You may think I am crazy, but I saw more good things than bad in this loss. Regulars to this NY Giants blog know that I do not sugar coat anything and I only give free passes if they are earned. The Giants were beaten. But they were not sorely outplayed the way they were in preseason. The offense has many problems but at least there were a few things to build on. As for the Defense, if they can contain the pocket better and give Fewell’s Tampa2 Zone a lobotomy, they will be fine.
Before the game we tweeted that if the Giants were to win the game, they needed to win the turnover battle with a 2+ takeaway edge. Manning threw 2 INTs (1 of which was his responsibility, the other a mishap). So instead of getting 2, the Giants gave away 2, and that right there was the game. The Giants will not be good enough if they cannot protect the football.
Matt Stafford deserves credit. He left the pocket a few times, but without pocket contain he connected for 2 TDs and ran for a 3rd. That kind of playmaking is not going to happen for the Giants opponents every week, so if the Giants can tighten up that pocket contain they will be much improved.
I thought Fewell’s Tampa 2 Zone was abolished back in 2011 when they went on that great Super Bowl XLVI run. Somehow it came back into the playbook and reared its FUGLY head. It absolutely killed the Gmen a minimum of twice and at crucial moments. On a 3rd and 12, the Giants get ripped for 33 yards to a wide open Golden Tate. On a 3rd and 7 in Q4, no less than Calvin Johnson gets passed off to Safety Antrel Rolle and he easily brings in a ball in between coverage. ZONE IS TOO PASSIVE FOR THE NFL IN 2014. The bad news is that the Giants DC is still braindead enough to call it. The good news is that, like in 2011, it can get purged and the Giants can improve w/o having to play that garbage scheme.
UltimateNYG NY Giants blog is a big believer in press coverage and man to man. And Prince and DRC are going to be good in man coverage this year. But when you play against Calvin Johnson, well that is a different story. ANY Cornerback will need help, meaning NOT ZONE but double coverage with a bracket. He’s just too good. The Giants needed to bracket CJohnson a lot more, and they did not. This is not Monday AM QB stuff- these are the in-game adjustments that you make when a guy is torching you. Thankfully the Giants will not have to face a guy like Calvin Johnson every week.. er.. I see… er.. Larry Fitzgerald and Andre Johnson coming up. Get ready, Perry!
While I am bitching about Fewell, he nearly cost the Giants another 3 pts when, at 14-7, there was a 3rd and ~25 in Giants territory where the Giants went soft prevent. They gave up an easy pass underneath, which put the Lions in FG position. The FG kicker missed the kick, but the defensive playcall to enable the yardage/attempt was awful. Insane.
The Offense was not great but it was not horrible either. In the preseason it was horrible. So this was an uptick of sorts. Not a large uptick, but an uptick. TE Larry Donnell was much better than anything we saw in preseason. The good news is that he pulled in 5 catches for 56 yards to lead the team. The bad news is that he led the team with 56 yards. Reuben Randle… 2 catches for 1 net yard???! UGH. This is bad news. This is the work in progress that is the Giants WR corps. Of everything I saw, this was probably the biggest downtick because his confidence, knowledge and contribution to the offense is very very poor at this early juncture. Is he having learning problems with getting his head around the new system? Probably. He needs to help Eli, Cruz, and everyone else. This is your R2 pick from 2012 and he needs to take some of the load. (When looking to reasons why the Giants find themselves where they are here in 2014, Reese’s picks of “toys” in R1 and R2 of the 2012 Draft are easily the most egregious and flagrant mistakes.)
The offensive line was serviceable. Considering moments like last year, when (as an example) they got run over by the Panthers, this Lions DL (Suh, Fairley, Ansah) could have been another nightmare. It was not. And that is a big deal for 2014. Let’s remember we did not hear about Richburg, Walton and Jerry, meaning they were pretty decent overall in run and pass blocking. But there will be growing pains. Now there is loads of film on these players, especially rookie Richburg. It looked to me that Richburg’s head was down on run plays and when he pulled to the right side. His head was up on almost all pass plays, a problem tell. Get that freaking head down on all snaps.
Growing pains show up in all sorts of places. The TE is the hot read on a blitz yet Donnell does not even look for the ball until well after it sails way past him. These are going to be the plays that mark rebuilding if not corrected quickly. And we see few signs of that miscommunication getting fixed anytime soon.
Jacquian Williams was just underwhelming. He cost the Giants big on a few plays. On the Stafford scramble for the TD, the Lions QB deeks Williams. As a pro LBer you cannot get beat by the QB in open space like that.
The Giants received a lot of Lions charity in this game. The Giants Defense had shut down the Lions run game in suffocating style. Yet the Lions continued to run the ball, putting themselves in 2nd and 3rd and long situations. It was not until the middle of Q4 when the D was gassed that the Lions run game began to finally work. And on the subject of charity, 85 yds of penalties in H1 was a huge tonic for the Gmen, without which the game would have surely been a blowout.
Eli is getting better. If he keeps going at this rate, he will learn the offense before very long. He already is directing his players around like the Eli of old. The biggest thing I worry about is how much punishment he can take. He’s still running for his life too many times out there.
Summary: there is enough good that came out of this loss to be guardedly optimistic. While I am not exactly thinking about making requests for playoff tickets, I am also not looking at the Jameis Winston sweepstakes either. The OL looked serviceable. Eli improved. The TE pulled down 5 grabs. The run game was ok. The D got some QB pressure. The Run D was excellent. Amukamara and DRC both made some plays (while getting their Perry Fewell-delusional Calvin Johnson single coverage and Perry Fewell-Tampa2 zone medicine). Of course there are plenty of problems too, like poor pocket contain, no WR production and erratic pass protection. But I see some stuff to build on and I think the Giants can be very competitive against some of these weaker teams (WAS, HOU) early.
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