The GIANTS played a statistically superior game on Sunday against the Tennessee Titans. Four Hundred Seventy yards of offense, Twenty Six first downs, No punts, and over Thirty Three minutes of possession. Unfortunately statistics don't win games, but they can lose games. Stats such as 5 personal foul penalties, 3 turnovers, and opposing teams field position. Those stats will lose you games.
Unlike last week when the plan for the game was flawed, this one was right on. Again it was execution, bad penalties, tipped passes, and poor special teams that led to a frustrating day. The GIANT defense set out to stop Chris Johnson from running all over them. They accomplished this for the most part in grand fashion. I'm not sure CJ had been hit as hard as he was this past Sunday. He was limited to just 53 yards on his first 20 carries. The scheme drawn up by Perry Fewell was executed well with Barry Cofield, Justin Tuck, and Antrell rolle leading the charge. Even first round pick Jason Pierre-Paul got into the act rushing from a linebacker position to make a big stop on third down in the backfield. Fewell's use of Mathias Kiwanuka continues to be well planned and lets Kiwi use all his skills to be successful.
The frustration of losing Sunday's game after dominating it statistically has brought up plenty of issues concerning Head Coach Tom Coughlin, Special Teams Coach Tom Quinn, and the state of the leadership on the Giants team. I personally believe you will see changes, not in this group, but in the plays and players utilized. The changes suggested and some already made are as follows:
Jacobs has complained about playing time and his role on this team. On Sunday he gets in the game and makes a nice run, North South, running people over, etc. He follows it by taking a personal foul penalty, thankfully offset. However, on the very next play, he misses an assignment and the play leads to Eli being sacked and almost fumbling the ball away. Have a seat Mr. Jacobs. Pass protection is the most important function of his position. He can't miss blocks.
The Andrews for Diehl experiment might take a bit longer to develop. Andrews was consistently late off the ball, in is home stadium, and seems to being thinking more than reacting. He still needs some work before he can be trusted on the back side. Moving Diehl inside where he wouldn't have to deal with speed would be a huge improvement, but without Will Beatty, or Andrews ready to step up, it's just not possible at the moment.
Adam Koets can play. He was very steady on Sunday, consistently made the right reads and blocked well. If O'Hara is out for a while, Koets will be fine.
Eli leads the league in interceptions...with maybe one being his fault. The receivers will spend a large part of their days this week catching high balls, and should think about running their routes like Jerry Rice and Fred Biletnikoff used to...with their hands at chest level...not by their sides.
Special teams will have a different look next week. Look for more and more "regular players" to join the ranks of the return and cover teams. I think this will help tremendously. Matt Dodge needs to step up a great deal. His free kick with a net of 30 yards was embarrassing, and the delay of game penalty on the field goal is entirely on him. Actually if you watch the tape the G-Men ran the clock out on the missed FG try in the first quarter also, it wasn't called, but the clock clearly read zero. Actually I wish that had been called, T.C. would have then punted, and changed the field position battle for the remainder of the half.
All in All a very frustrating loss, mainly because it didn't have to happen. Lack of execution, penalties, and turnovers will always lose you games. This is exactly what happened on Sunday.
I think it's a turning point. The game plan was solid. The Offense looked better. Eli was fantastic. The Defense seems to be gelling. Let's see how they react through the week.
One Team, One Goal will be Tom's message this week. He is taking the blame, but it is a confidence building exercise by the master. Personnel changes will be evident Wednesday in practice.
Talk to you all on Friday
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