New England Patriots 17 – New York Giants 6
Game Overview: There is a saying that says “statistics are for losers”, but the statistical differential between the Giants and Patriots was so appalling that it is amazing that the Giants found a way to lose this football game. Of course, turnovers (and the Giants had five of them) are the great equalizer. Still look at the following:
- First Downs: Giants 26 – Patriots 12
- Total Offensive Plays: Giants 85 – Patriots 54
- 3rd Down Efficiency: Giants 41% – Patriots 9%
- Total Net Yards: Giants 381 – Patriots 220
- Net Yards Passing: Giants 306 – Patriots 91
- Time of Possession: Giants 35:13 – Patriots 24:47
The Giants’ defense played well enough to win this game. I’m not real happy with the two back-to-back scoring drives the defense gave up at the start of the 3rd quarter, but when a team holds an opponent to 10 offensive points or less, you should win the football game.
The problem in this game was obviously the offense. The team had 13 offensive possessions yet managed to score only six points. There were five turnovers, two missed field goals (long-range attempts in rainy conditions), two field goals made (short efforts that highlighted red zone problems), a failed 4th down conversion attempt, and three punts. This isn’t the Dave Brown-era with “skill” position players such as Howard Cross, Chris Calloway, Arthur Marshall, and Kevin Alexander. This offense has players such as Collins, Barber, Toomer, Hilliard, and Shockey. The offensive line is playing at an acceptable level. What is the problem?
- Some of the Giants skill position players are not playing particularly well right now. For two games in a row, wide receivers Amani Toomer and Ike Hilliard have been unable to make plays down the field. Neither has gotten into the end zone. More was expected out of Tim Carter as a third receiver. Tiki Barber played one of his worst games as a Giant against the Patriots and has fumbled the ball 4 times in five games. Jeremy Shockey has been slowed by off-the-field distractions and injury problems (ribs, toe). Kerry Collins looked confused against New England.
- Turnovers. The average fan knows that there are only so many offensive possessions in a football game, but they never really think about what that truly means. A team can have as few as 3 or 4 offensive possessions in a half. To have 13 in a game is a good number and should provide some excellent scoring opportunities. But when you turn the ball over a lot (i.e., the games against the Dolphins and Patriots), those scoring opportunities dwindle quickly. Worse, you often give the other team excellent field position and emotional momentum. This is going to sound like a cop-out, but a lot of the turnovers have been bad luck. Tiki’s fumbles are legitimate and he needs to protect the ball better, but many of the interceptions have come on plays where the ball has been tipped.
- The Giants need to do a better job of coaching. The game plan often seems a bit too rigid in the sense that, other than one game (Dallas), we haven’t seen the Giants adjust very well to what the opposing defense is doing successfully. If an opposing defense is confusing the offensive football players, it is up to the coaching staff to provide the players with viable alternatives. The Giants have too many good offensive players for opposing teams to focus their attention on – they can’t double everyone. The Patriots only managed one first down and no offensive points in the first half. But they made their adjustments at halftime and then picked up 11 first downs and 10 offensive points in the second half. The Giants need to make better adjustments.
As for the Patriot game specifically, there were three obvious offensive problems: (1) the turnovers, (2) Tiki Barber played poorly, and (3) the passing game didn’t get the football down the field. Regarding the latter point, I’m not sure if the problem was with Kerry Collins, the receivers, the play-calling or a combination of all three. But according to coaches and players, the Patriots played a deep zone coverage against the Giants, “forcing” the team to nickel and dime its way down the field. New England Head Coach Bill Belichick most likely was hopeful that the Giants would eventually make a mistake on long offensive drives – and that’s exactly what the Giants did. Look for other teams to follow the Patriots’ formula against the Giants now.
I’m no football expert, but I still think it would possible to make big plays in the passing game against such a deep zone. You might not score a 50-yard touchdown, but this team should be able to complete 20+ yard strikes to Toomer, Hilliard, Shockey, and Carter. Most teams in this league can’t successfully sustain offensive drives without one or two big plays in each drive. Hilliard’s longest completion was 14 yards; Toomer’s was 11 yards. That’s not going to get it done. The Giants moved the ball to the New England 5, 38, 29, 22, 31, 16, 26, 37, and 31 yard lines and only managed six points?!?
