The hits just keep on comin'. Michael Coe was a backup to a backup in training camp and would not have made the team but for injuries to 3 or 4 other DBs ahead of him on the depth chart. He did have speed but no cover skills or much game experience. But he was coached up well by DB coach Peter Giunta during the year and was actually improving his technique. You may recall he defended a few passes nicely in the Patriots game, including one slant right at the goal line intended for Chand Ochocinco. He was also a decent ST player. Of course, the other night he tore up his shoulder, requried surgery and is done for the year.
Will Beatty who has had a decent but not a spectacular year at LT had some back problems which held him out of practice last week, but did not miss any game time. However, now has been found to have a detached retina and needed emergency surgery. The emergency part is not unusual for detached retinas - if you delay, it can result in partial or total loss of vision. The question is - what is the recovery time and how long will he be out. My understanding is that it depends greatly on how severe the tear was and exactly what surgery was required to be performed. The recovery time could be as short as 2 weeks, but as long as 6-8.
In the short term, Giants have two apparent choices - they could slide Diehl back out from G to LT and move Boothe in at LG. Boothe has been a solid backup this year in the interior line and that is a reasonable thing to do, especially because the transition for Diehl back to G has not been great; he has not been having a great year. An alternative would be to leave Diehl at G and slide Stacey Andrews in at LT. Andrews has not really impressed me and I am not sure the Giants should do this. Diehl gets a bonus if he plays LT, but I am sure the Giants would make a decision on what is best for the team and not on the basis of avoiding bonus payment.
Decision may depend on what the estimate is for Beatty to be out. If he is gone for the season, they may move Diehl out to LT. But if he will be out only 2 weeks, Giants may decide that continuity is best and they should leave Diehl in at his G position so there are fewer changes to be made. Of course, if Andrews can't handle the LT assignment at all, they should move Diehl out there regardless of Beatty expected return. Boothe is not a natural LT, so they can't move him out there. Andrews took a few snaps in the Eagles game for MacKenzie at RT and on his first play he allowed a sack. He has played as an extra TE without great distinction this year.
Showing posts with label OL. Show all posts
Showing posts with label OL. Show all posts
Wednesday, November 23, 2011
Tuesday, December 28, 2010
Giants: Packers game review II
Defense was really overwhelmed on Sunday, but it was definitely a team effort. The offense didn't help by turning the ball over and giving a short field to defend. Furthermore, the offense scored two TDs in the first half on two long pass plays and the time of possession was really short. The offense did not get the running game going consistently, gaining only 90 yards rushing on the day. The few times that the offense seemed like it was going or got an attempt for a big running play, the RBs put the ball on the turf.
Turnovers hurt for two reasons, 1-you lose an opportunity to score and give the other team an extra opportunity to score. Perhaps more importantly, 2- you flip the field position of the game. In this context there are two kinds of turnovers - some interceptions that come at the end of a long attempt down field with no runback, give the opponents an extra possession, but in terms of field position are not much worse than a punt. However a fumble, is always at the spot of the turnover and gives away whatever field position your offense has established until then and takes away the opportunity, at the very least, to punt and push the opposing offense's starting field position back.
What was so upsetting about the two fumbles by Jacobs and Bradshaw Sunday is that they were so sloppy and were completely avoidable. Sometimes the defense makes a great play, and hits the ball with their helmet, or has a great strip with one or two people unexpectedly knocking the ball loose and there is little the RB could have done to prevent it. However, on Bradshaw's fumble, he was facing the defense, could see where the defender's were coming from and should have secured the ball. The defender, from a few feet away, reached out and slapped the ball knocking it loose. The fact that he was a few feet away indicates that it was not a hard swat and he barely reached the ball. Bradshaw was carrying the ball low and loose in one hand, not high and tight. When his starting job was taken away, he was ticked off, but he did not change his method or style of carrying the ball. He always carries it one in arm, always away from his body where it is unprotected and sometimes carries it loosely, not tight and secure even in the one hand he uses. It is pure fortune that he didn't fumble more often since being demoted. Either the coaches didn't coach him well or he's not coachable, but there were no consequences to his fumbles. He may not have gotten the honor of starting, but after a game, his carries were up as high as they had been when he was not starting. He should have been out of the lineup save for a pass play here or there and DJ Ware should have taken his carries.
