VERY NICE WIN FROM THE GMEN TODAY!
Energy, effort, emotion, pride, fight, speed to the ball. We have not seen this the past 6 games. We’ve been looking for signs, ANY SIGN, and there WERE LOTS OF GOOD SIGNS FROM THIS TEAM. This is the kind of win the GIANTS CAN BUILD OFF. They did so many good things. There are still some problems that will only be able to be addressed in the offseason (ie Safety, mentioned below), but there are enough good things to clearly call this a BIG uptick. Kudos to The Mayor for calling the win. We called for a competitive game, and the pattern of the Giants playing tough/close games at home stayed true.
Good
1) Energy, emotion, speed to the ball. This team played with pride. It was completely absent vs Denver, but it was here vs Dallas, better late than never. Coughlin gets the credit. He pushed a few buttons over the past 10 days and the Giants came to play.
2) Goff, Sintim, Ross, Boley…. SPEED. RANGE. You can feel the difference out there. Goff gets a strip of a ball for a fumble, it is overturned, but NO MATTER because he is in there making tackles and fighting. Sintim sets the tone with a LBer blitz for a sack of Romo early.. the Pierces, the Blackburns, the Clarks… these guys would arrive at Romo sometime after the sweepers are picking up the trash in the parking lots. If you are going to go down, go down with the speedier and younger guys. You never know what you are going to get. And in the meantime if the next team finds some stuff on film where they abuse a guy like Goff from the film today, no problem.. he is going to learn and get better. And maybe he will be in a position (at worst) to help you in 2010. The Clarks and Blackburns are not your answer for a championship. The Sintims and Goffs (AND MORE HIGH LBER DRAFT PICKS) are your answer for defensive respectability and dominance. We do not know if these two kids will end up “sticking” but you’ll never know until you use them.
3) The RUN DEFENSE. What a difference a game (W2, first Dallas contest) makes. What a difference from the last 6 game stretch. Cofield was stout, making a number of nice stops. Players were playing for their jobs. Good.
4) Jacobs ran with speed and he ran north-south. He did not look as good as 2007 and 2008, but he did not look like 2009 either. Uptick.
5) Steve Smith gets separation and is joining the group of elite WRs in this league.
6) Nicks has a nose for the end zone. What a bright future this rookie has.
7) The FLARE by Manning to Jacobs where Jacobs goes for 6 is ALL ABOUT THE ACCURACY OF THE THROW. Manning put that ball in there perfectly, so it hits Jacobs right in JOE MONTANA stride. The result is that Jacobs gets past Spencer and is off to the races.
8) The Giants sent extra pressure up the middle. This, along with the DEs keeping pocket integrity, is how you beat Tony Romo and make him into a very mediocre QB. He likes to slip out of the pocket, but he hates the in-your-face up the middle pressure.
9) Caught a quick soundbite from Banks, who praised the receivers for their downfield blocking. The video link above shows you so many of those examples where other players are working for their teammates.
10) Terrell Thomas is a player. Next year he is going to be a terrific player.
11) Pete correctly points out the guts of Bradshaw, who is playing on 0.0 healthy feet. He battled all game. The turnover wasn’t pretty but that this guy is even in a uniform is incredible.
12) OL overall played well. Boothe played aok filling in for Snee.
13) The Hixon punt return to ice the game. Hixon is exactly where he needs to be to help the team, returning kickoffs and punts.
14) TWO penalties. Players had their heads in the game and were concentrating. This statistic is not a coincidence.
15) Anytime we can’t put CC Brown in the “Bad” category, that is GOOD!
Bad
1) Manning played an uneven, overall weak game. 11/25. He missed a wide open Smith at least a few times. He threw off his back foot too many times to count. THE INT in the end zone was an absolutely ugly play that took bad playing by FIVE Giants players to allow the Jenkins INT. Two OLinemen and 1 RB get beat by two Dallas pass rushers, Manning makes a weak pass which is thrown of the back foot and naturally underthrown. And then the last guilty offender is Manningham, who MUST play defensive back and either knock that ball away, or as Capt George remarked, take a pass interference penalty, anything to stop the turnover.
2) Pass rush was still not consistent. The two sacks were from a blitzing LBer and S.
3) Witten pulls down 14 catches for 156 yards. Obviously we need help at Safety in the offseason and when Phillips is gone on IR and Johnson is out, the Safety position is clearly compromised. This was not a downtick today because this position has been suffering all season. But you cannot get TOO high after today’s game and think that we are Super Bowl bound just because we had a good win. Just remember how this team has no real answer for a team with a TE. That’ll keep your feet on the ground.
4) The ONE LONE BOSS RECEPTION for 10 yards. Yes, the reception itself! Manning is getting flushed out of the pocket and improvs by throwing the ball sideways to Boss right next to him, and Boss scampers on the checkdown to get a first down. Can there be any better metaphor for Gilbride’s embarrassing negligence than the SUCCESS of this play?!!! Other teams do this by design, for us it takes a busted FREAK checkdown in order for Boss to be found on his only reception of the evening. As we say here on UltimateNYG NY Giants blog- the irony is palpable.
5) Bruce Johnson is not finishing on some plays that are costing the Giants. He was a day late and a dollar short tonight.
6) The Giants need to show blitz and back out of it A LOT MORE. There was one (two, tops) time where the Giants were up at the line and went back into coverage. Otherwise, the opponent knows what is coming.
7) Maybe the only time where Webster got a little “lazy” (to quote Aikman) and let Miles Austin make it a one score/onside kick game.
Ugly
1) Ugly for Dallas- Flozell Adams is a thug and goon. That cheap shot on Tuck is disgusting. And yet again no penalty called. Adams can keep writing these checks but he is messing with guys’ careers. When does the NFL suspend this guy?!!
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