Running Backs: I thought this was one of Tiki Barber’s worst games (22 carries for 72 yards; 8 catches for 48 yards) as a pro. He fumbled the ball for the fourth time this season, and this fumble was particularly damaging as it was returned for 38 yards and a touchdown on the Giants’ third offensive play of the game. Yes, Amani Toomer missed the block on the corner, but the hit was not that hard and Tiki saw the defender coming. Hold onto the damn ball Tiki! But the errors continued after that. Tiki was flagged for a false start on the next possession. Later on the drive, the Giants had a 1st-and-goal at the New England 3-yard line. The play called for Tiki to follow the pulling guard to the left, but Tiki ran the play to the right (away from the blocking) and a 2-yard loss resulted. Inexcusable for a veteran back like Barber! Two plays later, Tiki got wide open in the end zone (a very nicely designed offensive play by Jim Fassel), but the pass was thrown behind Tiki and Tiki slipped and fell to the ground. Instead of the game being knotted at 7-7, the Giants were forced to settle for a field goal.
For much of the rest of the game, I didn’t think Barber ran very aggressively or with good vision. To be honest, he looked timid. Perhaps it was the weight of the early fumble that was weighing on his mind. But I saw holes in the line of scrimmage that Tiki normally runs to, yet he didn’t in this game. There was one good series of runs by Tiki near the end of the 1st quarter when he ran for 9, 8, and 5 yards on consecutive plays. He also had a GREAT run on a draw on the last drive before halftime; on this play, he made a couple of really nifty moves including a spin move that left the defender grasping for air. Barber’s biggest snafu in the second half was his dropped pass on 3rd-and-6 with a little over 8 minutes left in the game. The Giants were on the New England 26 yard line, trailing 17-6. The drop set up a 4th-and-6 that the Giants were unable to convert – blowing an excellent scoring opportunity after a promising drive.
One thing I found strange after this game was the complaints of Giants’ fans that Dorsey Levens should have played because of the Giants’ woes in short-yardage. Well, the Giants were 75% successful on 3rd-and-1 with Tiki Barber picking up first downs on 3-of-4 attempts. He also 2-for-2 on 2nd-and-1 attempts. On the one failed 3rd-and-1 attempt, there were two blown blocks up front (Visanthe Shiancoe got beat by the defensive end and Wayne Lucier got beat by DT Ty Warren). But I also didn’t think Barber made the right decision in where to take the ball on this play as there was a bit of a hole to his left, and he tried to take the play over Lucier. On his last 3rd-and-1 attempt, the blocking was not good, but Tiki picked up the 1st down solely on his own ability.
FB Jim Finn caught two passes for 16 yards. The Patriots’ linebackers were very aggressive in attacking his lead blocks and I spotted Finn getting stood up in the hole on one play – and this forced Tiki to bounce the play outside. However, on a 2nd-and-1 play, both Finn and Shockey got good blocks at the point-of-attack.
Quarterback: Collins threw for 314 yards, but that is a bit misleading as he had 59 pass attempts (in other words, the Giants averaged a measly 5.3 yards-per-pass play). There were four interceptions, but the first two interceptions were not his fault at all – indeed it was truly bad luck as DT Richard Seymour deflected both, including on the game’s first offensive play (Seymour was well blocked on this play). Collins seemed to rebound well from this as he threw a really nice 27-yard seam pass to Marcellus Rivers on the Giants’ third drive of the game (unfortunately, this was the Giants longest pass completion of the day). A few plays later he hit Jeremy Shockey with a superbly thrown sideline pass for 23-yards. On 2nd-and-goal from the 5, Collins threw a fade to Toomer in the end zone, but Toomer couldn’t get his feet down. On 3rd down, Collins’ pass to a wide open Barber was thrown behind the halfback. Bad play by Collins in a key situation.
In the 2nd quarter, there was big miscommunication problem with Collins and Toomer on 3rd-and-5 as Toomer ran his route up the field and Collins expected him to run an out. Who was to blame? We’ll never know, but it was yet another mistake in a key situation. It was at this point of the game that a constant theme was becoming clear – Collins was continually throwing everything short. Everything seemed to be a dump-off or quick throw to a receiver. It appeared as if the downfield coverage was confusing Collins. As the game wore on, he looked less comfortable to me, but he really wasn’t getting pressured much. Indeed, there were times when he threw very quickly when he didn’t have to. Kerry’s silliest decision was his scramble on 3rd-and-12 where after picking up 4-yards, he attempted to outrun the defenders by scooting laterally.
