Wednesday, August 4, 2010

Just Meetings

Giants get a breather from practices today. Just conditioning and meetings. But maybe we'll get word later on about Hakeem Nicks' MRI.

In the meantime, here's Mikey G's piece on Aaron Ross, who looks to be 100 percent now after a 2009 season marred by a hamstring tear. He's been making plays in practice, and has really taken to defensive coordinator Perry Fewell's scheme, which calls for more "off" coverage rather than contact with the receiver at the line.

I have to say, I'm not a real fan of off coverage. Too much potential for a half-decent quarterback to eight-yard you down the field, though it does reduce the chances for a big play. But the Giants have traditionally done best in press coverage. The Tampa-2, however, depends on good off coverage, where the defender sits back, diagnoses, and then breaks on the ball. It's the only part of Fewell's philosophy that I have a problem with.

But let's face it, press coverage did nothing for the Giants last year, so the change may not be all bad. At least in practice, the new scheme has been creating turnovers and breakups. So we'll see.

What do you think?

EP

18 comments:

  1. I'm with you on this one Ernie. I think you need to knock a guy on his a** at the line. The reality of the NFL today is if you get really physically with some of the princess WRs, they just shut down. Add on to that, the Giants secondary is not the fastest group around, not only does your opponent get the guaranteed eight yards, you have an excellent opportunity for the small, fast WRs to run right past the coverage that just "broke on the ball". I have always hated it when coaches try to make their players match their "philosophy". See who you have playing for you and build a scheme around their strengths. I don't think this plays to the Giants strengths, but you are right that it would be hard pressed to generate worse results than last year's coverage - although I blame that more on injuries and personnel than I do on press coverage.

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  2. The zone coverage (off coverage) allows for more interceptions because the defender is looking at the QB instead of his man. It requires defenders that are smarter (because the zone coverages tend to be more complex) but they don't have to be quite as athletic as the M2M corners have to be. Ross has indicated he likes zone, it sounds like Thomas is doing well. The only player I worry about is Webster. He struggled with this early in his career and I have heard he has allowed a receiver to blow by him from time to time.
    In the end though, I expect like all times the coverages will be mixed up between M2M and zone as running one or the other exclusively would make it too easy for opposing QBs.

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  3. The Giants weren't pressing all the time last year. That wasn't press coverage, it was a listless defense with no pressure on the qb recievers open at the line, 10 yrds downfield, 20 yrds downfield and open on the deep ball. I am fine with any aggressive d this year that works and if things dont work maybe a few ADJUSTMENTS, which was unheard of last year.

    Intriguing article by Willis in the post today, Plaxico expected to get out on work release in a few weeks. I know he can still run a fade better than any of the Giants THREE wide recievers and with Nicks going down and the media talking up Hagan and Moss, u know the Giants are in big trouble at that position. I say SIGN HIM UP!

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  4. Oh btw, Garafalo is a pretty good journalist. Thanks for showing me the light Ern, good things can come from Jersey.

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  5. I can't say that I'm crazy about the zone, but the results don't lie. The Bills were 2nd in interceptions last year and 2nd in passing yards allowed. The Bills were horrible in rushing yards allowed per game, but I believe (and hope) that's more a result of personnel.

    In regards to the roster, I believe that the Giants personnel or either equal to or better than the 2002 Buccaneers that led the league in just about every major statistical defensive category.

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  6. Hahahahahahahahaha With that last statement Haj has replaced gggggggggmen as the resident Pollyanna. Giants have as good or better personnel as the Bucs. The Bucs had a better DL, LB and Db crew individually let alone the whole unit. I wish the Giants had a guy as good as Derrick Brooks retired as a LB let alone in his prime. TIME TO WAKE UP GIANTS FANS!

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  7. Actually Wayno2424, the 2002 Buccaneers only clear advantage was at the LB position. That should be obvious as day, but the Giants can match up very well to the Bucs DL, S, and CB's.

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  8. Here's what I hate about training camp. You read that someone loves Busing, and then you read about all the plays Michael Greco is making. Greco is interesting, a converted qb, ran 4.37, did 22 reps of 225 bench. he was off the charts, do we think either one of these guys will see the field? Seth Williams is another one.

