Giants Grab Two RBs

A Little Depth, or Something More?

Sideways blog today I guess.

With Andre Brown going down with a broken leg, Da'Rel Scott already on the IR, and D.J. Ware in Tampa, the Giants needed to add some depth. Even before the Brown injury, they were working out a group of veteran running backs just in case Bradshaw wasn't healthy enough to go, and good thing they did. Apparently, they have decided that Ryan Torain and Kregg Lumpkin. 

To be honest, I've never heard of Lumpkin. Interesting thing is, he played at Georgia and got hurt, making way for D.J. Ware. Lumpy has not played a down yet this season but during his 2 year time in Tampa he  had 33 carries for 124 yards and 45 receptions for 325 yards. Sounds like the guy can catch a few out of the backfield, always a good thing. Apparently will be used primarily as Brown's replacement in kick coverage unless something whacky happens.

Now Ryan Torain. I really liked Torain's running ability back in 2010 when he racked up 742 and 4 on 164 carries. Last year, he broke his hand in training camp and was never the same.  With Shanahan's system at running back, if you are not consistent you do not play, so he was a goner. I can see Torain getting those goal line touches that Andre was getting. There is no reason to bang a fragile back like Bradshaw down near the goal line if you don't have to. We have the Skins coming up Monday night, could Torain get some reps to show the Skins what they let go?

To make room, the Giants terminated the practice squad contract of running back Joe Martinek, and Selvish Capers was released. If Capers clears waivers, he'll probably rejoin the team on the practice squad.

Bottom line, Tom Coughlin has stated it's time for David Wilson to prove himself. I have an infatuation with speed and that is why I love Wilson so much. Just waiting for that big game.

NYG vs GB Recap

Big Win Comes With A Big Loss

Great win tonight. Defense played great, Eli was throwing darts all over the field, but we may have lost a key player for a while due to injury.

Andre Brown broke his fibula late in the game, Coughlin himself said the injury takes a lot from the win. The guy is an absolute workhorse out of the backfield. Perfect for goal line carries, barely ever goes down on first contact. His loss opens the door for David Wilson who got some reps at the end, garbage time no doubt, but nice to see him get reps.

Mentioned Rodgers being sacked the most out of any QB in the league going down 32 times this season, add another 5 onto that. The D-Line came to play tonight. The NASCAR package gave the GB line fits all night. Kiwi got in there multiple times, Rodgers was never settled in the pocket. Osi with the strip sack was huge. Saw a lot of press on the outside, Antrel being physical with Cobb all night in the slot.

That 3 safety look was nice as well. saw some 4 safety looks with Hill in there with the core 3. Knew Fewell would take advantage of this extra week. Kenny has a bruised meniscus on that same knee that has been bothering him. However, he said he feels alright and would have gone back in if the game was closer.

Corey Webster gave up that huge play to Nelson in the beginning but after that seemed to be okay. I would be interested to see how many big plays he has given up this year, guy needs to be a lot more consistent.

No Clay Matthews in there helped greatly as Eli had all day to throw. No Woodson or Shields is practically an early Christmas gift for Eli and the gang. The Cruz drop in the beginning had me questioning his toughness yet again, footsteps seemed to have rattled him. After that though, he was the Cruz we know.

Nicks looked close to 100%. Some plays he could have put more effort into but 5 for 77 and 1 is just fine with me. 

Eli Manning, just slide man. I love to see the toughness out of a QB but we have seem time after time Eli fumbling trying to dive for extra yards. Lowering the shoulder is not Eli's forte. Huge night through the air though 249 and 3 looks like the Superbowl MVP Eli.

It's interesting, a fully healthy Bradshaw scores on that screen play.  But again, 58 and 1 is fine as long as the passing game is going. Brown with 64 and 1 will be greatly missed.

Coaches love Rueben Randle, and I have started to see why. Kid has got some skills out there. That hook he ran then broke a few tackles, a few jukes thrown in, fun to watch and will be huge down the stretch.

Again, with Eli having a clear head on his shoulders, and the defense playing up to their potential, this is a scary team. We can not get too cocky with this W though. We have RG3 next and he may be the scariest QB we play all year. Beat him the first time around, gotta do it again.

 PS - A fan fell out of the stands into the tunnel while the Giants were going to the locker room. Apparently the Black Unicorn caught him. Bennett is fine, fan was dragged out.

NYG vs GB Preview

Must Stop Angry Aaron

You gotta know that Rodgers is gonna come into Metlife all pissy about the NFC Championship Game last year. How bad they looked when receivers were dropping balls left and right. He's smelling blood in the awful secondary the Giants have. But that doesn't matter.