I thought Collins’ play continued to deteriorate in the second half. Again, he had protection, but everything was short and he appeared to unnecessarily rush his throws. On New York’s second offensive drive of the half, Collins completed EIGHT passes in a row – but these EIGHT passes amounted to a total of 64 yards (8 yards per pass). The drive stalled when on the New England 11-yard line, Collins held onto the ball too long and was sacked. The next pass was a short pass that fell incomplete (a completion would have accomplished nothing here regardless). Eight straight completions = 3 points? Wow! On the next drive, he missed a wide open Amani Toomer on 2nd-and-6 from the New England 26-yard line, throwing off his back foot (he normally completes these type of passes). Two plays later, he threw into triple coverage and a pass to Shockey was intercepted on 4th-and-6. Terrible decision. On the next drive, another pass intended for Shockey was almost picked off by the linebacker and returned for a touchdown (though Shockey should have come back to Collins on this play). He kept dumping the ball off to Tiki despite the fact that the defense was just waiting to pound Barber after every reception. This drive ended with an incomplete 4th-and-7 pass to Toomer that would not have picked up the first down had the pass been completed (again, another useless short pass). On the Giants’ final drive, Collins last pass was intercepted – there was no Giant in the picture.
Wide Receivers: For the second game in a row, the wide receivers (expensive and well-thought of weapons in the Giants’ arsenal) didn’t make much of an impact. Amani Toomer only caught 4 passes for 40 yards and Hilliard only caught 5 passes for 58 yards. In other words, they didn’t have 100 yards total between them despite the fact that Collins threw for over 300 yards. Amani’s run blocking in this game left much to be desired. He completely whiffed on Tyrone Poole on the sweep in Poole’s direction. Poole is the player who forced the fumble that was returned for a touchdown. I later saw Amani miss another block on a Barber run that went for 8 yards but that could have picked up more; he also missed a block on Delvin Joyce’s sole carry that went nowhere. Worse, is that Poole (an average corner) pretty much shutdown Toomer in the receiving department. Unless Toomer gets his head out of his ass soon, the Giants’ offense isn’t going to resemble anything like it did last season.
Rookie CB Asante Samuel gave Ike Hilliard problems. Hilliard did demonstrate excellent concentration on a 9-yard reception that Samuel got his hands on. But Samuel later expertly defended a deep pass to Hilliard. Tim Carter caught 3 passes for 20 yards.
Tight Ends: Aside from Shiancoe’s aforementioned missed block on the defensive end on 3rd-and-1, I thought all three tight ends did a reasonable job of blocking this week. Interestingly, Marcellus Rivers has moved ahead of Shiancoe on the depth chart, but all three tight ends played quite a bit in this game. There was a 3rd-and-1 play in the 1st quarter, where Barber ran behind good blocks from Shiancoe and Rivers (Rivers being lined up in the backfield) for the first down. Shiancoe, Shockey, and Toomer later got a good block on an 8-yard run by Barber around left end. I also saw Shockey and Rivers get good blocks on a 4-yard run; later in the same drive, Barber ran for 3-yards on 3rd-and-1 behind Shockey and Shiancoe.
In the receiving department, the tight ends were frequent targets: Shockey (8 catches for 80 yards), Rivers (4 catches for 49 yards), and Shiancoe (1 catch for 3 yards). My only beef with Shockey is that there were two incomplete passes (one which was almost intercepted and returned for a TD) where Shockey didn’t help Collins out by running the route correctly. One of these plays came on 3rd-and-9, forcing the Giants to punt.
Offensive Line: Given the fact that the Patriots love to change fronts, run complex blitz packages, and have some very good front seven players, the Giants’ offensive line played a very good game – especially in pass protection. While the game plan often called for Collins to unload the ball quickly (or Collins chose to do so on his own), this wasn’t really necessary. On most plays, Collins had time. David Diehl did get by Richard Seymour for a sack, but Collins held onto the ball too long on this play as well. On the next drive, Collins was pressured again as Diehl wasn’t able to handle DT Dan Klecko, resulting in an incompletion. However, there was only really one play where I was pissed at the offensive line. On the Giants’ second-to-last series of the game, there was one play where the Patriots rushed three against the Giants’ five OL’s. However, on this play, Dan Klecko beat RT Chris Bober, the NT split Lucier and LG Rich Seubert, and the other end beat Petitgout. Disgusting effort…but the only play of its kind in the game. (This was the play where Klecko was flagged for roughing the passer).
