At this point, it’s getting a little repetitive, but it’s worth saying again: Another week, and yet another statement.  Has there ever been a better time to be a Giants fan?  It seems like nearly every week, we severely outplay the opposition.  When we don’t catch breaks and we’re playing a good team – Eagles game, Steelers game – we win gut-it-out games that prove our character.  When we do catch breaks like we did yesterday, we blow teams out.

I. The Running Game

Not only does this team win convincingly every week, they win in the most enjoyable way possible: by dominating the line of scrimmage and ripping off big chucks of yards on the ground.  If there is a signature image of the 2008 New York Giants, it is Brandon Jacobs turning the corner with a head of steam, his stride kicking into full gear as the crowd noise rises around him before blowing past flimsy arm tackles on his way to a big gain.

Jacobs left the game with what he and Tom Coughlin described as a “sore knee” – he will have a precautionary MRI today and people are saying it’s not serious, but this is obviously cause for concern until he’s officially out of the woods.  But even without him, the train kept right on rolling yesterday.  On the first series Jacobs sat out, Ward came in and accumulated 50 total yards rushing and receiving, setting up our third touchdown in our first three series’ that pretty much ended the suspense right there.

And as he does every week, Ahmad managed to do something impressive late in the game, even when everyone knew a run was coming.  His 77-yard burst – during which he devastatingly cut back on a slightly out of position Ray Lewis – was his most remarkable run this year.

By now, we’ve probably all heard the numbers: the G-Men rushed for 207 yards against what was by far the best run defense in the league.  This makes it five times in 10 games that we have surpassed the double-centch.  What this means is that the Giants turn in a rare rushing performance half the time; there is as good a chance the Giants will thoroughly dominate on the ground as not.  I don’t mean to sound hyperbolic here, but we are witnessing something very special.

With any good running game, the temptation is to parcel out credit on an either/or basis.  Is it the O-line, or is it the running backs?  But this is a false choice in our case, because I firmly believe it’s both. 

I have been hard on Jacobs in the past, but it’s time I own up to the fact that I was very wrong: Jacobs is fucking amazing.  As my brother said, watching him is like watching an Earl Campbell highlight film.  But I think it’s important to note that, even more than other backs, Jacobs talents are brought out by the dominance of his O-line.  While Jacobs has improved dramatically at maneuvering in tight spaces, he is most dangerous at the second level, when his stride kicks in and he starts running downhill.  When he gets a head of steam, there is nobody in the game better.  I don’t mean this to sound like a backhanded complement, but Jacobs and our line are perfect complements for each other.

As for Ward, he has no weaknesses in his game, and is an excellent player by virtue of being good in every phase: He runs hard between the tackles; he blocks well – he had one very nice blitz pick-up on the first series on Eli’s 21-yard throw to Plax; he’s a very good receiver; and he’s good on the edge and in the open field.

And then there’s Ahmad, who flies through holes.  The following comparison only goes so far, but doesn’t Ahmad display an aptitude similar to that of Tiki’s when it comes to timing his cuts through holes?

The other piece of our running game, the O-line, has been getting its due on this blog and the mainstream media as the best in the game.  The other week, I used Football Outsiders stats to support this point, and I’ll do it again: The Giants line ranks first in the league in Adjusted Line Yards (run blocking) and seventh in Adjusted Sack Rate (pass blocking).  Only Denver (third and sixth, respectively) is close to being excellent in both categories.

(The only not-so-great area in terms of our running game is short-yardage and goal-line situations, what Football Outsiders terms “Power” situations, in which the Giants rank 22nd in the league.  This may be due to their overuse of Jacobs in those situations.  His size notwithstanding, Jacobs is not a great short-yardage runner.  You know who is though, size also notwithstanding?  Ahmad.)

II. Eli

Thanks to the running game, we were able to dominate on offense on a day when our passing game wasn’t clicking on all cylinders.  Eli’s day was not bad, but less than stellar: he went 13 of 23 for 153 yards (6.7 yards per attempt) with a touchdown and one interception that, save for another smart Coughlin challenge, easily could have been two (I’m not counting the one on that tipped ball to Plax that was nullified by the offsides penalty because that wasn’t Eli’s fault).

But really, this game was pretty much over at 20-0.  And during the time where we accumulated the lead, Eli was sharp, going 7 for 10 for 82 yards and a touchdown, an integral part of our awesome offense that put the game away early.  (Another mitigating factor yesterday was the wind, which effected at least a couple of his throws.)

