Loading ...One of the most awkward moments of the year for New York Giants head coach Tom Coughlin will come on Saturday night as he has to accept the ridiculous Snoopy Trophy after winning the second annual MetLife Bowl. Said trophy will be awarded to Big Blue following their 26-3 victory over Rex Ryan and the New York Jets; it will be their first Snoopy Trophy and will undoubtedly find its way to their Lombardi Trophy display inside the stadium. Or … maybe not.
The Positives:
- Victor Cruz – There's something about the Jets that Cruz loves to take advantage of, and he did that again on Saturday night. He caught five passes on seven targets, and that included one where he took a brutal helmet-to-helmet shot courtesy of LaRon Landry (no call). The chemistry between he and Eli Manning looks to be in mid-season form.
- Martellus Bennett – The young tight end is a hell of a blocker and he seems to take pride in it. In fact, he appears to be a better all-around blocker than some of the offensive linemen.
- Jayron Hosley – The rookie CB looked significantly improved on punt returns from a week ago, and did an excellent job making up ground on a pick-six that sent Jets fans fleeing for the exits.
- Lawrence Tynes – The kicker routinely booted kickoffs out of the endzone and was perfect on field goals tonight. It was absolutely everything a coach could have asked for.
- Jason Pierre-Paul – What really needs to be said? JPP is unstoppable.
- Rocky Bernard, Markus Kuhn & Linval Joseph – All three defensive tackles were very active and impactful tonight, specifically in short yardage situations. The Giants will need more of that with injuries plaguing the unit.
- Will Hill – This youngster is starving and it shows. He had another very good game tonight, and showed talent in coverage and rushing the passer. Very little chance he doesn't make the team.
The Negatives:
- Replacement Referees – The officials are atrocious. There's not much more that needs be said. Tonight, they put the players' safety at risk by missing two helmet-to-helmet shots, and their inability to grasp the rules of the game is an extreme concern. At one point, on a hold during a punt, the referee had no idea what the penalty was. Was it five yards? 10 yards? Half the distance? It took four guesses before he got it right.
- Injuries – Justin Tuck (neck/shoulder), Adrian Tracy (hamstring), Hark Herzlich (hip), Ahmad Bradshaw (hand) and Prince Amukamara (unknown) all suffered some dings on Saturday night. X-Rays were negative on AB, but he did not return and had a cast on his hand later in the game.
- Run Blocking – Pretty much everyone involved and everything about it.
- Ramses Barden – With his clock ticking, Barden needs to make a tremendous impact. One of the few times his name was called tonight was due to a drop. Although, to be fair, he was being held by Darrelle Revis.
- Brandon Jacobs – Speaking of injuries, former Big Blue RB B-Jac suffered a serious one out in San Francisco. His season appears to be over after taking a massive shot to his knee. He had to be carried off the field and then carted into the locker-room. While he may no longer wear blue, this is painful news for all Giants fans.
The Mixed:
- Eli Manning – Easy-E was throwing darts early in the game, but at one point, he reverted back to the Eli of old and drastically overthrew Reuben Randle for an interception. It's hard to tell without seeing the coaches film whether Randle ran the wrong route, but either way, it was a poor decision by Manning.
- D.J. Ware – Contrary to popular belief, Ware looked quite good on a number of early runs. He had some of the better runs of the night, but as the game wore on, had less and less room to run. Mentally, he started to get eaten up, and it led to other mistakes – like dropping an easy screen pass. At the end of the day, he's a good #2 option and appears poised to have a solid season if he can keep his head on straight.
- Henry Hynoski – The bruising fullback had a rollercoaster type game that included several punishing blocks and several times where he was put on his rear-end. At one point, frustration boiled over and Hynoski was seen punching the ground violently.
Be sure to come back tomorrow for a more thorough analysis of tonight's game, with additional individual performance breakdowns.
Photo credit: MetLife Central via Press Release
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Dan, Eli was quoted at halftime (I suppose they let him give his media sound bytes at halftime since his night was over anyway) saying that pick was on him and he was just trying to throw it away but didn’t see the deep defender.
This run blocking is going to be a problem man. It’s just sickening. Even more sickening: it’s been going on for two years now.
I think it’s only natural to assume that St Timothy of Tebow did something to pi$$ off the Almighty. Probably forgot his birthday. Hey, it’s Christmas … Hello.
Luzz– Thanks for the recommendation. I actually have another question, though: we want to go out for a nice steak dinner. We settled on the Firehouse because Gene and Georgetti is closed Sundays.
You have any input or recommendations for a good, classic Chicago steakhouse dinner?
It is always hard to judge most of the young guys because you don’t see them much against first-line players.
But, obviously, Hosley is everything they hoped and he will be a significant player for them this season. Prince also looked pretty solid. Will Hill should be the #3 safety but he probably won’t be. In any case, he’s on the roster.
I was favorably impressed by Stanback, Petrus, Capers, Wilson (no hesitation when he hit the holes and he usually got yards even when not much was there to get), Kuhn and Randle (although the latter has to show more willingness to block). A lot of others looked good, but it’s hard to tell how good they are when they’re playing against bums.
If Barden makes this team at Stanback or Douglass’ expense it’s a crime.
All of you so sure that Herzlich will beat out Blackburn should check out how Chase played. He’s going to be the starting MIKE, and he should be. Nice to see how well Rivers played. And it sure looks like Rocky still has some life left in him.
This defense is going to be dominating. That will allow the offense time to jell a bit, which might take some time. We have to solve some problems along the offensive line, but at least to me it looked like the Jets’ starting defense played very well and the failures to score more against them by the starting offense and the inability to really run the ball was as much a result of their excellent play as our weaknesses.