    I'd like to see one of these guys replace Michael Johnson

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  9. zone coverage, reminds me of the Tim Lewis era

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  10. Hmmm, good question, better personel, '02 Bucs or current NY Giants. I think that the current Giants have a comparable d-line; however, the '02 Bucs had a pretty darn good secondary. John Lynch and Ronde Barber in '02 are better than what we have now. That is not saying though that Rolle and Thomas cannot combine to have a stellar season and make me eat my words. (I sure hope they do). But Lynch and Barber were both forces that made the Tampa 2 work. I think that Kenny Phillips has the potential to be better than Lynch, given his desire to hit hard and his better pass coverage abilities, so hopefully he can come back to form, because he could make the Tampa 2 cover scheme work to perfection. It is going to be interesting to see how this works out and I am going to have to say that if done correctly, the '10 Giants could be better at the Tampa 2 than the '02 Bucs. The potential is there.

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  11. Regardless of the comparisons between the '02 Bucs and the '10 Giants, I think Haj has a point.

    The '09 Bills, with talent that was no better than the '09 Giants (and likely much worse, but I don't know enough of their personnel to be sure), played much better on pass defense than the Giants.

    It may not be the exact scheme Fewell ran there, and may be less zone and more man than in Buffalo last year, but obviously something worked. I think it has a better than decent chance of it working here, too.

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  12. ITS NOT EVEN CLOSE LET ALONE CLEAR AS DAY!! HAJ is a joke haahah haahhaa hahaahh. The Giants have NO interior linemen as good as Sapp and Tuck might be as good as Rice but not markedly better as Sapp EDGE: BUCS
    LB: Derrick Brooks, best weakside LB ever, one of the best 4-3 LB ever, not to mention Quarles also being better than any Giant LB EDGE: BUCS
    Barber and Kelly are much better than Webster and Ross/Thomas and John Lynch is a better safety than any on the roster now EDGE: BUCS

    U are a joke Haj hahh ahaha hahha, at least that should be clear as day to anybody on this board

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  13. Wayno2424, you do realize that this is the same Buccaneers team as 2001 and 2003; and yet we're talking about 1 championship. Please do not confuse yourself between a good and great defense, or even a good defense playing great. There's actually a distinction.

    I already mentioned that the Buccaneers had a better LB core, but everywhere else is very comparable. The Giants are absolutely stacked on the D-Line. Whether they play up to their potential is a different story, but there's talent all along that line. I mean for crying out loud, we have backups that can start on most NFL teams. And then you mention Lynch. That guy was one hell of a hitter, but Rolle overall is every bit as good. And we already have 2 CB's that played on a championship team combined w/ a very good Thomas.

    What exactly is your argument?

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  14. I already made my argument but arguing with u is like arguing with a little child. The Giants have the same dl as last year and had one of the worst dl in Giants history, Sapp is better than any of them as is Rice and Rolle wishes he could be the leader and player 2002 Lynch did. That D was awesome and "they only won one championship" with a terrible offense. ENUFF of u, I will no longer engage u because u are not intelligent.

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  15. Not intelligent...Wow, this coming from a poster who insults and resorts to name-calling because of a disagreement, while demonstrating the lack of know-how to deliver a contradictory point/message.

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  16. Dude... I refuted u and ur retarded post on every point. U are not intelligent. The world needs ditchdiggers too pal.. DONE WITH HAJ FOR ETERNITY

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  17. The more you go on, the more you prove my point.

    "Talk sense to a fool and he calls you foolish."

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  18. DING DING DING.....break. Geez, you'd think there was a Philly fan in here with this fighting.

    Press screwed us in CERTAIN games against fast and skilled receivers like Philly, New Orleans, San Diego.

    Maybe a new read-and-ract will be good for guys like Ross, but press is where your true CB skills shine and thats the style that works best for Webster.

    Honestly, I don't care what the new method is, so long as its NEW from last year's Sheridan debacle.

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