NYG 22 CHI 16

The Giants won again, making this their 5th straight. They are now 7-3. It is nice to win games when you only show up for about ~35 minutes. This did not have to be a trap game, but the Giants tried to make it one.

I hate the Prevent Offense. It takes away from an otherwise nice win after a sloppy start. Yes, yes, yes, a win is a win. But McAdoo needs to step on the other team’s throat and put the game away when he is up in the 3rd/4th Quarter. What does the Prevent Offense look like? Try this:

Q4 11:48 RUN RUN PASS PUNT
Q4 07:14 RUN RUN (draw, first down)
Q4 06:07 RUN RUN PASS PUNT
Q4 03:31 RUN RUN PASS PUNT

FOUR CONSECUTIVE RUNS ON FIRST DOWN. And that was FOUR CONSECUTIVE RUNS ON SECOND DOWN. That is predictable. That is unacceptable. It is simply way too early to be taking a knee and mailing in the Offense. The Giants are not good enough to do that when you are up by one score (6 points). Let’s give the Giants Defense some credit for pitching a shutout (against a depleted Chicago Offense) in the second half. But Jennings carried the ball all eight times. He gained 2 yds, 4, 1, 12, 3, 0, -1, & 1 yd. That is what you get when everyone in the stadium knows what is coming. It should be noted that the lone successful run for 12 yards was on 2nd and 9 out of a passing set, a draw.

Cutler gets the Bears to the NYG 30 yard line before the pass rush wreaks havoc and Collins seals the game with an INT. Why does it have to be so close? Why does this team give us regular heart palpitations? Because Ben McAdoo changes up his formula, reduces urgency, stops attacking, and tries to win a game with 48 minutes of football instead of 60 minutes. I’d like to believe that if the Giants were playing against the Patriots, Cowboys or Seahawks, that they would have a teenie bit more respect for the other team and keep playing through. FINISH. Play 60. Respect the opponent, no matter who you are playing. Didn’t we hear McAdoo talking that up this week?… that you cannot take any team lightly in the NFL? Well, what does RUN RUN on 4 consecutive 1st downs look like? It looks like bullsh*t.

This game was A Tale of Two Halves. The Giants were stuck in Central Time, showing up about an hour late. You can get away with sloppy and inconsistent play versus a weaker opponent. It does not hurt either when an already banged up Bears team loses more players, including their Pro Bowl Guard and TE Zach Miller.  Miller ripped the Gmen for 61 yards on 3 carries, including a TD. When Miller went out at the end of the first half, the Bears became one-dimensional with the running game.  As an example, on one play in Q4 with ~10 minutes left on a new possession, the Giants bring 8 men in the box and Casillas comes through untouched to make the run stop behind the line of scrimmage. The Giants gave up 72 yards to Jordan Howard on 12 carries in the first half, an average of 6 yd/carry. The second half? 5 carries for 5 yards TOTAL. It helps when the passing game doesn’t have Alshon Jeffery, Zach Miller (2nd half) and 3 starting Offensive Linemen. Sidenote: the Giants are not going anywhere until their defense can cover the TE. Those 3 teams we mentioned earlier have 3 of the best TEs in the game, in Gronkowski, Witten and Graham. Others are lauding the Giants D as being the second coming of the 1985 Bears 46 Defense, but let’s remember only 3 quarters ago how they were getting run over by Jordan Howard and Miller. It’s a process. Keep improving.

JPP and Collins continue to do it for the Giants on Defense. JPP has been pressuring QBs this season but is now collecting sacks too. He had 2.5 of them today.  On the final drive he had a sack strip which almost led to a turnover, but still resulted in a huge loss, changing down & distance and creating too big a hole. Collins picked off a pass the next play. On another series, JPP had a batted ball on 1st down plus a forced holding call on CHI that negated a big gain and ended a series with a punt.

For Collins, he has 5 INTs in the last 4 games. It is not an accident anymore that time and again this player finds himself in situations to make plays. He has a nose for the ball. Every game that goes by, the game slows down a little more for him. It is truly exciting to watch this second year player make an impact on an almost regular basis. He had blanket coverage on Eddie Royal on another play in Q2 where he batted down a shovel pass and forced the end of a drive. He is a sure tackler. He is cashing in on turnovers. He is vastly improved in coverage. It is kind of frightening what he is doing w/o much help from the LBers and the Giants rotation at Free Safety. I’m sorry for repeating myself, but I just love how thick the guy seems to be, how he has not missed a single start as a pro. If his coverage skills improve, he can be All-Pro.

Summary: The Giants got their business done. They had plenty of help from Bears injuries in overcoming a slow start. McAdoo tempted chance by going into the Prevent Offense way too soon with only a 6 point lead and 12 minutes remaining. The Giants D, led by JPP, got it done and closed out the game. Next.