Jacobs fumble was not quite as bad, but also was very avoidable and inexcusable. He was behind the defense and Matthews caught up to him from behind, slightly to Jacobs' rear left. Matthew reached forward with his let arm and grabbed Jacobs by his left shoulder pad. When a RB sees or feels contact, he's got to increase security on the ball. Jacobs should have wrapped up the ball with both hands as soon as he felt Matthews, but he didn't and Matthews swung his right arm around and punched the ball out. The RBs have not exhibited even the slightest notions of ball security, even after all the fumbles. If you keep doing the same things, you'll get the same results; it is pure luck that the RBs didn't continue to fumble for those few games after Jacobs replaced Bradshaw. BTW - great move by Boss trying to pick up the fumble with his hands instead of falling on it.
Eli's INTs were pretty bad, but I don't even care about the last few - he was desperate and was taking chances hoping for a play. Of course, it wouldn't be a Giants game if one INT didn't bounce of the intended receiver's hands and went to the defender on yet another tipped ball INT. Of course the game was well over by that time.
I have been one of Eli's biggest proponents and supporters, but it is certainly legitimate to ask - how good is he? Last two weeks, two QBs completely took away the game from the Giants, one with his feet and one with his arm. Eli has played well at times this year, and in fact played brilliantly on occasion, but we haven't seen him really dominate a game and win it all by himself. Maybe that's just the type of player he is. We know he is good enough to win a championship - he's got that on his resume already - but I would have liked to see him play at a high level more often this year. And those INT's..... ugh.
We were all feeling good and confident that the starting OL had been restored the last few games, but I will ask now, with admitted hindsight - was that really such a good thing? O'Hara did not play well at all in these last two games, getting beaten often on running plays and passing plays right up the middle. He simply whiffed on several blocks giving the DT penetration up the middle which ruins passing and running plays. One could validly ask whether it was such a good idea to move O'Hara back at C and Seubert out of that slot, back to G replacing Boothe who had been playing well. It was probably worth a try; it would be a complete second guess to say they should have left O'Hara on the bench. But once you saw the OL blocking ineffectively, they should have tried a different alignment and reverted back to what had worked when O'Hara was out.
The second point about the OL is this: I understand that it is good to get your starters back, but this is the same OL that started for us in the Super Bowl year of 2007. In fact they were together on the team for a year or two before then, although not in that exact configuration. (2007 was Diehl's first year starting at LT from the beginning of the year.) My point is - while stability in the OL is good, how many other teams in the NFL have the exact same starters this year that they did four years ago. The OL is getting a little long in the tooth, with O'Hara, Seubert, Diehl and MacKenzie getting on in years. When that happens, either performance goes down or injuries start to pile up. To be fair, the Giants did add a few OL-men through FA and the draft in Andrews, Beatty and Petrus. Andrews showed some ability before his back issue, but the other two have not started or gotten any playing time other than to replace an injured player. Giants have to get better and younger in the OL. It was inconsistent this year.
In the middle of the year when the defense looked perky, I was worried that some other team would swoop in and steal Fewell from the Giants, making him their HC and the Giants would have him for only one year. Now I am worried that some other team will NOT swoop in to steal him from the Giants and we will have him for more than one year.
Turnovers hurt for two reasons, 1-you lose an opportunity to score and give the other team an extra opportunity to score. Perhaps more importantly, 2- you flip the field position of the game. In this context there are two kinds of turnovers - some interceptions that come at the end of a long attempt down field with no runback, give the opponents an extra possession, but in terms of field position are not much worse than a punt. However a fumble, is always at the spot of the turnover and gives away whatever field position your offense has established until then and takes away the opportunity, at the very least, to punt and push the opposing offense's starting field position back.
What was so upsetting about the two fumbles by Jacobs and Bradshaw Sunday is that they were so sloppy and were completely avoidable. Sometimes the defense makes a great play, and hits the ball with their helmet, or has a great strip with one or two people unexpectedly knocking the ball loose and there is little the RB could have done to prevent it. However, on Bradshaw's fumble, he was facing the defense, could see where the defender's were coming from and should have secured the ball. The defender, from a few feet away, reached out and slapped the ball knocking it loose. The fact that he was a few feet away indicates that it was not a hard swat and he barely reached the ball. Bradshaw was carrying the ball low and loose in one hand, not high and tight. When his starting job was taken away, he was ticked off, but he did not change his method or style of carrying the ball. He always carries it one in arm, always away from his body where it is unprotected and sometimes carries it loosely, not tight and secure even in the one hand he uses. It is pure fortune that he didn't fumble more often since being demoted. Either the coaches didn't coach him well or he's not coachable, but there were no consequences to his fumbles. He may not have gotten the honor of starting, but after a game, his carries were up as high as they had been when he was not starting. He should have been out of the lineup save for a pass play here or there and DJ Ware should have taken his carries.
