Philadelphia Eagles 28 – New York Giants 10
Game Overview: I started BigBlueInteractive.com in 1995 (of course, back then it was the Big Blue Home Page). The 2003 NFL season is now feeling remarkably similar to the 1996 season – the last year of Dan Reeves in New York.
Through 10 games of 1996, Reeves’ Giants were 4-6 and clearly not heading to the playoffs. Fassel’s 2003 Giants are 4-6 and likewise not heading to the playoffs. Both coaches were clearly on their way out the door. The 1996 Giants won two more games and finished 6-10. That’s probably as good a prediction for the 2003 Giants as you will see now. The remaining games won’t be pleasant. The players have started to tune Fassel out and he knows it. They will play hard in spurts because they are professionals and dollars are at stake, but without confidence, intensity, and a sense of urgency, they will fall victims to teams with much more to play for.
As sad as it sounds, I can’t wait for the offseason. The remaining games pretty much are moot except for a few factors: (1) personnel evaluation to determine who has a future with the Giants, (2) development of younger players, (3) hoping no more serious injuries occur, and (4) discovering where the Giants will be picking in the 2004 NFL Draft.
The game against the Eagles? As I said in my preview, unless the Eagles were a bunch of sad saps, they would win this game fairly easily. The last gasps of life were sucked out of the Giants’ season against Atlanta. The Giants could have made things interesting had they scored near the end of the half, but the Giants’ inability to gain 36 inches on four tries was very fitting. After the intermission, the team laid down like a bunch of dogs and took their beating like gentlemen.
I’m going to sound like a broken record, but the same old problems appeared in Philadelphia: too few big plays on offense led to lengthy drives that eventually bogged down due to mistakes, inconsistent offensive line performance, a defense unable to create turnovers or a consistent pass rush, and confused coverage by the linebackers and defensive backs.
In terms of leadership, this team needs a hardass, disciplinarian as a head coach who is able instill fear and respect into his players while at the same time motivate. It also needs some talented assistant coaches who are good teachers. The Giants not only make too many mistakes, but they make the same mistakes over and over again. These players need to be taught that there will be consequences if the botched execution, missed assignments, penalties, and turnovers continue.
Personnel-wise, the Giants’ offense is mostly sound. The offensive line needs to be addressed in a concrete fashion and a quality halfback should be added, but there is talent at most positions. The Giants can win a Championship with Kerry Collins if he is given more protection and the play-calling is more balanced.
It’s defensively where the Giants need to get dramatically better – both in terms of personnel and coaching. Johnnie Lynn and his defensive staff are not good coaches. Most of the players on defense who are playing are players who returned from last season, yet these players still remain confused. Relatively speaking by NFL standards, these are not dumb players. It’s a coach’s job to make it easy for his players to perform. The Giant defenders are thinking too much, rather than dictating to the opposition. It’s classic “read-and-react”. At the same time, much more help is needed in the front seven and at safety. The Giants need to add aggressive, fast, play-makers who can inspire with their play and leadership. It needs some young Jessie Armsteads.
Giants on Offense: Fassel played it conservatively twice and aggressively once, and it is fair to blame him in each of these occasions. The Giants faced 4th-and-an-inch on their first possession after recovering the muffed kickoff. Fassel chose to kick the field goal in this situation. It was a somewhat strange move in the sense that the Giants’ season was at stake and if you don’t get an inch, you don’t deserve to win the game. In the 1st-and-goal situation near the end of the first half, I applaud going for it on 4th down. Yes, the execution was a problem, but also I wasn’t crazy about the plays called. On Levens’ two carries, I’ve never been a big fan of pulling your linemen down on the goal line. I also didn’t think it was smart to run behind Marcellus Rivers and Visanthe Shiancoe. The outside run to Tiki was stupid…everyone knew that play was coming. Lastly, on the Giants’ first drive in the 3rd period, with the score still only 14-3, a drive in which the ball was snapped 19 times was aborted when Fassel chose to punt on 4th-and-11 from the Eagle 31-yard line. Your season is at stake, you are trailing by 11 points with 8 minutes left in the 3rd quarter…go for it!
