Giants - Redskins Review I

There can be little doubt now that a coaching change has to be made. There have been too many games this year where the Giants transparent and completely predictable style of play on both offense and defense has been completely undressed by opposing teams (textbook definition of being outcoached) . Conversely, there have been very few games (my rough estimate is 0.... is that few enough?) where the Giants clever and unexpected game plan in turn has outwitted their opponents (i.e. our guys never outcoached their guys). Everything the Giants earned this year they earned on the strength of their players, not because the coaches put them in a greatly advantageous position. Fewell has created a defense where it is way too easy to screw up and where the players are constantly blowing coverages - communications problems is I think what they call it. On offense Gilbride has created an offense where you need a degree in nuclear physics or rocket science in order to make the series of reads needed to run the right routes. He's lucky that he has a QB that can grasp his offense, that he has a few receivers in Nicks and Cruz with talent and high football instincts that can make the passing game productive. But you see the effects when you have someone like Manningham who may not be the sharpest knife in the drawer, he makes a few mistakes every game, sometimes with disastrous results like yesterday's INT. The bigger problem is of course with the defense that is the worst in football, but the offense shines only on the strength of the QB, almost despite the coach, rather than because of him. I am not sure the Giants will get rid of Coughlin, they may decide to replace the coordinator(s) but in my opinion, I think Coughlin is equally, perhaps singularly responsible for the state of affairs. The primary job for a HC in today's complex NFL is to build a staff, select coordinators, motivate the players to play both hard and smart and manage the game on game day. But there should be more - the HC has to exert some level of influence or guidance on the development of the schemes, the development of the game plan and the style of play. He is not just a CEO that sits back and approves or rejects the plans that are brought to him. He needs to bring his views to shape the direction and strategy, if not the details and tactics.

I don't see Coughlin doing this. I absolutely hate it when after every loss, Coughlin comes to the podium and says "it's all about execution". To me, that is coach-speak for saying that the players screwed up. In other words: I coach good, but boy, do they play bad. Yesterday was coach-speak doubletalk. He said: "we played poorly and as the HC I take full responsibility. We just didn't execute. " Which is it Tom.... do you take full responsibility or do you blame the players for not executing your brilliantly devised game plan.

To make matters worse, the locker room now has so many players sniping at each other that they need to order shoulder pads made out of Kevlar. Rolle said you can't wimp out on practice and then play Sunday, a none too subtle slap at Captain Justin Tuck. In response, Tuck said, it's easy to be brave with someone else body. The way Rolle has been playing these last two years, he is the last one to complain about performance. He has been a real disappointment and, to quote that mid-19th century philosopher Ralph Kramden, he has a BIG MOUTH.

On to the game: when Beatty-Diehl-Baas were playing on the OL, they couldn't run block but did a pretty good job pass blocking. Now, the Diehl-Petrus-Boothe combination can run block pretty well but is not doing too well pass blocking. Diehl has been particularly porous at LT and Petrus has been mediocre at LG. The reason the Giants offense handled Dallas a week ago is because Eli did a great job moving around the pocket and avoiding the rush. Diehl did not play well at LG earlier in the year, is not playing well at LT now and is getting on in years - he may not make the team next year.

Gilbride, it seems,  knows how to call one pass play near the goal line, the fade to the corner. Last week against Dallas, he ran two in a row that didn't work against a poor Dallas secondary. This week against a good Washington DB-field that scouted the Giants well, Gilbride called it again and it was picked off. Everybody is pointing a finger at Mannigham and perhaps they're right that he did not run the right route. However, the DB was standing on the spot in the corner where the pass was intended because he knew exactly what route was going to be run. If Manningham had run the right route, perhaps it would not have been intercepted, but he would have been completely covered and the pass would not have been complete.

Gilbride does not realize what everyone else does and what I articulated above, that the Giants are a better run blocking team right now than they are pass blocking. He did not adjust his game plan one iota in this consideration and was throwing the ball all over the yard. Not only that, but too many of the passes were deep balls down field which required Eli to hold on to the ball too long behind the shaky run blocking OL.

Fewell and the entire defense are really picking on Amukamara and blaming the entire demise of the defense on one player. Pretty Ridiculous.

My friend Ray came up with an interesting idea in an email he sent to me. He gave me a list of players that he does not wast to see on next year's team. Good game - all join in with your commets. For me, the initial list of players I don't want to see around here next year: Diehl, Rolle, Grant, Manningham, Osi, Jacobs, Pascoe, maybe MacKenzie. Make up your own list.

Giants - Redskins: Shoot me now please

Here's my basic, initial and perhaps primal reaction to today's Giants-Redskins game: when do the Knicks open their season again? Thank the good lord and David Stern that the NBA settled its labor dispute and that hoops will again be on the scene. On top of that, the FCC ruled against James Dolan and forced Cablevision/MSG to offer its HD signal to other cable providers, so I get to watch the Knicks games in HD now.

Seriously - after the performance this afternoon, and after having lost 5 out of the last 6, does anyone really want to see the Giants get into the playoffs. The way they are playing now, they would not win a game even with home field advantage (3-4 so far at home this year) and even if by some stroke of providence and incredibly fortuitous circumstances, the Giants should win a first round game against a wild card team (probably Atlanta) there is no way that they could go up to Green Bay and beat the Packers. So what's the value of getting into the playoffs to be fodder for the good teams that are there? Incredibly as it sounds, the Giants played well against the Packers two weeks ago playing just well enough to lose, then played just well enough to win against the Cowboys last week and were awful today against the Redskins. Giants were soundly outplayed at the point of attack on both sides of the ball, but most importantly, had an incoherent poorly thought out game plan and did not have a chance from the opening whistle until the merciful final gun ended the disaster.

Before I go into the detail of what went wrong, let me take a 30K foot view first. When you have a mediocre team that has been carried almost entirely by the superior play of the QB, and then the QB has one off day, today was an example of the ugly result. There will be a desire to analyze each play, look for trends and close plays that turned the tide, but sometimes you have to raise your eyes up and look at the forest rather than the trees. Giants were poorly organized on offense, had poor tactics and did not control the action. 

The defense usually leads the team in having the weaker game plan, but this week OC Kevin Killdrive beat out DC Perry Fowl in having the worse game plan, though I must admit it was close. Giants ran the ball effectively the last two weeks for the first time all year. Redskins have been weak defending the run and strong defending the pass. So what does Killdrive do? Establish a power running game? Nope. Mix in some runs and passes together? Nope. Let's try throwing the ball all over the yard, and it's OK if you throw some short passes that have a higher chance of success, but make sure you throw the ball deep very often. And, Jacobs ran the ball very well last two weeks, so have to make sure that he doesn't play much or carry the ball much at all today.

