTs that are hard to move and are themselves quick and can penetrate into the backfield greatly disrupt the running game. When Giants move Tuck inside on obvious passing downs, and he gets pressure up the middle, it is very difficult for the opposing qb to avoid the pressure.
The Cowboys have some very good players on defense in their front 7. They are very quick and when Eli tried to hold the ball too long and make a play down the field, they got him in some trouble. Cowboys blitzed a lot and gambled a lot, as we thought they might in an effort to get some turnovers and set up their offense with a short field, because with all the injuries on that side of the ball, the offense needed all the help it could get. But the Cowboys came out with a fairly simplistic game plan on defense and the Giants handled it fairly well. On the first drive of the game, Cowboys sold out to stop the Giants power running game. On one play, I counted 10 players at the line of scrimmage with only a single high safety backed off the line of scrimmage. In that first drive, the first few times the Giants tried to run the ball, they were stopped cold because of this extra defenders up at the line. Eli and Gilbride saw that defensive formation and threw 5 times in a row, moving the ball fairly easily down the field. When the Giants had a 1st and 10 inside the Cowboys 30, after having been thrown on 5 times in a row, Cowboys moved back into their more traditional 3-4 defense. Then, Eli and Gilbride ran it 3 times in a row with Ward right behind the right side of their OL and Ward ended up with 1st and 10 at the 13. After that, there was one incomplete pass to Ward followed by the TD to Boss. I think the opening drive, 11 plays 75 yards, 6 points sent a message and set the tone for the game.
It's hard to estimate what the affect was on the Cowboys of missing their qb was; obviously Romo being in there would have made a huge difference. The threat of throwing down the field would have made the Giants less run conscious and would have opened up more running room for Barber. Furthermore, Romo himself would have been able to make better throws and would have been able to move away for more effectively from the Giants pass rush. But I will say this: the Cowboys OL is not nearly as good and effective as it was last year. I don't know exactly why they are a little worse, but it sure looks like Flozell Adams got old in a hurry or perhaps he's injured. Truthfully, Flozell was always a puzzling player. He was huge, and had enormous quickness, but the coaches always had trouble motivating him and he was often out of shape. Parcells did well with him and past OL coach Sparano may have done very well with him, but he looks unmotivated, lethargic and unfit. Sparano is showing himself to be a very good coach with the job he's doing with the Dolphins this year, so maybe he was able to get the most out of Flozell last year; this year the huge OT looks like he's mailing it in. He's very vulnerable to outside speed rushes, not a good vulnerability if your playing LT. At the other OL positions, Colombo is a solid if unspectacular player at RT but their interior OL looked very vulnerable yesterday. Giants got a lot of pressure up the middle, got very good penetration against the interior OL of the Cowboys. So, while it is true that it would have been a different game with Romo in there, the complete control of the line of scrimmage and great pressure that Giants had on the qb, makes it hard to imagine how Romo would have won the game for the Cowboys.
Cowboys have great skill position players, a very good qb, and a crumbling OL, in my opinion. Their OL, even when healthy and playing well is huge, of massive size, but not very mobile. They are built to bully and bulldoze the opposing DL, but they seem to have trouble against quick, nimble DLs. Of course, this is a match up that plays right into the strengths of the Giants DL, with their speed based attack. Tuck and Kiwanuka have great speed and when they move Tuck inside on passing downs and Tollefson or Wynn outside, they are even faster. I don't like Tuck inside at DT on every passing down, but it surely was effective yesterday.
Giants did not blitz much at all on passing downs, at most they would bring a LB; but they relied very much on the DL beating the Cowboys OL 1-on-1.
On offense, the Giants were very good and dominant in the running game; it's hard to get 200 yards rushing against any team, let alone one of the elite defenses in football. The only negative I would bring is that Eli wasn't as sharp in the passing game as he can be and he made two very bad decisions. He made the mistake on the read that Plax turned up field on and turned into 6 points for the Cowboys. I can handle that - it happens. And on the first fumble, it looked like it was knocked out of his hand when he drew it back to throw, but it actually slipped out of his hands as he was cocking his arm. I am not upset about that either - it happens - maybe it was a slick ball. But the second fumble was a bad decision by Eli. he had plenty of time in the pocket before the fumble and should have either thrown the ball away or tucked it in with both hands to avoid the strip by the Cowboys DE, DeMarcus Ware. Fortunately it didn't ruin the game, but in a close game against a better team, they would have really hurt.