Osi is looking for more 3 step drops from AR12, and so am I. He doesn't want to get planted. How to counter this? Press. Press. Press. Fewell had a whole extra week to prepare for Rodgers. He has been sacked more times than any other QB this season (32). Reason for this? Not making stupid Eli mistakes and just taking the sack. Press coverage on the outside, send stunts, blitzes, anything to get him out of his comfort zone. Rodgers is also a duel threat, the guy can run around. Keeping him in the pocket is a huge deal as well.

Nice little stat: Rodgers in 2 regular season games vs Giants 773 passing yards, 8 TDs and 1 INT for 121.2 rating. 

Stop Randall Cobb is what everyone is saying, a threat as a receiver and returner. Jennings says hes ready to go, but who knows.  Watch out for Finley. Hes a great athlete and our linebackers are not the quickest especially since Jacquian is out AGAIN.

Our secondary is bad, and everyone knows it, but have you looked at the Packers secondary recently? The Packers defense is 21st against the pass (244.4 per game), and has given up 43 plays of 20 yards or more. Not to mention both Sam Shields, Charles Woodson, and Clay Matthews are all out. 

Is this finally the week Kenny Phillips comes back?  He's questionable as of right now. We need all the speed in the secondary that we can get. He not only brings skill, but emotion back to the group. Again, Fewell has had 2 weeks to put in a 3 or 4 safety look. 

Eli needs to stop with this time warp back to the beginning of his career. He has looked retarded recently. The increase in defensive pressure could attribute to this, but again just go down, take a sack. Nicks should be healthy with that extra rest. Cruz is a big play guy, and like I stated above, the Packers like to give those up. With Shields and Woodson out, it leaves the Pack with corners that are barely 6 feet tall, if that. Send in Ramses, the man is 6'6", throw em' high. 

Ahmad Bradshaw is still barely practicing. Still not helping him with timing for hitting holes. Still not helping the team. If the carries do not go at least 60-40 Browns way, there is a problem. Also think about this, what if the Giants bring out Wilson this week in some sort of different package. Like what the Dolphins did that year they brought out the Wildcat against the Pats. Not saying be that extreme with it, but give him a significant role.

Bottom line, the only way we win this game is if Eli has his head on straight. Good decisions, take your time, we get a victory, Giants always play up to their competition.

Bye Week

Oh How We Needed You

You know, normally I would be upset about having a bye week. No Giants football is usually one of the worst times of the year, but not this week. This team is in a skid. It is not just Eli, it's Cruz dropping balls, Bradshaw fumbling, Diehl letting defensive ends run through him like water. That's just the offense.  Defense is banged up. No Kenny. No Jacquian to cover the tight end. Corey Webster giving up on plays. Justin Tuck saying hes healthy but having a miserable year. Time to regroup.

Losing in November is the Giants forte. We start off strong, lose at least 2 of 4 games in the middle, and then have to finish on fire. Luckily, we have been blessed with the terrible play from the rest of the NFC East. Rest of the schedule looks like this (home games in bold) Packers, Skins, Saints, Falcons, Ravens, Eagles.

To be honest I am worried about every single one of those games. I would almost feel more comfortable with playing the Packers and the Saints away from home. The Giants love Lambeau, and with everyone against them in 'Nawlins, they would play strong. I'm afraid of the Falcons home or away. They want payback in a bad way after the Giants held them to 3 POINTS in last years playoff game. Big plays have killed the Giants all year and the Falcons have one of the best, if not THE BEST receiver duo in the league. Ravens have a banged up D. Ray Rice, and Torrey Smith are manageable. Eagles/Skins are divisional match ups. Anything goes, records and past results are thrown out the window.

We have this bye however to fix things. Tom has time to seriously think about starting Locklear over Diehl. 6 of the Giants 13 sacks given up this year have come since week 9 when they put Diehl back in the starting spot. Nicks has time to get to 100% which he has NOT been playing at. Fewell should be getting a healthy Kenny back and MAYBE a Jacquian. This gives him the ability to draft up that 3 safety look. When I was in a live chat with Jenny Ventras, the Giants beat writer for the Star-Ledger, she said that the secondary coach also hinted at a 4 safety look with Will Hill thrown on the field with Brown, Kenny, and Rolle. We need all the speed and coverage we can get against the Packers. Should be interesting to keep an eye on.

Do you remember Ahmad Bradshaw's rookie year? He started to play later on in the season, as a change of pace back. Completing the "Earth, Wind, Fire" trio. What also happened that year was a Super Bowl victory. I know the Giants just brought in a bunch of running backs to work out, but we have 2 good healthy backs on the roster already. Obviously Bradshaw is more hurt than what was coming across. Now going for tests on his neck. I have faith in this coaching staff to get David Wilson more involved in this offense, especially towards the end of the year. Fresh legs are always a good thing, especially with his speed.