Tom Coughlin is going to spend this week hammering into the offense’s head that they MUST get that run game going. We’ll have to see if they can get much against a tough Bears’ defense. That will be a real test.
Chase really deserves the job at this point. He was solid tonight as he usually is. Chase could end up having a pretty long career for a guy that is perpetually on the bubble. Herzlich’s inability to avoid dings is not helping his case at all.
Thanks for reminding. That’s the other thing I wanted to say: there is absolutely no way Herzlich beats out Blackburn for the early down-MLB job by Week 1, and the more I see Blackburn play the more I wonder if that’ll happen at all so long as Chase is healthy.
Look, Blackburn may not be the fastest linebacker in the world, but he had no business sitting on a couch last year. The guy can flat out plug a hole and make a tackle. He plays physical. Add to that the fact that he’s a coach on the field and diagnoses plays with the best of them, and I’m wondering why everyone is so peeked to get Herzlich in there, and not just be happy with the fact that we have a guy who is a smart veteran and is well suited for that limited early-down MLB role.
Also, Keith Rivers is going to be a beast. Between Boley, Rivers, Blackburn and Kiwanuka, I’m starting to wonder where exactly Jacquian Williams fits in. Like I said a few weeks ago, if Rivers is who we thought he is, the best shot might to work Kiwanuka back at DE a lot to relieve a burgeoning logjam at LB.
Obviously, I agree about Chase. But move Kiwi to DE? There’s going to be a logjam there too. The way some of these kids are playing we’re going to have to cut two NFL-worthy defensive ends.
But your point about Boley, Rivers, Blackburn, Kiwanuka is well-taken. We may have four linebackers who are start-worthy on any team in the NFL. Add Williams and we’re completely loaded at linebacker. I think we’re going to see a good deal of Williams, Boley, Rivers together on the field in passing downs, with Kiwi getting his hand in the dirt as part of the NASCAR defense. Those three are about as fast as most safeties, and their presence helps against draws and outlet passes, and they can match uop against tight ends who sometimes overwhelm a safety with size.
Can’t believe I had to read down to the final paragraph of this post to see Keith Rivers’ name. I agree 100%. I am very impressed by Rivers. It’s not just his speed (he flies to the ball) but he seems to really love to lay the wood. The guy is a football player for sure.
Great breakdown Dan. That’s a pretty insightful especially considering the seats are still warm at the stadium.
By the way, I thought Kuhn played better than did Hendricks. That kid is going to be good.
I think Tryon might be playing his way off the team. Barden too. And Jones.
I forgot to mention Brewer. He looked a LOT better tonight and I no longer think he’s a bust. Looks to me like he’s a year from being pretty good. Reese/Ross didn’t “miss” with him. They may have made a great pick.
And you gotta love Ojomo, Marshall and Broha and their effort.
Broha has had back-to-back solid showings. Granted they were against 3rd string guys it still is a positive. I feel he’ll be a good special teamer/emergency lineman. He may wind up as a practice squad stash, but he had a pretty good showing. I also loved how emotional Ojomo seemed. He knew he made the most out of limited time as well and I love seeing players who are passionate. And Tyron…he was just plain bad. He got spun around a few times and left way too far of a cushion against his guy.
Hosley in a walking boot? You have to be kidding.
I feel like walking boots are the biggest red flag that aren’t actually red flags. If the injury was serious, he wouldn’t be walking home in a boot. He’d be on his way to HSS right now.
Hope you’re right, because he is going to be a BIG factor in this defense.
Just as an aside, how good is Kenny Phillips? The guy is all over the place and is terrific at everything. When we talk about under-appreciated Giants he should be high on the list along with Kiwi, Diehl, Bernard, and Blackburn. It isn’t that fans don’t know he’s awfully good. They just don’t understand he may be the best safety in the NFL at this point.
Well everyone will be sick of reading virtually the exact same post by the end of the week (If they aren’t already) but:
Man that run-blocking was painful to watch. I would like to watch the game again before I say a whole lot more on it, but I’m sure someone with a better eye for the o-line will be along shortly with something useful to say.
I imagine Hosley will start as our slot corner, and if that happens I look forward to seeing an opportunistic defense. Letting Rolle play his natural position is going to do us a lot of good, especially if Hosley can make plays like he did tonight with any degree of consistency.
I liked what I saw out of Ware. Guy did about as well as could be hoped for behind that hot mess of a line, and I won’t be mad when he earns his spot on the roster.
Looked like Herzlich struggled a little tonight, agreed with FF55 that Chase will be our starting MLB come the opener.
And here’s to hoping our d-linemen get health sooner rather than later, if that defense is largely intact for the season, it might actually be enough to carry the o-line. Swarming line.
I’m not making excuses for the offensive line. They didn’t play particularly well. But I really think that we have to give credit to a Jets’ defense that played very well against them. The Jets’ front seven looked quick and good. Not quite as good as ours, but good. Obviously, OUR defense makes a lot of offensive lines look bad. Maybe we should recognize that some of the defenses we’re matched up with can do the same to us?
I’m not cutting the O-line any slack. This isn’t a new problem. Whether we face good defenses or bad defenses the result is the same. God-awful run blocking. I can’t even imagine what this offense could be doing if there was even a vestige of a running game. Eli and the receivers carry this offense week in and week out. If there is no improvement we are looking at a repeat of last season. Lots of 3rd and longs and plenty of need for Eli to pull off come from behind victories. We could have Gayle Sayers and Jim Brown as our backs, it would make no difference. How can we expect DJ Ware and Andre Brown to gain any yards?