Giants Open Stadium & Season With 31-18 Win

As the game wound down it wasn't clear whether we were watching ping pong or football as the teams turned the ball over in a bizarre sequence of six straight possessions ending with turnovers. But, as I posted before the game, this was a critical game for the Giants for several reasons and, at the end of the day, they won, 31-18.

Despite the sloppy play, there were some big positives. First and foremost, the run defense was solid. Carolina is a running team, presumably one of the best. The Giants held them to 89 yards on 24 carries that included one run of 29 yards. The next longest run was 8 yards. This was a considerable improvement over 2009 and a very, very good sign. If they can be consistent and maintain it for the full season, the Giants will be competitive in most games without any of the blowouts witnessed in 2009.

Once Carolina fell behind and were forced to play catch up, the Giants demonstrated they have the horses to pound the QB, generating four sacks and knocking QB Matt Moore out of the game with a concussion with just over two minutes remaining. They also had three interceptions, all in the end zone, one of which was a fantastic play by safety Deon Grant, coming off his receiver and moving perhaps 20 yards laterally to leap in front of the receiver to make an acrobatic catch. The Grant interception came with the Giants playing three safeties, a scheme designed to shore up the run defense but which paid dividends big time with at least two (if not all three) interceptions coming with that scheme on the field.

On offense, Eli Manning had a great game and spread the ball around to a group of receivers that are quickly becoming one of the most difficult trios in the league to defend. Second year first round pick Nicks had a coming out party with three touchdown receptions. But it was the emergence of Mario Manningham that is probably the more significant development of this game. Most of the league already knew about Steve Smith and the potential of Hakeem Nicks. But Mario Manningham's four receptions for 86 yards (21.25 ypc) put the league on notice that the Giants have three legitimate receivers that warrant big time attention. The only negative in the passing game were the three interceptions, each coming off a tipped ball. Whether the throws were too high or they were balls that should have been caught, probably matters less than the fact the errors were (and will be ) correctable.

There were, however, some negatives and real concerns. In the short term, the loss of Boss could be huge, especially if he is forced to the sideline for an extended number of games. The concern is not the passing game but the loss of blocking in the running game. When Boss went down, the Giants suddenly looked like a junior high school team trying to run the ball. Of course, the running game wasn't exactly clicking on all cylinders before Boss got hurt so it is difficult to judge the extent to which his absence played a part. The Giants actually had negative rushing yardage for the game as of when they walked off the field at half time. And while the running game was better after some half time adjustments, it was still a far cry from the dominance of 2007/2008 and far from acceptable.

However, perhaps the larger, more long term concern, is with special teams. Both the punt and kick off coverage units were horrid yielding short fields to the Panthers throughout the game. And Matt Dodge certainly didn't help averaging a miserable 16 yards on his two punt attempts. But, if I'm Tom Coughlin, I'm not ready to jettison the struggling punter when the larger issue is the coverage units. Hopefully Dodge is a temporary problem which will work itself out. However the weak coverage units, an issue dating back several years now, is like an out-of-control fire about to burst into a complete conflagration. It is going to cost the Giants games if something isn't done quickly.

Questions with the offensive line also remain. The Giants starting five have more combined starts, by a wide margin, than any other offensive line in the league. However, is that a positive reflecting great experience or a negative reflecting an inability to infuse youth into the line? Certainly the loss of Will Beatty to a broken foot means any youth movement will be delayed until the second half of the season, at best. The coaching staff was apparently concerned enough about this issue that they chose to release linebacker Bryan Kehl, who received immediate interest from several other teams, rather than placing Beatty on injured reserve despite the fact Beatty likely won't be ready to play for another 6-8 weeks at the earliest.

Lastly, I have some unhappiness with the schemes called by Fewell. Yes, I love the three safeties. And I'm thrilled with the stout defense against the run. But I'm not a fan of his decision to rush four and keep seven in coverage on too many obvious passing downs, especially in the first half. This wasn't Peyton Manning the Giants were facing at QB. It was Matt Moore. And Moore demonstrated that he was clearly susceptible to being hurried into poor throws and decisions. I honestly can't fathom the repeated decision in the first half to rush only four, giving Moore the time to look over the field and pick his targets. And it hurt the Giants as Carolina marched down the field to score just before the first half ended. The Giants showed what their pass rush can do once Carolina was forced to play catchup and when the Giants got more aggressive and were able to pin their ears back and fly after the QB.

Tonight, however, the Giants face the real deal in Peyton Manning who is not going to wilt under pressure like Matt Moore. Unlike last week when they could (and should) have blitzed all game long, tonight the Giants face a QB who earns his living making blitz happy teams pay. Tonight the Giants are going to have to generate a rush relying on their front four and with well timed and disguised blitzes.

It would be nice to believe the Giants could win a low scoring game. But shutting down this Colts offense is a very difficult thing especially without generating multiple monster 8-12 minute time consuming drives on offense, which would be truly heroic, but doubtful, for this Giants team at this point in time. Therefore, as much as it would be nice to use the running game to keep Peyton Manning off the field, the role of the running game is likely to be more important in keeping the Colts pass rush honest to buy Eli more time. For, in the end, I believe the Giants only win tonight's game if Eli outscores Peyton. And, although I don't predict it, the funny thing is I think he can. Colts 35, Giants 24 in a fun game.