Giants: Saints game - tape review

I did some further reviewing of the game tape... ok, so it's not really a tape, it's digital images stored on a hard disk inside my Digital Video Recorder... I know. But saying I reviewed the tape makes me feel like an old school football coach. Here's what I saw.

When the Saints ran effectively against the Giants in the first half, they ran right between the RDE and the RDT and here's what they did that made the simple play so successful. They double teamed the Giants LDT with the C and the RG. They double teamed the Giants RDT with the LT and the LG. That leaves Osi, Giants RDE unblocked by an OL-man. No problem for the Saints - they sent a WR or RB to block Osi and the Giants all pro RDE was completely taken out on every play. Osi is done - his run defense has regressed to pre-2010 levels and his pass rush is one dimensional and too easily blocked by good LTs.

I understand the Fewell approach that Kiwanuka is a good athlete and he can handle playing LB. I also understand that the Giants have rookie LBs and playing an experienced player like Kiwanuka will avoid mistakes. Of course, Kiwanuka is a natural DE and is still learning LB, so I am not sure how much more experienced he is as a LB than the rookies who have played that position through their entire college careers, but that may be besides the point. My point is that Fewell has to be aware of the personnel, the capability and the likely game plan of the opposing offense and adjust his personnel to a system that will work. Playing Kiwanuka at LB against the Saints is a total misfit and a total waste of his talent. Kiwanuka is decent as a LB when he can blitz and defend against the run. He is a little weaker playing in space, defending the TE and the RBs in pass coverage. However, he is totally useless against RBs as quick as Sproles and TE as fast and athletic as Graham. Kiwanuka is also not great at reading and playing screens and the Saints are a very good screen team, further undercutting his value. I'd rather have a fast LB play who has a chance against those guys than play a proud athlete like Kiwanuka who is out of position. Fewell is completely out of his element when it comes to these strategic moves. This week against the Packers, Kiwanuka will be similarly overmatched trying to guard the excellent TE Finley. Hope Fewell learns from the Saints game.

Giving the play calling helmet to Deon Grant is another bone headed move because it makes the Giants defense 100% predictable. If Grant is going to be on the field all the time, it advertises to the defense that Giants will be in nickel coverage all game long. When Saints run effectively, Giants don't have the bulk to stand up to it. Grant has clearly lost a step, so beyond giving away what defense Giants are playing, we have poor athletes on the field. Giants do very little in the way of disguising what they are doing or coming up with anything exotic to make the other QB hesitate. The QB is 100% certain that his pre-snap read is accurate as to what the Giants are playing. On the broadcast Monday night, Gruden showed different creative schemes that Saints were playing: zone on one side of the field, man on the other; reverse cover 2 - where the safeties at first show normal cover 2, then switch with the S coming up to play man and the CB dropping back into zone. Giants never do anything like that. They have two flavors - man with the Tampa 2, or zone coverage where all the DBs read the QB's eyes, and don't pay attention to the receivers coming into their zones.

Another example of Fewell playing the wrong man at the wrong position is putting JPP at DT. No doubt, this is also about getting the best athletes on the field, but there are two major things wrong with it. First, in the middle of the field, the lack of space, the scrum of holding, grabbing and pushing makes JPP just a body. It completely mitigates the special qualities he brings to the field on defense which are his athleticism and size. Secondly, JPP was a raw talent coming out of college. He had played very little organized football at South Florida and had very little experience in the technique of the game. He played sparingly as a rookie but this year has developed some of the good technique that a DE needs. With such little football experience, why do you think you can just plug him in to a new position at DT as if all the players were just interchangeable parts?

Just saw that Osi will be out 2-4 weeks and my assessment is that the defense will improve. Giants should play JPP at RDE full time. They should move Kiwanuka to DE to take some of the snaps that Osi took at DE and move Tuck inside to DT if they need some more bodies at that position. Giants should live or die with their young LBs and should sit Grant down on the bench.

Other things I saw on the tape were that Webster and Ross did not have good games at CB. Saints just looked a step quicker, a lot more organized and focused on what they had to do. Giants seemed hesitant, disorganized and unsure, giving away position and initiative to the Saints even if the players were of equal talent. 

