The Giants won a game they should have won and needed to win. After next week’s game to the Patriots (the Giants are home +7.5 pt dogs), they rate to be 5-5 at the bye with a very small chance of 6-4. With Beatty, Amukamara and Cruz all possible additions to the active gameday roster post bye, the Giants are in position to make some noise.
The Gmen cashed in some nice gifts from the Bucs, including 3 recovered fumbles, 9 penalties and numerous dropped balls by their receivers. Mike Evans had 6 drops alone, according to one source via the Star Ledger. So once again, imagine a slightly better opponent that does not have a rookie QB (although Winston arguably played well) and a million dropped balls. The Giants Defense is clearly not out of the woods. They gave up 385 yds to the Bucs despite all of those drops. At least they got it done with enough help from the Offense and those key turnovers.
These Tampa Bay games are less like road games with so much transplanted blue in the stands.
Jason Pierre-Paul is a decent uptick. On twitter this morning, I predicted 20 snaps, 2 pressures and 0 sacks. He finished the day with 47 snaps, 5 pressures and 0 sacks. So he had twice as many snaps for his first game back. Impressive. What is more, he made two important pressures in the 4th quarter that Jordan Raanan assigns major import to:
His two pressures midway through the fourth quarter with the Giants ahead five were monumental, even if they won’t show up on the official stat sheet. Those are the kind of plays the Giants weren’t making late in games as recently as last week.
If the Giants are to have any serious aspirations in the postseason, it has to mean some sort of pass rush. ANYTHING above zero. Cruz and Beatty can help the Giants win a shootout. JPP doing something to at least force the QB to throw the ball instead of sitting back there drinking tea & eating crumpets is a nice uptick. We really did not expect much from JPP, so anything above zero is cause for minor celebration. Thrilled.
So what could be wrong with a day in which (1) the Giants dispatched a weaker team on the road and (2) they got back a potential contributor in JPP? Unfortunately, what went wrong is an area which we have regrettably become expert in… more injuries. Johnathan Hankins, the Giants best DL, tore his pectoral muscle and is (likely) out for the rest of the year. Let’s review this madness briefly here: Walter Thurmond, Robert Ayers, Will Beatty, Prince Amukamara and Johnathan Hankins all have had pectoral injuries in a 1.5 season span. The NY Giants have had 5 pectorals in 1.5 years. This is insane. Repeating a tweet I sent out during the game, if you believe this is just luck, I have a bridge to sell you. I am reminded of a tweet exchange that I had with Ralph Vacchiano this summer when I challenged him with the information from 2 MD Physiatrist Professors who specialize in Sports Medicine that Beatty’s injury was due to too much strength and not enough range of motion (lack of flexibility conditioning). Vacchiano mockingly dismissed the ability of these doctors to knowingly assign cause to this injury without being there. I retweeted his response because it is precisely the fact that the Doctors DID NOT EVEN HAVE TO BE THERE to know what had gone wrong.. which is even scarier. These Doctors could have qualified their answer, but they did not. They knew what happened. Since that time, Amukamara and Hankins are two more NY Giants who have had pectoral injuries. (Imagine what these doctors would say on that followup!) Sometimes, it is as obvious as the nose on your face. 5 Giants hit with pectoral injuries. 7 hamstring injuries this season alone. 4 calf injuries this season. The Giants in the bottom half of (games lost to) injuries for 7 consecutive seasons. Yes, sometimes it is this simple, as simple as the child who is willing to call out the emperor for wearing no clothes.
Shane Vereen is one player I do not give enough props to. He quietly moves the sticks and gives this offense the rhythm that I always talk about with “small ball.” The amazing thing is that McAdoo can use him even more. Vereen is a pleasure to watch. He is a breeze in open space, holds the ball securely, knows where the first down is, and gets it done.
Jasper Brinkley will be a respectable fill in at LBer. He was drafted by the Vikings in Round 5, much to this NY Giants blogger’s dismay. Our draft analyst liked Brinkley a lot out of college, and given where he went in the draft, he has done decently. With Beason’s season (and tenure with the Giants) over, like it or not we are going to get more Brinkley.
Beckham still carries the team with his strong play. He picked up another 105 yards, but he is also moving the sticks on small ball 3rd down mini outs and ins that take advantage of CBs playing off coverage. If you press him at the line of scrimmage, he is going to get by you and essentially turn your double coverage into man. So the underneath stuff is there, and McAdoo is using that to the Giants advantage. Despite all of the double teaming, OBJ is still on pace for 1350 yards. If only Cruz can come back. After the bye? That is what I hope/expect.
How badly does Brady undress this Defense next week? If Amukamara can come back from his pectoral and JPP can generate some pressure, it does not have to be as ugly as last week in the Superdome. That the Giants are only +7.5 tells us the team can stay in the same zip code because of the Offense. The best Defense is keeping Brady on the sideline.
Add The Sports Daily to your Google News Feed!