Jacobs fumble was not quite as bad, but also was very avoidable and inexcusable. He was behind the defense and Matthews caught up to him from behind, slightly to Jacobs' rear left. Matthew reached forward with his let arm and grabbed Jacobs by his left shoulder pad. When a RB sees or feels contact, he's got to increase security on the ball. Jacobs should have wrapped up the ball with both hands as soon as he felt Matthews, but he didn't and Matthews swung his right arm around and punched the ball out. The RBs have not exhibited even the slightest notions of ball security, even after all the fumbles. If you keep doing the same things, you'll get the same results; it is pure luck that the RBs didn't continue to fumble for those few games after Jacobs replaced Bradshaw. BTW - great move by Boss trying to pick up the fumble with his hands instead of falling on it.
Eli's INTs were pretty bad, but I don't even care about the last few - he was desperate and was taking chances hoping for a play. Of course, it wouldn't be a Giants game if one INT didn't bounce of the intended receiver's hands and went to the defender on yet another tipped ball INT. Of course the game was well over by that time.
I have been one of Eli's biggest proponents and supporters, but it is certainly legitimate to ask - how good is he? Last two weeks, two QBs completely took away the game from the Giants, one with his feet and one with his arm. Eli has played well at times this year, and in fact played brilliantly on occasion, but we haven't seen him really dominate a game and win it all by himself. Maybe that's just the type of player he is. We know he is good enough to win a championship - he's got that on his resume already - but I would have liked to see him play at a high level more often this year. And those INT's..... ugh.
We were all feeling good and confident that the starting OL had been restored the last few games, but I will ask now, with admitted hindsight - was that really such a good thing? O'Hara did not play well at all in these last two games, getting beaten often on running plays and passing plays right up the middle. He simply whiffed on several blocks giving the DT penetration up the middle which ruins passing and running plays. One could validly ask whether it was such a good idea to move O'Hara back at C and Seubert out of that slot, back to G replacing Boothe who had been playing well. It was probably worth a try; it would be a complete second guess to say they should have left O'Hara on the bench. But once you saw the OL blocking ineffectively, they should have tried a different alignment and reverted back to what had worked when O'Hara was out.
The second point about the OL is this: I understand that it is good to get your starters back, but this is the same OL that started for us in the Super Bowl year of 2007. In fact they were together on the team for a year or two before then, although not in that exact configuration. (2007 was Diehl's first year starting at LT from the beginning of the year.) My point is - while stability in the OL is good, how many other teams in the NFL have the exact same starters this year that they did four years ago. The OL is getting a little long in the tooth, with O'Hara, Seubert, Diehl and MacKenzie getting on in years. When that happens, either performance goes down or injuries start to pile up. To be fair, the Giants did add a few OL-men through FA and the draft in Andrews, Beatty and Petrus. Andrews showed some ability before his back issue, but the other two have not started or gotten any playing time other than to replace an injured player. Giants have to get better and younger in the OL. It was inconsistent this year.
In the middle of the year when the defense looked perky, I was worried that some other team would swoop in and steal Fewell from the Giants, making him their HC and the Giants would have him for only one year. Now I am worried that some other team will NOT swoop in to steal him from the Giants and we will have him for more than one year.
Friday, December 10, 2010
Giants: Vikings preview
On paper, the Vikings are really good, regardless of their issues at the QB position. On offense they have a big OL, the best RB in football in Peterson, and weapons in the passing game in Harvin, Rice and Shiancoe. Rice and Harvin are apparently nursing injuries so they may not be at full strength this week. You see how important QB play is in this league - Favre has had an absolutely awful year with 18 INTs, only 6 TDs, a host of bad decisions, poor yards per attempt and one fired coach on his resume. I think we see what happens when the Vikings get even marginally improved QB play - last week Tavaris Jackson came in and put up 38 points, despite throwing 3 INTs himself. So there is no doubt that the Vikings are a a dangerous offensive team. I have not followed them closely, but the word is that their OL has underperformed this year. Maybe the firing of unpopular coach Childress woke them up a bit and inspired the OL to play more fiercely. This will be the second team that the Giants play that has taken the unusual step of mid-season coach firing. Let's hope the results are different this time.
