Loading ...The New York Giants didn't have an ideal start to their 2012 season, as they lost a frustrating opening matchup with the division rival Dallas Cowboys 24-17 on kickoff night. New York came out of week one as the only team in the NFC East without a win but as they did last season, avoided panic this week and immediately shifted their focus to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, who are coming off of a 16-10 win over the Carolina Panthers.
New York doesn't want to have to dig themselves out of an 0-2 hole, and with the way their schedule shakes out in the second half of the season, this is about as important a week two game they have played in recent memory.
GAMEPLAN
Go to the quick passing and screen game early in the game
Tampa Bay has a young, fast group that is looking to be aggressive defensively this season. The Giants need to get clicking early this game after looking sluggish against Dallas, and the best way to do it is to get the ball out on some quick hitting routes early, while also using Tampa Bay's aggressive approach against them. A well placed slant against a five or six man rush is one Victor Cruz move in the open field from a touchdown.
Stack the box and don't let rookie Doug Martin get going in the first half
Yes, the Giants pass coverage really struggled last week against Dallas. That being said, Tampa isn't a team that can light up the scoreboard through the air, and their success is going to depend on what type of offensive balance they can create and how much Doug Martin can take advantage of an aggressive Giants front seven on first and second down. If the Giants can keep the Tampa Bay running game contained in this game, it's going to be very hard for the Buccaneers to get to 20 points in this football game. The Giants have got to be physical, alert against the ground attack, and frustrate the Bucs at home in the first half to put themselves in position to take control of this game.
Emphasize taking care of the football
The Giants have all the advantages going into this game. They're the veteran team, they have built more chemistry on both sides of the ball, they have the advantage at quarterback and in the passing game, and they know how to win. Tampa Bay will only find themselves in position to win a game in the defending Super Bowl champs' stadium if New York turns the football over and gives this team easy points and in turn, momentum and confidence. These are the types of games where the Giants need to focus first on not shooting themselves in the foot, because that will take a game where they have all the man on man advantages and turn it into a late game dogfight where anything can happen. Take care of the football, be patient, execute, and let your talent take over the football game.
KEY MATCHUP
CB Corey Webster vs WR Vincent Jackson
Vincent Jackson is the only real big play threat the Bucs have in the passing game, and Corey Webster absolutely can not afford to have the type of game he did last week against Dallas, the worst I've seen from him in several years. Webster has to get back to being one of the NFL's most reliable man on man covermen and force the Buccaneers to try and methodically move the chains on this Giants defense rather than hitting big plays over the top against a Giants secondary that gave up plenty of big plays last week against Dallas. Jackson is the threat, and Webster will have to step up and contain that threat this week.
BIG GAME ALERT
WR Hakeem Nicks
The Buccaneers don't have a cornerback physical and agile enough to compete with Nicks one on one on the outside. Not many teams do, actually. The Bucs are going to have to determine who they want to double, and with the big play threat Cruz presents, I expect Nicks to get some looks early in this game and really get going against this Tampa secondary. Look for 88 to have a big day Sunday.
PREDICTION
The Giants got a piece of "humble pie" as Tom Coughlin called it after they dropped the opener to Dallas. They seem a little disappointed in themselves, a little annoyed, and just angry enough to create an intense focus going into about as much of a must-win situation as you can have in week two of an NFL season. I think you'll see a sharp team Sunday, and without the Giants beating themselves, I can't see Tampa Bay winning this game in MetLife stadium.
GIANTS 28, BUCCANEERS 14
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Short URL: http://sport-ne.ws/kah
Total hypothetical since trades don’t get done in the NFL but:
Cleveland gets:
Prince, Beatty, Giants 2013 2nd round pick
Giants get:
Joe Thomas
Who says no first?
Also since Miami seems totally interested in building for the future, would they deal Jake Long, and is Jake Long even good? I know he was a top pick but I have to say I don’t really know if he’s a top LT.
As for “build the bridge”, could not hate this any more. I am all for cheesy motivational slogans, but I hate ones that invoke the past.
It was so frustrating listening to this team in 2008 and 2009 bring up the 07 run every time it had adversity. It was as if the players thought that simply mentioning 2007 would magically solve their problems and catapult them on another run.
Every year/roster is different, and I don’t see how constantly referring to last season helps this current roster. Now certainly in times of adversity looking back on ones past success in tough situations can provide confidence and help overcome some doubts. But at the end of the day every season / situation is a new one. And I hope this team doesn’t bring up last years SB and 4 game losing streak every time it hits a rough patch. As in, “we did it last year so why can’t we do it this year”. I was a big fan of “Finish”, “Play the game” and “All In”. Sure those mottos aren’t particularly original, and you certainly won’t hear them in the next great sports movie, but they were simple and delivered a clear message to the team. “Build the bridge” just brings up last years SB run, which to me seems like it would do more damage than good. Sports are all about moving forward, and this one just doesn’t relay that message.
Me.
I don’t want a guy like Thomas. Sure he’s great. But he’s expensive and established, meaning he’s already at his zenith, and will be a commodity of diminishing quality in a few years. No, let’s draft our own guy and put him at LT for the rest of Eli’s career, and longer. We hoped that was Beatty, but I don’t think that’s going to be the case.