On defense, Giants play a fairly high percentage of zone which gets beat nearly all the time and when they play man, the opposing QB can pick on one match up that he likes, recently has been the Prince and they have trouble stopping anyone there either. Requires either a sack by the DL, a bad throw by the QB or the QB going after Webster for a pass to be incomplete.

I don't want to give the HC a break here either, because he is responsible for the quality of the planning and for influenscing the game plan develoment by the coordinators. Coughlin's biggest weakness is precisely this - he does not meddle enough, he does not direct enough and he does not overall influence the game plan on either side of the ball. He delegates to Killdrive and Fowl to a fault and his fingerprints are not on the team anymore. He just yells when things aren't going ideally well and players largely tune it out. 

That's, it for now - I am too unmotivated to do a detailed analysis of this miserable game but will have some more stuff Monday and later in the week.

Giants: Redskins Gameday Thoughts

An interesting and important factor in this game is the running game of both teams. As we all know, Giants have the worst running offense in the league and have had trouble stopping the run on defense. Redskins seem to have a similar character: though they are not as low in the standings in each of these categories, they also have not run the ball well nor stopped it particularly well. However in the past few weeks things have changed just a little bit for both teams. It's only been a  few games on the offensive side of the ball for the Giants and Redskins, so it's not enough to elevate their league rankings. But the Giants, since they moved Petrus and Boothe into the starting lineup and slide Diehl out to guard have run the ball for 100 yards in both weeks. Jacobs looked determined, powerful and quicker last week, aided by the OL and by the improved play of Hynoski at FB. Similarly the Redskins have gotten some life in their running game from rookie Helu who looks like he has some speed and some power in his frame. On defense, Giants have not done much better: the Cowboys ran well against them, but they have had a few games this year where their run defense looked strong. A big factor for the Giants affecting their run defense seems to be the presence and health of Tuck in the lineup. Tollefson and Osi are just not good run defenders.

As the weather turns colder and with the goal of making the Giants pass rush more effective, the effectiveness of each team's running game will be a big factor. It's the old mantra for the Giants, but if Giants can stop  the Redskins running game reasonably well, they will put more pressure on the Redskins mediocre passing game and will give a chance for their pass rush to get after Grossman.

Cowboys offense looked very good and their defense was effective enough last night against the Buccaneers. Giants and their fans are all pumped up with the win in week 14 against the Cowboys because it gives the Giants their playoff fate in their own hands. Makes it seem like the Giants have it locked up, because usually your first reaction is that only one team can have its playoff destiny in its hands. However, the Cowboys also control their own playoff chances without needing help from any other teams. If they win their last two games , next week against the Eagles and the following week against the Giants, they are in the playoffs. Of course this is because the last game of the year is between the two teams and if they are tied going into that game, the winner of that game takes it. The week 14 win was a big one for the Giants, because it meant the Giants did not need help from anyone else, but it still does not guarantee the Giants an easy path to the playoffs.

Eagles have, at least theoretically, something to play for, because is all 3 NFC East teams finish the season tied at 8-8, the Eagles will get in because of tie breakers. However, if Giants win tomorrow against the Redskins, giving them their eight win, since the Cowboys and Giants play each other, there is guaranteed to be at least one 9 win team. If that happens, Eagles will have less to play for and might not be as motivated against the Jets this week and the Cowboys next week. Obviously, we don't care what they do against the Jets this week, but a week 16 win against the Cowboys would help the Giants chances.

A constant whine of mine on this blog is to move Kiwanuka back to DE. I don't want to suggest that he is a terrible LB - he is a good athlete and has become a decent player at that position. There are still some things that he is limited at, specifically playing in space against very athletic TEs and in general, closing that middle zone in the passing game. But he is better against the run, and knows his assignments well. With Tuck hampered by injury, it still makes sense to me to slide him back to his natural position. But with other available options somewhat  limited to the Giants because of injury to Herzlich and Paysinger, the Giants will surely use Kiwanuka as they have been - kind of a hybrid, starting at LB, but moving to the line of scrimmage occasionally.

Giants: Redskins Preview

This will not be an easy game for the Giants. It's not because the Redskins are such a great team, it's because the Giants are pretty average. From the 30K foot view - there are a few teams that are really strong - Packers, Ravens, Steelers, Saints, maybe Texans and 49ers get added to that group. Then, there are a bunch of teams that are really awful - Rams, Browns, maybe a few others. After the top and bottom, there are a whole bunch of teams that are grouped together in that mediocre category in the middle. Giants might be towards the upper part of that group, but there isn't as much separation among those middling teams as you might think. The sad thing is that I think the Giants have more talent than a lot of those teams, but they have not been getting the most out of their ability on the defensive side of the ball. Nevertheless, you are what your record says you are and what your stats say you are. The record and stats say that Giants are 1 game over .500  and that they are a very good offensive team and a very bad defensive team. Giants can play with the top teams and can lose to  the crappy ones. As proof, Giants played the Packers tougher than anyone in the league has this year, they beat the Patriots but they lost to the Seahawks and a bad Eagles team without their QB. Giants are better than the Redskins, but if they don't play sharp, they can lose this game.

The hope that you have as a Giants fan is that Amukamara's learning curve is relatively short, that Phillips comes back and plays well at S, that Tuck recovers from his various injuries and in general that the defense plays a little closer to its potential. On the offensive side, you have to hope that Eli keeps playing the way he's been playing, that the new OL continues to play physically and opens up holes for the running game and that the weather doesn't get too bad and prevent an effective passing game. (Weather tomorrow is supposed to be brisk, but above freezing, sunny and not too windy.) But let's be realistic - perhaps we can hope for the Giants to play a little better, but a quantum leap in quality of play in week 15 is somewhat unlikely.

The match up with the Redskins on paper is not bad for the Giants. The weakness for the Giants on defense has been in the passing game and their best weapon to stop the pass is a good pass rush. The Redskins do not have great WRs, Santana Moss is probably their fastest outside threat, and they are missing their LT and TE who are both good players. Grossman does not have a bad arm, but if you can make him uncomfortable, you can bother him. On the other side of the ball, the Skins have a good defense. They have pretty good CBs and very good pass rushers in Orakpo and rookie Kerrigan. They had trouble stopping the run earlier in the year, but have been better the last 4 or 5 games. The big break for the Giants is that S LaRon Landry is done for the season, so we might look for Eli to attack the soft middle of the field. Nicks killed the Redskins in week 1, so they might give him some extra help, which means that Victor Cruz could be an important player to attack the Redskins weakened S position.

Redskins have not run the ball well this year, but rookie RB Helu has looked good last few weeks.

In summary, Redskins have some weapons and some talent, but are iffy at the QB position and let's face it - they are 4-9. If the Giants play well, they should win. But if they play are not on their game, Redskins could steal the game.