On the other side of the ball, their run defense is strong, but their pass defense is so-so. Their pass defense is predicated on getting after the QB and not giving him time to throw, but the DL has not played inspired football, with Jared Allen having a mediocre year. If the Giants can protect Eli, which they have done fairly well recently, with the OL getting a starter back and with Nicks and/or Smith probably coming back, the offense should be able to move the ball. I would come out throwing and establish the run later on. That's my mantra this week: Throw early, run late.
During the rash of OL injuries the Giants signed a backup OL-man named Jamon Meredith and he has been active the past few weeks. He has been playing occasionally as the extra TE and the reason I bring him up is that he is an impressive looking physical player. He is tall, looks muscular but lean, and the few times I saw him on ST, looked like he can really run. I have no information on him, other than that he is a 2nd year player out of South Carolina and I don't even know what team he was on last year. He looks good, though. Look for # 79 if you get a chance.
I was surprised to see Shawn Andrews back in the locker room and back at practice, though only working on rehabbing his back. I thought he was done for the year and maybe for his career. He spoke optimistically about returning this year, as soon as a few weeks.
I guess it was a great move by the Giants to keep Beatty on the roster and not put him on IR when he broke his foot early in the year and missed 6-7 weeks. His presence on the roster really helped these past few weeks. I'd like to see him get some more playing time and develop his skills, but I can't argue with using Diehl. The match up between Jared Allen and Diehl is a critical one this weekend.
No wind, fast turf, in the dome, starting WRs coming back - look for Giants passing game to take some shots down field this week.
On the other side of the ball, their run defense is strong, but their pass defense is so-so. Their pass defense is predicated on getting after the QB and not giving him time to throw, but the DL has not played inspired football, with Jared Allen having a mediocre year. If the Giants can protect Eli, which they have done fairly well recently, with the OL getting a starter back and with Nicks and/or Smith probably coming back, the offense should be able to move the ball. I would come out throwing and establish the run later on. That's my mantra this week: Throw early, run late.
During the rash of OL injuries the Giants signed a backup OL-man named Jamon Meredith and he has been active the past few weeks. He has been playing occasionally as the extra TE and the reason I bring him up is that he is an impressive looking physical player. He is tall, looks muscular but lean, and the few times I saw him on ST, looked like he can really run. I have no information on him, other than that he is a 2nd year player out of South Carolina and I don't even know what team he was on last year. He looks good, though. Look for # 79 if you get a chance.
I was surprised to see Shawn Andrews back in the locker room and back at practice, though only working on rehabbing his back. I thought he was done for the year and maybe for his career. He spoke optimistically about returning this year, as soon as a few weeks.
I guess it was a great move by the Giants to keep Beatty on the roster and not put him on IR when he broke his foot early in the year and missed 6-7 weeks. His presence on the roster really helped these past few weeks. I'd like to see him get some more playing time and develop his skills, but I can't argue with using Diehl. The match up between Jared Allen and Diehl is a critical one this weekend.
No wind, fast turf, in the dome, starting WRs coming back - look for Giants passing game to take some shots down field this week.
Tuesday, November 16, 2010
Giants: Injuries again
All the papers are making a big deal about Giants second half swoons under Coughlin. It's such rubbish - you can't just look at a few seasons and the second half record to determine the coach's ability. The worst second half results that Coughlin had with the Giants, statistically at least, were in 2006 and 2009. In 2006, Giants started 6-2 and finished 2-6. In 2009, Giants started 5-0 and finished 3-8, but in both seasons the Giants were absolutely decimated by injuries. I won't go over the details, but the injuries were focused on the defense and they had no chance to win. It wasn't about coaching, it was about injuries.... and they certainly didn't seem to fold in the second half of the 2007 season. If you want to look at Coughlin's coaching record from the macro level, you just need to realize that he was a successful, winning coach everywhere he coached and in each case he took weak or nonexistent programs and built them into winners. He came from the Bill Parcells coaching tree and was an assistant coach on the 1990 Superbowl team. He developed a close bond with Bellichick, as Coughlin was the WR coach and Bellichick was the DB coach. They worked long and hard together figuring out how to make each of their opposing units excel. In Jacksonville he was the first coach of the expansion team, meaning he built everything form the ground up, and he took the Jaguars to two conference championships. He got into some salary cap problems there and was fired. He took a year off coaching and went to coach at Boston College. When he took over, the program was in a shambles and he built it up so that it was a strong winning program again and he beat Notre Dame, still a college football power when he played them. He came to the Giants and took over a 4-12 team from Jim Fassel. He tutored a rookie QB in 2004, made the playoffs in 2005 and 2006, with the 2005 season being a division championship. I don't have to tell you what he did in 2007. In 2008, the team was 12-1 and was undone by the Plaxico Burress shooting incident. In the 5 years that Eli was a starting QB for the full season, he made the playoffs 4 times and won 1 title. That's a good record and talk of second half declines are just stupid. Maybe we could say that the team reached its true level and his expert coaching elevated the team in the first half of the season. That would be stupid also, of course - each season needs to be considered on its own merits and analyzed separately. He is a good coach, with some flaws to be sure, but certainly one of the better coaches in the league.