Saints RBs are excellent. All can run, block and catch the ball. They run with an idea of where to go and with a purpose. None of the 3 Giants RBs would make the Saints, even Bradshaw.

I hate to keep saying this week after week, but Eli had a great game throwing the ball. Some of his throws were just outstanding and he had very few bad throws and decisions.

Giants: Saints game preview

Under normal circumstances, based on personnel and match ups, I would say that the Giants have a chance in this game. Saints have a strong offense, especially at home. Their OL is good, their QB is superior and their offensive skill position players are dangerous. However, their running game is good but not great and their TE, Graham, is making lots of catches, leading all TEs in receptions, in fact, but is not a real deep threat. Defending the outside receivers has been a decent part of the Giants defense this year. The weakness has been in the middle of the field and the Saints TE will be a big challenge for the Giants defense. Of course, their WRs can run crossing routes in the middle of the field as well, like everyone has been doing against Giants defense, but that is not their particular strength. At some point, the Giants DL will make a reappearance and at some point the Giants will figure out how to defend the soft medium depth middle zone even with Boley out of the game. Herzlich has been praised by Coughlin as someone who is a quick study and does not make the same mistakes twice. Let's see if he can pick up his pass defense this week, because the Giants really need it. I think Herzlich showed ability - speed and strength - but was caught in rookie assignment mistakes on several pass plays. Prince Amukamara played well last week, especially considering that it was his first snaps in a game. The Saints pass the ball very well, especially in their dome and a good game from the Prince would be timely help.

On defense, the Saints do not have a big pass rush or a particularly strong overall defense. They are weak both against the pass and against the run. I think the Giants should be able to move the ball against the Saints, presuming the OL actually makes it out onto the field this week (they clearly did not show up against the Eagles last week).

So with all that, if the Giants DL and OL makes a reappearance this week, I would say that the Giants have a chance. But their season has been so choppy, I just don't know which Giants team will show up. Will we see the Giants that played such a strong defensive game and gave a gritty effort against the Patriots on the road three weeks ago? Or will we see the Giants that showed up last week against the Eagles with such a weak effort. Hard to say, but there is a lot riding on this game - 1st place in the NFC East, playoff chances, coaching staff's jobs. Not to mention - erasing the bitter taste of last two weeks losses and removing the reputation that the team has of second half chokes. If that's not motivation, I don't know what is.

Giants have announced that they will move Diehl out to LT and slide Boothe into his position at LG. This is the smart move, but it could indicate that Beatty will be out for a while.

At this point in the season, after 10 games it's probably about time that Gilbride realized that the running game is not going to be a big weapon for the Giants this year. As my son pointed out to me in an email earlier this week, the Giants are 4th best in the league in yards per attempt in the passing game and second worst in the league in yards per carry in the running game. That strongly argues that the Giants should pass first to soften the defense and then run to keep the ball. The statistics I quoted about yards per pass attempt and yards per carry need a little more analysis and I will do that in a  post early next week (I promise - I've already started working on it). But for now, I am concentrating on the Saints and the murky playoff picture. The Cowboys pulled out two very close games the last two weeks. These were games they could have easily lost, both of which were won on FGs kicked by them as the last play of the game. Cowboys have a very good offense but a vulnerable defense. They are not an unbeatable team; the Giants have to win some games so that they are in position to make the Cowboys games matter to them when they play them. 

On defense, I am almost willing to give Fewell a little pass. They have had so many injuries and have so many players playing out of position - JPP shifted to DT; Kiwanuka shifted to LB; rookie LBs pushed into the starting lineup; absence of LBs leading to more 3-S look with Grant as a quasi-LB; Rolle pushed up as a slot defender in absence of CBs. But still - they should play better than they have last few games. I would shift JPP back to DE, where he is a natural and can use his athletic ability in a little more space. To get some more players to log the snaps at DT, I would activate Kennedy, play Rocky Bernard a little more and even give Tuck some snaps at DT. Giants are desperate for a pass rush and they have not been getting it with JPP at DT.