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The New York Giants fell to the Philadelphia Eagles 19-17 tonight at Lincoln Financial Field. Despite taking a 17-16 lead in the fourth quarter, the Giants defense was unable to stop Michael Vick and LeSean McCoy from driving down the field and putting the Eagles back up by a point. Eli Manning and Co. got the ball back with no time outs and under two minutes to play.
The Giants benefited from two pass interference calls on Nmamdi Asomugha at the end of the game to put them into field goal range. However, a pass interference call on Ramses Barden pushed Lawrence Tynes to 54 yards out. He missed on a potential game winning attempt, and the Giants lost the game.
Big Blue is now 2-2 on the season, with two divisional losses to the Dallas Cowboys and Philadelphia Eagles, respectively. The Giants will head back to MetLife Stadium next Sunday to take on the Cleveland Browns.
As always, we'll take a look at the good, mixed, and the bad from tonight's matchup.
Good
Kick/Punt Return Teams
David Wilson and the kick return team consistently set the Giants up with solid field position all night. Wilson averaged 36.2 yards on six kick returns, including a long of 53-yards. To a lesser extent, Rueben Randle was also impressive on punt returns. He wasn't as explosive as Wilson. However, he did return a punt for 18-yards in the first half.
The Giants were able to control the field position battle for much of the night. Although they were not able to capitalize on several of their opportunities, Big Blue's return teams did their jobs tonight and were almost the difference in the game.
Victor Cruz was being blanketed by a safety over the top all night. Eli Manning needed another receiver to step up, and Domenik Hixon came through in a big way. Hixon caught six passes for 114-yards. He created issues for the Philadelphia secondary for the majority of the night, which enabled Victor Cruz to get involved in the game in the latter stages.
In the absence of Hakeem Nicks, Domenik Hixon provided a spark to a Giants offense that looked stagnant in the early goings. It will be interesting to see how he is utilized when Nicks makes his way back into the lineup.
These two youngsters played well tonight, especially around the line of scrimmage. All the Giants can ask of two young, inexperienced players against a high-powered offense like the Eagles is to not make a costly mistake. Neither of these two were an issue on defense tonight. Hill put a few hits on Michael Vick, while Brown made an impressive open field tackle on LeSean McCoy.
If Kenny Phillips is out for an extended period of time, we're going to see a lot of these two in the coming weeks. Tonight was a promising start.
Mixed
Eli Manning
Eli had spotty protection from the offensive line for much of the night. Considering he was playing without his best receiver, Eli moved the ball well on a talented defense for the duration of the second half. Manning completed 24 of 42 passes and threw for 309 yards and two touchdowns on the night.
However, Eli is in the mixed category for a crushing interception he threw to Eagle's cornerback Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie. With the Giants well into the Philadelphia red zone, Manning threw a devastating interception that led to an Eagles field goal. It was a six-point swing that made the difference between the Giants winning and losing this matchup.
Defensive Line
The Giants had consistent pressure on Michael Vick for the duration of the night. Jason Pierre-Paul was all over the field, and Micahel Vick was hit repeatedly throughout the game. With that, the Giants held LeSean McCoy to just two rushing yards in the first half.
However, McCoy ran wild over Big Blue in the last two quarters, which opened up the Eagles offense. Philadelphia's star running back finished with 123 yards on the ground, almost all of which came in the second half.
The Giants were unable to create a push at the point of attack against the run, and lost contain on several occasions. The Giants defensive line showed potential tonight, but there are some things that defensive coordinator Perry Fewell must clean up before next weekend.
This is generous. Webster made a few plays on the ball tonight, so he creeped his way into the mixed category. However, he was no match for Desean Jackson for most of the game. Jackson had six receptions for 99-yards, almost all of which came on Corey Webster's watch. With that, Webster was toasted by Jackson on a 19-yard touchdown pass at the end of the second quarter.