Quarterback: Collins (25-of-44 for 268 yards, 1 touchdown, 1 interception) didn’t play particularly poorly, but he didn’t play particularly well either. Not having a healthy Ike Hilliard and Jeremy Shockey out on the field hurt. So did some inconsistent pass protection and losing Tim Carter during the game. Regardless of what Collins says publicly, it is obvious that Kerry doesn’t have a lot of confidence in the protection up front. There are times when he rushes his throws or continues to drift back for fear of pressure that sometimes isn’t there. Fans with short memories are forgetting how good Collins looked early in the season. It’s only lately that some bad habits have re-appeared. It’s frustrating to watch Kerry not trust his offensive line or take some hits in order to allow plays to succeed. For example, on the 2nd-and-goal play at the end of the first half, Collins had Marcellus Rivers open early, but Collins lost time by drifting back into the pocket. He then didn’t see a wide-open Darnell Dinkins to his right. The play should have resulted in an easy touchdown. Collins was wild high on a couple of throws and threw one pass to a defensive back who dropped the ball otherwise he might have scored. Collins did make a heck of a throw on the 48-yard deep pass to David Tyree.
Wide Receivers: The Eagle coverage was obviously focused on Amani Toomer (6 catches for 57 yards) with TE Jeremy Shockey out of the line-up. But Amani also dropped one pass, and I spotted one Tiki Barber run that could have picked up more yardage had Toomer made a decent block on the cornerback. Why do I have the sneaky suspicion that Amani isn’t playing very hard this year? Ike Hilliard (2 catches for 18 yards) was limited with ankle and knee injuries.
Tim Carter (4 catches for 48 yards) did some nice things before he was forced out of the game with his second concussion in two games (shame on the Giants for allowing him back so soon). He was flagged with a false start however.
With Hilliard and Carter ailing, David Tyree (5 catches for 106 yards) and Willie Ponder (2 catches for 3 yards) saw some extended playing time. This will help both in terms of getting ready for next season. Tyree’s receptions were not of the “garbage time” variety but came when the game was undecided. Tyree made an excellent deep catch on 3rd-and-15 for 48 yards despite tight coverage. He later followed that up in the 3rd quarter with a 20 yard reception on 2nd-and-10 when the Giants were still very much in the game. Ponder made an excellent catch on a low-thrown ball for a short completion. He also got open deep on 3rd-and-13 in the 4th quarter; Collins hit him with simply a superb throw, but the Eagle defenders did a good job of knocking the ball out of Ponders’ hands.
Running Backs: Tiki Barber rushed for 111 yards on 19 carries (an average of 5.8 yards-per-carry) and did not fumble. He also caught 3 passes for 20 more yards and a touchdown. Barber looked sharp. He made good yardage on his signature runs where he cuts back against the defense and bounces the play outside. Tiki also made some noise between the tackles. However, I think he made a poor decision to reverse his field on the play in the 3rd quarter that lost 6-yards. He should have kept following his blocks instead of turning what would have been a marginal gain into a big loss. This play helped to stall the Giants’ promising drive in the 3rd quarter. Tiki was so-so on blitz pick-ups.
Dorsey Levens was a non-factor with 4 rushing attempts for a total of 1-yard. Fassel said his first rushing attempt down on the goal line should have been a touchdown had a blocked not been missed against an Eagle linebacker. But Levens should have been able to run over Troy Vincent two plays later. Later in the game, Levens really screwed up when he ran the wrong way on a play where he was supposed to run to the right.
Brian Mitchell saw some time in the backfield in passing situations and did well on blitz pick-ups.
I thought FB Jim Finn blocked well for the most part. Some of Tiki’s better runs had Finn leading on the play. However, Finn was unable to block the Eagle linebacker at the point-of-attack on the 4th-and-goal play.
