Win and move on. That is exactly what the Giants had to do, that is what they did, next.
Make no mistake, the Redskins are a bad team. Albert Haynesworth isn’t even dressed. Someone make a $100M donation to me for that kind of output! Yes, they are converting to a 3-4, but this team really is not competitive and they made the Giants’ jobs easy today.
But let’s not give all the credit to the Skins. The Giants came to play, took a potentially dangerous wind problem and neutralized it immediately. The Giants OL gets the game ball. With Seubert moved over to Center and Boothe and Beatty starting, these guys did really well in run blocking and pass protection. Everything else for the team flowed from this source.
The Good
1) Giants OL. These guys kept Eli clean. They made nice holes. With the wind a problem, the ground game was a necessity. Granted that Bradshaw and Jacobs made plenty of their own yards, but you never saw Redskin DLmen in the backfield disrupting the Giants RBs before they got back to the line. This enabled Jacobs and Bradshaw to pick holes, to cutback and make good gains on all kinds of plays.
2) Brandon Jacobs. It is nice to see him running as well as we have seen him since 2008. And as we noted on Friday’s Q&A Exchange, because Bradshaw started in the first 9 games, Jacobs has less carries and is as healthy at this time of the year as anytime since 2007.
3) Derek Hagan. 7 catches in single coverage. And I believe that he was only thrown to 7 times. The Skins tried to take MM out of the game, so Hagan got his opportunities and did beautifully. Folks, this guy was not on the roster two weeks ago!
4) Jason Pierre-Paul. 2 sacks! Those long arms are paying dividends. Teams that win it all in today’s NFL need A LOT of help from their rookies. JPP is the only draft pick who is contributing. Each week he is getting better and better. This raw player is not going to be a rookie by the time the playoffs arrive, and that is a big bonus.
5) Bear Pascoe. His runblocking and limited touches in receiving duty are consistently helping the offense. Today was no exception.
6) Devin Thomas. The WR pickup is good value. His THREE terrific plays on specials, by themselves, will not allow him to remain active when Smith and Nicks come back, but if he keeps contributing this will be good for him in 2011.
7) Tuck/Grant/Osi all deserve honorable mention for making good impact plays.
8) Run defense was generally effective. The Skins ran the ball 16 times and passed 44 times, as they became one-dimensional.
9) Eli Manning and Matt Dodge managed the conditions of the new (windy) stadium as well as you could ask for.
The Bad
1) A little too much zone and off coverage for my liking. Don’t be fooled by the score. The Giants defense gave the Redskins plenty more opportunities than were capitaliized on. Dropped balls, penalties, turnovers(5, technically 6 after garbage time) etc.. masked an (at best) average performance. McNabb missed a lot of chances, but a better QB/offense will make us pay. Yes, the DL had pressure, but McNabb had time too and the Giants gamelong lead meant so many plays with the pass rush’s ears pinned back.
2) The Eli pick in the end zone to Boss was into triple coverage.
3) The design short kicks by Tynes simply give the ball to the Skins at the 35 yd line. Why not just kick the ball out of bounds and give them the ball at the 40?!! Brandon Banks is not THAT good.
The Ugly
1) That endzone dance by Bradshaw and Jacobs is the Icky Shuffle II. Woof.
Summary- A great win because it bridges the gap to when a bunch of starters get back from the injured list. Shout out to Ahmad Bradshaw, who went over 1000 yards for the year. You get the sense that after that Tuck speech last week at halftime that the Gmen are not only going to play more consistently, but that Tuck is now an unquestioned leader.
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