Just an observation on Webster, is that he is more concerned about what the quarterback is doing than the guy he is guarding. Tonight, instead of making sure he was staying with the speedy DeSean Jackson, Webster was caught looking back at Michael Vick. By the time he got his head around, Jackson was wide open on the corner of the end zone. Webster had the same issues with Vincent Jackson in Week two.
If Webster learns to read the eyes of the receiver and stops quarterback watching, he could rebound to have a decent season. Until then, we are going to continue watching the Giants supposed number one cornerback emerge as a defensive liability on a weekly basis.
Bad
Offensive Line
The Giants could not block the Eagles front-four defensive linemen tonight. Offensive tackles Will Beatty and Sean Locklear were both called for holding penalties on one or more occasions. Eli Manning was under pressure for the entire night, which derailed nearly every first half drive for the Giants.
Offensive coordinator Kevin Gilbride eventually gave this unit help by leaving Martellus Bennett in to block on several passing plays, as well as keeping running backs in the pocket for added protection. However, it was clear tonight that the Giants nearly flawless protection in Week three was due to poor competition, not a marked improvement.
Chase Blackburn
Blackburn was a nightmare to watch in coverage for most of the night. He made some plays against the Eagles rushing attack in the first half. However, Blackburn lost Eagles tight end Brent Celek over the middle of the field on more than one occasion.
Blackburn's lack of overall athleticism showed tonight. He was a liability on defense, and must improve if he wants to hold onto his starting spot in the near future.
Kenny Phillips Injury
The Giants secondary was already short handed without Jayron Hosley, and it suffered another blow tonight. Kenny Phillips suffered an apparent right knee injury early in the contest. Stevie Brown came into do a decent job in his absence. However, Phillips is a vital aspect of the Giants defense and needs to be on the field for this unit to operate at full strength. This is a situation to keep a close eye on as more news emerges in the coming days.
Wrap-Up
The Giants have suffered two divisional losses that may come back to haunt them in tiebreaker scenarios at the end of the season. However, it's important to keep tonight in perspective.
The Giants played a press coverage defense without their most physical receiver on the field. Hakeem Nicks was sorely missed tonight, and it likely cost the Giants points that could have made the difference in the game. The team lost a hard fought battle to a good football team on the road, without their best receiver. With that, they came about three or four yards short of winning on a Lawrence Tynes field goal.
It's not time to panic yet. That said, it's important that Big Blue comes out and takes care of business at home next week.
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Whatever. Anyone who’s followed this team for any length of time knew what to expect. They play tight, scared, and tentative against the Eagles. Both teams know that in crucial situations we’ll crack and hand them the game. We’re not 1-8 by accident. We expect to lose … so we find ways to make that happen. I have no idea how we turn this around.
Reese might try drafting a center, and swing T/G players who are actually not VJJ’s and hopefully from the first second or third rounds.
He can then turn his attention to linebacker defensive and/or corner.
Either way the O-line has to be stocked with actual NFL quality players.
The defense needs a three down MIKE linebacker. Draft position between rounds 1 thru 4 please.
That’s about the only turnaround this squad is going to see any time soon.
Too many scrubs along the offensive line. Two former All Pro DE’s are now scurbs without question.
Dont make the same mistake that has already stricken the O-line, get rid of Osi and Tuck and play the kids. The season is dead now anyway. But the positions named above are now talentless. That’s all folks. Draft some kids and get ready for another run in 2014. This dog aint barking.
Seriously, this season is far from dead. The Cowboys are far from spectacular and we have Philly at home next time. We win those two games that our losses are a wash. I’m as frustrated as anyone about the loss but I would like to think that if we have learned anything it is that the season is nowhere near over at this point. It’s not like we are 0-4.
Step back from the ledge.
No. You’re right … it’s along season. But we have a brutal schedule. And now we’ve given away two wins to inferior teams … both within our Division.
We’re not dead, but we’re not in a good spot. We’ve dug a nasty hole for ourselves, and it’s going to be a long climb out.