One other observation about the offense is that they were 5-for-5 in the red zone, not being afraid to spread the field and pass the ball. They also spread it out and scored on the two running plays by Jacobs and Ward, so maybe this will be the new formula - spread them out and either pass or run out of those formations.
Saturday, November 1, 2008
Another look ahead to the Cowboys
First on the injury front: It looks like Cowboys CB Anthony Henry will play as he's listed as probable and he practiced all week. Witten did not practice but is not listed as out, he is listed as questionable. My guess is he will dress and give it a try.
My guess is that Cowboys will be very conservative on offense and give a heavy dose of Barber running the ball and catching screen passes, swings, etc. When the Cowboys pass I would guess they would use the same formula that the Bengals used effectively against Giants defense: quick slants off of short 3 step drops; and when they have to go deep or sense a Giants blitz, they will max protect with two RBs in the backfield and hope the extremely talented Cowboys WRs can beat the Giants DBs. I would guess they would go after rookie CB Terrel Thomas as much as possible who will be playing because of Dockery's injury.
I don't know if it's in their playbook, but if I were the Cowboys, it would make sense to compliment the conservative run based game plan with a trick play here or there. Since the Giants defense likes to be aggressive and come up the field so much, something like a double reverse to Roy Williams would seem like a good play. A simple end-around is not sophisticated enough, because that's a little too easy to read and Giants defense is pretty well coached. However, the double reverse gives an extra layer of deception and might work. Also, if the Giants defense is very focused on stopping the run and commits extra guys at the line of scrimmage to stop Barber, a flea-flicker, where Barber takes a hand off into the line, starts to run and pitches it back to Johnson might really work. Giants defense will probably be playing their WRs very tight and daring Brad Johnson to beat them deep. When they see a run by Barber, no doubt the DB-field will commit hard to stop the run. A play like that could work.
On defense, the Cowboys will probably be very aggressive and attack hard on passing downs. They are missing 1 starting CB (Newman) and prime backup/nickel back Pacman Jones, but it looks like CB Henry will play. They need to force some turnovers because they don't expect the offense to put up lots of points. Last year during the regular season, in the opener in Dallas, Giants played well offensively and put up 35 points. In the 2nd game in NY, Giants OL had a lot of trouble handling the Cowboys DL and that really cramped the offense's productivity. Giants did not have a lot of points in that game. Cowboys still have a very good front 7 and the Giants OL blocking them well is a key to the game. Of course that statement sounds really simplistic and is almost a cliche for judging offense production. Having an OL protect the qb is always a key to the passing game. But in this game it seems even more important because of the relative weakness of the Cowboys secondary and the strength of their front 7. DeMarcus Ware can give Diehl trouble and had a particularly strong game against Diehl in the Meadowlands last year. Blocking him is a real key to the game as he is second in the league in sacks. While we should be concerned about Ware dominating Diehl in the Meadowlands last year in the second regular season game between Giants and Cowboys, we should also remember the divisional playoff gme last year in which the Giants OL handled the Cowboys DL fairly well. As a result, the Giants offense was fairly effective and efficient in that game. Giants should be attacking the Cowboys in the passing game but should not take needless chances.
Giants should be more conservative with the blitzing on defense. Cowboys OL has not had a good year and Giants should try to get to Brad Johnson with minimum blitzing. That way they can keep DB-field back to stop the extremely talented Cowboys WRs. On 3rd and long Giants like to blitz and there is nothing wrong with that. I would just be a little more conservative with it. Giants don't want to give up a big play and gamble when the opposing qb is probably not going to be able to put up a lot of points. In the last two games, Giants had a very good 4th qtr pass rush and the interesting thing is that it was almost completely manufactured by the Giants DL and not by a lot of exotic blitzes. Giants would blitz one LB, often it was Pierce, to get 1 on 1 matchups everywhere across the front. Giants DL is good enough that somebody won their 1-on-1 matchup against the OL-man assigned to block him.
Flozell Adams has been getting beaten a lot this year. He is huge and a little slow and looks like he may be slightly injured because he is not setting ip quickly enough to block the DE. It sure seems like this is a perfect matchup for Kiwanuka who is mostly a speed rusher. When Romo is back there, Giants are afraid to go outside of their rush lanes because of Romo's ability to avoid the rush, get out of the pocket and make a play down field. With Brad Johnson at qb, this is not a threat so it only increases the flexibility that Kiwanuka can use in attacking Adams and the pocket.
