For those of you who watched, you know the final score was not indicative of the way the Giants outplayed the Redskins. This was a very good win for the Giants in every way except the injuries.
1) Just like the Giants lost to Philadelphia last year in W14 20-14, the Skins got beat by the Giants in much the same way. Both games saw a special teams TD at the end of the half (punt block by Giants, Skins fake FG), both teams got off the schnide at the half after getting outplayed, both teams scored a late TD w/o much hope of winning and both teams lost by 6. This time we were on the other side of that type of game, a nice win.
2) Every win is a good win early in the season while the defense comes together. We’re buying time.
3) Did Mario Manningham look like Plaxico Burress out there, or what?!! He looks so good against single coverage. He has the separation. He has the moves. 3 catches for 58 yards. Eli Manning on Manningham: “He has a lot of talent, a lot of ability.”
4) How many times have we mentioned what great hands Kevin Boss has, that he is the secret weapon for the entire season?!!! 3 catches for 62 yards. 1 of those catches was an improvised checkdown from Eli, so Gilbride DOES NOT get points for dialing this guy up. HE NEEDS MORE THAN 2 CALLS OF HIS NUMBER. If Manning and Boss have to go over Gilbride’s (vacuous) head to get it done with more checkdowns, more power to them. At least Gilbride had him out in a route, that is an upgrade from chaining him to the line of scrimmage every play.
5) The Rules For Winning in the NFL… Rule #5- Pitchouts do not work in the red zone. So there it is, the pitchout to Bradshaw on 3rd and short, stopped for no gain. Red zone efficiency was a problem last year and it will continue to be a problem when you make blatantly BAD playcalls like this one. Folks, this was written years ago, the observation has been made from over decades of anecdotal evidence. It is a slow-developing play that is being called in an area of the field that has no luxury of time. Next.
6) DeAngelo Hall taketh and giveth away. He is an opportunistic Cover 2 cornerback that is in the right place at the right time for his INT, but he missed the tackle on Mannngham’s TD and he gets roasted by Steve Smith for the big catch (3rd and 5, 26 yard reception) in Q4 that seals the game.
7) Eli Manning was very good today. He had one delay of game when he got to the line with 10 seconds left on the playclock that was his fault. The fumble turnover was a face mask 15 yarder that the refs conveniently missed. The INT was reminiscent of him throwing off his back foot in the end zone of the Eagle playoff game last year to Asante Samuel. This time a tip was needed to cause the INT, but it still was a floater which started the same problem. (Even Eli himself notes how he has to step into that throw. See transcript link in (3) above.) Otherwise, he did a great job everywhere else and was the leader of a strong offensive performance. You can’t put the red zone woes on Manning. The score is a much wider margin of victory if he has help there (see points 5 and 12). Marvelous said before the game that he loved Eli today, and boy was he right on the money. Eli was particularly sweet on the Smith 26 yarder when he looked off the safety before threading the needle on a great pass. That pass was money and the setup was just as important.
8) Let’s throw a bone to the USC boys. Terrell Thomas got nicked on one Randle El play but did fine otherwise. Steve Smith was 6 for 80, a big part of this win.
9) Defense Wins Championships. We saw a lot of uneven play from the defense, but this was EXACTLY WHAT WE EXPECTED. We KNEW the defense was not going to be air tight today by any means. Simms also alluded to it this morning. This is a work in progress. But in the meantime, we will single out three players who were noteworthy:
a) Tuck, who stopped the Redskins after the Hall INT set them up at the 11 yard line. A loss of 6 on a run play on 1st down. A sack on third down. That is how you win games and win championships, with impact plays like that. That is LT-glory-days defense.
b) The Osi-Trifecta. The sack-strip. The fumble recovery. The TD. We were transplanted back to 2007’s 49er win. A good omen. We miss those plays. Nice to have him back.
c) Corey Webster. Let’s read Santana Moss’s line stat from today: 2 receptions for 6 yards. I do not give a rat’s a** who goes to the Pro Bowl at CB, I love Webster, the silence from his corner of the field is deafening.
10) We’ll talk about the injuries as we get more definitive information. As we understand it right now, Ware is the serious one and the rest do not look as serious but need more eval.
11) Cooley 7 receptions for 68 yards. You have to know that the Giants are vulnerable to a good TE. We see Witten next.
12) Let’s not get too crazed this early in the season about the playcalling. We’ll make it very simple for now- get Boss more involved in the red zone.
13) Canty is going to see more work next week. He did fine this week in limited snaps.
14) CC Brown was garbage on the last TD. Is there anyone better out there we can get at Safety? We threw out some ideas of Bernard Pollard, Emanuel Cook, Kevin Kaesviharn and Brian Russell. I’d bring them all in for tryouts and put one on the roster to compete with Brown. At the moment we have ONLY three Safetys. Why does this guy have a free pass?
15) Osi, this may sound like nitpicking, but pls no Leon Lett’s with the ball as you are about to cross the goal line.
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