Tight Ends: With Shockey out, Marcellus Rivers (3 catches for 16 yards) and Visanthe Shiancoe (no catches) attempted to pick up the slack.
In terms of blocking, it was really an up-and-down performance for Rivers. There were some plays where he did a decent job because he effectively took out the defender from the play, both as a down blocker and a move TE or FB. He didn’t move his man off the line in these instances, but he effectively engaged his man and allowed Tiki to run for positive yardage. This included one-on-one situations with defensive ends. However, there were also times where Rivers got pushed back by linebackers or the end. The obvious mistake was that he (and Finn) couldn’t handle the linebacker at the point-of-attack on Tiki’s 4th-and-goal run. (Incidentally, the illegal chop block called on Rivers right after the muffed kickoff was one of the worst calls I’ve ever seen. It was a legal chop block because Rivers hit the guy dead on from the front. The 15-yard penalty killed the Giants).
Some press reports said it was Visanthe Shiancoe who missed his block on the goal line that caused Levens’ first rushing attempt to be stuffed. Shiancoe did miss a linebacker on the play, but it wasn’t that linebacker who made the play in the hole. If you ask me, there were more defenders than blockers on this play…the Giants should have simply run up the gut. Despite Shiancoe’s missed block, I do continue to be impressed by this young man’s strength and tenacity when he does make contact. There was one play where Shiancoe actually pancaked the defensive end.
Offensive Line: The goal line failure was not the fault of the offensive line as the Giants didn’t run behind specific linemen in this situation, but the tight ends and fullback. And other than the goal line situation, the rushing attack was very respectable. In the run game, I saw positive performances by Ian Allen, David Diehl, and Luke Petitgout in particular. LG Wayne Lucier needs to get stronger as he really had problems moving his man off the line at times.
Pass protection was a mixed bag. For the most part, there weren’t obvious physical breakdowns until late in the game except for the fact that Lucier had problems with DT Darwin Walker on a couple of plays. But the Giants made some mental mistakes. For example, picking up stunts for the young guys remains a problem. And there were times when I thought Ian Allen should have picked up the outside rusher and Diehl picked up Allen’s man. I don’t know if the fault lies with the affected players or the line call in this situation, but Eagle blitzers came free a few times. Diehl played much better this time around against Corey Simon. However, he was flagged with two false starts. And Luke Petitgout continues to struggle with penalties…including an illegal use of the hands and a holding penalty on the same drive in the 2nd quarter.
The OL continued to do a solid job in the 3rd period. It wasn’t until the 4th period, when Collins was sacked three times, that there were some physical breakdowns. On the first sack, Lucier had problems picking up the stunting end; this caused Collins to scramble up into the pocket and right into Corey Simon. On the second, Lucier was cleanly beaten by Darwin Walker with a quick move. On the last sack, Diehl was beaten to the inside and this caused Collins to scramble out of the pocket where he was chased down. (Incidentally, the tripping call on Ian Allen in the 4th quarter was another terrible call by the officials).
Giants on Defense: Listen to what Colin of the Great Blue North Draft Report has to say about the Giants’ defense:
We remain thoroughly baffled by the Giants’ philosophy on defense. For starters, the Giants run the most basic, vanilla defense in the entire NFL. Contrast that, for example, with what the Eagles were doing last Sunday; and by extension what the two opposing QBs had to deal with. On the one hand, the Giants line up on over 90% of their defensive snaps with a front-four backed by 3 LBs lined up between the tackles 3-4 yards off the line of scrimmage. That left Eagles’ QB Donovan McNabb with little to worry about except where to find the mismatch in coverage; in contrast, Eagles’ defenders – LBs and safeties – were constantly moving into and out of the gaps on the line of scrimmage with the result that Kerry Collins – and his offensive line – never knew who was coming from where. Of course, the fact that the Eagles actually came, on just about every play, helped to complicate the issue. And this has been the pattern for the better part of the past two seasons, as week in and week out, the Giants have allowed opposing QBs, including some that had no real business even starting an NFL came, to get way too comfortable in the pocket and in many cases pick them apart.