Great time for a bye, and with news permitting, I'll talk to you next week before the Packers.

NYG vs CIN Recap

November Woes Continue

The Giants really love November. Not even gonna look up the numbers but they have had countless seasons under Coughlin starting off hot and doing miserable in the 4 middle games. 2 of those years have a Superbowl win at the end of them so I am not too worried about it.

There is one thing I am worried about though, the coaching staff. I know every year it seems people want Coughlin out, and that is not at all what I am asking. What I am asking, is for him to get his head out of his ass. David Diehl is a cancer to this team. I was specifically watching the right side and pressure was there all day. Eli continuously had to step up and be hit by Geno Atkins. 4 sacks is completely unacceptable, especially against the Bengals. 

Also David Wilson being in the game for 2 offensive snaps is ridiculous to me. I get we were down early but Bradshaw is not healthy, and is fumbling away great drives. For the love of god just sit him, decrease his snaps, something. Andre Brown is still running perfectly fine. Spell him with David Wilson and we will be alright. If you are worried about David Wilson's pass protection ability, then why the fuck are you starting Diehl? Pass protection and fumbling are the only things keeping Wilson off the field, but you start a running back who is not healthy and fumbling, and a right tackle that can't pass protect, smart Coughlin, real smart.

Kevin KillDrive just can not seem to figure it out. Not sure he ever will. These redzone catastrophes need to stop.  Great for Lawrence Tynes putting up career numbers but I am getting sick and fucking tired of field goals. Maybe that's why Bradshaw fumbled on the 15 or whatever it was. He's just tired of field goals too.

Wish I could have gotten the chance to write a preview for this game. I was reading about Gilbride eluding to a little no huddle. It looked a little sloppy to me anyway, but I liked the change of pace. 

Eli's decision making. He has stated that he has to just hold onto the ball and go down, but just saying something isn't worth shit to me or anyone else. Guy has all the talent in the world, showed it all last year. Slumps like this may separate the Eli from the Elite. He is starting to look like Eli in the beginning of his career. Not what we want to see in the second half of the season.

Victor Cruz is shaken. He is shaken from that hit against the Steelers. Ryan Clark said he was pulling up and whatever and it showed on the dropped TD this week. He definitely saw the defender closing in from his left side and got distracted. 8 drops this season? Pathetic. 

 Hixon high sprained ankle makes room for Ramses who made a couple of catches. Love to see Ramses on the field.

Fresh off of his suspension, Will Hill with the nice fumble recovery on the punt coverage. Actually had half the tackle, Chase came in with a big hit and somehow Will ripped the ball out from under the runner. Guy has great instincts.

It was so interesting to see AJ Green call out the secondary and proceed to shred them apart. I understand he scored on a blown coverage by Stevie Brown (he was supposed to be over top of Webster) but the secondary has to know the ball is coming to him, how can he still put up those numbers? My opinion is that he may be the best WR in the league. Get him a better quarterback and AJ Green's numbers would be even greater. Remember, the Bengals do not have another real threat to take eyes off of Green like a Julio Jones for Roddy White.

Kuhn tore his ACL, likely out for the season. Unfortunate to hear, great story, was clocking a lot of minutes. Let's see what the Giants do to replace his presence.

The Giants need the bye to regroup. Maybe it will bring health to everyone missing including Phillips and Jacquian Williams. If they come out flat against the Packers then all bets are off really. The Giants are known for playing up to their competition. Need a win in two weeks to get back on track.

NYG vs PIT Recap

Poor. Poor. Poor.

Apparently I didn't knock on enough wood. Mentioned in the preview that the Giants have never been 7-2 under Coughlin, and that streak stays alive with this miserable performance.

The softness of our run defense is an issue. I said it in the preseason, we just do not have a good run defense. Terrible tackling led to Redman looking like Jim Brown out there putting up 147 yards. Isaac Redman. Pathetic.

4 sacks by the defense. Would enjoy more, but that strip (and it was a strip) by Osi is the only reason we were in this game.

Kenny Phillips was a game time scratch so there was no 3 look safety that I was raving about. May have helped on that Wallace rumble that Rolle took a TERRIBLE angle on.

I was confused before the game, and I am confused now. David Diehl looked awful. Constant pressure from the right side. Legs still aren't under him, why put a man who is not fully back out there against the Steelers defense? Why can't you wait until the Bengals game? Terrible decision by Tom. Hope he isn't playing favorites.