The run blocking was unspectacular but sound. While there weren’t big or consistent holes in the ground game, the line didn’t allow much penetration against a very good run defense. OC Wayne Lucier did get beat by DT Ty Warren on one 3rd-and-1 effort (the Giants’ only failed 3rd-and-1). There was also one play where LT Luke Petitgout pulled and wasn’t able to take the cornerback out of the play and Tiki’s run went nowhere (Petitgout has to crush the corner in this situation).
Lucier was flagged with a holding call. Petitgout was flagged with a false start. This hurt because it turned a 44-yard field goal attempt into a 49-yard field goal attempt right before halftime.
Defensive Line: The defense played very well in this ball game except for the two New England drives in the 3rd quarter. The strange thing is that the Patriots had more net yards rushing (129) than passing (91). Like other opponents the Giants have faced, the Patriots were able to move the ball on the ground and with short passes when they moved to a 3-WR set.
One thing that surprisingly stood out to me was I think this may have been the worst game I’ve ever seen DT Keith Hamilton (3 tackles) play. I spotted Hammer getting crushed at least 4-5 times in this game at the point-of-attack…and I do mean crushed. There were a couple of plays where the double-team drove him back more than 5 yards. Hamilton was also flagged for encroachment. Keith had one good play where he nailed RB Larry Centers for a 2-yard loss in the backfield.
DE Kenny Holmes (2 tackles) also had a poor outing in my opinion. He was usually easily controlled at the point-of-attack. A lot of the rushing yardage came at the expense of Hamilton and Holmes. For example, HB Kevin Faulk’s 23-yard run in the 3rd quarter came right at Hamilton and Holmes. Holmes was also flagged with encroachment.
Much stronger games were played by DE Michael Strahan (5 tackles, 2 sacks) and DT Cornelius Griffin (5 tackles). Strahan made a great play when he penetrated quickly on one run to nail HB Mike Cloud for a 6-yard loss. On the next drive, his stoutness at the point-of-attack limited another Cloud run to 3-yards. On the next series, Strahan combined with Holmes to pressure QB Tom Brady into an incompletion. In the second half, Strahan got blocked effectively on one 10-yard run, but later stood his ground and forced Faulk to bounce outside for no gain. On the next series, Strahan sacked Brady for a 10-yard loss. However, Strahan gave up another big run in the 4th quarter when he was easily blocked at the point-of-attack on Faulk run of 18 yards. On the next drive, he sacked Brady a second time.
There was only one play where I saw Griffin get killed at the point of attack. What stood out to me about Griffin again this week was his hustle and chasing the ball carrier on plays to the sideline. Still, I’d like to see more of a pass rush out of him.
DE Keith Washington and Hamilton were run at on Mike Cloud’s 1-yard touchdown. DT William Joseph too aggressively penetrated on one rushing attempt, as he lost gap control and the back rushed through the resulting space on the line for 5 yards.
Linebackers: I thought Mike Barrow (10 tackles) played very well in the first half, but then faded in the second. On the first New England drive, Barrow nailed Cloud on a left end run for 1 yard. The drive ended on 3rd-and-20 when Barrow provided excellent coverage on the tight end, causing an incompletion. This was important as Vinatieri missed the ensuing 42-yard field goal. Later in the quarter, Barrow demonstrated excellent pursuit on another Cloud run to the left; on the very next play, he tackled Cloud for a 1 yard gain. Late in the 2nd quarter, Barrow nailed Faulk on a draw play that went nowhere.
In the second half, however, Barrow got blocked on the 10-yard run that Strahan also got blocked on. Barrow was also handled on the 23-yard run that Hamilton and Holmes got blocked on. Barrow did a good job of reading screen on Strahan’s first sack. A few plays later he expertly defended an end around by WR Troy Brown, limiting him to a 1-yard gain.
Brandon Short (3 tackles) was quiet. He didn’t play much in the second half when the Patriots’ adjusted offensively and came out with a 3-WR set.