Giants: Redskins game

I'll get to a seasonal review a little later in the week, but for now will just look at the Redskins game.

It just wouldn't be a Giants game without a tipped ball INT on one of Eli's throws and we had one of those Sunday in the game against the Redskins. Manningham dropped one that hit him right in the hands. I think the ball may have been thrown a little too hard, or perhaps Manningham didn't get his head around early enough to locate the ball. But the ball was not thrown behind  Manningham and was not out of his reach, he just missed it. Eli had a great game throwing the ball and this season has been really weird for Eli - he threw 31 TDs, had a high completion percentage and threw for more than 4,000 yards. But those 25 INTs were a killer. A lot of them came on tipped passes, but I can't just blame the WRs for having slippery fingers. I also can't just blame the QB for slightly off target throws that led to the tips. I think you also have to look at the offensive system which has many components that lead to high risk attempts. The Giants use a lot of timing patterns, a lot of sight adjustments, route adjustments and defense reading by both the QB and the WR. If they are off on their communication by a fraction and they run a route in the middle of the field, it can lead to an error and a tipped ball. It goes on the QB's record, but it just as well could be a misread by the WR and most important, is a flaw in the system due to its complexity.

One thing Gilbride has never learned how to do is to play offense from ahead. He knows what to do when the Giants are behind or when the game is close, but never what to do when the Giants have a 10 or 14 point lead. This week, on their first 7 possessions of the game, covering the first half and the first possession of the second half, the Giants gained 290 yards and scored 17 points. However, once they gained that 17-7 lead on the 92 yard Manningham TD, on their next 7 possessions, they gained only 35 yards total. To be completely honest, that seventh possession was a kneel down by Eli for -2 yards, so on the 6 prior possessions, they gained 37 yards and had all of 2 first downs. The pass/run sequence was completely predictable, the type of running play was predictable and the OL blocking was weak. Perhaps the fact that the Giants had Boothe in at C who had never played the position before in a real game made things worse, especially against  a 3-4 defense that he had probably not even practiced against. But still, the running game has absolutely no deception in it. It is based almost entirely on perfect execution and physical dominance.

Manningham has great speed and apparently the TD pass was an improvisation at the line. CB Hall was playing man to man press coverage, Manningham made a great move at the line to get a clean release and just put his hand up in the air to show that he had beaten his man and was changing his route to go deep. Eli read it and hit him easily for a TD. I think the Giants need to simplify their passing offense a little bit and find another deep threat to complement the WRs they already have.

Derek Hagan ran some nice routes and made some nice catches, especially on a critical third down when Eli led him perfectly and hit him right on his fingertips, with a defender underneath the route. Hagan is a decent player, but is not a deep threat and perhaps showed why he was out of the NFL for a few weeks, when he dropped an easy 4 yard pass for a sure TD in the first qtr.

Osi had a great game and really an excellent season. The S group which was so good this year against the run and made so many nice plays at the beginning of the year was picked on yesterday in the passing game. Most of the successful passing routes by the Redskins, including their 65 yard TD play, were right up the middle of the field. I think Fewell fell in love too much with the 3 S alignment and overused it. The S were too anxious to bite up to defend the run and left many passing plays exposed. At the end of the day, the Giants defense was too reliant on the DL. When the DL dominated, the defense looked great. When they didn't, they could be beaten.

Tuck had a great game and knocked down a few passes at the line. The first time he did that, Ross had jumped the route behind him on the sideline and if Tuck hadn't knocked the ball down, Ross would have had an easy INT - TD.

Giants running game was really weak yesterday and has been inconsistent from one game to the next. When the Giants had a lead, they could not protect it with the running game, even though they ran the ball against the Redskins easily back in NJ. Jacobs was not dominant this year and is certainly not fast enough to be more than a complimentary role player in this league.

The Redskins organization showed absolutely no class by not showing the progress of the Bears-Packers game on the scoreboard until the Packers were ahead. It was really a bush league move.

Clayton caught his first two passes of the season. I guess there is so much to learn in Killdrive's offense, that you need a PhD in nuclear physics to learn the routes and adjustments.

I still don't get why DJ Ware didn't play more this year. Every time he got a chance to play, he seemed to do well. I guess he doesn't fumble enough.

Punter Dodge should be kept - I think he led ST in tackles this Sunday. Of course, that may have been because every punt he kicked was very returnable and he had to make a saving tackle. If he hit them long, he out-kicked his coverage. When he didn't kick them too long, he hit low line drives which gave the Washington return man a chance. When he punted from the plus side of the 50, he nailed a perfect 60 yard kick through the end zone instead of kicking it out of bounds on the 10. When he kicked it out of bounds, it was at such a sharp angle, that it landed out of bounds by 15 yards and was only a 30 yard punt. Give him another few years and he'll get this punting thing down pat.

Tynes missed his first FG in about 20 tries, making every one since Rosenfels took the job as holder.

Eli threw another gorgeous pass to Hagan on the sideline, over the CB, in front of the S and two feet from the sideline. Boss made a gorgeous catch on a beautiful throw by Eli right before Jacobs 2 yard TD run, but dropped several. He has made some big plays for the Giants this year, but also has dropped lots of passes.

Cofield had an outstanding game as did Rocky Bernard. Cofield has had an outstanding season. The labor situation could really confuse things, since the Giants have several players whose contract expired at the end of 2010 season.

Coughlin is a good coach, but it may be the coaching that has led to this second half-weaker-than-the -first-half syndrome that the Giants have been living under the last few years. Seems to me  that the other teams in the league figure the Giants out and the Giants coaches don't adjust.

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.

Giants: Redskins Review

There was little to complain about in this game, but we certainly have to consider the opponents before we start making reservations for Dallas in February. The Redskins looked really awful. Their defense is the worst statistically in football and they lost two of their best defenders in S Landry and CB Rogers. Shanahan helped the Giants cause out further by sitting Haynesworth. In a December game in the Meadowlands, when it's cold and windy, you have to play northeast football, which means run the ball. They had their best two secondary guys out with injury and their best run stuffer sat down by coach's decision. I have to think that the rest of the Redskins locker room was not thrilled, regardless of what they may think of Fat Albert.

Giants ran the ball convincingly and passed enough to keep the offense moving. The Redskins LBs are really poor, IMO. Fletcher and McIntosh are both slow and not that big. Orakpo on the outside has been shifted to OLB from his natural DE position and hasn't quite figured it out yet, IMO. The defensive play calling by Haslett was weak - there were several plays where the Redskins blitzed or overloaded one side to stop a  running play that they thought was going there and the Giants ran right through the vacated side to make big yardage. It takes a lot to get outcoached by Gilbride, but Haslett managed to do so.