On the other side, Spagnuolo likes to move Tuck inside in passing situations and match him up against a G. This gets Tollefson on the field at Tuck's DE spot and he has been doing pretty well. I don't love this formation especially against the huge Cowboys interior OL because there will be less space for Tuck to get through. However, this week, Cowboys G Losier is nicked up and may not play, so Giants may be tempted to get a mismatch with Tuck at that position. I still like Tuck in space where he can use all his skills, but look for Tuck to go inside occasionally.
My guess is that Cowboys will be very conservative on offense and give a heavy dose of Barber running the ball and catching screen passes, swings, etc. When the Cowboys pass I would guess they would use the same formula that the Bengals used effectively against Giants defense: quick slants off of short 3 step drops; and when they have to go deep or sense a Giants blitz, they will max protect with two RBs in the backfield and hope the extremely talented Cowboys WRs can beat the Giants DBs. I would guess they would go after rookie CB Terrel Thomas as much as possible who will be playing because of Dockery's injury.
I don't know if it's in their playbook, but if I were the Cowboys, it would make sense to compliment the conservative run based game plan with a trick play here or there. Since the Giants defense likes to be aggressive and come up the field so much, something like a double reverse to Roy Williams would seem like a good play. A simple end-around is not sophisticated enough, because that's a little too easy to read and Giants defense is pretty well coached. However, the double reverse gives an extra layer of deception and might work. Also, if the Giants defense is very focused on stopping the run and commits extra guys at the line of scrimmage to stop Barber, a flea-flicker, where Barber takes a hand off into the line, starts to run and pitches it back to Johnson might really work. Giants defense will probably be playing their WRs very tight and daring Brad Johnson to beat them deep. When they see a run by Barber, no doubt the DB-field will commit hard to stop the run. A play like that could work.
On defense, the Cowboys will probably be very aggressive and attack hard on passing downs. They are missing 1 starting CB (Newman) and prime backup/nickel back Pacman Jones, but it looks like CB Henry will play. They need to force some turnovers because they don't expect the offense to put up lots of points. Last year during the regular season, in the opener in Dallas, Giants played well offensively and put up 35 points. In the 2nd game in NY, Giants OL had a lot of trouble handling the Cowboys DL and that really cramped the offense's productivity. Giants did not have a lot of points in that game. Cowboys still have a very good front 7 and the Giants OL blocking them well is a key to the game. Of course that statement sounds really simplistic and is almost a cliche for judging offense production. Having an OL protect the qb is always a key to the passing game. But in this game it seems even more important because of the relative weakness of the Cowboys secondary and the strength of their front 7. DeMarcus Ware can give Diehl trouble and had a particularly strong game against Diehl in the Meadowlands last year. Blocking him is a real key to the game as he is second in the league in sacks. While we should be concerned about Ware dominating Diehl in the Meadowlands last year in the second regular season game between Giants and Cowboys, we should also remember the divisional playoff gme last year in which the Giants OL handled the Cowboys DL fairly well. As a result, the Giants offense was fairly effective and efficient in that game. Giants should be attacking the Cowboys in the passing game but should not take needless chances.
Giants should be more conservative with the blitzing on defense. Cowboys OL has not had a good year and Giants should try to get to Brad Johnson with minimum blitzing. That way they can keep DB-field back to stop the extremely talented Cowboys WRs. On 3rd and long Giants like to blitz and there is nothing wrong with that. I would just be a little more conservative with it. Giants don't want to give up a big play and gamble when the opposing qb is probably not going to be able to put up a lot of points. In the last two games, Giants had a very good 4th qtr pass rush and the interesting thing is that it was almost completely manufactured by the Giants DL and not by a lot of exotic blitzes. Giants would blitz one LB, often it was Pierce, to get 1 on 1 matchups everywhere across the front. Giants DL is good enough that somebody won their 1-on-1 matchup against the OL-man assigned to block him.
Flozell Adams has been getting beaten a lot this year. He is huge and a little slow and looks like he may be slightly injured because he is not setting ip quickly enough to block the DE. It sure seems like this is a perfect matchup for Kiwanuka who is mostly a speed rusher. When Romo is back there, Giants are afraid to go outside of their rush lanes because of Romo's ability to avoid the rush, get out of the pocket and make a play down field. With Brad Johnson at qb, this is not a threat so it only increases the flexibility that Kiwanuka can use in attacking Adams and the pocket.
On the other side, Spagnuolo likes to move Tuck inside in passing situations and match him up against a G. This gets Tollefson on the field at Tuck's DE spot and he has been doing pretty well. I don't love this formation especially against the huge Cowboys interior OL because there will be less space for Tuck to get through. However, this week, Cowboys G Losier is nicked up and may not play, so Giants may be tempted to get a mismatch with Tuck at that position. I still like Tuck in space where he can use all his skills, but look for Tuck to go inside occasionally.