The worry we should have about the Giants is the injuries cropping up again, all focused on one side of the ball. Last year it was the defense that got hammered and this year the injuries are focused around the offense. Giants came into the season pretty deep on the OL but now have lost Beatty, Diehl, Koets and O'Hara. Only Koets is done for the season, so perhaps when the other guys come back, the Giants can be strengthened again. Certainly the difficulty running the ball Sunday against the Cowboys was contributed to by the loss of OL-men. O'Hara was a beast in game one against the Cowboys and he freed Seubert to pull and do his best work of the year. With Seubert doing duty at C, Giants used Boothe at G and he is much less mobile and capable than Seubert at that position. I don't have to tell you that Boothe got called for the crushing holding penalty that nullified the Nicks TD. Giants need to survive until these guys get back.
Another key injury is the Steve Smith pectoral muscle tear. It looked like Barden was really stepping up and filling in competently in his first significant action of the season, but now he is gone for the year with torn ligaments and a broken ankle. Giants resurrected Derek Hagan who made the team last year and was a surprise cut at the end of training camp this year. I hope he's been keeping in shape.
As with the OL injuries, Giants don't need Hagan to play at a pro-bowl level. We need him to play well enough so the Giants offense doesn't really suffer; the Giants can at least win the games that they need to win and hold down the fort until the starters get back.
The worry we should have about the Giants is the injuries cropping up again, all focused on one side of the ball. Last year it was the defense that got hammered and this year the injuries are focused around the offense. Giants came into the season pretty deep on the OL but now have lost Beatty, Diehl, Koets and O'Hara. Only Koets is done for the season, so perhaps when the other guys come back, the Giants can be strengthened again. Certainly the difficulty running the ball Sunday against the Cowboys was contributed to by the loss of OL-men. O'Hara was a beast in game one against the Cowboys and he freed Seubert to pull and do his best work of the year. With Seubert doing duty at C, Giants used Boothe at G and he is much less mobile and capable than Seubert at that position. I don't have to tell you that Boothe got called for the crushing holding penalty that nullified the Nicks TD. Giants need to survive until these guys get back.
Another key injury is the Steve Smith pectoral muscle tear. It looked like Barden was really stepping up and filling in competently in his first significant action of the season, but now he is gone for the year with torn ligaments and a broken ankle. Giants resurrected Derek Hagan who made the team last year and was a surprise cut at the end of training camp this year. I hope he's been keeping in shape.
As with the OL injuries, Giants don't need Hagan to play at a pro-bowl level. We need him to play well enough so the Giants offense doesn't really suffer; the Giants can at least win the games that they need to win and hold down the fort until the starters get back.
Wednesday, November 10, 2010
Giants: OL injuries; Cowboys game
Adam Koets is done for the season, having been put on IR with a torn ACL. To compensate for that loss, the Giants activated Kevin Boothe who had been on the PUP (physically unable to perform) list and has now been activated. To magnify the OL worries, David Diehl appears to have a partially torn hamstring as well as an injury to his hip and will probably be gone a few weeks. He said he would like to be back for the Eagles game, which would mean only a one week absence, but that optimistic prognosis by him is at least partly motivated by financial factors. Diehl's contract has an escalator clause that pays him more money depending on how many games he starts at LT this year. I am sure he was a little ticked off that he had to slide over to LG last week against the Seahawks, but if this injury sidelines him for several weeks, it could really hurt him in the pocketbook.