This was Brandon Jacobs best game of the year. As I mentioned in one of last week's post leading up to this Redskins game, I have to give credit to my friend Ray for noticing last game that he looked more balanced and I think it showed even more this game. He lowered his pads and plowed through the pile when he had to and when he burst through a hole, he straightened himself up, ready to run for big yards. The two most notable plays were his first big run on the second play of the game when he ran for 30 yards around the Giants left side; and the second was his long TD run to make the score 28-0.

On the first run, there was not much of a hole at all, but he kept his balance and slid to the outside. He raised up when he got past the first weak attempted arm tackle and when he saw LB McIntosh, disposed of him easily with a stiff arm. When he made some space for himself, he burst to the outside and ran for 30. On the second run for his TD, he burst through the hole with his pads low, and when he got to the next level saw a DB facing him in the hole. He stopped, stutter stepped, let the DB lunge towards him and then cut to the outside accelerating again so no Redskin could catch him. Both of these plays required instinct, but most of all great balance, something we don't normally associate with a 265 pound man. I don't know why he has suddenly rediscovered it. I don't know if he's made peace with his role and the depth chart, if he's returning to his own style and not trying to emulate Bradshaw's or if the game is just "slowing down for him", but he has looked great these last few weeks and is definitely staying on his feet longer. I would stick with the RB rotation of Jacobs first and Bradshaw second.

The aspect of the game that has me most excited is the apparent emergence of JPP. He had two sacks, a batted pass, a fumble recovery and a few plays in the running game as well. We all knew he had special physical skills, but I think we are starting to see the emergence of a football player from under those long arms and legs, and from that strength and that incredible speed. The coaching he has received and the game experience he has gained in the first half looks like it's starting to sink in. Let me explain why I make this assertion. The two sacks he racked up yesterday were not "just" based on his pure physical skills, they were based on technique and coaching. His second sack was most exciting, so I'll start there. He was playing RDE and to start his rush, he dipped his left shoulder, took a step to the inside and showed an inside rush, getting the LT sliding and leaning to the inside. Then, he stood up, whacked the LT with his right arm to get him to continue to move to the inside and made a blurry quick next step to the outside with his right leg. He had the LT beat now, but the LT could still save the play by reaching out with his long arms and getting the rushing DE off balance. So JPP used another piece of football technique by making himself small and lowering his shoulders so the LT couldn't reach him. Now he had the LT beaten and was a step or two past him. When the QB sees an outside rush, he is taught to step forward in the pocket and let the route of the DE take him past the QB. JPP foiled this technique by reaching back with his super long and very strong left (inside) arm and tripped McNabb as he was stepping up in the pocket. I was positively giddy about this play. It showed his uncommon physical skills, but it required great technique.

His first sack also required more than just physical skills. He was lined up at LDE this time, with Tuck as DT to his inside shoulder. Tuck took an outside route, slanting towards the RT that was supposed to block JPP and occupying him for a second. JPP then looped around behind Tuck and took an inside route in the lane that Tuck was lined up in originally. The G who was supposed to block Tuck is supposed to slide off him, switch and pick up the looping DE, but JPP was too fast for him and blew right through the gap before the G could adjust, which gave JPP his other sack. This play required timing, coaching, awareness of the offensive blocking patterns and great speed to shoot the gap that was open. I am so excited about his development that I can't wait to see how he does next game.

Before we get too pumped up, we should realize that the Redskins OL is not very good and they were missing their starting LT. But - this is the first time JPP has shown something other than pure physical skill and I hope it keeps on coming..

The only thing to complain about was another INT by Eli in the red zone. I don't get it. he's a heady QB and has a great arm, I don't know why he's throwing the picks this year. On defense, there were some missed tackles and some blown assignments in the secondary, but these happened only after the score was 28-0, so I can't complain too much.

Giants: Random thoughts going into Redskins game

I wrote little about the Redskins game coming up this weekend because, although it is a big game, (week 13, home division game, 1/2 game behind the division leaders) I don't think Washington is a very good team and I will be very disappointed if the Giants lose. McNabb has a strong arm, throws down the field well and can still move around a little bit in the pocket. McNabb has beaten the Giants the past few years, but on the Redskins it is a different story. The Eagles teams were loaded with talent and the Redskins are not. Their OL is rather pedestrian and their WRs are not really big play threats. Santana Moss is a good WR but is not in the class of DeSean Jackson or Maclin as deep threats. The Redskins running game is injured with their top RBs, including Portis, out and a less that imposing run blocking OL leading the way. McNabb likes to get the ball deep but is not the most accurate passer on medium and short balls. Giants defensive strategy does not have to be very exotic or risky against McNabb. The pass rush should get some pressure without too much blitzing and the DB-field, while they want to keep everything in front of them, do not have to be ultra-conservative and play only zone. Mixing it up against McNabb should be effective and let the better athletes that the Giants have on the defensive side of the ball win their individual battles against the Redskins offense. Redskins do not have a very effective power running game, so I can see Fewell sticking with 3 S alignment often. Having said that, Shanahan does like to run the ball with whomever he has as tailback with his power zone blocking techniques, so we should see a bit more of the conventional 4-DL, 3-LB alignments this week.

On the other side of the ball, the Redskins are statistically the worst defense in football, giving up more than 400 yards per game. Defensive statistics are sometimes very misleading because they have to be considered in the entire context of the game - how good is the offense, how many close games do they play, how many points do you give up, how good is your punter, how many turnovers does your offense give up, etc. In other words, if one defense is ranked 8th, for example and another is ranked 12th or 13th, the number 8 defense is not necessarily much better than the 12th or 13th. However, when you're last.... you're last. They may not actually be the worst defense in the league, but they're close. I put a lot of this on the coach, because the Redskins had a pretty good defense last year with a stud DT in Haynesworth, a real strong young player in DE Orakpo on the edge and a very strong DB-field with Rogers and Hall at CB and Landry at S. They are slowing down at LB, but still had a solid defense. Then the new coach, Shanahan comes in and without evaluating the personnel and its fit for doing so, switches to a 3-4 defense. He then had the well reported problems with Haynesworth who announced that he was ticked off because he's not a good 3-4 DT (he's right). He also had to switch Orakpo to OLB, a position he is still learning and not sure if he's a good fit for. Though Hall had a few huge games at CB, both he and Rogers have taken a little step backwards and while S LaRon landry has had a great year, he is likely lost for the year with an injury. In summary, their defense is a mess.

Add in the poorly managed benching of McNabb in the 2 minute offense for future HOF QB Rex Grossman and you have a team with little talent and lots of key injuries that doesn't trust its coach. Not a formula for success. Giants should win this Sunday.

Giants: Anatomy of a few plays

It's always interesting to break down a few plays in detail and understand some of the subtleties of the game.

