Yesterday we gave some color on that TE matchup. Today we give you the master, Senor Wonder, who spells out the game plan for how the Giants can WIN or LOSE this game.
First a little background from Wonder on the significance of this game. YOU MUST SEND THOSE PUSSY DOME TEAMS TO NY IN JANUARY. Saints, Vikings, Falcons. They will lose to you in the cold of January because they are home dome teams that simply are not the same outside w/o the track meet turf. The Saints in particular are a pass-first team that sets up the run by passing. So in January in NY when you need that running game, the Saints will not be able to throw the ball 30-40 times like they want to. Beat them NOW, get the heads up tiebreaker, the difference between winning and losing on Sunday is 3 games, the best record is at stake, so this game will be very important for playoff and SB implications. You don’t want to go to Minn or NO in January. (Btw, I disagree with Wonder on this a little bit, more on that later.)
First off, the bad news. Wonder calls for New Orleans to win this game. The Giants CAN win, but they have to do certain things in order to pull it off:
1) BLITZ BREES ALMOST EVERY DOWN. I’d rather shut them down most of the time this way and give up a couple of long fly patterns where Webster or Thomas gets beat on a perfect pass than get nickled and dimed all day long..
2) CONTROL THE CLOCK. You will not win by giving them the ball for 33-36 minutes. Brees will find the open man and he will beat you. You will not be able to occupy (in descending order of BIG PLAY ability) Colston, Bush, Henderson, Moore, Shockey, AND Thomas. So blitz, run blitz, whatever it takes to force Brees to throw quickly. Only give him time to find one or two options, not four.
3) MIX UP COVERAGES AND WHERE THE BLITZ COMES FROM.
4) ONE LBer NEEDS TO MAKE THE DECISION ON WHETHER TO BLITZ OR STICK. This will be determined by whether Bush is leaking out or not.
6) WHEN YOU RUN BLITZ, HIT BUSH AS HE GETS THE BALL, HE CAN FUMBLE. New Orleans does not turnover the ball very much. But this is one way they can. Before Bush gets that ball settled, hit him and he’ll squirt it loose. It is a way to get something going against this team.
7) LESS JACOBS, MORE BRADSHAW. Wonder likes Jacobs as a pounder, but NOT THIS GAME IN THE DOME. Jacobs is not going to be fast enough on the turf vs the defenders, who will be that much more quick to the ball. Bradshaw has the speed. Use 2 back sets (Wonder, they have never used that[#44+#27], why would they now? “Yes, I know, but I am telling you they have to do this anyway.”), fake to Jacobs and then throw a flare or pitchout to Bradshaw. New Orleans plays a lot of Cover-2, so flares to Bradshaw are effective… a LBer blitzes, the corners get taken north by the WRs, flare to Bradshaw, he has one man to beat (LBer or CB) for 20-30 yards. The New Orleans corners don’t force well, they don’t shed their blockers and they don’t tackle well. Vilma fills the gap on trap plays against Jacobs, so u r better wide on those corners with #44.
8) PLAY ACTION TO BOSS FOR THE SIMPLE 8-9 YD SQUARE IN.
The Giants will not win with a classic Jacobs game w/ Eli as a drop back passer. That can work in January, but not in the dome in October. Wonder’s blueprint is to be physical with those corners and put pressure on them to make plays. If the Giants can win this game they will be either the 1 or 2 seed in January, that one probably being determined by the last game of the season with Minnesota. At this moment in time he still predicts the Saints vs the Ravens in the SB, just as he did a few weeks ago.
Wonder’s prediction: the Saints win something like 24-20. “WIN THE GAME AND SEND THOSE BROWNERS UP NORTH IN JANUARY!” I asked Wonder about Eli having never won in January playoffs in NY, undefeated on the road…> “Eli is playing differently this year. With the exception of Phillips, if you can get Canty back and get Boley healthy, you can win in January in the Meadowlands.
Ultimatenyg here. I do not hold to the must-win scenario yet. For starters, we can win vs the Vikings for the 2 seed later on this year. Second, the road warriors have the mental toughness and experience to win on the road in the playoffs. Third, without Canty and Boley, and WITH THEM in JANUARY, they will be two completely different teams… so If you told me I’d be the #3 seed, a home game and then 2 road games at MINN and then at NO, BUT I GET EVERYONE HEALTHY INCLUDING BOLEY/CANTY (Sintim and Ross as gravy), I would not mind that deal TOO much. That defense would be fantastic by that point and I would not be afraid at all about the home field. Manning is the general out there and he neutralizes the road advantage for us because he could give a rat’s behind about the noise and everything else. (He has no freaking pulse!) As we have already speculated, I think Manning may concentrate even more on the road. He seems more focused. Not worried about the road warriors. Just give me Canty, Boley and a healthy defense and none of this matters.
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