Sunday, November 1, 2009

Game 8 Summary

For all you worry-warts out there who fretted when the Giants lost two straight, my apologies. You were right. There are some serious questions about the 5-3 Giants right now in light of their 40-17 loss to the Eagles today, and they go far beyond the potential to take the NFC East title. Oh, in case you're wondering, they've now fallen into third place behind Philly and Dallas.

At this point, they'd be lucky to win a minor college championship. It's all ugly. The defense has allowed 112 points in the three-game losing streak, including at least 40 points to each of the Saints and Eagles. The first-half offense has now been outscored 160-85 thanks to a 30-7 drubbing over the first 30 minutes today.

The Giants' troubles have officially gone from a blip on the schedule to full-fledged disaster. And with San Diego coming up before the bye, and Atlanta, Denver, Dallas, and Philadelphia coming immediately after it, one has to wonder where that record will stand in six weeks.

Here is the summary.

BIG PLAYS:

Plenty, from the Eagles' end. But start with Leonard Weaver. Never heard of him? Neither had the Giants, apparently. The fullback had carried all of four times going into the game. So what does he do on his first carry of an eight-carry, 75-yard day? Busts one up the middle for a 41-yard touchdown run and a 7-0 lead less than two minutes in. Nobody came close to catching him.

As if Weaver wasn't bad enough, Eli Manning threw his first interception on his third play from scrimmage, which Asante Samuel brought back 37 yards to set up a second touchdown.

Down 16-0, Manning found lightly-used Kevin Boss for an 18-yard scoring pass in the second quarter to get the Giants back into the game.

Oops. That hope lasted all of eight seconds as Donovan McNabb found DeSean Jackson for a 55-yard scoring pass against, who else, C.C. Brown for a 23-7 lead with 1:38 left in the second quarter.

THE VETS:

Kevin Boss: He went into the game with 14 catches for 196 yards and no touchdowns, but was a big receiver today, and could have been even bigger had Manning's passes been anywhere near him. He was targeted nine times, but would up with three catches for 70 yards and a touchdown on which he made a great adjustment to turn his body in the end zone and reach for the ball. He was the only offensive bright spot.

Steve Smith: He caught eight passes for 68 yards and emerged again as the only really reliable receiver. He had 12 passes thrown in his direction.

Domenik Hixon: Remember those kickoff returns a couple of weeks ago. Seems like forever now, especially after he dropped the second-half kickoff without the benefit of a big hit.

C.C. Brown: He was victimized all day in the passing game, especially on the 55-yarder to Jackson when he was late getting over to help Corey Webster. Webster had a perfectly horrible game himself, as his missed tackle on Jason Avant allowed the wide receiver to turn a short, first-quarter gain into a 28-yarder and a first down on a 15-play field goal drive.

Eli Manning: The quarterback continues to fiddle and faddle at the line, leading to a complete lack of offensive rhythm. As they struggled to come from behind, he showed no apparent urgency to get the snap off, allowing the clock to run down and then huddling for an inordinate amount of time despite Tom Coughlin's urgings to get going. Add the 19 incompletions, a couple of which barely missed being intercepted, and it was apparent he was a big part of the problem.

THE KIDS:

Hakeem Nicks: He continues to impress, catching one ball in tight coverage and then fumbling a screen pass, picking it up, and running the width of the field the other way to pick up seven yards. He finished with four catches for 53 yards, including a 35-yarder.

THE UGLY STUFF:

As if letting up a 39-yard kickoff return to Ellis Hobbs and a 55-yard scoring throw to DeSean Jackson on consecutive plays after creeping back into the game wasn't enough, the Giants allowed the Eagles to score another touchdown after Manning's second interception before halftime. That gave the winners 14 points in a minute of possession time, and allowed them to take a 30-7 lead into halftime.

Thanks to a recovered fumble on a kickoff, the Giants got back to 33-17 in the third quarter and positioned themselves for what might have been a miracle finish. But on the Eagles' next possession, Shady McCoy found a huge hole up the middle and went 66 yards untouched for a touchdown just seconds into the final quarter. Combined with Weaver's 41-yarder, the defense allowed 107 yards of rushing touchdowns, this from a unit that was supposed to pride itself on stopping the run.