On the Giants first possession they ran several interesting plays. They threw one screen pass to Bradshaw for 15 yards and a few plays later, were looking at 3rd and 3 from the Redskins 9 yard line. The first screen was a quick developing one, did not have the qb dropping back and lofting the ball over the heads of onrushing linemen. It was out in the left flat with Diehl and Seubert leading downfield. The 3rd and 3 play however, was a middle screen, which is much more difficult for the defense to diagnose. DL-men are taught to recognize a screen by seeing with their peripheral vision, the OL-men floating out to the flat to block for the RB. Instead of continuing their forward rush to the qb, the DL-men peel back to try to get the RB. In the middle screen, however, OL-men stay right where they are so the DL-men can not key on the OL movements to smell out the screen. The reason that the middle screen is not used all the time is that it is a little harder to execute. First, the middle of the field is more crowded and it is easier for defenders to give help and swarm to the ball. Second, the timing of the play is more difficult and has to be precise. If the C and the G move downfield too early, before the ball is thrown by the qb, the offense is penalized for ineligible receiver down field. But if they can get the timing right, it can be very effective, because it is more deceptive and harder for the defense to read. On looking at the play again, I am actually not entirely sure that C O'Hara did not leave too early, but he did not get the flag. Nevertheless, it was a very effective play and Bradshaw got down to the 2 yard line.

Giants then ran two running plays which went nowhere and had a 3rd and goal from the 3 yard line. The Giants brought in 3 WRs, Eli lined up in shotgun and the Giants ran a draw play to the right, between the RG and RT. The interesting part of this play was the action of the OL. On a draw play, you want to convince the defense that you are passing, get the DL-men to rush forward and the rest of the defense to drop back into coverage. But if the OL drives forward in run blocking mode, the defense can easily read that the play is a run rather than a pass. On this play, RT Beatty stood up and retreated as if pass blocking. The LDE he was facing took the bait and started to rush up field towards the qb leaving a space inside of him, to his right. The left side of the OL moved diagonally to their right. Seubert, from his LG position sealed the LB, O'Hara had a block on the DT and Snee had an easy block on the LB and the DB. Bradshaw scored comfortably on the play.

The third play that is interesting to look at was the 45 yard pass play from Manning to Nicks. The route was a deep in cut, with Nicks running down field about 15 or 20 yards. The S read the route and drove hard upfield, heading either for the ball or for a collision with Nicks when the ball arrived. Nicks sensed this and instead of cutting directly across the field, came back for the ball about a yard or two, allowing him to make a clean catch on the ball. The S still had a bead on Nicks but he arced back a little further towards the qb, let the S run past him then cut upfield and added about 20 yards on to the end of the catch. Nicks is going to be a star. He is fast, big, has quick feet and is a very smart, polished WR. It seems like every game he makes a big play and many of them are of his own making, with yards after the catch.

Giants: Redskins game review

What can you say. I thought this was going to be a tough game for the Giants, I really did. The Redskins have an excellent defense and have been playing very well the past several weeks. Specifically, the last 5 weeks, they went 2-3 with wins against the Broncos and Raiders and their three losses, by a total of 7 points, were against very good teams: the Cowboys, Eagles and Saints. Their defense is one of the best in the league and the way the Giants defense had been playing, I thought any offense would be elevated and be able to put up some points.

Everyone is saying simply that the Redskins did not show up and we should not read too much into the results of the game last night. I disagree. I saw the Redskins playing very hard. They hit very hard on defense, worked hard (though ineffectively) on offense. The Giants just beat them up with a superior game plan and a dominant physical presence. If the Redskins had mailed it in and had not been trying, they would not have played better in the 2nd half than they did in the first. I am not going to make too much out of the game and predict that the Giants are all the way back and are going to return to playing at a very high level. But I can say that the Giants beat the Skins last night because they severely outplayed them, not because the Redskins were not trying.

The OL continued its revival with another excellent game. Beatty is a keeper at T and will be a 10 year starter for this team at that position. He hadn't even practiced much at RT this year, he is a natural LT, but he was excellent last night. Beatty has to put on a little more muscle mass in the off-season and I would seriously consider moving him in at LT next year and moving Diehl to RG or RT next year. The run blocking was very good even after Seubert went out of the game. Boothe is a very good substitute at G (not as good at T). The Giants got back to the plays that were part of the power running game that they were built on the last few years. They had the interior OL-men pulling and leading the outside stretch play, with Hedgecock blocking right behind them. The pass blocking was even better and Eli had a very clean pocket to throw from. Giants have morphed into a passing team supported by the run, rather than the other way around, but teams still have to respect that running game. I like the balance of this team offensively more than the past few years. Redskins have an excellent defense and Giants OL handled them well.

Giants knew that the Redskins front plays very aggressively and comes upfield after the passer. They have a very good run support MLB in Fletcher, but he is not good in pass coverage The Redskins safeties, while fast and physically talented, are not well coached and are often caught out of position. Giants offensive game plan was to run a lot of screens to attack the pass coverage weakness of the LBs and to attack the S in the short middle, mostly in the first half. This tested the LBs and the S in pass coverage and it worked perfectly. It also neutralized the hard charge and pass rush of the Redskins front. In the 2nd half, the Giants threw the ball down field more and everything was opening up with Eli making great reads, finding every blown coverage by the Redskins and making them pay. It was a great overall offensive performance and it was done against a very strong Redskins defense.

On defense, we should probably be a little more conservative in our praise and consider the opposition. The defense played well, but it was mostly based on the weak Redskins OL and the Giants taking advantage of it with a big pass rush. The good news is that even though the Redskins OL was weakened by injury, at least the Giants took advantage of it. A few important changes that Sheridan put in for the game last night: (1) Giants finally used some line stunts and twists. If you've been following this blog, you know that I have been whining for weeks that all they ever did was straight ahead bull rushes. These stunts were very effective. (2) While many of the blitzes were bringing an extra man up the middle, they combined it with bringing extra guys off the edge and confusing the Redskins with slightly more exotic blitzes. (3) Giants knew that the Redskins throw a lot of short passes in their west coast style and the Giants therefore played a lot more man to man to take away the quick slants and screens. This was also very effective.

Terrell Thomas played very well and could be the starting CB for a long time. His tackling and run support, which has always been spotty, was better last night. He got his first INT/TD, which was an absolute gift from Jason Campbell. I guess they're exchanging presents this year. Too bad this was his first INT/TD and not his second. You recall that he made an INT in 4th qtr against the Chargers and was tackled on the 4 yard line. Giants were stopped and held to a FG. If he had gotten 4 extra yards and scored a TD, Giants would have won the game. Instead the Chargers scored a TD to win the game and it is that loss that is keeping the Giants out of the playoffs right now. Sigh. Having 3 CBs like Ross, Thomas and Webster and deciding which should play is a good problem to have. My friend Ray thinks that Ross could be a starting S in this league, especially if Phillips injury is slow to heal.

