Giants Down 49ers for 5th Straight Win

The Giants are not just winning games they are supposed to win - they are dominating their opponents. Last week in Atlanta and today against the 49ers, the Giants controlled every aspect of the game much more than will be revealed in the stat sheet. Another 6 sack performance for the defense. Throw in 2 interceptions, including another beautiful interception by Madison, and two fumble recoveries by Osi - and it is difficult to describe the defensive play as anything other than awesome.

One mild disappointment was Plax losing his touchdown streak. But the offense was almost as dominant as the defense. Again, the stats may not show it, but the offensive line controlled the line of scrimmage and was totally dominant in run blocking. Brandon Jacobs had his second 100 yard game in a row and appeared to be running at will. Each time he left the game you could almost hear San Fransisco's collective sigh of relief.

The Giants should be 6-2 after next week's game against winless Miami in London. Then they have their bye week and face a more difficult second half of the season. However, there isn't any doubt that they have gained invaluable confidence and momentum as a result of the gift from the scheduling gods during the first half. The question is whether they can use it to sustain themselves when the sledding gets a bit more difficult.

The second half of 2007

Nov 11 Sun Dallas (6-1)
Nov 18 Sun at Detroit (4-2)
Nov 25 Sun Minnesota (2-4)
Dec 2 Sun at Chicago (3-4)
Dec 9 Sun at Philadelphia (2-4)
Dec 16 Sun Washington (4-2)
Dec 23 Sun at Buffalo (2-4)
Dec 29 Sat New England (7-0)

Giants Win 4th Straight Over Falcons

There was plenty to like about last night's victory over the Falcons. The offense looked very strong. Eli Manning, who at one point completed12 straight completions, spread the ball around to more receivers than in any other game than I can recall. The running game was equally balanced with Droughns this time leading the three headed monster with 90 yards and 1 TD.

But Jacobs, if he can stay healthy, remains "the man". It is visibly evident how well this Giants offense plays with Jacobs in the game. Defenses are so hell bent on getting to Jacobs early, that play action passing is like taking candy from a baby. The only issue so far is whether Jacobs can stay healthy. At this point I am liking the addition of Droughns as insurance more and more.

The defense was in control the entire way other than one letdown for a 67 yard TD run. They contributed 4 more sacks in an almost routine, invisible way. They controlled the line of scrimmage as the game wore on, stopped the running game cold, put pressure on the QB, and the secondary is playing better and better now that Ross is in the lineup.

While not dominating on either offense or defense, anyone watching the game could tell that the Giants were in complete control throughout. And that may perhaps be the most impressive part of last night's game - the Giants controlled every aspect of the game while leaving the impression they could "turn it up" several notches on both sides of the ball had it been necessary.

As I've said before, the most important factor for this team this season is the gift from the schedule gods. If they stay healthy, they have an excellent chance to build momentum and, more importantly, confidence. They could (should) end up with at least 10 wins with the schedule they are facing and, if so, they should not only make the playoffs but do so as a unified, confident team. That latter issue is the most important and if it comes to pass, this team could be very dangerous in the playoffs. But first they must take advantage of that gift from the schedule gods and mind their business week to week.

Accorsi Book Reveals The True Coughlin

In a chapter about the Chicago Bears game last year, Accorsi rips Coughlin for his play calling, for his refusal to acknowledge his mistakes, and most of all for shifting the blame all onto Eli Manning.

Accorsi sets the scene. It was a rainy Monday night. The Giants hold a 13-3 lead with scoring "drives" of one yard, three yards, and nine yards. Petitgout is already out of the game and Eli is not just struggling, he is foundering. But the Giants hold a 13-3 lead and it is raining hard. Chicago has the ball on their own 28 facing a 3rd and 22 with 1:30 left to go in the half. And the Giants call a time out. As we all know the Bears took full advantage of that time to go on to score and make it 13-10 at the half. Accorsi was stunned. Not that the time out necessarily led to Chicago's score, but it showed absolutely no common sense.