THE MISS:

Not that it would have mattered in the end, but the Giants nearly had a touchdown on Fred Robbins' third-quarter strip-sack on McNabb. Robbins picked up the fumble and lateraled it to Osi Umenyiora, who took it in for an apparent score. But Andy Reid's replay challenge showed that Robbins' flip went forward, and the Giants were given the ball but assessed a five-yard penalty for an illegal forward pass. They eventually settled for Lawrence Tynes' 42-yard field goal.

THE BUMPS:

Domenik Hixon came out of the game in the fourth quarter to have his foot x-rayed and did not return.

Kevin Boss was shaken up on a third-quarter tackle but returned.

EP

11 comments:

  1. Ernie, you were too kind.

    Eli looks like a rookie right now. Every facet of his game is off. He could have thrown four picks!

    The game plan against the Giants is easy. On Offense, throw to the safeties. The big play is there. On defense, you load the box, blitz and make Eli beat you. The Giants will see this the rest of the season and they have to make adjustments or I'm afraid we will see many more games with this outcome.

    5-0 is a very distant memory.....

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  2. Stunning lack of adjustment by this coaching staff. There's an arrogance at this level-- "it's my game plan; it's gotta work at some point." Sad to see Coughlin talk about how they have to 'work hard' to turn it around. Seems to have no answers.

    C.C. Brown has got to go; should have been pulled in-game for anyone with speed; rather see 4 cb's in there with M. Johnson in the nickel. Couldn't be any worse. Obviously, Rouse can't play either or he'd be in there.

    It was par for the course, but the video overturn of the Robbins-to-Osi lateral couldn't have been worse. "Conclusive evidence" standard doesn't seem to exist.

    Seems to me the season re-starts in 3 weeks, at 5-and-4... IF Boley, Canty and Ross are ready.

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  3. Let's face it, the Giants are not a good football team. Sure, they can beat the Chiefs, but the top teams are making them look like college kids. They have been completely dominated by the Saints and the Iggles.

    Sorry G-Men. You're season is toast...but uou'll always have 2007.

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  4. Ugly. Simply ugly. Time to start talking draft.

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  5. The coaching keeps getting worse.No rhythm to the play calling,it was like they were pulling the plays out of a hat.I can read Gilbride's lips
    i'm sure the other team can to,you could see the Eagles making late D-calls,makes you wonder.Only play caller who doesn't hide his mouth when calling plays.Sheridan has to go along with CC.Osi walking out because of this clown should have told us all we needed to know.He thinks his way is better than than Spag's way.The D is looking like they did before he came here,that's why he got hired.Spags wrote the blueprint and this idiot is to arrogant to follow it.It just goes to show that you can have the nicest car in the world that just sits in your driveway because you can't drive a stick.

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  6. The defense reminds me of the Tim Lewis era, when nobody believed in the coach and he tried to fit the wrong players into the wrong position. We are undersized and under talented.

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  7. Gogolack writes..

    ..someone was saying look to the draft. The good news, an abundance of safeties, one of the deepest drafts; Mays (USC), Eskridge (ECU), Eric Berry (Tenn)..don't count on Phillips return from injury, more likely to not come back at full ability...

    ..can we get rid of Tynes? there's got to be someone out there who can kick to the 5 yard line at least. Remove Hixon from all offensive sets. Play Sinorice Moss in the wildcat, or convert him to a safety, use the crud out of him because he's gone this year anyway...

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  8. seems like Eli takes the bait of every defense, they make him throw it where THEY want it. Does he ever pump fake at all? It seems like he was faking more earlier in the year.

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  9. I told you that the Eagles play as if they know their plays are going to work. Our guys plays as if they HOPE our plays will work.

    What was the last new wrinkle that you've seen from Gilbride? Has he added one thing, that seems new and forces the defense to adjust? How about something simple like lining up a TE in the backfield and put him in motion, ala Bill Walsh. I don't care if he steals plays from the old 49ners, Bills, whoever, but he needs to give the opponents something new to worry about. We run the same plays as two years ago, doesn't he think everyone is on to us?

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  10. Follow one of the comments above. The announcers said it best when the said that the Giants WR are not really open and ELis has to force his throws.

    They rarely catch the ball in space, except for Steve Smith. And Eli is going to get K Boss killed with his soft toss down the seam.

    I don't understand how the offensive coaches don't see this, when we see it each week.

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  11. Until the run game becomes dominant again, how will play action ever work?

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