I doubt we’re winning the Division now, so that means Wildcard. To do that we probably need 10 wins since we’re down in the tiebreaker already. Doing the math with 12 games left we need 8. If you look at the schedule it’s damn hard to name those 8 games we’re definitely winning.
Given the level of D-line, linebacker and DB play within the next four games, this team will be 3 and 5. Book it.
And Cleveland will not be easy for this crew as presently constituted.
Tgowen, i respect your view. However, I’ve seen this act before…..many many times. The faces change but the stink is unmistakable.
After Cleveland, the only other win on the schedule is one of the dead skin games. And Nicks wont help especially if Eli is on his back, concused or suffers a joint (shoulder/knee) injury due to being hit.
The good news is the draft choices will be high.
I know what you are saying. The way this team has been playing they certainly have the makeup of a 6-10 type of season. I just know that I have seen this play out many times as well and that it doesn’t always end in disaster. I will admit though, the thing that scares me most about this season is the injuries. I feel like Ncks will again be battling it all season, Bradshaw has always had problems and I have my doubts that Brown can consistently bail us out and the defense can only survive so much before they break. Time will tell though.
Is Kenny’s knee the same one he had surgery on?
No
That’s actually good.
I would add to the “mixed” reviews, A. Bradshaw. Once again he seemed to hit holes where yards could be had but danced to one side or the other only to be brought down for 3 or less. The Giants need to start seriously working Wilson into the offense.
I would also give a mixed review to Kevin gilbride. As I wrote last night just before I headed up to a restless night’s sleep, that last series I pin on him. On first and 10 from the Eagle 29 following the second Eagle PI call, he runs a draw with Bradshaw with something like 45 seconds to go. From the 26 he calls the end zone pass to Barden that draws the offensive PI
Why call that play?
why not run again and then force Philly to use a time out ( and if they don’t spike the ball on 3d down). Bradshaw gets 0-3 yards on the second run and Tynes is kicking from the 40. Then on third down we could have rolled out and tried a 5+ yard sideline pass that either gets caught or is thrown harmlessly out of bounds.
Overall I think this game comes down to 2 things.
1. The Eli pick was brutal. Just a brutal play that took the air out of the sails. Eli will always be our hero, but that doesn’t mean he is invincible.
2. Osi played out of control. Way too many times did he lose contain or focus. He won’t get as much grief as Eli, but in my mind he certainly deserves it. He seemed to let his emotions get the best of him and it cost us.
In the end it is just one game, but a game we certainly should have and could have won which makes it tough to swallow. Time to move on and beat down Cleveland before we head into a stretch that could make or break our season before the BYE.
This is simply the particular manner they chose to choke. Had things unfolded differently they’d have choked in a different way. But they’d have still choked.
Two Superbowls … as a team and an organization we have no complaints … but when they take the field against the Birds they’re scared silly. They gap … they fold … they pi$$ themselves in fear. Players … and coaches alike. And until they get over that we’re not getting over the Eagles. We’re still their b-tch.
“It was not a good throw by me,” Manning said. “I put Ramses in a bad position. He’s trying to make sure the DB doesn’t intercept it.”
Those wearing Eli colored glasses will continue to say “what else is he supposed to say?”. Except that he articulated EXACTLY what happened on the play.
The end game was so completely botched that it’s mind blowing:
1. Not calling time out at 2:20, letting :20 tick off the clock knowing you’d need to score.
2. The stupid draw play mentioned above by Jim.
3. Not having faith in your FG kicker to make a 43 yarder (when he’d connected on all his kicks to that point of the season).
4. Throwing a contested ball to an inexperienced receiver covered by the other team’s best corner.
4a. Forgetting that an offensive penalty can happen on any play and not being careful to say put a blocker on an island who might have to take a penalty to prevent a sack or throw any contested ball anywhere.