"It's thirteen to three - the Bears don't think they're going to win the game because they have to beat us by intercepting the ball or causing some other turnover or, somehow, unleashing Hester. What do we do? We give them the opportunity. Why do we want the ball back for thirty-five seconds to begin with? It's raining. We could fumble the kick, we could commit a holding penalty. We could give them life. Our quarterback is having a terrible night. What was to be gained? Had there been a single sign that we could take the ball and march it down the field in thirty-five seconds? After that, it's third and twenty-three. Chicago's giving up the ghost, right? Get in the locker room, Tom, with our thirteen-to-three lead! And when the Bears ran into the locker room, they were a different team."

Then in the second half, the Bears leading by 24-20 with 11:49 to go in the game. The Giants have moved the ball to the Bears 29 yard line with a fresh set of downs. Accorsi has the following to say about what happens next:

"Now we've come back to twenty-four to twenty and we're first and ten on their twenty-nine. We've got control of the situation. We're running the ball and they can't stop us. We ran for a hundred and fifty yards - no one has stopped us from running the ball all year in those conditions - and why we're not using Jacobs, I have no idea. He was unopposed on both touchdowns. We're wearing them down. The weather is bad. Maybe we won't be able to hold them later, maybe we'll screw up on defense later - six starters are out, after all - but we're going to go ahead in the game for the moment at least, if we just play smart. But instead, for some unknown reason, against that pass rush, with Eli having a bad night, we try to throw. Now it's second and twenty-four. We've changed the game. We get to third and fifteen, and Hufnagel says, 'Oh, I think I'll try this pass play to Plax. That's part of my philosophy.'

"Finally, rather than hand the ball to Feagles and trust the best plus-punter in the league to spin the ball inside the twenty and give Grossman a chance to give away the game in bad weather, we try a fifty-two-yard field goal in the same direction a thirty-three-yarder had already been missed. Our big, slow field-goal protection guys then get to watch Devin Hester dance a hundred and eight yards untouched. He would have scored in a two-hand touch football game.

"We could have won a thirteen-to-ten game. That's our kind of game."

But most damning of all was Coughlin's refusal to acknowledge any responsibility for the way the game went and instead, amazingly, blaming Manning for forcing him to make the questionable decisions Accorsi was pointing out:

"Tom said, 'I Told Eli today [the day after the game] that you don't score points by running the ball, you score points by passing it.' That kills any chance of me sleeping tonight. Tom had this long talk with Eli in which he basically told him, 'You're the reason we lost and you're going to have to play much better or we won't win.' Do you think Bill Cowher ever said that to Ben Roethlisberger? Pittsburgh never asks Roethlisberger to win a game by himself. They ask him not to lose by himself. 'I told Eli,' Tom said, 'You know why I made that stupid decision on the field goal, Eli?' Now listen to this. 'Because you weren't playing well and I didn't know how we'd get down there again.' Now I have to go to Manning sometime today and try to reassure him that it's not all his fault."

Taking Accorsi at his word regarding the accuracy of the above, it is truly an amazing condemnation of Coughlin that he would choose to deflect blame against himself by placing it all onto the shoulders of his young struggling quarterback. I've been upset by Tiki Barber speaking out against Coughlin and, while I still don't like it, I am more disgusted by an ego-maniac coach who so willing to throw his young quarterback under the bus because the coach lacks the inner self-confidence to accept blame of criticism directed his way.

Jets Downed, Giants Fly to Atlanta

Can the Giants take advantage of a paddy cake schedule to build some momentum and confidence? They took the first step last week with a win over the Jets. It was not a heady performance like the 12 sacks the week before over the Eagles, but the defense came up with some big plays to seal the win. Ross had two interceptions, and although the first one was an easy gift, on the second he made a very strong play, jumping the route and taking it in for a score. However it was the old pro Madison who had the truly stunning interception. Obviously seeing something Pennington was giving away, Madison abandoned his receiver along the sideline and instead broke 15 or so yards across the middle to grab the ball in front of a totally different receiver. Madison traveled so far I have to believe he broke away from his own receiver before the ball ever left Pennington's hand. A great, great play.

One comment about the defense. While the Giants had some pressure, they were not getting any steady hits on Pennington and the Jets were moving the ball pretty steadily and completed a number of 3rd and very longs. The defense stopped the Jets with some great individual plays that resulted in turnovers. But for those turnovers, the Giants defense was certainly not dominating the Jets.