The Giants’ philosophy, of course, is that they want don’t want to give up the big play, but rather want force the other team to drive the length of the field to get their points. Fair enough, but what really drives us crazy is the fact that the Giants stick with that philosophy with an almost religious fervor even when absolutely in need of a stop right here and now to get the ball back to have any chance to get back into a game they are trailing in or need a change of momentum.
At the same time, other than Will Allen, who unfortunately can’t cover everybody, the Giants’ also aren’t very fast in the back seven; they also don’t cover man-to-man very well. Combine that with the generally anemic pass and the Giants’ appear to have the worst of both worlds: no rush and slow guys covering man-to-man on almost every play. And in fact, week in and week out, we see opposing QBs, especially when they need a completion, sitting back in the pocket and finding the mismatch in the Giants’ coverage – usually the guy #22 was trying to cover before he got hurt or more. They also have a penchant for simply running the DBs off and dumping the ball off to whomever that #s 55 or 58 are trying to cover in the middle of the field. As most NFL coaches will tell you, coaching football ain’t rocket science, but it seems to us pretty basic that you have a couple of options in these situations: either give the small, slow cover guys some help by blitzing (and all the time), or, if you don’t want to blitz, then put the coverage guys in a zone and make the opposing QBs at least earn their yardage. What the Giants have been doing is just too easy.
The Giants have personnel and coaching problems. As BBI poster dave in nyc said in The Corner Forum, somewhat out of character, the Giants used a lot of man-to-man coverage with their linebackers in this game and got toasted. The linebackers couldn’t stick with the Eagles’ backs and tight ends. When the Giants did go with their zone coverage, they had problems as well. For example, on the Eagles’ 3rd quarter scoring drive, the Eagles picked up an easy 1st down on 3rd-and-4 when short crossing pattern was left wide open (have we not seen this all year?). On the very next play, WR Freddie Mitchell could not have been more wide open in the Giants’ zone coverage on a 37-yard pass play. This was a SICKENING 8-play, 95-yard drive where it was readily apparent that the defense had given up on the day. On the Eagles’ final scoring drive, WR Todd Pinkston was left all alone on a crossing pattern for 19 yards. Two plays later, no one bothered to cover HB Brian Westbrook out of the backfield – a guy who had been killing the Giants all day with his pass receptions no less!!!
The problem with the Giants’ defense schematically is two-fold:
- The zone coverage schemes for the linebackers and secondary appear to be too complicated. Veterans and young players who have been under Lynn for two years continue to make the same mistakes over and over again. It is the job of the coaching staff to make the scheme understandable to the players.
- This is a “read-and-react” defense. It doesn’t dictate to the opposing offense, but reacts to what the offense does. Look at Jim Johnson and the Eagles – they are constantly changing things up with different looks, actual and fake blitzes, and sowing the seeds of confusion in their opponents. They play to the strength of their corners by allowing their corners to man-up and then bring the heat. Yes, the Giants need better personnel and this is basically the same system John Fox used in New York, but for some reason Lynn’s version confuses Giants’ defenders. Moreover, it is much too passive and Lynn appears incapable of adjusting. The Giants don’t confuse their opponent and thus they are easy to game plan against.
So let’s be clear about this…the Giants’ defense is the worst of both worlds…it confuses its own players but it doesn’t confuse its opponents.
Also making matters worse right now is that the defense is not play with a lot of intensity or urgency. Why do I think the Giants’ defense is laying down? Because in the first 7 games of the season, the Giants had the NFC’s top rated red zone defense, allowing touchdowns on only 7-of-19 attempts. But in the last three games, opponents are a perfect 9-for-9 against the Giants in the red zone.
