Philadelphia Eagles 19 – New York Giants 10
Overview: There’s just something about the Eagles that bring out the worst in the New York Giants. How many times over the years has an Eagles’ defensive touchdown decided the game in their favor? It doesn’t matter if it’s Pisarcik, Simms, or Brown back there, the Eagles just seem to have the Giants’ number. Once again, the Giants’ defense played well enough to win the game and once again the offense let the rest of the team down. The defense didn’t allow a TD again this week. With the Giants now 2-4, 0-3 in the division, and 1-3 at home, Giant fans can formally forget about any playoff possibilities.
Giants on Offense: This week, we decided to concentrate on the Giants’ offense as a unit, rather than breakdown the various components because it is very obvious to all that the Giants’ offense is plainly out-of-sync. And one person (i.e., Dave Brown) cannot be blamed…the whole unit is at fault. If Dave Brown is anything, he is consistently inconsistent. While much of the blame for the offensive impotence must lie with him, we also level much of that responsibility on the basic design of the offense. As we have been saying for the last couple of years, there just doesn’t seem to be much rhythm to the Giants’ offense. As we watched the Eagles on offense, we saw them using one play to set up another, we saw receivers clearing out areas for other receivers, we saw misdirection, we saw offensive design creating mismatches (for example on one play Corey Widmer was forced to cover WR Mark Seay), and we saw plays being called that best suited their offensive talent. We see very little of this from Head Coach Dan Reeves and Offensive Coordinator George Henshaw. Let’s look at a few of the Giants’ possessions in the first half as an example. On their third possession in the first half, with the Eagles giving the Giants outstanding field position near mid-field, the Giants sent Hampton off right tackle for a 3 yard gain. On second down, Brown was under pressure, got nervous, pulled the down and picked up a couple of yards on a scramble. On third down, Dave’s pass was slightly off to Pierce for what should have been a first down (Pierce still should have caught the pass) and the Giants had to punt. Their next possession…Brown hits a wide open Calloway for 21 yards on a nice play action pass on first down…Wheatley picks up 2 yards on first down…Brown throws to Way for a yard on second down (a poorly designed play that had Way running parallel to the line)…Brown was sacked on third down (Stone and Gragg did not pick up an Eagles’ stunt and Wheatley didn’t pick up the other blitzer). The next possession…Wheatley loses 2 yards on a left side sweep…a Brown pass to a well-covered Calloway falls incomplete…on 3rd down, Brown has all the time in the world to throw, but starts dancing around too much and none of his receivers get open or comes back to help him out. The final possession in the first half…a nice 15-yard play-action pass to Lewis is dropped…Brown hits Lewis for seven yards on a slant (a play the Giants didn’t use enough)…on 3rd-and-two, Wheatley picks up 10 yards on a nice run, but we thought he could have broken it for big yardage if cut outside…with about a minute left, Brown picks up 5 yards on a scramble…Brown is then sacked on second down (for some reason Reeves continues to insist on calling play-action in obvious passing situations such as the 2-minute drill and on this play it cost them — Wheatley couldn’t pick up the blitz again and Bishop couldn’t handle Mamula…on 3rd down, Brown badly overthrew a wide-open Lewis for what should have been a 55-yard TD pass. See what we mean? When the QB does his job, the line breaks down or the WR drops the ball, and when the WR gets open and the line does its job, the QB misses the open man! NO RHYTHM! The second half…Hampton picks up five…Hampton up the middle for no gain…Brown sacked on 3rd down. Brown is no Phil Simms — he feels the rush far too much and takes his eyes off his receivers; plus on this play, the routes the receivers ran didn’t help to create a mismatch or opening for another receiver — everyone was covered — bad game design once again. Next possession…Hampton for no gain…Brown passes to a well-covered Lewis (should have been pass interference)…Brown sacked on 3rd down (too many rushers — not enough blockers). The Eagles showed absolutely no respect for the Giants’ passing game. Why should they? Next possession…a Brown pass to Way is tipped and Way drops it…a Brown throw to Calloway is almost picked off…Brown is sacked on 3rd down (Williams blew a block — he didn’t have a good game). At this point in the contest, the Giants have four pass completions and have been sacked six times! Amateurish! Next possession…the Giants’ “best” of the game…Hampton for seven…Hampton for four…Hampton for no gain…Brown hits Lewis over the middle for 11, but Calloway is called for a bullsh*t holding call…Charles Way is confused on the next play and the Giants have to take a timeout…Brown passes to Way for 6…Brown hits Calloway with a beautiful slant pass for 13 and a first down on 3rd-and-3….Hampton for 3 yards…Hampton for no gain…Scott Gragg is called for a false start…Brown throws deep, but the pass is out-of-bounds. The last possession…two minutes left…Giants down by two points…Bishop is beaten by Mamula, Brown is sacked, and coughs up the ball which is picked up by William “the Giant-Killer” Thomas for a TD…GAME OVER. It was very questionable whether the ball was a fumble or not, but let’s get serious, there was no way the offense was going to be able to get the ball into Daluiso’s range…they couldn’t move the ball all day on the Eagles. Plus, it was stupid play by Brown to try to throw the ball away there. In the final analysis, the offense only scored 3 points. Brown was 7-of-16 for 71 yards and was sacked seven times before the Eagles went to their prevent. In other words, he was sacked as many times as he completed a pass. PATHETIC!!!