In fact the Jets were leading this game deep into the 4th quarter. In my opinion the Giants won this game because of Brandon Jacobs who had the first 100 yard game of his career. But it was simply the yardage that mattered. It was the attitude. The Giants first touchdown was a 67 yard 9 play drive that spanned the first and second quarters and included only two passes. The Giants then opened the second half with a 6 play 80 yard drive that included only one pass. In those two drives Jacobs carried the ball 6 times for 9, 6, 6, 7, 8 and 19 yards - an amazing 9.2 yards per carry. And with attitude. The manner in which he ran the ball set the tone for the rest of the players, including the defense.

This week the Giants head to Atlanta for a Monday night match up with the Falcons. They have no QB and they lost both of their offensive tackles last week. And on the other side of the ball the Falcons are horrible defending against the run. The Giants need to avoid anything fancy and play to their strengths. On offense, run the ball and force Atlanta to stop them. That means forget balance and run Brandon Jacobs at least 80 percent of the time on first down. At least until Atlanta is forced to put 8 or more men in the box, when throwing the ball should be easy pickins. And on defense the solution is too obvious to have to say out loud - pressure, pressure, pressure.

The Giants have 11 games remaining of which 7 are against teams currently sporting losing records:

Oct 15 Mon at Atlanta (1-4)
Oct 21 Sun San Francisco (2-3)
Oct 28 Sun at Miami (0-5)
Nov 4 Sun BYE
Nov 11 Sun Dallas (5-0)
Nov 18 Sun at Detroit (3-2)
Nov 25 Sun Minnesota (1-3)
Dec 2 Sun at Chicago (2-3)
Dec 9 Sun at Philadelphia (1-3)
Dec 16 Sun Washington (3-1)
Dec 23 Sun at Buffalo (1-4)
Dec 29 Sat New England (5-0)

Giants Sack Eagles, Now Turn on the Jets

Was the NFL record setting 12 sack performance against the Eagles last week the momentum builder that turns this into a special Giants season? The Giants became the fifth team in NFL history to record 12 sacks in one game. Regardless of the quality of the opponent, one would think a team would have to be pretty darn good to record that many sacks in one game. Looking back at the four prior teams to accomplish this feat, however, reveals that none made it to the Super Bowl and one (the Cardinals in 1980) ended up 4th in their division and out of the playoffs entirely (the other three - Chicago in 1984 and the Cowboys in 1966 and 1985 - all ended up with 10 wins and made it to the playoffs). The losing team giving up the 12 sacks in each of those prior four games all had losing records by the end of the respective seasons.

While history may not, therefore, tell us much about the significance of the sack performance, it does indicate one thing: the Giants have the players to be a dominant pass rushing team. It is also interesting to observe that not all of the sacks were generated by pure speed and instead were, at least partially, the result of good coverage. That is perhaps the most encouraging sign of all from last week's game. While the addition of Ross was not the sole reason, he did play a strong game, especially in view of the fact he is still a rookie combined with the fact it was his first start.

If the Giants can maintain consistent pressure on the QB the rest of the way through the schedule, they should end up with a very decent record. Of the 12 games remaining, only 4 times do they face teams that currently have a winning record (Dallas, Detroit, Wash, and NE). Seven of those games - including the Jets tomorrow - are against teams currently sitting at 1-3 or 0-4. The schedule gods have given the Giants a rare opportunity to build confidence and momentum as they move through the balance of their schedule. If they take advantage, they could easily find themselves with a heady 11-12 wins and brimming with confidence by season end.

I have not changed my view of this team - I still believe there are loads of question marks throughout the roster. But, despite those questions, the schedule is such that I would consider it an unforgivable disaster if they don't end up with at least 9 wins - and purely "ok" play should get them at least 10. And 10 wins means going 8-4 the rest of the way, which translates into momentum and confidence - perhaps the two most important ingredients for success in the NFL. That is the significance to me of what the Giants did last week. Of course, all of this presupposes that I don't find myself sitting here in future weeks writing about a puzzling loss to a losing team.