Giants: More on the Redskins game

I am still ticked off at the INT that Eli threw. What was he thinking? Giants were up 14-0, had a 1st and goal at the 4, with 2 (or even 3) more downs to get it into the endzone. Of course, you could question the call of Killdrive to throw the ball there, after Giants had run almost unstoppably (is that a word?) in the game until then. But I will give the OC a pass because he is putting the ball in the hands of the franchise QB and he should have expected that Eli would have thrown the ball away if Boss was covered. On 3rd down, I can almost understand Eli trying to fit a ball in a narrow space, but not on 1st down. By the time the S and LB got back to help defend the play, Eli was essentially throwing into triple coverage.

I remember Boothe as being a marginal backup G last year but he seems to be playing well after his so-so opening game against the Eagles. Beatty got caught for two holding calls and one other that didn't get called. He played well enough besides that series and did help spring the RBs for a good rushing day. Nevertheless, I suspect that when Diehl is ready to come back, Beatty will resume his spot on the bench. Coaches hate penalties and mistakes and conversely love experience, so Diehl will come back for the stretch run. Andrews is feeling better, is still a few weeks (if at all) away from coming back, but it will be interesting to see what the Giants do if both Andrews and Diehl are ready to play. Seubert also played a good game at C, but if O'Hara comes back healthy and the Giants can move Seubert back to G, the Giants will have their OL back, healthy and strong. Seubert has really surprised me with his quality play this year. Last year he looked done, but I guess it was more injury (he had off-season shoulder surgery) than age.

What a great pickup Devin Harris was for the ST coverage. He made a tackle or two, blocked a punt and downed a punt on the 5 yard line. He looks like he might have the best straight line speed on the team. I hope the Giants coaches figure out how to use him and integrate him into the passing game. I wonder if he can return punts, because Reynaud sure doesn't remind anyone of Dave Meggett.


Derek Hagan's play was good on Sunday and his situation with the play of Devin Harris noted above may create a roster problem for Duke Calhoun or even Ramses Barden next summer. Too far away to think about that now - the roster changes so much from year to year. When the players you cut or release end up starting on other teams, it shows that you have talent. Bryan Kehl, Jay Alford, Leger Douzable, Charlie Pepprah and Ryan Grant (who was traded but would have been cut because of surplus players at RB) are a few recent example of this from the Giants roster. There may be some others, but these came to mind.

Did you notice that Terrel Thomas INT came from him playing the S position? It looked like the Giants pushed Rolle up into the box because of his superior tackling skills and moved Thomas back to S to take advantage of his superior speed and cover skills. They didn't do it all the time, but it shows that Fewell is thinking and creative. I would still like to see the Giants pick up a good backup cover CB. Ross has been so-so this year and there is a huge drop-off between the Giants 3rd and 4th CB. This means that the Giants are one CB injury from being vulnerable in the DB-field.

I said in the spring when the Redskins signed McNabb that it was a stupid move and it looks like, if anything, I was being understated in my criticism. It was a ridiculously stupid move. Redskins were coming off an awful season last year, with an aging weak roster and were dedicated to rebuilding it totally with new, young players. Instead, they trade for an aging QB, who relied on his legs, keep their old WR Moss and their old RB Portis as the core of the team. The only thing that would justify bringing in McNabb would be to have him tend to and guide the team and teach them what it means to be a team and a winner. Except McNabb has always been a me-first guy, is not a great locker room presence and certainly would not be considered the thinking man's QB who can tutor a young team in what it takes to win. Add on top of that, that his skills are clearly diminishing and it certainly adds up to the wrong fit for that team. Perhaps he will go to Minnesota next year when Favre retires for one last fling. It would be a mistake but at least somewhat defensible for Vikings, IMO.

Redskins defense sure missed a lot of tackles on Sunday. It actually inflated the stats on the Giants running game and made it look better than it really is. We'll take it  - give the Giants RBs credit for taking every yard they could get, but the Redskins defense, especially the LBs did not want to tangle with the Giants RBs.

Speaking of RBs, I don't get why Jacobs had only 8 carries and Bradshaw had 25. Even though Bradshaw did not fumble on Sunday, he looked to me like he was carrying the ball loosely and I don't believe he has solved his problem of putting the ball on the ground. When he was trying to make moves in traffic, he had the ball away from his body, where it can easily be knocked out. I like starting with Jacobs and I want to see him get 2/3 of the carries.