Dhani Jones (10 tackles) was active and did a decent job in pass coverage against a team that likes to throw to the backs and tight ends. There was one 3rd-and-7 pass attempt to Larry Centers that fell incomplete due to his solid coverage; however, there was a play later in the game where Center had Jones beat, but luckily the ball hit the official. There was also one play where WR Bethel Johnson got wide open on a short crossing pattern for 15-yards down to the Giants’ 1-yard line. After the play, Shaun Williams seemed to be having words with Jones so Jones may have been at fault here.
Defensive Backs: Tom Brady only completed 8-of-21 passes for 112 yards (91 net yards). So overall, the pass defense did a good job. However, there were some sore spots. There were a couple of instances where the middle of the field was wide open again. On these plays, it is very difficult to tell if the fault lies with a defensive back or linebacker. Also, Will Peterson (who played the game with a stress fracture in his back) had some problems. When he played tight to the line of scrimmage, the Patriots challenged him deep (with some success). When he played off, the Patriots made easy completions in front of him. On New England’s second drive, Peterson was beat for a first down on 3rd-and-6, but luckily a penalty on the Patriots wiped out the play. On the next drive, Peterson had solid coverage on WR Bethel Johnson, causing an incompletion. In the 2nd quarter, the Patriots tried to get deep on Peterson with Johnson, but Peterson was up to the task. In the 3rd quarter, the Patriots started to work on him some more however. David Patten got open on Peterson on a 10-yard slant. Later in the quarter, on the Pats’ touchdown drive, Peterson got beat on another slant by Patten. Then Patten caught a big 39-yard deep pass on Peterson despite solid coverage. In the 4th quarter, Peterson finally played Patten tight on a slant for an incompletion. On the next play, however, Patten got deep on Peterson, but luckily the pass was thrown out of bounds.
Will Allen played a strong game and was rarely challenged. He caused an incompletion on a short pass on 3rd-and-16 early in the game. Allen was flagged with a 5-yard pass interference penalty in the 3rd quarter.
Nickel back Ralph Brown got beat by WR David Givens for 21 yards on the 3rd-and-16 play on New England’s sole offensive touchdown drive of the game. This was the only 3rd down conversion the Patriots made all day. Brown was also beat deep on 3rd-and-18 for 35-yards, but fortunately for Brown, the play was called back due to a penalty on an offensive lineman.
Very quiet games for Shaun Williams (3 tackles) and Omar Stoutmire (5 tackles). They deserve credit for limiting the Pats to 8 completions, but one would expect to hear more noise out of one’s starting safeties. Stoutmire took the wrong angle on Faulk’s 23-yard run in the 3rd quarter. Omar did force an incompletion on his safety blitz in the 4th quarter.
Special Teams: I think it is tough to be too harsh on Brett Conway (2-of-4 on field goals) given the terrible playing conditions. He made his two “gimmees” – kicks of 22 and 34 yards. He missed two long-range efforts of 47 and 49 yards. His kick-offs were very poor; landing at the 14, 15, and 21. However, All-World New England PK Adam Vinatieri was also having problems with his kickoffs in the foul weather. Kickoff coverage was solid with returns going for 20 (Will Allen making the tackle), 15 (Wes Mallard and Kevin Lewis), and 20 (Marcellus Rivers and Kevin Lewis).
Jeff Feagles punted three times for a 34.3 average (with two kicks landing inside the 20). His punts went for 39 yards (David Tyree forcing a fair catch), 28 (David Tyree down in a hurry again; fair catch), and 36 yards (out of bounds). Marcellus Rivers was flagged with a false start on one punt.
Brian Mitchell finally got a chance to return some punts (6 chances) and did nothing with it (28 yards total for a 4.7 yards-per-return average). Worse, Mitchell muffed one punt (that he recovered). Mitchell’s returns went for 8, 0 (muff), 5, 3 (two different Giant blockers missed one Patriots gunner – disgusting), 1, and 11 yards.
The good news was that David Tyree came damn close to blocking two punts. The Giants also did a superb job of defending against a fake punt on a 4th-and-1 from the Pats’ own 34-yard line; however, since the Pats jumped, the play was ruled dead before it started. A very bad break for the Giants despite an excellent special teams play.
