We spoke with Wonder about tonight's Eagles Giants game to get a preview for what we need to see for a Giants win. In short, if the Giants play their game, they should beat the Eagles.
Things the Giants can and must do:
1) Run the ball. The Eagles run defense is not good. They are not stout. With the exception of Ryans, their LBers are not good. Do not go wide on the run, run up the middle.
2) Take advantage of the Eagles' (defensive) aggressiveness. Draw plays will work because they love to rush the passer. Ditto for screens to slow down the pass rush. Flares are better than dumpoffs- why? Because the flare will catch LBers still backpedaling while the dumpoff occurs later in the play when the LBer can be headed back to the line of scrimmage.
2a) Use Bennett as a faux blocker and slip him out of the line for easy 5-8 yard pickups (TE mid screen). "I love Bennett in this game. Eagles Safeties are weak. The Eagles like to blitz so there will be gaps between the LBers and Safeties."
3) Target Asomugha, not DRC. Asomugha has lost speed/step/reaction time, so he is no longer a Top 20 CB in the league. He cannot cover Cruz.
4) Don't turn the ball over to the Eagles.
Things the Eagles can and must do:
1) Put DRC on Cruz, not Asomugha.
2) RUN McCOY. RUN McCOY. RUN McCOY. All day, get it?! You need play action to hold the Giants pass rushers in check. And that will not work effectively w/o a lot (20-25) of McCoy touches. Otherwise you are going to kill Vick, because he does not have an OL to protect him. This all stems from the losses of Jason Peters and Jason Kelce. Flares and dumpoffs to McCoy are fine as well.
3) Celek needs to be a key part of the offense tonight, more so than Jackson. The Eagles OL will not be able to protect Vick for long periods of time on 7 step drops (unless run game and hence play action is effective), so do not think about long vertical game as much as guys like Celek and McCoy.
4) Roll out Vick to buy him more time.
Summary: This is the Giants' game to win or lose. If the Giants do what they need to do, and the Eagles do what they need to do, the Giants will win.
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