Defensive Line: Not great, but a solid effort was put forth. DT Robert Harris had problems with double-team run blocking, but the guys up front played well enough to control the Eagle running game until their last field goal scoring drive. The Eagles picked up decent yardage on a few plays against the strongside in the first half, but for the most part, Strahan, Miller, and Widmer were up to the task. When the Eagles ran to the left, DE Chad Bratzke and DT Keith Hamilton did a fine job of jamming up the run. Bratzke and Strahan did share a 3rd down sack in the first half (on a play where we thought the refs should have called a fumble by Detmer but didn’t). In fact, Strahan gave RT Richard Cooper fits all day in pass protection. Hamilton was also impressive on a couple of inside pass rushes where he nailed Detmer just as he released the ball. Cedric Jones made his first big play as a Giant when he did a great job sniffing out a screen and dropping the receiver for a 7-yard loss — nothing wrong with his vision on that play!
Linebackers: Corey Widmer is getting better. On some plays, he still guesses wrong and takes himself out of the action. But more and more, he does a nice job of filling the hole and making the tackle or giving the runner no where to go. He made a great play on a right-side sweep in the first half and in the second half on 3rd-and-1, he nailed the runner for no gain on a left-side toss. Surprisingly, Marcus Buckley played quite a bit for Corey Miller and didn’t do too badly. He had a nice hit on pass coverage on one play and knocked the ball away. Miller looked decent playing the run for the most part; he did a great job stuffing the run on the play before Widmer’s 3rd-and-one halt. Armstead also played the run fairly well. Though, Watters pick up over a hundred yards, the Eagles’ running game didn’t hurt the Giants running the ball until their final drive.
Defensive Backs: Once again, the defensive backs had a strong game, led by Phillippi Sparks. Sparks did miss an easy sack on a blitz on 3rd down though. Jason Sehorn continues to play solidly as well and looked good again on a blitz where he nailed the QB as he threw the ball. We thought FS Percy Ellsworth made a mistake by not nailing WR Irving Friar as he made his spectacular one-handed reception that set up the Eagles’ first field goal. Friar was fully extended and vulnerable, and instead of delivering a knock out blow, Ellsworth pulled up. However, on the very next play, Percy made an excellent play knocking a ball away from the WR on a difficult route to cover (a crossing pattern). Thomas Randolph still isn’t playing as well as we know he can play. He’s still playing far too much off the receiver.
Special Teams: Amani Toomer scored his second punt return TD of the season, but the play never should have counted as reserve MLB Coleman Rudolph got away with a blatant clip that set up the play in the first place. Rudolph latter made a big mistake by holding on a Giants’ punt — on a play where Conrad Hamilton made a super open field tackle on the punt returner. We’ve said it before and we’ll say it again, the guy is a bum and doesn’t belong on an NFL roster. Horan punted well and Daluiso nailed his only field goal opportunity. Reserve OLB Scott Gaylon made a nice tackle on a kick-off and Jesse Campbell made a great hit on a punt return.
Coaching: As poor and uncoordinated as we feel the offensive strategy and tactics are, we feel the exact opposite about the effort put forth by the defensive coaches. Mike Nolan and his assistants have been masterful this year. No, the Giants don’t have the best talent in the world on defense, but Nolan and his coaches put the players they have in the best position to win each and every game. Now, only if Reeves and Henshaw could follow their lead.