Why isn't Ramses Barden playing? Randle and Eli are not there chemistry wise. You saw it on the fade route in the endzone with a miss timed jump, and you saw it on the back shoulder throw. Team is desperately struggling in the red zone. Throw a big bodied Barden in there and lay it up. It is absolutely ridiculous.

Ahmad Bradshaw 48 yards on 15 carries. Really? That's half of the average rushing yards given up by the Steelers per game this year. Take a rest. Apparently you need more than just not practicing all week long.

Cruz looked knocked out on that hit by Clark. Body was curled, there was serious whiplash. Could have been much worse, and a huge blow to this team. Officials were dead wrong calling a helmet to helmet. Maybe call a defenseless receiver if anything.

Need to realize how important Eli is to this team. When he is in a slump, the whole team suffers. People say our defense carries the team, take a look at Eli's numbers recently. The whole team is in a slump and Eli is the lead dog.

Herzlich looked lost at times. Missed a few tackles. Maybe a little winded? The man played 69 of 70 defensive snaps, add on 20 more special teams plays. Would LOVE to see Chase play that much and make plays.

 Special Teams killed us. With the exception of Coe reading the fake, and Weatherford making a great play to save a TD, the special teams could not stop anything. A team like the Steelers will take advantage of good field position all day.

 If Gilbride does not change up this offense I will shoot my TV. If viewers at home know what is coming, what does that mean for the professionals on the other side of the ball. Add something. Make a package for David Wilson to at least get him in space. Us fans are watching Doug Martin run all over defenses and we have Wilson sitting on the bench. We have a bye week after the Bengals game. Perfect time to put something in with the difficult schedule after.

Will Hill's suspension ended today. They have till next Monday to reactivate him. Tom Coughlin says maybe, but you have to think that he will be back.

NYG vs PIT Preview

Not Just A Game

Listen, it's not just a battle of the 2004 Draft Class elite. Not just a battle of the two most historic franchises in NFL history. It's a battle for victims of Hurricane Sandy. People, especially in the tri-state, need a distraction and the Giants (and maybe the Knicks) are the best distraction there is. Sports brings everyone together, takes their mind off what is going on around them, and puts them in a different world for 3 straight hours. Something that is desperately needed at a time like this. Players and fans alike were impacted.  Multiple players experienced flooding, forcing them to live with each other for a day or two. Bottom line, the game needs to be played, and needs to be played at MetLife. 

Biggest area of concern is getting to Big Ben and bringing him down. He is not only a good pocket passer, but a good passer on the run. He is probably the hardest QB to bring down in the league, but I think we have the size and strength to do it.  The Giants defense has 13 sacks over last 3 games. Starting with only 8 in the first 5, I say we are finally on the right track.

Dave Diehl taking back the right tackle spot, moving Locklear to jumbo tackle. For those who do not know what that means, the jumbo set comes in on short yardage situations. Putting the bigger guys in to run the ball. But the interesting part here is, the running game was most productive in the 3 games Diehl missed. They failed to crack 100 rushing in first two Diehl played and there was just one 100 yard game with Diehl as jumbo tackle. My stance is, if it isn't broke, don't break it. Locklear has been doing very well. But we shall see. 

Kenny Phillips is coming back, and here's what he had to say about Stevie Brown in his absence,

“In my mind, I’m thinking like, ‘If I was there, they probably wouldn’t have threw it. I don’t get that lucky.’ You know what I’m saying. But like I said, he’s making the plays and he’s catching the ball, so my hat’s off to him.’’

Interesting. Look for the 3 safety package this week. Brown is getting the start, Phillips is getting worked back in. Jacquian Williams was the guy that was supposed to be that 3rd safety/Bison Role, but he has not been healthy.

Tuck stated this week that the Steelers O-Line gets away with murder. I am sure every O-Line in the league gets away with murder, it is how the game is played these days. If he wants to add fuel to the fire, that's fine, but I'm getting annoyed with the Giants complaints. 

Troy Polamalu is out again for the Steelers which won't help them out with their 7 total takeaways this season. The Giants lead the league with 24. This alone will help. 

Mendenhall and Dwyer are both doubtful, which is good. Dwyer has had 229 rushing yards in the past 2 games. Issac Redman should get the start.

Again, Blackburn out, Herzlich will start. Time to prove me right Herzlich. Rivers is doubtful. Bradshaw should start once again despite not practicing ALL WEEK.

Knock on wood, but the Giants have never been 7-2 under Coughlin. Do not expect the Steelers to lay down like the Heat did last night at MSG even though they are flying in on game day. It should come down to late game heroics by Eli. He has not played well recently, and I hope to see he takes advantage of the Steelers defensive captain out of the game.