Goff is starting to play very well. He is very fast and a really fierce hitter. He is built in the mode of the new age LB, who has to have lots of speed to play in space against the passing game. Pierce may have played his last game as NY Giant.

Even last night with a dominant performance by the entire team, we still saw some missed plays by the S. Rouse missed several tackles, one on the first Redskins TD and he made a brutal holding penalty that led to the Redskins second TD.

Best play of the evening: surprise fake FG followed by the second surprise fake FG. I won't even bother analyzing it. I will only repeat one quote from Zorn , discussing the play after the game. He said: "They didn't know what we were going to do and I thought the play would work. If they didn't have a time out left, I think it would've worked". Great, Jim. Except they did have a time out left.

Giants: Redskins game review

There are definitely some encouraging things to take out of this game, and some things that have to be improved and built upon also. I thought Eli was particularly sharp, even though he made an awful decision on that INT in the 2nd half. The WRs were productive against a very good Washington DB-field. They were not getting wide open, but they were open enough for an accurate passer to get them the ball, which Eli did. Gorgeous throw to Steve Smith on the final FG drive. The defense looked good, but if you're grading this like they do diving competitions, where there is a degree of difficulty for each dive, maybe playing a Redskins offense led by QB Campbell and HC Zorn, the scores for the Giants defense aren't so high. (8.6, 8.4 and 4.5 from the Russian judges.)

A word about Campbell and Zorn. Campbell is a great athlete; he is big, he can run and he has a really strong, fairly accurate arm. He is not so quick, nor does he have a particularly quick release, is not a quick decision maker and does not have great touch on his ball - either for short passes or for the intermediate ones where you have to get it over the head of the LBs and drop it in front of the S. But, contrary to what others think, I think he could be a decent NFL QB in the right system. Jim Zorn comes in and installs a west coast offense for the Redskins, a style that is not suited, IMHO, to the skills of Campbell. (Somebody check the map - Washington is on the east coast, right?) He doesn't have the WR's to play west coast style either - Santana Moss is more of a straight line deep threat than he is shifty and quick. So Campbell, while getting used to the league also has to get used to 3 different coaches and OCs in his time with Washington and suffer through a system that is not suited to his style. I don't love Gilbride and Eli had awful Hufnagel as OC in his first year, but at least Gilbride is capable, if not brilliant and creative. Eli also did have Coughlin for some continuity. Campbell has a tough go of it in Washington. Maybe he'll surprise us and come around.

How did you like the call by Zorn on the second play of the game? Portis runs for 30 on the first play and he calls a WR option pass on the second play. Really had the Giants fooled, too.

Manningham showed great play making ability on the little WR screen, when he made 3 people miss and skipped down the sideline for a TD. There are a few things I really liked about that play. First, the people Mannigham eluded were not slow DL-men that got caught in a mismatch; he beat both D'Angelo Hall and Fred Smoot in addition to a LB. Second, he had the presence of mind and the body control to keep his feet in bounds and take everything that the defense gave him, not just give up after he got the first down. Finally, and perhaps most important is that this was an audible that Eli called, because he read a blitz coming from the back side of the defense; so the qb and the young WR were on the same page and made a big play out of it.

Boss is really coming into his own as a top shelf TE. He has soft hands, the hands of a basketball player (which he was in college) and is transforming his body into the body of a football player. He has decent speed, great size, runs nice routes and has even become a good blocker.

The OL played pretty well Sunday, though they were certainly not dominant in the running game. Jacobs looked OK and Bradshaw looked productive. It is too bad that Ware went down, because he would have gotten some carries Sunday, in that heat. BTW - because of the Ware injury, I think the Giants will probably sign a RB to the roster. I doubt that the Giants will go into a game with only 2 RBs and signing Allen Patrick from the practice squad makes the most sense. Unfortunately, this means that they are going to have cut someone to make room for him, unless they put Ware on IR. This is unlikely, since it is deemed to be a 3-6 week injury at worst. Boley is coming back this week, so it means that there will have to be a second player cut from the roster. My guess is that Leger Douzable and one OL-man will go. Canty played enough Sunday to give the Giants confidence that he will be ready to play at full strength soon enough. The Giants dressed only 7 OL-men on Sunday and keeping 3 OL-men inactive but on the roster is probably a luxury that they cannot afford. My guess is that one will go. It is also possible that LB Wilkinson could go.

Eli does not get enough credit for moving around in the pocket and avoiding the rush. He is thought of as slow and immobile. While he is certainly not a scrambler or fast runner, he has such good pocket awareness, has nimble feet and is fairly agile that he is often able to buy some extra time to make a play. He did it beautifully a few times on Sunday, once when he hit Boss for a big gain.

Just a little note: measuring a QB strictly by numbers is stupid. Many QB's play in much more wide open offenses than others, in domes, in warm weather, with great productive WRs and with a more aggressive offensive style than others do. Last night night Tom Brady completed 10 more passes (39) than Eli attempted (29) on Sunday. I am not comparing Eli to Brady, just syaing that numbers do not tell the whole story.

The big things to improve on the offensive side of the ball are the productivity of the running game and the short yardage offense. I am willing to give the Giants offense a little slack for the running game, because the Redskins were constantly walking a S up to the line of scrimmage and playing single S high. Still, the Giants running game was not awful, but we are used to seeing much more productivity there. I suspect all teams will do this to the Giants, but Redskins are better able to do it because they have really good CBs who don't need as much help. It will be interesting to see what the Cowboys do. One answer is to burn them with the pass and keep them honest especially in the traditional running downs.

As far as short yardage, I think Gilbride could be a bit more creative. Try spreading the offense out and let Jacobs find a hole, or where he has to only run over one guy instead of 3 guys in the middle of the line. Try a fake into the line and a little pitch to the outside. They have to fix that. Redskins do have a particularly large and strong DL, so let's wait a bit before we panic on that one.

Back to the defense a little bit - Giants stopped the run really well and got decent pass rush against Campbell. Giants were short handed at CB with both Dockery and Ross out, the 2nd and 3rd CB's. This promoted Terrell Thomas to start and I have a lot of confidence in him. I think he will be a starter in this league before very long. It also pushed rookie FA Bruce Johnson onto the field and the Redskins played a lot of 3 WR sets to keep him on the field. He played pretty well and held his own. But, because they were short in the DB-field, the Giants moved Terrell Thomas to the slot often where he is not used to playing and Randle El beat him a few times. This allowed Johnson to stay on the outside where there is less traffic and fewer decisions to make. Giants also played a little more zone than usual and blitzed a little less than usual, I assume, to make sure that they didn't expose the DB-field and put too much pressure on the rookie. Giants will be really tested this week against Cowboys who have the weapons and the QB to put any DB-field to the test. I am not looking ahead to the Cowboys quite yet, but it would be nice to get Dockery back. Ross is apparently a few weeks away.

