Perry Fewell, the new Defensive Coordinator of the NY Giants, spoke yesterday to the media.
Garafolo transcribed the answers. Nothing shocking or especially noteworthy. The only meaningful insight we had to offer when the hiring was made was from Wonder, who said that (1) the players would play for him and (2) he was not a particularly noteworthy innovator. The one thing I heard that I liked is that he is looking at the UNIQUE talents and skill sets of the players he has so that THAT will determine how he shapes the defense. GOOD. The best coaches are the ones who shape the system around the strengths of the players they have.
You play the hand you are dealt. You are dealt Howard Cross, your offense does one thing. You are dealt Kevin Boss, you develop your offense differently. I go out of my way to point to this one player because it is unconsionable to waste these skills the way our offensive coordinator has. I do not give two terds what the system “is” OR what your strengths as a coach are. You do not have anything unless you are leveraging the hand you have been dealt. That is the job of a coach.
Do you know how Bill Walsh created the West Coast offense? Necessity is the mother invention. He had no choice. He had a QB in Cincinnati named Virgil Carter. Walsh politely pointed out that Carter did not have the vertical game. Walsh had no choice but to figure out how to build an offense around this weak-armed QB. So he devised numerous short passing plays, so many that each route had numerous trees and variations to keep the defense off-balance. He demanded that the routes and throws be delivered with precision not seen anywhere else in the league. In short, he made the most of the personnel he had.
On the scheme (Fewell’s) planning to run: “I’m currently evaluating that and just looking at our players, just trying to get what they do best in my mind and what I can bring to the table to help them do what they do best better. So scheme-wise, I’m still in the process of formulating that.”
Good.
One thing I will tell you- lose the Zone defense. It may have tried to be an answer by keeping the game in front of the Safeties, but all I saw was the Giants getting carved up every week with that. Our LBers were not worth anything in coverage underneath. Whether Fewell can put together a scheme that works or not is going to be determined next fall, but at least he is going about it the right way.
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