Why am I smiling? That smile is the buying of time while this Spagnuolo defense comes together. That smile is one of a Giants fan who just saw his team go on the road and grab a win. That smile is Landon Collins starting to play with speed. That smile is Whitlock making plays in the 4th Quarter.
There is a lot to smile about, Giants fans. It was just ~12 days ago that we penned a post about how this 0-2 NY Giants can come together for 2015. What a difference 12 days makes. And it is coming together. Winning is the best deodorant. The Giants have made some maddening boner mistakes in the past 2 weeks, but they beat a QB-challenged Redskin team and today they beat a 17-flagged Bills team. Most importantly, they bought themselves time to keep getting better.
This season it is supposed to be the Offense that carries the Defense. The Defense is the unit without their best pass rusher, JPP. The Defense is learning a new system. The Defense was without Beason and DRC for a few games. The Defense is the one with green Safeties. Yet we saw in Week 1 vs Dallas how the players were put by Spagnuolo in the right positions to succeed. There was discipline. You saw how players were a step too slow, yet you knew it was because they were thinking more and not yet playing reflexively. Guys like Collins and Kennard are already making impact plays in this new system. That to me is every bit as exciting as the win. That is the future. That is why there is hope for 2015. Now if we can only get Cruz back, this team can get loaded for bear.
The similarities to Spagnuolo in 2007 abound. An 0-2 start where the Defense could not stop the opponent. Ugly wins while the team found its footing. An erratic Eli. A reclamation project in highly drafted Corey Webster in 2007 which now sees a reclamation project in highly drafted Jayron Hosley in 2015. A DL by committee, with Nikita Whitlock becoming the spark plug for a Q4 pass rush. A Q4 goal line 4th down stop early in the year letting the D get confidence in their ability to trust in themselves and their scheme. A win on the road in Buffalo.
Ayers was inactive, yet guys like Wynn (7 solo tackles) stepped up. Amukamara and Collins stripped a ball in a legal smash & grab turnover. Kennard with 2 early impact plays, including a tremendous INT. Casillas with a flying tackle in pursuit. Hosley with 2 special teams plays. Swarming plays by all 11 players. Spagnuolo’s scheme and successful gameplan was evident in the pocket contain of the dangerous running of QB Tyrod Taylor. In the preview we discussed this item as a key to winning and losing, and Spags was terrific in making sure his ends kept that pocket discipline. It was pretty clear that they learned from the Bill loss to the Patriots what to do and what not to do. But this is where we love Spags, because my confidence in Fewell to make these adjustments, whether they were in advance preparation or in-game, was not strong. Fewell was inconsistent at best. He was able to (with help from AfterBurner communication) use man coverage much more consistently during the XLVI drive, but the same coordinator would have a total zero on the read-option vs Russell Wilson last year. Keeping Taylor in the pocket for part of this win is why we love Steve Spagnuolo.
The Offense misses Cruz, but Harris filled in early for the Giants and helped them dominate the 1st Half. Rashad Jennings’ 51 yard TD catch and run was enough to salt away a game that the Giants O otherwise would have let the opponent back into. 3-15 on 3rd down conversions. Bad. The Bills were 3-16, worse. The Giants committed 11 penalties, many of them mental errors like a completely ugly brain fart terd illegal man downfield on Geoff Schwartz on a huge play that let BUF back in the game. Yet once again, the Bills were worse, with 17 uglier penalties. This game did not have to be close if the offense could slam the door earlier while the D was shutting them down. The D tired, and Kennard pulled his hamstring (same play as the TD he allowed to Williams?).
My kingdom for a healthy Cruz. Defenses are giving so much more attention to Beckham. He needs to liberate that force. Still, we need to laud the OL for handling a monster Bills DL. They gave up 1 sack all day, and that was to a blitzing Safety off the edge. Great job overall. The OL also did yeoman’s work in run blocking too. McAdoo sprinkled in running plays well enough not to dominate but to spread it out. And his playcall of small ball flare to Jennings in left flat was exactly what the Doctor ordered to break the game open. Jennings needs to make that grab, which he did. Last year he dropped those passes, causing Reese to bring in Vereen. McAdoo is going to have a lot of opportunities with the RB in this offense underneath. That was the kind of impact the West Coast Offense is all about. It is just going to be a whole ‘nother ball game if/when Cruz comes back healthy, because then the D has to focus yet more help on Cruz in the slot, enabling those underneath TE and RB routes to flourish with just one broken tackle.
Should we caveat this win with the fact that the Bills obviously missed Sammy Watkins and Shady McCoy? NO. A win is a win, and it buys the Gmen time to come together this season. The Giants are 2-2, where we thought they would be. But let’s look at the next 5 games. The 49ers is a very winnable game. The Eagles are beatable. The Cowboys are beatable, certainly w/o Romo back. New Orleans looks much more possible w/o Brees at 100% (although he looks better tonight). And TB has the erratic rookie Winston, which is a very winnable game. Without getting too far ahead of ourselves, the Giants at 2-2 are where they need to be to make a push to win the division. Another game after that they go to the Bye, and (don’t hold your breath) Beatty and Cruz could be back for a stretch drive. What a difference 12 days makes. That’s why Giants fans are smiling.
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