5. If having no faith, not attacking the center of the field on 2nd down, with ~15 seconds being plenty of time to spike and kick on 4th
6. Paying a kicker who can’t reach the crossbar from 53.
Playing scared freezes your brain.
yup, yup and 5 more yups
Gilbride gets the goat
but I have to say, we at least got a glimpse of what David Wilson will become
that was exciting
Hixon played much better than I expected, although there was one first half drop that I am sure Nicks would have hauled in because it was a muscle play
Eli still shows that one awful play does not derail him
but what is going on with the defense?
is Canty really that pivotal? It sure looks like it
and what’s the deal with the LB’s
it looks like pre-2011 again
Tuck and Osi are not flashing right now
and yes, Tynes is a very limited kicker
Oh, and how does a quarterback go 3 quarters untouched by the highest sacking defense in football as of late AND throw for 300 plus if the OL isn’t doing a few things out there.
No surprise they couldn’t run though, since, you know, Bradshaw’s tank hit E in 2010. We learned that 2 weeks ago, but forgot. So of course he got the lion’s share of carries.
Lion’s share?
Brown ran the ball exactly 3 times
that hardly counts as any share
Just a few things is all they can do right. They are very limited (OL). Bradshaw playing is simply the result of Caughlin being loyal, and Wilson not being ready to block DE’s and LB’s.
As for sacking Eli, hell they did’nt have to. All they had to do was rush him and cover Cruz. Bennett could not be sent on pass patterns because without him, there was no one to do any pass blocking at all.
The OL sucks, the DL sucks the LB (MIKE) sucks the corners suck.
If the OL is even NFL average, they would have been ablee to run the ball and not throw deep on 3rd and five. No talent and stupid leadership = 6-10 season
Maybe worse.
I don’t see 6-10 just yet
without a lot of imagination one can visualize wins at Cleveland, Cincinnati, Washington 2x, Dallas, Atlanta and Pittsburgh. By the time we play NO, they may be so far out of it that we roll them.
so all is not lost. We just need to pick ourselves up and put away Cleveland and then figure out a way to beat SF.
Do that and all will be right
rlhjr,
I know the loss sucked, but you gotta take a step back. They can do more than a few things well.
Eli’s on pace for 5,280 yards. And that’s half without Nicks. (Take Andre Johnson away from Houston or Calvin Johnson away from Detroit and report back) They’ve proven they can run when Bradshaw’s on the bench. The offensive line simply wasn’t bad as some think after the first few drives (you mean to tell me we used TEs to help block, as if we’ve never done anything but send 5 out in patterns against that front? C’mon).
The defense surrendered 1 TD. The Giants usually win games they hold opponents to less than 20. So McCoy and Jackson made a couple of plays. Turns out those guys on the other side of the field are good too.
Lost by 2 points in a game where the potential game winning kick just fell short. Relax.
I didn’t think the defense played horribly. Held them at bay the 1st half. Held them to 1 TD in 5 red zone trips. Held an explosive offense to 19 on their field. That one drive where McCoy had two long runs was pretty frustrating the lack of contain on the defensive left. And I could be wrong but I feel like on the Jackson TD Webster took away the inside slant/post thinking Rolle would take the outside, but I could be wrong. Osi had a couple of contain issues, but if I recall, isn’t the Fewell “blueprint” to force Vick to his right?
All told, not bad. I’d say mixed.
Also, some of the haters better start realizing that Prince is the real deal.
one minor disappointment thus far this season is that Randal does not appear anywhere near ready; which makes one ask, when is Jernigan going to open a Chucky’s cheese with sinorice Moss?
Pretty sure I told everyone around here all week that G101 as a whole was under estimating the Talent on the Eagles and the way they bring their game up to play us… That team is built to beat the NYG. Every draft pick they make, every free agent they sign and every coach they hire is about beating us and winning the NFC East. Unfortunately for them they are not built to win it all and are not built for January football. I said 100 times I had a bad feeling and hated plying this team. Their DLine gets more pressure on Eli with a 4 man rush than any team in the NFL does. Their pair of very solid corners allows them to have LB’s play underneath and cover the flats, killing any short passing game. Their safeties can play deep to take away the big play or come up to help with the run when we get that gging.