Defensive Line: A terrible performance as there was virtually no pass pressure and no sacks (against a team that has allowed the most sacks in the NFL). Donovan McNabb was very comfortable in the pocket and the few times the Eagles did choose to run, they were able to move the ball that way as well (HB Brian Westbrook averaged over 5 yards a carry on only 9 carries). THE STARTING FOUR WERE IN ON 5 TACKLES (3 by Cornelius Griffin). This unit will look completely different in 2004 as Strahan will likely be joined by Cornelius Griffin (if the Giants re-sign him), William Joseph, and Osi Umenyiora up front. More players will need to be added in the draft and free agency.
The only guy who I thought played well was DT Cornelius Griffin (3 tackles) who made a number of fine plays against the run both at the point-of-attack as well as in pursuit. He played hard and was hustling. Lance Legree wasn’t terrible either…he flashed a bit on the pass rush. Michael Strahan (1 tackle!) was frustrated early by the Eagles’ quick 3-step passing attack and never really made his presence felt, except for one 3rd-and-5 pressure in the 4th quarter. He also lost his contain responsibility on the play where McNabb hit HB Duce Staley for a 38-yard pass play.
The Eagles smartly chose to run at DE Osi Umenyiora (1 tackle) and DT Keith Hamilton (ZERO tackles). Umenyiora’s problems are not physical, he still needs to learn how to recognize running plays (the Eagles were doing a great job of mixing things up and not tipping their hand) as at times he was too aggressive running up the field. Hamilton is simply done. It really is embarrassing to watch and it is time to bench him. There were plays where he got taken to his knees by one-on-one blocks. And it is interesting to note that the Eagles chose to run right at him on their 3rd-and-5 draw play on their first scoring drive. William Joseph is still learning and making mistakes (i.e., not always maintaining his gap responsibility), but you can see he has the size and athleticism to be a factor. He got a little push on the pass rush and will only improve with experience.
Let’s be clear about this too…Umenyiora and Joseph may not look very good right now, but they are works in progress. And any playing time that both get between now and the end of the season will only make them better in the future. The fact that Kenny Holmes is on IR right now is actually very good for the Giants’ future as Umenyiora is getting invaluable playing time.
Linebackers: Atrocious. I can’t emphasize enough how bad the linebackers were. To be fair to Brandon Short, he wasn’t on the field much as the Eagles often forced the Giants into their nickel package. But Short did leave the tight end wide open on one play in the 1st quarter.
The real culprits were Dhani Jones and Mike Barrow. Not only could they not cover the backs and tight ends worth a damn in man coverage, but they were also nowhere to be seen on all the big Eagle rushes of the day. Both looked slow and confused. Jones was beat by TE Lonnie Johnson, TE Chad Lewis, and HB Brian Westbrook in coverage – all just in the 1st quarter. Barrow too couldn’t keep up with Westbrook in coverage. Both had problems flowing to the sideline on outside runs (including Westbrook’s TD run) and Jones badly missed Westbrook in the hole on his 23-yard run in the 3rd quarter.
Nick Greisen filled in for Barrow some in the first half when the latter was injured, but Greisen did not look sharp. He missed HB Correll Buckhalter on the goal line on Buckhalter’s TD run. He also missed a tackle on a long gainer by Buckhalter on a pass reception (this should have been a short gain, but Dhani Jones screwed up in coverage again and then missed the first tackle). The big play on the Eagles’ final scoring drive was 23-yard pass interference penalty on Dhani Jones against Westbrook on 3rd-and-1. Jones’ biggest problem on this play is that he had to play catch-up and never turned around to look for the football. Indeed, Jones was so bad on Sunday that this soon-to-be-unrestricted free agent may have played himself off the team.
Defensive Backs: The Giants need to seriously consider getting rid of the expensive Shaun Williams. His play has really deteriorated. Against Atlanta, he couldn’t cover the tight end one-on-one, and against the Eagles, he got beat by the halfback for an easy touchdown down the sideline. If your strong safety can’t cover backs and tight ends, then it is time to get a new strong safety. Westbrook beat him for an easy TD on a pump-and-go route.
