Banks: One in a Row

 Yesterday was a Monday many fans haven’t enjoyed so much in September in a long while.

Except if you are an Eagle fan after having your child throw beer cans at the Giants’ bus and taking Advil to relieve the overuse of your middle finger.

Banks spread his joy on WFAN yesterday on their performance and more importantly moving forward.  Overall, it was the “best team effort in knowing what resources that they had” and that they “came together collectively.”

On Gilbride, Banks has always “talked in the past about” Gilbride’s penchant for “putting the ball in harm’s way by throwing it a lot.”  What is very telling is “if you look at the stat sheet the leading receiver by receptions was a running back. “  Banks also gives the “QB credit for making good decisions with the football” as “he wasn’t the typical Eli Manning in let’s see how many I can throw down the field. “  A lot of press and love for Victor Cruz in the media yesterday but “that its one in a row and let’s see if he can build on that.”   Banks goes on to comment that Cruz “lacks focus” yet “he is a young player but the individual effort is what makes the type of plays he executes special.”

Banks brings up an interesting perspective and point when discussing the playcalling of Andy Reid.  He felt that it was an “arrogant call by Reid on 4^thand 2” when they were up 16-14 and on the 43 yard line.  He didn’t stop there as “there were actually 3 arrogant calls by Reid.”  The others were “down on the goal line where they should have given the ball to McCoy and gave it to the FB on 3^rdand goal and when they put Kafka” and he “throws a bomb to DeSean Jackson and it get’s picked off.”  Banks quipped “what a surprise- the Giants have been waiting for that all game.”  More damaging to Reid is this is “after he recently apologized to his team for being conservative to his team after putting Kafka in versus Atlanta.”

On defense the “Giants played good deep to short” as “they weren’t going to give up the big play deep.”   Besides the pass rush, Banks commented that the “pass coverage improved” ..“Boley with his hands on the ball deep in zone coverage” and the play of Jacquian Williams.  On Williams Banks feels “it’s very rare for a coach to trust a rookie player in nickel situations and give him big responsibilities.”  In addition Williams “gives them so much more speed with him and Boley on the field” as “they are just a faster group” of LBs.

Some other quick sound bites from Banks on WFAN:

“Jason Pierre-Paul is a freakish guy.  He reminds me a lot of Juliius Peppers in his athleticism.  When they get Osi back they are going to be really tough to deal with on passing situations.”

“Ross it’s one in a row.  Ross” has had an “inability to stay focused…..as a corner you have to have amnesia. “

“Special Teams gets an A with good returns, didn’t give up big returns and actually makes a play to close out the game.”

On a let down versus Arizona.. overall, Banks feels the Giants are thinking “they are not good enough yet given (their) personnel situations.  They need Cruz and Ross to give (them) another performance like that …let’s continue to build on this.    Bottom line Banks feels that “collectively they feel that they are not  playing at such a high level that they can just press a button and just go out west and win.”

Like Andy, Pete and Glenn I will gladly savior the crow I have had and will continue to eat.   The biggest impact on this game, hands down, was the playcalling of Kevin Gilbride.  His playcalling was without a doubt the most out of character in his career with the Giants.  Banks commented on it immediately that Gilbride got away from his penchant for “putting the ball in harms way” by throwing it deep too often.  He gives credit to Manning for better judgment with the ball.   We as fans can only hope that we continue to see this style of playcalling and usage of short to intermediate throws.  Is it a coincidence that Manning performed better and utilized better judgment?  Besides the fact that Andy has had fits for many years yelling for more screens, slants and flares it keeps a defense on their heels.  These plays not only take advantage of a weak LB unit, safety unit and an over aggressive blitz scheme but keeps a strong cornerback unit guessing.  Much like an offense the cornerbacks get into a rhythm in defending the pass.  It also forces their cornerback unit to play physical and test their weak tackling skills.

We have noted here on this blog in the past the frustration of getting the young and talented offensive players on the field.  Was the coaching staff’s hand forced to trust Cruz in their game plan with Manningham out?  We hope moving forward that they can learn from this and simplify the offense to take advantage of the skills set that Beckum would provide as a matchup advantage, as well as Jernigan in the slot.

The Giants have a big opportunity in the next 4 games to build a cushion of wins.  We need to see consistency from this team and hope this is the spark needed.  The theme now is to build on this huge win.