Know Your Enemy – NYG
Posted: September 22nd, 2011 | Author: Tommy Lawlor | Filed under: Philadelphia Eagles | 46 Comments »We all know the Giants pretty well so I won’t mess around with as much background on them.
1-1
Lost the opener to WAS, 28-14
Beat STL 28-16 on MNF.
22nd in Offense. 19th in Defense.
OFFENSE
No surprises here. They still feature a power running game. Ahmad Bradshaw and Brandon Jacobs aren’t lighting it up so far. The long run between them is 15 yards. Each guy has 1 TD. YPC is 3.7 (AB) and 3.6 (BJ). Still, they are workhorse backs that do what the Giants want.
The passing game is a work in progress. Eli is still Eli, both good and bad. He’s missing his trusted slot receiver Steve Smith (where’d he go?). Eli is dealing with a new TE, Jake Ballard. He also has a new LT. Eli has been sacked 7 times this year. He went down 16 times all of last year. Eli has thrown a couple of picks as well as a couple of TDs. Rating so far is 82.1.
Hakeem Nicks is a stud WR. He’s got a sore knee, but it sure didn’t seem to slow him down on Monday night. He is an elite player. Mario Manningham is the other WR. He’s only got 7 grabs this year, but is averaging 15 ypc. I haven’t seen enough of Ballard to have a strong opinion on him. He has 3 catches for 72 yds this year. Looks like a typical young player that is inconsistent.
The OL is a work in progress. New C David Baas is a solid veteran player, but doesn’t stand out in any way. LT William Beatty isn’t a natural pass blocker. He gets a lot of help from RBs and TEs. Beatty doesn’t have the agility to handle top edge rushers. He is a good run blocker. Meant for G or RT. He does his best at LT and wins his share of battles on effort and toughness.
DEFENSE
Same old, same old. Osi is hurt right now, but they still have Justin Tuck and JPP as edge rushers. Tuck isn’t 100% right now, but is such a special player that he’s still a constant challenge. JPP is off to a solid start.
DT isn’t impressive. Barry Cofield is gone to WAS and I bet they regret that decision. Rocky Bernard did have a good game vs the Rams. He got regular penetration and was disruptive. The stat sheet shows 1 solo tackle (+ 3 assists) and 1 PD. Watch the tape and you see a whole other story. He was quick off the ball. He drove OL backward on run plays and completely threw off the timing for the offense. The problem is that Chris Canty, Linval Joseph, and Jimmy Kennedy showed me nothing. Canty had a TFL, but was basically unblocked. He was very slow off the ball. Heck, I wonder if it was almost by design.
The LBs are a mixed bag. Michael Boley does look improved. He is a good pass rusher, not just a blitzer. He’s also 3rd on the team in tackles. MLB Greg Jones is a rookie that does fine when he’s clean, but isn’t so good when dealing with blockers. SLB Matty Kiwanuka is a DE playing LB. He has his moments, but just doesn’t look right.
The secondary isn’t awesome. The Rams picked on CB Aaron Ross effectively. Ross looks like he’s lost a step. Antrel Rolle and Kenny Phillips are active, aggressive Safeties. CB Corey Webster is now the cover guy.
STs
Steve Weatherford is a better P than Matt Dodge. Still, 7 of his 13 punts have been returned. That’s more than you’d like.
Lawrence Tynes is 0-1 as a PK. And I bet his miss wasn’t from 63.
Domenik Hixon was the PR, but tore his ACL to get out of the job. Aaron Ross might be the guy this week.
Devin Thomas is a dangerous KOR. Fast, big for WR.
LAST WEEK
The Giants were completely outplayed in the season opener. WAS looked like the better team for sure. It was important for the Giants to play well in Week 2 and come up with a win. Well, they got the win.