It will be very interesting to see what the Giants do this week in their OL configuration. O'Hara is still not fully healed from his foot sprain and Koets, his backup for 3 games until this past week's Seattle game, is gone for the season. Boothe could play LG, but I would love to get a glimpse of the future and see the Giants start Petrus at LG. The OL would be: LT Andrews; LG Petrus; C Seubert; RG Snee; RG MacKenzie. This is actually a likely configuration, because even though Boothe has more experience than Petrus, he has just come off the PUP list and is unlikely to be in shape to handle a full game. Maybe 10-15 snaps in the first week that he is active is a limit. The Giants are very thin at OL this week, with Boothe being the only substitute. The longer term picture for the rest of the season is not bad, assuming that O'Hara, Beatty and Diehl will come back within the next few weeks. But this week the Giants will dress only 6 OL-men. There aren't even any OL-men on the practice squad for the Giants to promote in an emergency. Look for the Giants to sign an OL-man just to have an emergency fill in. If that happens, they will surely cut Hall, the DE recently signed.
The Giants beat the Cowboys handily three weeks ago and the Cowboys have absolutely tanked in the two games since then, losing to the Jaguars and getting crushed on national TV Sunday night against the Packers. It is hard to come up with a scenario where the Cowboys play so well and the Giants play so poorly that the Cowboys will win the game. The truth is, this is not just about coaching. The Giants are just flat better than the Cowboys at all but 2 or 3 of the 22 starting positions. When you add coaching, chemistry and focus into the picture, the Giants really should win. Vegas seems to be similarly unimpressed by the Cowboys coaching change, making the Giants 2 TD favorites.
Still..... I know the Giants could/would/already did beat the Cowboys with Phillips as HC; introducing the variable of a new coach adds some uncertainty. What if Phillips really had lost the team, the players were not listening to him and the locker room speech by Jones as well as Garret's promotion really inspires the team. It's not possible for Pasqualoni, the new DC, to install an entirely new defense in 3 days, but he might be able to come up with a few unorthodox blitz packages and coverage schemes that, with the unsettled nature of the OL, disrupts the offense. The truth is that while the Cowboys secondary is really weak, they do have some talented players in the front 7. If this game is dangerous to the Giants it is precisely because of this matchup: Cowboys good front 7 and exotic blitzing schemes by the new DC, matched up against a Giants OL that is seriously beat up and has had to shuffle or replace 3 of the 5 starters on the OL.
It will be very interesting to see what the Giants do this week in their OL configuration. O'Hara is still not fully healed from his foot sprain and Koets, his backup for 3 games until this past week's Seattle game, is gone for the season. Boothe could play LG, but I would love to get a glimpse of the future and see the Giants start Petrus at LG. The OL would be: LT Andrews; LG Petrus; C Seubert; RG Snee; RG MacKenzie. This is actually a likely configuration, because even though Boothe has more experience than Petrus, he has just come off the PUP list and is unlikely to be in shape to handle a full game. Maybe 10-15 snaps in the first week that he is active is a limit. The Giants are very thin at OL this week, with Boothe being the only substitute. The longer term picture for the rest of the season is not bad, assuming that O'Hara, Beatty and Diehl will come back within the next few weeks. But this week the Giants will dress only 6 OL-men. There aren't even any OL-men on the practice squad for the Giants to promote in an emergency. Look for the Giants to sign an OL-man just to have an emergency fill in. If that happens, they will surely cut Hall, the DE recently signed.
The Giants beat the Cowboys handily three weeks ago and the Cowboys have absolutely tanked in the two games since then, losing to the Jaguars and getting crushed on national TV Sunday night against the Packers. It is hard to come up with a scenario where the Cowboys play so well and the Giants play so poorly that the Cowboys will win the game. The truth is, this is not just about coaching. The Giants are just flat better than the Cowboys at all but 2 or 3 of the 22 starting positions. When you add coaching, chemistry and focus into the picture, the Giants really should win. Vegas seems to be similarly unimpressed by the Cowboys coaching change, making the Giants 2 TD favorites.
Still..... I know the Giants could/would/already did beat the Cowboys with Phillips as HC; introducing the variable of a new coach adds some uncertainty. What if Phillips really had lost the team, the players were not listening to him and the locker room speech by Jones as well as Garret's promotion really inspires the team. It's not possible for Pasqualoni, the new DC, to install an entirely new defense in 3 days, but he might be able to come up with a few unorthodox blitz packages and coverage schemes that, with the unsettled nature of the OL, disrupts the offense. The truth is that while the Cowboys secondary is really weak, they do have some talented players in the front 7. If this game is dangerous to the Giants it is precisely because of this matchup: Cowboys good front 7 and exotic blitzing schemes by the new DC, matched up against a Giants OL that is seriously beat up and has had to shuffle or replace 3 of the 5 starters on the OL.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)