Omar Stoutmire actually didn’t look too bad in coverage this week, but his run support was left wanting…especially on Westbrook’s TD run.
The Eagles rarely tested Will Allen and when they did, he was up to the task. CB Frank Walker played too soft on WR James Thrash, allowing easy, short completions. After Walker left with a concussion, the Eagles picked on Kato Serwanga the same way they went after Walker as Serwanga was also playing too soft. Nickel back Ryan Clark got beat twice in the first half.
Special Teams: Jeff Feagles punted 6 times for an average of 38.3 yards-per-punt; three of his efforts landed inside the 20-yard line.
Matt Bryant’s kickoffs were terrible. His 30-yard field goal hit the upright.
Brian Mitchell is obviously not a good kickoff returner (5 returns for a 19.6 yards-per-return average against the Eagles); the blocking isn’t there, but neither is the speed or moves. There is no excuse for not having Tim Carter or Delvin Joyce replace him. David Tyree was flagged with an illegal block on one return.
Mitchell’s attributes are more suited to returning punts, but his glaring lack of production there suggests the need for a change as well. Against the Eagles, Mitchell returned two punts for 2 yards. Delvin Joyce should replace Mitchell. At the same time, the Giants need a quality special teams coach who can teach/motivate his players to block for a return.
Punt coverage was excellent against a dangerous returnman (Westbrook). Delvin Joyce did a good job of hustling down field as a gunner this week. He made one good play when he downed the ball at the 2-yard line; but he also screwed up big-time when he hit Westbrook before the punt arrived. Kato Serwanga also did a good job of hustling down the field on one punt as well. David Tyree was strangely quiet.
Kickoff coverage could have been better, but was hurt by the short kick-offs. Excellent hustle by Darnell Dinkins to get down the field so fast on the first kick-off and an even better job to field the muffed ball.
All We Have Is Us
by BBI Reporter/Photographer David Oliver
Visanthe Shiancoe told me in the locker after the game, in what could easily be translated into Pogo’s famous remark, “we have met the enemy and he is us”. This will be a very short report. Almost 25 years to the day since the Eagles humiliated the Giants on a classic boffo play which turned around a doddering Giants’ management, the Eagles once again allowed the Giants to self-destruct in a most humiliating fashion. Almost everyone who watched the game came away with the feeling that the Giants have simply given up. I do not subscribe to that theory. Let me tell you why.
The statistics once again show a team that can execute on offense, but is impotent in the red zone. And they strikingly show a defensive unit which is reeling. The Giants had time of possession advantage, overwhelming control of the ground, relatively equal performance in the air. But in red zone efficiency, they lost and most telling statistic of all, the penalties; the Giants had 11 penalties for 113 yards. That negates any kind of performance and totally reverses any statistical advantage. Therein lies the tale of a losing effort. In the third quarter alone, the Giants had the ball for over 10 minutes, but stalled on the 31-yard line, and PUNTED. Playing for field position when you are already losing is the hallmark of only a very, very powerful defensive squad. The fact that the once proud and mighty defense has been reduced to something embarrassing is underscored by the defensive stats, which show that 5 defensive backs had more tackles than the first lineman, who was C. Griff. Then it is 3 more positions before the next lineman appears – Legree. Finally, along comes Michael Strahan with 1 tackle. Don’t even look for Hamilton’s name because it isn’t there.
The Giants have been consistently outscored, as you would expect of a losing team, but they have been outscored in three of the four quarters, giving up almost 20 points more than they are scoring in each, holding an edge in only the second quarter. Tiki is nearing another 1,000 yard year and Kerry will most likely throw for 3,000 yards, but there is not much in the red zone to speak of. The offense very much appears to be a reversion to the offense called by HC Fassel prior to appearance of Sean Payton as OC.