Have to lean towards agreeing with Kujo. And I don’t think that package would get it done for Cleveland. They’d want more, especially when you consider that Prince hasn’t put enough quality play on film to be considered an A level trade asset in that hypothetical situation.
Like you said though, moot point. Trades like that are extremely rare in the league.
We arr already super thin at cb do you really want 2 make it worse?
kujo says:
September 13, 2012 at 7:25 PM
Hey G-menFan!
Did I bang your sister? Are you David Diehl’s agent? Or did I do something that I don’t remember, because there was nothing in my last comment that warranted your jerkish comment. I was expressing an opinion on a player I’m not a fan of. I didn’t claim any unique insight–that’s FF55?s schtick– or more knowledge than anyone on here.
You want my advice? If you wanna be a d-ck randomly, at least be creative. Or if you take issue with something specific that I said, point it out. I appreciate a good argument almost as much as I appreciate a good ball buster. You did neither, so you’re just a jabroni.
BigBlueScorpion says:
September 13, 2012 at 7:32 PM
You allright kujo? Do u need some mydol? Lol jk you do have a reallly great point on dehil i could play tackel as good as him and i weigh about 140
kujo says:
September 13, 2012 at 7:45 PM
You don’t even know what Midol is, little man. I don’t care what the other middle schoolers say!
BigBlueScorpion says:
September 13, 2012 at 9:59 PM
Hay now im a shopmore in collage
G-MenFan says:
September 14, 2012 at 10:43 PM
Well I’ve been away a couple days so sorry for the delay in responding to your pants-wetting.
Here’s your snot-nosed obnoxious spoiled-brat post:
“Why feel bad? He sucks. He’s sucked for quite a while but more people are seeing it now. He sucked at left guard last year, he sucked marginally less at left tackle (and by “marginally” I mean by a c-nt’s hair), and he’s similarly quasi-sucky at right tackle this year. His suckiness is versatile, and we are not willing to spend the money and draft picks to replace him, so we will continue to watch him suck until Reese finds an eclair on one of the various trash heaps he scours year in and year out for players at positions he doesn’t deem worthy in his vaunted BPA equation.”
Now, you ASSumed that I was upset with you because of the way you treat David Diehl.
Wrong. David Diehl does not need me to defend him. He knows he’s on the decline (polite) and he knows he’ll be replaced and he doesn’t need somebody that still tosses off to his 8th grade yearbook to tell him that.
My issue with you is this little gem, ” so we will continue to watch him suck until Reese finds an eclair on one of the various trash heaps he scours year in and year out for players at positions he doesn’t deem worthy in his vaunted BPA equation.”
As if you know more about football than Jerry Reese. LMFAO at you.
And no, you did not bang my sister. None of my nieces or nephews are retarded.
I laughed.
And yes Jake Long is good. My fiancée and her family are Dolphins season ticket holders, so I see a lot of Dolphin football (unfortunately..). That team has sh*t-all for offense, but that OL is pretty damn good. Too bad their QB is garbage, their WRs are nonexistent and the recipient of most of their handoffs has had his c-ck inside of Kim Kardashian.
I think Miami would look to make a move like this because like you said they are bulding for the future. Plus Long just signed a big contract so they would get young talent and rid of a big contract. However, from our view point I wouldn’t make trade, not for a second. While having an elite LT would help, Beatty is good enough for what we need. Our OL is not going to become elite by one upgrade. In addition, there is no way we can afford to trade Prince. No matter what you think of Prince we do not have enough quality depth at CB to trade him. We saw what Tryon looked like and Coe is already banged up. Add to that you remove the ability to add a 2nd round pick next year which could help replace the likely starters we will lose after this season. Lastly, adding a big contract like Thomas’ would futher hurt our chances of locking up core players like JPP, Nicks, Cruz, KP, Joseph and new players like Bennett and Rivers.
I think hte core issue in this trade is that we would be trading too many assets to acquire a big contract and weaken an already weak position at CB. While still not solving the OL’s depth issues.
What makes any of you think Reese knows the first thing about drafting On-line talent?
It’s not like he’s ever done it.
Yeah I know the deal doesn’t work on both ends. Cleveland would need a first round pick, and we couldn’t afford to take all that money back.
Obviously getting a top tier LT doesn’t fix an OL that has more than one hole, but that position seems to be clearly the most difficult to fill, other than QB. An elite LT would go a long way to help stabilize our OL for now and the future.
Jake Long is interesting. I have to believe Miami would consider dealing him. Wonder what they’d ask for in return?
But again these are purely hypothetical, trades like this don’t happen in the NFL.
It’s almost impossible to pick NYG games. You never know which team is going to show up. The disinterested fatcats … or the hungry predators? Could be either. One is an easy win … one is a tough win or a loss.
Tampa is improving, but we should still crunch them. But then again we should have beat Dallas … but we couldn’t be bothered to prepare properly, get in shape, or play hard.
So who knows what Sunday will bring? Because we really don’t know who’s playing.
One thing I know is that going way back to his Kansas State days Freeman has never done well at all under pressure. Fewell doesn’t like to blitz but he should call plenty of them tomorrow.
Getting nervous now. Inferior visiting opponent and we’re coming off an embarrassing performance.
There’s absolutely no logical reason at all for the Giants to lose this game…unless of course we’re just not a very good football team.
We’ll be totally fine. I said it before, don’t care what the final score is, or how we look, as long as we win.