Last night’s drubbing by a supposedly inferior team has Giants fans around the league pulling their hair out and reverting to post-Vikings-game form. If you don’t believe me, the Geico caveman and I would advise you to take a gander at the uh—Giants message boards.
In reality, the Giants lost to a talent-laden team that was desperate for revenge, positive exposure, and a win. But it’s New York! It’s been over nine months since the last Giants defeat, so let’s put the microscope on those that screwed up the most on Monday night.
Eli Manning
He wasn't awful, but his three interceptions were. It was clear that after Manning got buried by Mt. St. Rogers that he was very rattled. He was throwing more on his back foot when pressure was in his face, which was a habit that defined old-Eli.
New-Eli played so well because pressure never fazed him. Apparently this shot from Rogers is hurting Eli, and he’s currently under-going an array of tests for his chest by team doctors.
He looked confused by the Browns' schemes last night and was forcing the ball to Burress. Was it because he wanted to keep the big guy happy? Or that he is just enamored with Plax’s physical ability and wants to keep throwing it to him? Regardless, he has other viable weapons that can make catches, and he needs to throw to them more.
Steve Smith had nine catches last night; he was really the only other guy that Manning threw it to. There was a sequence of drives in the second and third quarter that Eli just heaved it to Burress when he was one on one and it resulted in two interceptions and a couple of stalled drives. I think this cools down the Eli>Peyton talks, huh?
Steve Spagnuola
Regardless of how his career turns out as Giants defensive coordinator, he’ll always have a special place in Giants hearts for devising schemes that baffled the greatest offense in NFL history.
However, in the unforgiving world of writing, I can say with a clear conscious that much of the blame for last night’s debacle should be placed on Spags. They’re picking up the blitz from every corner and are beating your corners one-on-one. Why are you continuing to blitz?
The Browns' O was clearly in the zone last night, but Spags’s insistence to send waves of blitzers gave the Giants no chance. It will be interesting to see how Spags adjusts during games when his blitzes aren’t reaching the quarterback. He had a similar problem against the Bengals in the fourth quarter, where Palmer was shredding the Giants defense as he was being protected from the Giants' blitz packages.
If there is a blueprint to beat the Giants, it’s keeping two extra blockers to stop the Giants rush and sending three receivers out. It’s pretty clear that the Giants have a soft spot in their secondary when their corners are left on an island, and I think teams are going to try and take advantage of that. Let’s see how Spags covers that one up in the upcoming weeks.
Aaron Ross
It’s very rare to see his name on a list of this sort, but he was dreadful last night. Braylon Edwards and Derek Anderson hooked up for multiple big games on him, including a touchdown and a 70-yard pass. He’s usually money in coverage but like the rest of the Giants defense, he was very ineffective.
Ross’s supporting cast was partly to blame, but the fact the ball was subsequently thrown over his head gets him on the list. He’ll bounce back though. He’s a stud.
Romeo Crenell
Mike Tirico was right; their penalties aren’t even at a high-school level. As infuriated as Browns fans must be with the prevalence of penalties this season, Giants fans were even more enraged. By the middle of the third quarter, the Big Blue fanbase had been teased with so much false hope. It was very irritating and further proves how horrid the Giants' defense played last night.
The Giants play the 49ers this Sunday, hoping to improve their record to 5-1. After being brought down to earth on Monday, we'll see how this Giants bunch responds.
And if you think someone else is to blame, feel free to relay your thoughts on who it is and why.
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about 1 month ago
I voted on Eli Manning, but I remembered that the Giants lost. That is plural. A team that wins together, loses together. As corny as it sounds, its true. A team lost that night.
from about 1 month ago
Agreed. But in the era of scapegoating and nitpicking... I had to do it.
about 1 month ago
Big Blue has got to play better than this if they want to be considered the best team in the NFL, but it was a bad game, their first in 9 games?
from about 1 month ago
Yeah I hear ya there. If we only have one bad game in every ten, Ill take it. Haha
from about 1 month ago
Yeah. Cleveland was fantastic last night.
the NFL isn't only about SOS, it's about timing of it too.
about 1 month ago
Teams lose games in the NFL all the time, and this one doesn't worry me in the least. It's almost impossible to not have 4-5 clunker games a year, and very good teams like the Giants will find a way to win one or two of those. Kind of like the redskin's game, the Giants didn't play great but still won.
This is one the Giants lost by being outplayed by a hungrier Cleveland team. Not a big deal in the overall scheme of things since if you are going to lose, it's always better to do so to an out of conference opponent.
I agree with your analysis of Spags David, and I would include Gilbride in that critique also, not one of his shining moments either. His play calling was dreadful, how does a team the is running the ball at a 7.2 yards per carry clip only run it 25 times for christsakes?
from about 1 month ago
The plays that irritated me the most were the low percentage balls. We were having success with the intermediate plays early on, but he had Eli thinking deep ball too much. Their line was getting to him and their coverage was confusing him, why have him throw deep?
Those jump balls to Burress never work. That's on Gilbride too. Low percentage plays.
about 1 month ago
It was one bad game. Nothing more, nothing less.
I would be concerned AGAIN about Eli, once teams see how poorly he handled getting beat on a bit(not like we didn't already know this) they will get after him even more.
And your right about Spags' defense, I was thinking the same thing all night. I was also thinking how in the Week One, the Giants didn't get to Campbell at all (the one sack was on Campbell) and that maybe the Skins have a chance when the G-Men come to visit.
Just maybe.
about 1 month ago
Lots of cliches--intensity, focus, "wanted it more." Home crowd, last year's Super Bowl champs, and so on. I saw fewer coaching errors by Cleveland in this game, and hope it is a trend. The 2 risky passes at the end of the first half were the only ?marks I had in this game.
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