It's too bad that Nicks got hurt, he was really starting to develop and the coaches are really high on him and actually started using him a bit. With Nicks out a few weeks, I guess Moss gets to step into the fold and show his stuff. I like Moss a lot more than the coaches apparently do. We'll see how he does the next few weeks. Productive WR will be very important against the Cowboys because I think the Cowboys defense is not that great, but they will put up a lot of points with that offense. Could be a Texas shootout next week.

I know this is 20-20 hindsight, but with Nicks now out, I guess it's good that the Giants have a lot of WRs instead of one go-to guy. It's called mitigating risk.

One last thing - and I don't want to sound like a sports-talk-radio whiner, but I really do think that the Giants get hosed on refs calls. Or better said - other home teams get the benefit of refs being influenced by home town environment and the Giants don't seem to. There were at least 3 late hits that could have been called on the Redskins that weren't and the blatant face mask on Eli that caused the fumble was not called. Refs are supposed to be over protective of QB's and I could see this one from the stands, I don't understand why it wasn't called. My theory is that the refs and the league are paranoid about appearing to favor NY, because they don't want to appear to be pumping up a NY team artificially. Conspiracy theorists will always argue that it's good for the league (any sports league really) to have a successful franchise in the NY market because of the media attention it brings. Particularly football where every play is analyzed and reviewed with all the outstanding TV network coverage, refs go overboard to prevent even the slightest appearance of partiality to the NY team. I welcome comments on this theory.

Redskins post mortem II

One last look at a few plays against the Redskins:

Toomer made a great move to get a release and beat the press coverage on his 40 yard TD pass. In fact, Toomer looked young and spry all day - running down the sideline on his TD; on another play catching the ball and holding onto on a 3rd down 15 yard in cut, getting smacked by the safety right after he caught the ball. Toomer looked very fast all day and the Giants will need that to replace some of Burress big plays down the stretch and in the playoffs.

Hixon and Eli seem to have developed very good communication and timing already. They practiced a lot together during training camp, and with Plaxico missing games and practice time this year because of suspension, injury, etc., I guess they have been getting a lot of reps in practice. I particularly liked the back shoulder throw Eli made to Hixon, a play that usually takes a while for a qb/wr combination to perfect. On Eli's INT, Hixon didn't get his head around quickly enough to pick up the ball on what was a well thrown ball, so I guess they still need to do some work in practice.

Eli's passing was outstanding on Sunday. The TD pass to Toomer was a thing of beauty. Perfect depth, perfect location, perfect arc on the ball. Toomer said after the game; it was such a perfect throw, I couldn't help do anything BUT catch it. Eli threw one ball that was almost intercepted, but dropped when two Redskins db's collided with each other. He overthrew Hixon once in the 4th qtr, but the rest of the time he was very accurate.

Alford had a good game in the middle replacing Robbins at DT. Tuck had a monster game at DE/DT. Kiwanuka was not real visible. He's holding his own against the run, but he's been a little quiet in the pass rush. Tollefson has been a real find. He was solid on Sunday, and he is a real ood role player.

Ward made a few beautiful runs, especially off of some short passes and screens. Gilbride called a very good game, calling for screens at perfect time, catching the Redskins in their blitz, leading to some very good gains.

Redskins post mortem I

I'm sticking to the game first and will talk about this ridiculous, awful Plaxico incident in a later post.

It's difficult to overstate how thorough the domination of the Giants over the Redskins was yesterday. Except for one reverse that the Redskins ran - a real nice play that was an effective design against the Giants fast, pursuit oriented defense - Redskins really didn't come close to scoring any points yesterday. Redskins had 320 yards of offense yesterday, which is not a terrible number, but 110 of them came in garbage time on their last two meaningless drives, when the game was over and Giants were playing soft zones giving away underneath stuff in the pass. In the first half, Redskins on their first three possessions were: 3-and-out; 3-and-out; and 1 first down on their third possession ending in a punt to the Giants after 6 plays and 32 yards gained.

The Giants first three possessions ended in 3 scores. So after those first three possessions for each team, Giants had 13 points and 190 yards of offense and the Redskins had 3 punts and 47 yards of offense. That is called setting a tone. Redskins had everything to play for and were the far more desperate team. If Giants had lost yesterday, they would still be in control of the division crown and a first round bye. Redskins on the other hand are now on the outside looking in when it comes to the NFC wildcard race as there are two teams ahead of them for the final slot. In addition, the Redskins tried to stoke the emotions of their team and their crowd by retiring the number of Sean Taylor before the game. They saw the Giants play with great emotion when their owner Wellington Mara died two years ago and the Giants beat the Skins 36-0. They were trying to use the death of Taylor to return the favor. (Frankly I thought it was a really cheap, sleazy maneuver, that tried to leverage the tragic death of a young man as a prop for winning a football game, but that's me.) With everything to play for and great emotion sparking them, you would think they would come out and smack the Giants in the mouth at the beginning and the Giants would have to recover and try to stabilize the game. Instead the Giants flattened the Redskins right from the beginning.

On their fourth possession the Redskins made a few plays and scored their TD on the 29 yard run, after a Webster INT was waved off because of a soft penalty. At the end of the first half they moved the ball a bit and missed a FG, but that was it. At no time did it look like their offense could be effective against the Giants defense.

When the Giants had the ball, the Redskins decided that they had to stop the Giants running game. It's not a bad strategy, really. Giants ran all over the Redskins in the first meeting and have a powerful running game. If you can't stop their running game, Giants will dominate the game easily. Furthermore, Plaxico was out and the weather was forecast to be rainy and windy so they though it would be difficult for Eli to throw. In the first half, with 8 and 9 guys at the line of scrimmage (not just in the box, but actually at the line of scrimmage and run-blitzing all over the place) it was hard for the Giants to establish a consistent running game. But the Giants are such a balanced powerful offense that they simply put the ball in the hands of Eli Manning and he played brilliantly. Nearly every pass was on the money. Every read was perfect. His decision making was impeccable. The really impressive thing about his performance is that the Redskins have an outstanding db-field: they have 4 outstanding CBs in Carlos Rogers, Fred Smoot, Shaun Springs and newly signed D'Angelo Hall and an excellent safety in LaRon Landry. Eli hit a few wide open receivers when Redskins blitzed and he found the hot receiver. But there were several other throws where the receiver was well covered and Eli threw a perfect ball for the completion. Even his INT was a good throw that Hixon did not locate in time.

What made the Giants passing game work a little more effectively was the personnel groupings that the Redskins used. It looked to me like the Redskins were reluctant to switch to nickel/dime personnel even when Giants showed pass. They kept their base personnel in the game more often because they were so committed to stopping the run. After Eli had thrown for 220 yards in the first half and Redskins backed off the line of scrimmage a little bit, Giants got their running game going and were fairly effective with it. They scored a TD running on their first possession of the second half and coasted after that.


