I don't want to plug a show on this blog (not that this blog carries so much weight in the sports entertainment world), but I do want to relay what this week's episode of Inside the NFL on Show Time had to say about the Giants-Eagles game. First of all, the idiots spent more time discussing whether Coughlin was right or wrong yelling at punter Matt Dodge after the game than they did actually analyzing the game. Like anybody gives two hoots about that. They actually spent more time castigating Coughlin for it - poor rookie Dodge, lots of other things went wrong in the game, it wasn't just his fault. Blah, blah, blah. What a bunch of dopes. Look at it this way - here we are discussing whether Coughlin should be fired or not, in fact everyone in the league is talking about that. If the Giants had won the game, they would have virtually clinched the division title and probably a 2 seed in the playoffs, which would give them a leg up to win the title. I think the coach can be forgiven a momentary explosion for, in one moment, going from seeking a title to possibly getting fired and should be given a pass for yelling at the punter. This is especially true when he has been extraordinarily patient with him all year, kept him on the team after numerous punting mistakes, and nurtured him into a decent punter, notwithstanding this terrible mistake. The guy may have cost Coughlin millions of dollars and a place in NFL history. That's all.
After these idiots finished discussing the Coughlin yelling incident, they got to the game - discussing why and how the Giants lost. Simms said exactly what I did on this blog. This was an enormous failure of the coaching staff. When the Giants went ahead on the Boss TD by 31-10 with 8 minutes left, they should have gone back to playing a conservative defense, not rushed so much and made the Eagles earn every yard instead of giving them big chunks by gambling on exotic blitzes. Every big play the Eagles made, said Simms, was on a Giants blitz. He further said that it doesn't matter that the aggressive defense was working up until that point, it was the time in the game to dial it back. That's what coaches are supposed to do - recognize when the tempo in the game needs to be changed and when to go from an aggressive to a conservative tone, both on offense and defense. The mistakes that the players made happened when they were exposed by these blitzes.
Just so you know - Warren Sapp thinks the Giants are done.
Coughlin may survive this season. I am not saying he must get fired, although the ST coach surely has to go and it would be nice to get an OC in here with some fresh ideas. But - if the Giants lose their last two games and don't make the playoffs, there is a chance that Coughlin will not be brought back. If that happens, the question is, who should be the next coach. Cowher's name has been bandied about, but I don't like Cowher as a replacement for Coughlin. He's the same coach in a different skin. Perhaps he had marginally more success in Pittsburgh, but he's got the same attitude, the same personality and is cut out of the same cloth. If the Giants were to look for a new coach, I would not mind if John Fox come back to the Meadowlands, even though he has had some mediocre results and may have underachieved a bit since he took the Panthers on their Super Bowl run a few years ago. The coaches I would really like and may be available are: Jeff Fisher, who will probably become available in Tennessee because of the Vince Young mess or Marty Monhinweg, the OC at Philadelphia. He is very creative and has some HC experience, though it was not a very successful run. The Falcon OC, Mularkey and the Saints OC Carmichael are also very creative, but I am not sure if they are HC material.
2 comments:
I can't believe I disagree with my 2 boys, Phil S. & Wolfman. It just shows anybody can become a 2nd guesser at a desparate time. Can you believe what all "the other second-guesses would have said if the Giants can gone into the usual "prevent D" and lost the game? I've heard it sooooo many times - they did it all right for 3 1/2 quarters, then they change to prevent and play right into the speedy Eagles hands - FIRE THE COACH!. And did anyone look at the film of that (so called) punt? Dodge turned and (tried to)punt right towards the side lines. As Phil Simms said, "he shanked it, just like a golfer" and you want to fire the S.T. coach for not teaching him how to punt out of bounds? I wouldn't mind firing him for poor kick coverage in general.
Get a grip Giant fans - suck it up - find a way to get over the worse loss in our history and get ready for the Packers like the players have to do. The Packers are a TOUGH team and Rodgers has been passing as well(and maybe better)than anyone in the NFL. If he's still a little groggy it might help (I hope he's all better by Monday).
Get ready to follow Eli as he leads us (hopefully) to the playoffs (if not the Promised Land).
Carolina Don
A guy who sat through THE FUMBLE game
CarolinaDon,
Great to hear from you, hope all is well.
I have calmed down a bit now. I think Coughlin is a solid coach. But it is not inconsistent for me to think that and still think that he mismanaged the end of the game against the Eagles.
On the punt - you're right, of course, that is the play that is LEAST on the coaching staff and is almost ALL on the player. It was a physical, not a mental mistake. But the fact is that our ST have been poor all year; the poor coverage on that punt return as well as not being ready for the onside kick were just examples of ST mess ups. Should ST coach be fired? I don't know - but he sure didn't distinguish himself this year.
As far as the defense - there's something in between a very soft prevent that allows yards and scores too quickly and the all out blitzes and exotic zone blitzes that the Giants used. They could have dialed it down and played a little more zone, bitzed a little less and played a little safer with an extra S back without giving away the house. There were times during the game when the Giants did play zone and it worked just fine.
This isn't a second guess for me - right after the Boss TD, I turned to my son, sitting next to me at the game and said - we have to play zone now, not let them score quickly. Make them spend 3-4 minutes to score and we'll win.
I'm rooting for them as hard as can be tomorrow in GB. It will be a tough game, but I hope we can do it. This is a game, btw, where blitzing should be a prominent part of the game plane, because while Rodgers can scramble, he is not the threat that Vick is. Of course, the Packers OL is not great, and we should see what the DL can do before we go hog-wild. Vick is the best runner I have seen since Gale Sayers.
-wm
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