45 and Uncompetitive

I know that Green Bay is in the books,

that we have to move on, but this blog is a cheap psychotherapist to all of us Giants crazies who live and die Big Blue.  Without this blog the past two games, I might have otherwise needed sedatives.  Honestly and seriously, at least I was not alone in the suffering.  At least I had a reality check here, that we all were seeing it straight, that the Coughlin ship was stripped naked.  All it took was visiting a couple of other places to realize that there is a lot of noise out there.  People are still talking about how the Giants can win a 10th game, and ‘how can you possibly fire Coughlin if he wins 10 games?’ !!!  As if winning 10 games means success.  This is the kind of thinking that is quite honestly one step above neanderthal. 

Here is a list of the records of the teams the Giants have beaten this season:
8-7, 5-10, 6-9, 5-10, 11-4, 6-9, 5-10, 2-13, 6-9.

That is a total of 54-81.

Here is a list of the records of the teams the Giants have lost to this season:
9-6, 6-9, 10-5, 10-5, 5-10, 9-6.

That is a total of 50-41.

So someone please explain why, if we can beat a 6-9 team, that that makes this season acceptable?  The Giants have beaten exactly ONE playoff team all season.  CHI.  They have lost to what will probably be FOUR playoff teams.  PHL (2), GB, IND.  In a mediocre league, the Giants are less than mediocre in the end.  

But the explanation runs so much deeper.  It is not just losing.  It is how you lose.  NO ONE HERE ON THIS BLOG WOULD BE CALLING FOR COUGHLIN’S HEAD IF:

1) IN WEEK 15, THE GIANTS HAD THRASHED THE EAGLES 31-10.
2) IN WEEK 15, THE GIANTS HAD PLAYED A GREAT 60 MINS, BUT HAD GOTTEN BEATEN IN A TIGHT GAME.
3) IN WEEK 16, THE GIANTS HAD PLAYED A GREAT 60 MINS, BUT HAD GOTTEN BEATEN IN A TIGHT GAME.

After an entire season of mistakes, the last 68 minutes of football merely provided the resounding corroboration on whether the Giants coaching staff could or could not manage for success.

If you think we are being unfair, go look at what was said immediately after the Week 17 loss vs the Patriotsin 2007.  If your team comes to play, its players fight the fight, its coaching staff has put the players in a position to win, we’ll stick with that and accept the losses with NO QUESTIONS ASKED.  Note how in that game, Spagnuolo’s defense gave up 38 points.  Was there any howling?  No.  We went toe to toe with one of the most prolific offenses of all time and got tagged.  Understandable. 

Contrast that with this Green Bay crushing.  Green Bay has scored 27, 34, 17, 28, 13, 20, 28, 9, 45, 31, 17, 34, 3, and 27 points, before laying 45 on the Giants defense.  That is 24 pts per game before their W16 contest.  So maybe when Terrell Thomas says we were OUTCOACHED, it means something.  45 points.  Note how there was only one other time all season that Green Bay put up that kind of fireworks on another team.  Guess who it was?  None other than the Wade Phillips-emasculated Cowboys, who were so uncompetitive that their owner fired his head coach the day after.  45 and uncompetitive.

At this point in the season, we have done enough Game Rewind analysis and detailed the underachievement ad nauseum.  I looked at the first half film for what Terrell Thomas and Corey Webster were doing on every play.  The following numbers are not verified for accuracy, but can be used with rough ratios so that they can be understood in that context.  The Giants corners were in Off Coverage 23.5 times, in Press Coverage 11.5 times and were jamming them aggressively ~3 to 4 times.  Someone can verify those numbers for me, but the point is this 1 JAM within 3 press vs every 6 off coverage.  This is simply passive defense.  It allowed for a lot of easy work by Rodgers.  225 yards in one half.  Another thing I noted, a tell of sorts, was that when Rodgers used his hard count to simulate a snap without snapping the ball, Webster and Thomas both would be 4 yards off the line of scrimmage and then would backpedal that 1 extra yard, giving away off coverage in that situation.  So now it was not only passive but also disclosed passive.  Watching our two talented Cornerbacks be part of a 45 point bloodletting is a tragedy.  

10-6? 9-7?   Is any of that relevant?  Or is the uncompetitiveness versus the best teams and the underachievement from a season of sloppiness relevant?  I’d like to think that John Mara understands this, but this is the same guy that was liberally dispensing the teflon.  Playoffs, no playoffs, 10 wins, 9 wins, none of that should matter any more.  The Giants are their own worst enemy, and that means the coaching staff is a liability to the franchise.