I don’t think many people who watched the game would say the Giants played all that well. They got very lucky. The Rams muffed a punt and the Giants recovered. That led to a 38-yard TD drive. Later in the 1st half the Rams tried a trick play that went awry. They threw a backward pass to Cadillac Williams. He didn’t make the grab and the ball was on the ground. A Giant LB picked it up and ran it back for a TD. Cadillac never flinched. On the final drive of the 1st half the Giants came up with a 22-yard TD pass when the Rams let a SS cover a WR and the receiver made a highlight catch as he fell to the ground and juggled the ball in one hand.
Give the Giants complete credit for making key plays. Boley hustled on the FR for the TD while Cadillac stood there like an idiot. The Giants played good Red Zone defense. The Rams moved the ball at will for parts of the game, but struggled to get in the endzone. Sam Bradford had 147 yard passing … in the 1st quarter. The Giants secondary is very vulnerable right now. The RZ defense was greatly aided by Bradford. He’s really struggling down there. He is waiting for players to come open rather than anticipating routes and getting the ball out quickly.
I don’t know what to make of the Giants right now. Is this a team that is seriously on the decline? Or is this a team fighting its way through injuries? Do you give them credit for finding a way to win last week or blame them for having 2 pedestrian performances in 2 games?
MISC
* I’ll get into the strategy and matchups tomorrow.
* The Eagles do have a huge opportunity on Sunday. A loss puts the Giants back under .500 and would be their 7th in a row to the Eagles (counting the playoffs). Clearly the Eagles are in the Giants heads. Another loss could be the straw that broke the camel’s back.
* 3 of the Giants top 4 tacklers are DBs (Rolle, Phillips, Grant).
* The Giants do have 4 FFs in only 2 games.
* The Eagles have 12 plays of 20+ yards. The Giants have 7.
Giants WR Mario Manningham didn’t practice today (concussion). Might not play on Sunday. Wow. That would really hurt their offense.
This has all the makings of a blow out. But since I said that last week, I’m not going to jinx it. Hopefully we come out with a win.
Giants looked terrible in the 1H on MNF that I watched. Alas, STL is not an elite team and they gave the game away. I did not see the WAS game, but if that’s an improvement… the questions about this game are much more about the Eagles QB than the Giants.
“3 of the Rams top 4 tacklers are DBs ” – hmmm.. Rams?
I was testing to see if you read the whole thing. You passed. Next test will be much trickier.
Does that stat tell me should run because backs are making it through the front 7 or that we should pass because receivers are getting lots of catches?
Curious to see the new/old LB setup. Logic tells me not to expect much, but as a fan I’m hopeful that Chaney can bring back the 2010 magic, and Matthews will up his play. I am worried about Fokou covering the TE. Hopefully DRC and Asante are in good health this week so Asomugha can take Ballard.
On offense, I hope we do a lot of no-huddle. 🙂 Either the Giants can take it and get gassed and beaten, or they can pull their fake injury shtick again and shred what little respect their franchise still has. 🙂
From what I heard (and I haven’t been able to find anything about it), Asante Samuel needed stitches on his finger because the bone broke the skin. He can still be a good cover guy, but you have to think it will hurt his game.
Whether Samuel can catch the ball or not may be a big story for this game.
The X factor, if I can just make up an expression meaning ‘that special unknown characteristic’, would be the Giants pride. They are still smarting from last year. On paper, this is no contest but any given sunday… I do expect a very physical game.
Very good point. This is a proud bunch. Some of them go back to the 2007 SB team. They won’t just quit.
Plus, how long can a win streak last? That’s the only thing that is making me nervous.
Remember, too, in the last game they were kicking our butts until those final 8 magnificent minutes.
“Do you give them credit for finding a way to win last week or blame them for having 2 pedestrian performances in 2 games?”
I’ve been wondering something similar about the Eagles…
The Eagles question is somewhat similar, but different. We haven’t been outplayed yet. We’ve made costly mistakes. The Giants have been outplayed, but took advantage of mistakes to win a game. Different sides of the same coin maybe.
I ask-
Should I give the Eagles credit for playing well last week or blame them for not being able to pull through in the end?