Snee is a star on the OL. Diehl is playing better than he did last year. O'Hara is very mobile and can stand up to the big DT's in the league. The thing that makes the Giants DL so good is how athletic and quick they are. Giants do not have a huge OL, but are well prepared, well coached, smart and athletic.

Boss is really maturing as TE. He is making big plays nearly every week. His presence will become more important, especially with the loss of Burress - maybe Boss can be the tall target around the goal line. I would think an ex-basketball player could elevate, could catch the ball while jumping - like rebounding - and could be the big target at the goal line. In the past few weeks Boss as shown his jumping ability by hurdling over an Eagle DB two weeks ago and by jumping over a couple of Redskins yesterday on his 25 yard pass play yesterday. I said last year that in the Giants offense, Boss was a a better fit than Shockey and had a more prototypical body type for TE. I think I was right. Boss is a year or two away from being an all-pro player. Last year, there was hand wringing and worrying when Shockey went out that the Giants running game would falter because Shockey was such an exceptional blocker. I think we can stop worrying about that one since Giants are the leading rushing team in the league.

Robbins was out with bad shoulders and Jay Alford, who I think is a coming star, stepped in and did a great job. Cofield was under the spotlight a little more and played very well. Tuck was dominant.

Speaking about the defense: the Giants defense is very different in character from last year and I think is much better. yesterday, Giants blitzed a lot and relied on a pass rush to stop the opponent's passing game. The defense was oriented towards the front 7 and the db-field was mediocre. This year, the front 7 is still strong, but the db-field has improved and is as good as any in the league. Webster is a star and Ross has improved at CB. Terrell Thomas was a great draft pick and seems to have supplanted Kevin Dockery as the regular nickel back. Add in Kenny Phillips at safety and much better play from Johnson and Butler and we can understand why Sammy Knight never saw the field, was used only on special teams and now has been IR'ed. Sam Madison and RW McQuarters were Giants best dbs last year and they never get on the field and often are inactive for the game.

Big picture: Giants played the Redskins twice and held them to one TD in each game. I think that means that the Giants are way freaking better than them. In fact the games had some similarities. Giants got off to a quick lead. Redskins offense was stymied. Redskins running game was completely shut down in both games. Redskins made a few plays right at the end of the first half and scored a TD to make the game close on the scoreboard. Giants dominated the 2nd half and won in a walk. The only difference between the two games was that in he first game Giants offense was run based and in the second game the Giants beat the Redskins with their passing game.

I really think the Redskins are a very pedestrian team offensively. Their OL is solid, but outside of Santana Moss they have no WR with any speed. Cooley is good at TE but not great. Portis is really good and tough, but he's not great. I don't think much of Jason Campbell. He is a great runner and is an average passer. He went on a little run early this year when Redskins put in their new west coast offense and teams didn't know what to expect. Now that they're getting scouted by defenses a bit, he's settling down to his true level of ability.

At some point the world will wake up and realize that Eli Manning is the best qb in football. No Plaxico? No problemo. Last week against the Cardinals, no Plaxico or Jacobs - Giants still dominate offensively. There are only two common denominators - the OL and the qb. Imagine the Redskins without Santana Moss and Clinton Portis. Imagine the Cowboys without TO and Marion Barber. Giants don't miss a beat.

The only negatives from yesterday's game from a Giants perspective were: 3 FGs instead of TDs and soft KO coverage.

Finally a look at the refs:

Ridiculous call on Webster negating his INT. The call was illegal hands to the face and there was no chuck at the line of scrimmage, there might have been some incidental contact, but it was a ridiculous call.

Second ridiculous call was the offensive holding that negated Derrick Ward's long run in the second half. You know it was a bogus call because the ref didn't give a number, he just said it was on the TE. I looked carefully at the play several times and neither Matthews nor Boss held.

Giants may have gotten one favorable call with the PI that was not called against Michael Johnson when the WR ran into him. I think Johnson was standing still, had his position and the WR initiated the contact, almost like an offensive foul in basketball. But it is a call that the refs usually make, so Giants may have gotten away with one there.

A look ahead to the Redskins

I was settling down to write my Redskins preview post when the news came down this afternoon that Plaxico Burress literally shot himself in the foot. I don't want to go into the details of how it happened or how badly hurt he is - but I would guess that Plaxico Burress has played his last game as a New York Giant. He will surely be out for a while, probably the whole year. I am sure that the team, the coaches, the front office does not want this distraction on the team, no matter how good Burress is and he will not return to the team next year. The distractions and behavior was bad enough this year, between fines, suspensions and benching. The annoying and perplexing thing to the team has to be that the Giants caved and gave him his big contract. I am 90% certain that he will not be on the team next year. Maybe Sean Payton has some more draft choices to give to us and Plax can go down to New Orleans with Shockey.

On to the Redskins:

Burress was out anyway, so except for the distraction factor, this gunshot thing would not have hurt the Giants personnel-wise. Giants shut down the Redskins running game in the season opener and put the ball in the hands of Campbell to try and beat them, which he couldn't. Everyone said that the Redskins weren't used to the Zorn offense and that is why they looked so bad in that season opener. I don't get that - they were terrible in week 1 because they didn't get the Zorn offense; after 6 weeks of training camp, 4 preseason games, mini-camps, Organized Team Activities during the off-season and other learning opportunities. But then magically in the one week of practice between weeks 1 and 2, they finally "get it" and go on a 4 game winning streak. I don't think so. I think the Redskins are an average offensive team that rely heavily on the running game and the performance of Clinton Portis. Giants were (are) very good at shutting down the opposing team's running game and that's what they did to Washington in that opener.

After Redksins won 4 in a row, they have been 3-3 since then and have not been particularly impressive. If the Giants can control the running game of the Redskins, they should be able to hold their offense relatively in check. Redskins do have a decent OL and Santana Moss is a dangerous WR, but Campbell is not a great qb and I think Giants defense will have a good game.

On the other side of the ball, Redskins defense is very good. They have excellent CBs in Carlos Rogers, Fred Smoot and now D'Angelo Hall. The Redskins have some injuries at LB, including Fletcher. Giants will probably try to establish the run, especially on the edges against the Redskins. They ran effectively in the first game and Brandon Jacobs should be coming back Sunday. No doubt Washington will scheme to stop the run because of Giants success in game 1, so Giants must be prepared to pass to keep ' Skins honest. If they play carefully and intelligently, they should be able to move the ball, even though the Giants scored only 16 points in the first game. Burress had a big game against the Redskins in week 1 and he will be missed tomorrow. Redskisn S LaRon landry is an excellent player and Eli will have to know where he is on passing plays