The gmen did not look good in their “dress rehearsal” loss to the Ravens. A review of the tape lessens the negative view. Our weakness at LBer in coverage is something every team will target. It was not a great effort overall but the Giants will play better than this too.
Just finished watching the tape of the game. I do not think it was as bad as Vacchiano and Garafolo make it out to be. Yes, there were some worts, but if we have McKenzie (migraine) in there and Courtney Brown out of there, the game is different in the first half with the starters. Pete’s issue about the Passing schemes is dead on… TOO PASSIVE.
1) Beatty can’t hold runblock or else Bradshaw is sprung for big gain
2) Giants lacking a return guy hurts them time and again
3) OL in tatters. Beatty looked weak on more than a few plays.
4) Dodge looked a lot better, a solid uptick this evening
5) Sacks by Tuck (2), Bernard and Joseph are good signs
6) The pass defense schemes are full of holes, meaning too much zone, too much off-coverage, too much watching the QB and not enough focus on the WR
7) Bradshaw spins gold from straw
8) Manning had some rust, missed some guys who had separation, not worried about that
9) The Ravens ran a screen for 12 yards that was one of the prettiest plays I have seen in quite some time. I wish the Giants had that one in their playbook. I would practice that one over and over until my guys got that one executed, because you could potentially spring Bradshaw for a ton of yards.
10) Webster was very active, played very well
11) Courtney Brown is very poor, will be replaced by Terrell Thomas and Aaron Ross, making the defense much better than what we saw.
12) The Giants interior DL is vulnerable to the draw and got exposed, something they can correct.
13) The difference between the Giants and the Ravens? On fourth down the Ravens make two conversions, victimizing Courtney Brown on one series and running a slant-in with the TE vs the Safety on the other. Gilgenius had Bradshaw on a third consecutive run between the tackles.
14) Heap is a very good TE, but Rolle was not up to the task of covering him on short box-out patterns
SUMMARY: I actually was less concerned after reviewing the tape this morning. Yes, there are problems, but this boils down to health. Terrell Thomas and McKenzie will make this game a very different first half. The middle of the Giants defense (LBer!, passive pass defense) is vulnerable. The Giants will be able to beat weaker teams but will get victimized by the better QBs and lose those games.
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