I’m fully prepared to watch some no-name undrafted free agent TE or FB have a career day against our defense to the tune of 198 yards and 3 TDs.
Christian Ballard, here’s your chance to get the game ball courtesy of Jamar Chaney, Moises Fokou, and Casey Matthews!
Awesome.
That’s a logical assumption because there are tons of undrafted free agent FB’s who put up 198 yards and 3 TDs against us.
Ummmm…. Christian Ballard is a DT from Iowa that plays for the Vikings.. What am I missing here?
Nothing, you got it.
We play the Giants and the Vikings play the Loins this week, so obviously Christian is going to have a career day thanks to our LBs.
Is that so hard to understand?
On a side note, if you do a Google search for Christian Ballard, remembering the “r” is really important.
A_T_G, you so fuu-nny.
Mr. Morton,
Sometimes I read your posts and, even if I disagree, I think, “The guy just might have something here.” This is not one of those posts.
Any truth to the rumor that Stephen Baker and Odessa Turner will be in the lineup Sunday for NY?
Stephen Baker, touchdown maker. Fast dude. Probably still faster than Jason Avant or Chad Hall.
What I find interesting about the whole LB switch is that Fokou is now at the most important LB position… If you all recall at the beging of the year when they were saying in this defense the SAM is the most important LB? That’s why Chaney was there. Hmmmmm
I’m sure they’ll tweak LB responsibilities.
Anyone else see the injury time-out bs the Giants pulled against the Rams? Can’t imagine they’d try and get away with it two weeks in a row.
We should definitely expose that. Play the no-huddle. It would be hilarious to see them pull that 2 weeks in a row. It could cost them a draft pick. Sometimes I think the Eagles just make moves only to screw over the Giants- (trading up to get Graham, Maclin and signing Steve Smith)
Tommy,
What the hell happened to Aaron Curry? Geez!
I don’t know, but I hope Howie Roseman makes a phone call.
I haven’t watched SEA play this year so I can’t really comment on his level of play. Definitely has a lot of talent.
AARON Curry? At this point, I’d be happy if our LB corps added ANN Curry! (rim-shot)
That was awful. Just awful
Don’t quit your day job.
Comedy gold. Kenny Bania has nothing on you.
Take my WILL Line Backer… PLEASE!
We should trade for him! But seriously, I thought this guy would be a stud. Maybe he should go to a 3-4 team.
I don’t know. According to spotrac.com he is set to make 5 million this season.
We might need that money to spend on our #6 WR
Seriously, sometimes I think it’s easier to find a 3-4 NT than a 4-3 LB.
Sam would have to comment, but I’m wondering if he could renegotiate his base salary. Or else that can’t be done since the season has already started for this year.
When he signed his contract 2 years ago, he had 34 million in guarantees. I can’t imagine him taking a pay cut from his signing bonus.
Apparently Vick has been medically cleared to play.
Fistbumps all around,
A part of me wanted to see Kafka play. Get a sense of what the kid is capable of doing. Also, it would be cool to beat the Giants with our backup qb.
I don’t think the “we beat you with an important player on the sideline” talk is going to go very far with Giants fans this year.
Besides, Kafka can play the second half in mop up duty.
The correct quote is “Know your enema”- Frank Burns
I love Ferrett Face.
I use Know Your Enemy as a tribute to the great Rage Against the Machine song.
For what its worth, I was talking to my barber today ( she’s a giants fan ) and she’s really down on the team. She’s convinced we’re going to blow them out, and has been extremely disappointed with how they’ve played so far. So I guess the fan morale could be considered pretty low, no clue if that is going to be reflected by the team at all.
Wasn’t Aaron Curry pretty much regarded as the top overall prospect the year he came out?
I hope your barber only cuts your hair and doesn’t give you a shave with a straight razor. After the game and the 7th straight loss to the Eagles she might be in the mood to slit your throat.
What happens to the DE rotation if both Parker and Tapp are out? Is Washburn really only going to rotate with just 3 DEs?