Thursday, October 30, 2008
Plaxico drinks the Coughlin Kool-Aid
Well, it's not exactly complete contrition or a guilt ridden mea culpa asking forgiveness from his coach and teammates issued by Plaxico, but he did at least 'fess up a little bit. I'll quote: "Everybody can be better, you can make better choices just kind of think things over". Later he added: "I'm human. I've made some mistakes, I haven't made the best of decisions. I'm the first one to look myself in the mirror and be honest with myself"
Some could scoff at it and say that it was a canned, insincere statement encouraged by his agent. Others could bemoan the fact that he didn't sufficiently belittle or deprecate himself, didn't grovel enough and didn't throw himself on the mercy of the court. I disagree. I think it was a huge step for Plaxico and if he more or less toes the line and actually shows up to meetings, practices and rehab sessions more or less on time for the rest of the year, this will cease to be an issue.
Let's get some balance and perspective here - Plaxico did not violate any egregious personal codes of conduct. He's not shooting people in a Vegas strip joint like the CB formerly known as Pacman Jones. He's not getting drunk and fighting with his bodyguard like that same old aforementioned Pacman dude. He's not assaulting or spitting at women like KC RB Larry Johnson. He's not violating the law and getting suspended like half the Bengals roster. He's not getting suspended by the league because of brawling in the streets outside of a strip club in Miami like Vikings Bryant McKinnie. And he's not being suspended for doing drugs, steroids or other performance enhancing stuff. And - he's not calling out his coach or fighting with teammates like Steve Smith did in Carolina.
I'm not saying what Plaxico did is good. He's got to come to practice, show up for rehab etc. I'm just saying that the punishment should fit the crime. What he did was not so egregious and he recognized that he did the wrong thing by his statement. Having done so is sufficient for his teammates and (I hope) the coaches. Giants are a good team without him, but he is the only unstoppable force on this offense. We need him to make the Giants reach the heights.
If Coughlin wanted to make things really right, he should take a conciliatory step also. He should talk to Plaxico personally and he should issue a public statement something to the effect of: "I spoke with Plaxico personally and what we discussed will remain between the player and the coach. I just want to stress the fact that even though we had these minor disagreements about team rules, they are largely internal team matters. Plaxico is a fine young man, who is dedicated to his craft, works hard and is a respected and loved teammate. We are moving forward and hope we can put this behind us"
I think I'm quitting my job and going into public relations.
Some could scoff at it and say that it was a canned, insincere statement encouraged by his agent. Others could bemoan the fact that he didn't sufficiently belittle or deprecate himself, didn't grovel enough and didn't throw himself on the mercy of the court. I disagree. I think it was a huge step for Plaxico and if he more or less toes the line and actually shows up to meetings, practices and rehab sessions more or less on time for the rest of the year, this will cease to be an issue.
Let's get some balance and perspective here - Plaxico did not violate any egregious personal codes of conduct. He's not shooting people in a Vegas strip joint like the CB formerly known as Pacman Jones. He's not getting drunk and fighting with his bodyguard like that same old aforementioned Pacman dude. He's not assaulting or spitting at women like KC RB Larry Johnson. He's not violating the law and getting suspended like half the Bengals roster. He's not getting suspended by the league because of brawling in the streets outside of a strip club in Miami like Vikings Bryant McKinnie. And he's not being suspended for doing drugs, steroids or other performance enhancing stuff. And - he's not calling out his coach or fighting with teammates like Steve Smith did in Carolina.
I'm not saying what Plaxico did is good. He's got to come to practice, show up for rehab etc. I'm just saying that the punishment should fit the crime. What he did was not so egregious and he recognized that he did the wrong thing by his statement. Having done so is sufficient for his teammates and (I hope) the coaches. Giants are a good team without him, but he is the only unstoppable force on this offense. We need him to make the Giants reach the heights.
If Coughlin wanted to make things really right, he should take a conciliatory step also. He should talk to Plaxico personally and he should issue a public statement something to the effect of: "I spoke with Plaxico personally and what we discussed will remain between the player and the coach. I just want to stress the fact that even though we had these minor disagreements about team rules, they are largely internal team matters. Plaxico is a fine young man, who is dedicated to his craft, works hard and is a respected and loved teammate. We are moving forward and hope we can put this behind us"
I think I'm quitting my job and going into public relations.
Tuesday, October 28, 2008
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.
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.
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