The offensive line is responsible for a lot of the penalties. It is a young line. Monday morning QBing is never wrong, but this was pointed out as a possible deficiency as early as minicamp. Yet the experts thought they had it figured out. This, in and of itself, in any business would behoove action by the Board of Directors. It is not lack of effort; it is not even failure of execution. It is inconsistent execution, and I believe it is caused by the unfamiliarity of the players, with each other, with the play-calling, with the way the NFL operates. Chris Bober told me, “We were very physical with them,” and believe me, our young line was physical. It cleared lanes everywhere but in the red zone. On the fateful 1st-and-goal drive, Chris wouldn’t speak to the failure on the first three downs, but was clear as to what happened on the 4th down. He told me the Eagles were in the perfect defense, which he said was “the O stack,” in which the LBs take certain positions allowing them to cover the sweep run. Chris told me, “We knew what it was, we probably should have audibled out, or called a timeout. There was no way we were going to get in there.” Chris is not the brooding type. He told me, “We get the ball down there, wham, wham, wham,” and then the penalties happen. It is something they are continually working on, and he feels that the season isn’t over yet, that even if it is a losing season, “This is what we do” and “we get paid to do the job we do”, so he feels that if anyone needs something else to motivate them, they are in the wrong place. He said that all the linemen are playing hard, want to play hard, but he also said the more you are around the NFL, “You realize you don’t always win.” Without making excuses, Chris told me, “There is no doubt that we are young. We need to go out there and play better.”
It shows on the field. The Giants’ O can still move the ball. It can get the pretty girls to go on a date, sit through dinner and a movie, but when they show up on the doorstep, they get a peck on the cheek, a thank you for a wonderful time, and maybe a call me again. They just aren’t getting invited in. So Gentleman Jim is getting what a whole lot of gentlemen get, a woody and a long ride home.
Eric will give you the details and particulars. I will do the vignettes. Tyree looked good, Ponder has some moves, now must show he can make the difficult catches. If all five of the O-Linemen were healthy, even with the kids it could be a formidable unit. But to get to the playoffs, the team really needed some veteran anchors. Tiki is still the offensive stud. He gets the job done. Kerry may not be a problem for some, but he is for me. Although he has the skills, he is bird-dogging his receivers, not reading the defenses, making his decisions too quickly, and he has lapsed into bad mechanics. We all knew going in that this team would go as far as Kerry could carry it. He hasn’t carried it, and that’s a problem with a lot of QBs in this League. They are now mechanics and not engineers. The OCs are the engineers, except in a very few cases. Kerry is no coward. He is taking hits this year. BUT he has no pocket presence whatsoever. A pocket passer should at least know when there is or is not a pocket.
The defense, well, yeah they were out there. When Strahan has 1 tackle, Hammer has none and there are no sacks, nothing much needs to be said. There was no pressure, but, in fairness, McNabb had the best game I’ve seen out of him in a while. He was getting the ball out quickly, and the Giants’ corners were giving a cushion so McNabb looked very effective. A rating of 132.5 indicates just how good his game was. And he only had to scramble four times. The defense has been the most inconsistent unit on an inconsistent team. I just can’t understand how a backer like Short can have double digit tackles one game, then come up with 1 in a game. Barrow was at least active with 6 tackles. Frank Walker had 7 to lead the team, but that’s because they were throwing in front of him.
There’s not much else to say about the game. When you recover a fumble on the first play of the game and get only a FG, when you down a punt inside the 5, but can’t capitalize and turn it into a field position advantage, when you have 1st-and-goal and get shut out, when you have 11 penalties, when your top two defensive players come up with 1 tackle between them, when you march down the field after intermission and punt from the opposition 31, without a gale force wind in your face, then the blame becomes an organizational blame.
I will be happy to answer any questions anyone has about my perspective. I’m leaving for Tampa on Sunday. What looked to be a fun week, as my wife is coming along and we are staying for the week, now could be a real downer. Well, at least I’ll get to say hello to a few former Giants friends, several of whom have gotten a Ring since they left.