Brian Mitchell had four kick returns for an average of only 21.3 yards per return. The returns went for 26, 19 (another muff), 23 (returned to the 38), and 17 (returned to the 38). On the last return, Wes Mallard was flagged for holding.
Time for Tension
by BBI Reporter/Photographer David Oliver
No, this is not a thought piece about Iraq, or the race of the 9 + (one), but it is about the current state of football, baseball and even basketball, if you are a Kobe Bryant fan. With the race for the World Series in full stroke, baseball actually surpassed the Monday Night Follies in the ratings game. Now someone will not only get to paint the ‘face’ of the week on the side of the horse trailer, but also sweep up the crap in the trailer’s wake. I’m not much of a baseball fan any more as it has become like golf, too damn long and frustrating. Since Cal Ripken retired there are no more heroes, just a bunch of carpet-baggers playing for money. But I do hold a residual love for the Yankees, even without a Yogi Berra, a Moose Skowron, a Mickey Mantle; there is always at least ONE homegrown Pinstriper, currently a spot held by Derek Jeter. Funny thing is that on my weekend off, my wife bought me a Dept 56 (I think) façade sculpture of the old Yankee Stadium. She hates the Yankees, but she knows that deep down I am almost as much a Yankee fan as I am a Giants fan, well, not quite, but the Yankees are my second favorite sports team. This is my third version of Yankee Stadium, the centerpiece being the Stadium with the signed Joe D faceplate. Incidentally, for you collectors out there, I’d like to thank the poster who alerted us to the Fleer Collectors Club special edition trailers. I was too late to get Shockey #1, but I did get Shockey #2 and Pennington #1.
The sports pages aren’t a lot of fun these days, what with hockey players in the dock for driving team mates to death, basketball stars accused of rape (Heaven forbid!), race car drivers seriously injured and the Giants mired in a two game losing streak. Its kind of like reality sports programming. Maybe it’s time to ban all professional sports, that is, except for football, which transcends sports for most of us. Poor BB56 sounds as if he’s had it this time, and even Rocky T has come out of retirement to start his “Jim must go” crusade (grin). I am a little more sanguine these days, actually, a lot more as I believe that the Giants are about to spring on a winning spree. Or maybe I just can’t face the thought of a losing season, or even worse, a mediocre winning season.
At any rate, I see a team playing hard, very hard, but stumbling and bumbling it’s way through a couple of games. We have a myriad of causes from which to choose, but none satisfies the need to feel cheated as a result of the pre-season hype. The rebuilt offensive line has not performed as badly as I thought it might, although it had to be some sort of specious reasoning in the head shed that thought Allen and Hopkins would successfully man the right side of the line. An early, and elementary analysis of performance gave cause for alarm and should have set off some sort of Delphi process in the front office. It didn’t. But luckily, the Giants did grab a couple of players in the draft and have the services of a guy who was developing into a special player at center. I’m still not sure if the message has gotten through that Tiki has some miles on him, is hurt often and really needs a rest, as in playing another back for considerable stretches. Lord knows, the Giants bench is packed with high-priced talent – and no, I don’t mean the multitude of quality control, clock manager and assistant coach guys. The latest film up for the Monday award will be the Kerry Collins three-step drop mistake. Now, Monsieur Collins is a large QB; he can see over a lot of linemen, or through lanes with ease. But he has a penchant for firing a bazooka. On his normal 7-step drop, his arm swing generates enough of an arc as to clear onrushing linemen, but frankly, proximity to the line does not exactly portend success in firing bullets to short or medium spaced receivers running through traffic. So if any adjustments must be made, don’t mess with the mechanics. Try a play action pass once in a while or that little Amani toss. Put something into the offensive playbook to hold the backers in place and allow the line to bump and grab the defense. Ok, that’s it for my criticism and analysis of the current failed revision. Statistically, things appear to be working out, except for the final score. Ironing out the wrinkles will lead to the explosion we are all awaiting.