On Offense LEsean McCoy is our DLines Kryptonite. His cut backs take advantage of our speed and aggressiveness. His speed also exposes Lead Foot Blackburn for the liability that he is. DJax is a coverage nightmare for the artist formerly known as Corey Webster.
All that said, with a healthy Nicks, Canty and Phillips we are a better more talented team then they are. This is why we have won 2 Lombardis and they have fallen short every year. I honestly would only give them the edge at RB, MLB and CB. We are better at QB, WR, OL, DL, S, TE and HC.
plus, we still should have won that game
we were at their 26 with a 2d and 7
no reason to go for the end zone there
they should have run up the middle, spiked the ball, kicked the FG and gone home victorious
that’s on gilbride
It’s hard to think straight with pee running down the inside of your legs.
+1000
There’s far too much negativity around here. rlhjr needs to take one of Justin Tuck’s Zolofts because his vaginating is absurd! We are far from perfect, but you take away that awful play at the end, and we’re 3-1.
Their DL is superb, far better than ours, which is also very very good. Their LBs went from embarrassment last year to source of strength. And while our OL played decently, they were up against the best front 7 in the NFL, and were forced to deal with Bradshaw’s craptastic running and nothing else. Of course, perhaps if Wilson gets to run the ball a few times, he might have taken advantage of their DL’s speed and aggressiveness with his own cutbacks.
All in all, if we have Canty and Nicks, we win the game handily. Without them, we were 1 moronic play away.
Much as I hate to say it … the season is long and demo is right. We’ll get better as the year rolls along. That’s our trick … that’s what we do.
But there’s definitely danger signs. Bradshaw seems punched out. Luckily there’s help in the wings there. But Tuck and Osi are not looking good either. We do need Canty back. Blackburn is a depth player and should not be sniffing a starting role. On the whole I feel our defense is over-rated. Only JPP … Boley to some extent … scare anyone. They’re very good … but we shouldn’t confuse them with the Big Blue Wrecking Crew of the 80′s. They can’t take over a game.
Kujo- Your boy RHFLGHYR always posts nonsense. I’m just glad he’s posting it in under 1000 words now.
LOL! I still think he should just go ahead and change his named to TL;DR to save all of us some time.
I started a tradition many years ago. I have a pretty big collection of NYG casual/mock neck and Polo shirts. I ware them with anything from slacks and sport jackets, the jeans and boots.
More to the point I make sure I ware one of those clothing items the day after the Giants “LOOSE” a game. No matter how close, no matter how bad, no matter how inane. This lets all my office mates that I don’t ride wagons when in vogue. I started on the wagon, and I’ve never left not for one second.
It’s real easy to be a fan when you’re celebrating a win. It’s another story entirely when enduring a loss.
That does not reserve for me the rite to be ultra critical of my team just because. I am critical because I don’t now or never have measured them against “scrub” teams. I always picture the Giants performing against the best.
No, I measure them against the best of the best. Always have, always will.
So when you hear (read) me being critical, it because I understand that whatever the performance level is, it’s not enough to stand against the gold standard of the league.
My prognostications and observations about their play and draft choices are base on that. Do I think I know as much as the Giants brain trust? “Sometimes” Do I know NFL caliber talent when I see it? On occasion yes. Am I better than Jerry Reese or coach Coughlin knowing about the in and outs of the NFL and the New York Giants? I certainly hope not.
You see you can call me an a$$. You can call me critical. You can even call me a jerk. But you run serious risk of a deviated septum calling me a traitor, or band wagon rider face to face.
I just call them like I see them. Doesn’t mean I’m always right. And it sure as hell doesn’t mean I’m wrong.
What’s important for you all to know is I ware Giants colors when they lose to remind myself and others the extent of my love for my team. Of course one look at the rear window on my Truck would tell the tale in full. Just add Yankee decals and a North Carolina license plate and that’s all you need to know.