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Tuesday, September 15, 2009

They'll walk through a wall for you

1) We talk about how the difference between teams #1 thru #26 in the NFL is not very large. Intangibles like coaching and emotion can make a #26 play like a #1 and we have numerous examples of coaches who turn good teams into underachievers in crunch time (think Marty Schottenheimer, Wade Phillips). It is only Week 1, it does not mean anything YET long term, but they are playing for Rex Ryan so far.

2) Wonder and I discussed the red zone problems. Everyone knows this is not a new problem. Remember the Steelers game last season? 1 for 6 in the red zone, the lone success at the end of the game on.. PLAY ACTION?! The Giants were 0 for 3 on Sunday vs the Skins. SAME STORY.

So what is going on? When the Giants are down by the goal line in 3rd and 1 from the 1 or thereabouts, Wonder reminds us of Marino to Bruce Hardy. The Dolphins would play action OFTEN. Fake handoff into the line.. Marino would hit one of his plethora of putrid and slow Tight Ends in the back of the end zone for a (usually) wide open TD. The Dolphins LIVED on this. And it made their run attempts more effective because it created doubt in the minds of the opponent about what they were going to see.

Part of the problem here is (my apologies for being redundant) predictability. You are not making the job of the OL any easier by using play action infrequently. Wonder swings to the other side of the coin... USE IT OFTEN. PRACTICE IT OFTEN. PLAYERS LOVE ROUTINE. They get comfortable executing it and they want to do it. It should be a staple of your offense, not an exception. Use play action with Nicks, Smith and Boss. And you benefit Eli too, because he needs to be comfortable executing this OFTEN. Wonder is so right about this.. Eli gets very good when he is comfortable back there. You can see a player like him who is long on smarts being every bit as effective as any other QB with this kind of play.

Manning offered this on the topic of 3rd and short: "Coach talked a little bit about it today - we just assume that on third and short we are going to be able to run and be able to get it. We have to throw the ball a little bit more possibly in some of those situations. But down there, we're a team that is going to be physical, we have a big back, and we should be able to get that surge and should get a first down in those situations."

3) As for short yardage woes of the Giants to run for 1 yard, be it red zone or otherwise, Wonder suspects it is scheme. Where is the design trap? He puts half the blame on the OL and the other half on Gilbride. He does not put the blame on the RB.

3a) When I asked him about the (Rule #5) pitchout in the red zone, he completely agreed, but noted one minor exception which actually bolsters the rule even more. He said the one time it actually works is when you have a two back set, you fake handoff the ball to Jacobs going right and then very quickly pitchout to Bradshaw on the left side. Everyone including the safety are frozen on the right side and the other RB can usually walk into the end zone. Fwiw, the Giants do not have Jacobs and Bradshaw in a 2 back set.

4) I was ribbing Wonder on Manningham; he is not conceding that one so quickly. But he did tip his hat to Corey Webster. "Impressive" job on Moss.

5) Injury update: "Coughlin said rookie wide receiver Hakeem Nicks (foot) and running back Danny Ware (dislocated elbow) will probably be sidelined a minimum of two weeks and then be evaluated week-by- week."

6) The Gatorade bath of Sheridan at the end of the game was good to see. Pierce: "He (Sheridan) was deserving of it. (He) called a great game and we went out and executed well."

7) The fake FG that the Skins scored a TD was Coughlin's fault. He called for an all-out block.

14 comments:

Motown Blue said...

Interesting decision on roster this week with Boley back from suspension and Ware out for 2 weeks. Will they just go with 2 RBs on the depth chart or add Allen Patrick from the PS.

I still would like to bring in depth in the 2ndary to compete CC. Brown who browns. Options are Ty Law and Chris McCallister who both could play either FS or back up nickel CB. Both would provide a veteran presence and versatility.

Nature and I were screaming about play action during the game. I agree with Wonder that the OL is partially to blame as they are more of a finesse and atheltic group that bulldozing unit. Snee and Diehl are the bulldozers but Richie S., O'Hara and McKenzie are more finesse blockers. Also, please utilize a 2 back set as that opens up a multitude of options including a quick pitch to Bdshaw. Bradshaw could be sent in motion out wide in the slot etc. Keep the LBs and Safeties off balance and guessing against the gamebreaking ability of Bradshaw.

Anonymous said...
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Anonymous said...

Good post Blue

Anonymous said...

Wonder must be feeling pretty good about gang green. I didn't get to see the game but I heard they looked real good.
Even running Ahmad on a short 3rd down yesterday didn't work.
One thing really perplexes me about the giant’s offensive philosophy. You need the run to set up the pass but when they have the whole world expecting the run…. they run. Am I missing something? It’s like they are saying, "let’s do what they expect us to do, they will never expect that."

Bob said...

Passtime

I'm wondering if it's a macho thing
with the Gmen. The whole world is expecting the run & the Giants are
thinking " we'll show you, we'll still run it down your throat".
Well, not exactly. Best to get back to square 1.

Don't understand why we're not throwing to Boss & Barden near the goal line.

Anonymous said...

You may be right Bob.

PureBlue said...

To offset over-pursuing defenses, I think we need to concentrate more on misdirection plays. That may help with the 3rd and short

Russ Wellen said...

Bob wrote: "The whole world is expecting the run & the Giants are thinking 'we'll show you, we'll still run it down your throat'."

Remember: Vince Lombardi was once the Giants OC. Maybe a little of that we-don't-care-if-you-know-what's-coming spirit lives on with the Giants.

Nature said...

hey ANDY "WONDER" is right about rule 3a)

the LIONS ran it on 4th down vs. the FALCONS and SAN DIEGO loves to do it with SPROLES

Anonymous said...

Pureblue
If you mean play action I would agree. If you mean a pitchout from the 2 back set like Andy suggests I might agree because if you have a DE that stays home like he is suppose to your dead but if he over pursues you walk in the end zone.

Pure Blue said...

Play action is only good for a running game.

Also, a 2nd TE would help with the DE.

Anonymous said...

We do have a running game. Thats my point.
I hate 2 TE sets unless you pass from that formation which the giants rearly do.

Mitch said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Pure Blue said...

Pastime...
Isn't that the point... To throw the other team off.. they never expect you guys to have the 2nd TE.. ? Oh, that's right.. the macho thing?

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