I have a few interviews from a couple of games ago which I didn’t have time or space to get into print, so I’ll use this time for catch-up. One of the things that has puzzled me since I started on the field is the wide variations in viewpoint from what can be seen on the sidelines, in the stands, on television, and what the players and coaches see during their film review. Many of us spend a lot of time ‘reviewing the tape’, which is reviewing what the TV cameras show us. I can assure you that we see much more standing along the sideline, if we happen to be in position. Likewise, sitting in the stands, anywhere up to the mezzanine, and with a good pair of binoculars, even more can be seen, of that small slice in the lens. I have been in the Press Box at the Meadowlands, and frankly, you need an epic magnifier to make sense out of what is happening on the field. The television camera is good for a sound analysis of about 10 plays a game. On those 10 plays, nothing is better because of the quality of the lenses and the availability of review from different angles. So I asked Kevin Lewis (Klu) a few questions about the process of film review for the players.
I asked him what the players and coaches were looking at or for when they were sitting in the unit discussions and reviewing film. What did they have that was different than the rest of us? He told me that the team had cut-ups, which were actual game film taken by NFL or team cameras at the game. For the defense, they will have offensive plays, etc. He told me, “You just look at players for steps, you look at how they line up, their stance; you look at what kinds of routes they run, how they like to release off the line; for the backs, what kinds of steps, how they step on a draw, or how they step on a pass play; you look at individual nuances of individual players.” I asked him to compare that with the focus of the TV cameras and he said, “A lot of times when you watch a game on TV, they’ll focus in on something like that, but we do it all the time…for example, if the play is your play to make, or coming to you and you have to do a certain thing, then we’ll talk about it, like, when this guy pulls, you’re going to have to split it or turn it back, Michael or Dhani, you’ve got to get over the top, different things like that.” He told me, “We’ll normally watch tape after a game and go over what we did wrong, what we did right. We’ll fix it, then, normally, Wednesday, we forget about it (the last game).”
I asked him about special teams performance and he told me, “We started off pretty slow (Miami). They had a good kickoff return and a good punt return, then we basically shut them down. But on special teams its one guy here, a guy held here or a guy got pushed a little out of his lane. On the first runback, he came up the middle and we had him shut down, he bounces out, someone is not in their lane, and it looks bad.” I asked him to compare this unit with last year, and he told me, “We made a bunch of improvements (last year). This year we’re building off of that. You’ve got a lot of guys out there that are hungry and trying to be that guy. In the past, some of the guys were worried about staying in lane, should I do this or that, but now it’s almost like ‘hey, I better make that play before Wesley makes it.’ We’re all trying to get there and that’s a fun feeling when guys are out there flying around. You don’t even worry about almost making the tackle; you’re trying to get there first; it’s a different mentality out there.”
I also talked to Chris Bober about the move to tackle and he told me (after Miami), “I felt a lot better today, very much, very much so. I think I did well. There are definitely areas that I need to improve, because its new…I do like it. What can you do? It is different, but its different in a good way because it shows my versatility, later on down the line, this team here, or a team somewhere else, I sit at the table and they say ‘hey, he can play multiple positions.’ Its different, but its worth it.”
I discussed the problem with the end around move and some of the difficulty he appeared to have with it. He told me, “Just watching film last week, I was playing a little too much center technique at tackle; I fixed that. I just have to react differently to an outside rush. When you’re a center and a guy rushes outside, you just put your hands on him and push him to the sidelines. At tackle, you have to keep going because that’s what they want to do, to get around the corner, but at center you just plug up a guy.” On the transition to tackle, Chris told me, “It’s a different position , it requires different reactions. That’s what I worked on this week, and what I’ll continue to work on. To play in this offense, you have to be smart, I don’t care what position you play.” Then we discussed helping Lucier and Chris told me, “We all in our own way tell Wayne what’s going on if we see something, but definitely at tackle you have to have smarts, that’s the way it works in this offense.” I asked him about playing next to Diesel Diehl and he responded, “He’s good, he’s going to be a good player. He’s a big boy. I like playing next to him and he’s going to develop into a good player. Hopefully, we can develop into a team that plays next to each other for a long time.”
Well, I’m going to go for a walk, then settle in and wait for the Yankees game. It sure would be nice to dispose of those PITA Sox and get on with the baseball fish. I broke down and bought myself another digital camera, a baby Canon with the ability to use my real lenses. Now, if it’s as effective as it was inexpensive, I can move towards fully digital operations. Enjoy baseball, look for a battering of the hated Eagles, and if you are any kind of auto racing fan, Saturday is the Petit LeMans – a 12 hour race, and SPEED is covering 7 hours.