Still, we can’t get around the fact that Eli hasn’t been great in recent weeks.  I wouldn’t say he has been bad, only that he can be better.  See?  There’s room for improvement on this team after all, and that should be a scary thought for the rest of the league.

One very noticeable thing about Eli this year is how comfortable he is in the pocket, which I think owes to both his experience and our improved pass-blocking.  Where he used to back off and throw off his heels, he now displays great presence of mind in the pocket, deftly stepping up into empty areas to buy himself that extra moment to throw.  This ability was most evident on his first completion of the game, that 21-yard out to Plax near the sideline.

So even though he’s not putting up such great numbers, you don’t get the sense that Eli’s confidence is the least the least bit shaken.  He is still inconsistent with his throws and still makes some stupid mistakes, but we’re long removed from the whipped-dog days when you could see in his face that he was rattled and would be useless for the whole game.

Ok, lots more to talk about, but I have to cut it off for now…  I’ll be back later in the day with more thoughts.

A deeply satisfying win.  Once again, just when you thought you couldn’t be any higher on this team, they manage to impress you.

This game reminded me of the Pittsburgh game in that going into each contest, many people predicted us to lose.  The rationale was that we can’t win ‘em all, and since we have to drop some games, these wouldn’t be such bad losses.

Both performances attest to the hunger of this team to defend its title.  In both games, we showed early that we were the superior team (in the Eagles game, a 244 to 126 advantage in yards in the first half), but were unable to convert this play-by-play dominance into a commensurate advantage on the scoreboard (only a 20-17 lead).

And when both the Steelers and Eagles scored third quarter touchdowns to take the lead, it looked as if we had squandered our best stretch of ball and were positioned to lose a game we should have won.  But in both games, we persevered and resumed our dominance.

This team has heart.

I. Colonel Tom

Maybe today’s game will go down as the moment when we officially embraced Colonel Tom.  We all know what I’m talking about: the challenge on Eli’s pass to Boss that set up Jacobs’ touchdown to put us up 27-24.  That was the biggest play of the game.

Michaels and Madden were all over it: Tom has the best challenge percentage in league history (granted, the challenge rule dates back only to 2004).  But what does this tell you about Tom?  Sure, I have my gripes with him, mostly centered around his under-utilization of Ahmad.  But we have a great coach, and we should be grateful.  A lot of Giants fans, including me, were wrong about him.  Tom Coughlin is a winner.

As opposed to, say, Andy Reid.  Thank you, Andy, for the clock management at the end of the first half that cost your team four points, the senseless challenges that spent the Eagles’ remaining time outs, not running a play before the two-minute warning because McNabb was tired (awwwww), and the consecutive running plays on the last series. 

And you wonder why Eagles fans are so bitter?

II. The O-Line

Brandon Jacobs was NBC’s “Horse Trailer Player of the Game,” or whatever they call it, and Jacobs deserves props.  He ran really well, gaining 117 yards at 5.7 per (although his three fumbles, only one of which counted, detract significantly from his outing).

But we all know where this game was won: In the trenches, with the best offensive line in the league.  The Eagles came into the game with the third best rush defense in the league, with an outstanding -18.6% DVOA.  No problem.  Our boys up front paved the way for the running backs to gain to 217 yards on a cool 4.9 yards per carry.

The running game was the foundation of our attack that put up 36 points and notched 401 total yards on one of the best defenses in the league.  As for pass protection, Eli was only sacked once against a defense known for its ability to bring pressure. 

Nothing new here, but our O-line is the foundation for our success, probably the biggest a reason to be confident against any team in the NFL going forward.

So let’s honor these guys by name: Dave Diehl, Rich Seubert, Shaun O’Hara, Chris Snee, and Kareem McKenzie.  Once again, the game ball goes to you.

III. Fumblitis

Over the past few games, we’ve seen Jacobs be increasingly reckless with the ball, so I can’t say I was all that surprised about tonight’s three fumbles (again, only one of which actually counted, but still).  Add in the rare Ward fumble at the most inopportune time, along with another unconscionable fumble by Ahmad, and we have something to worry about here.

If Andy Reid and Donovan McNabb weren’t Andy Reid and Donovan McNabb, we might be blaming the fumbles for costing us a game in which we were clearly the better team.

Fortunately, we got away with it, but this is worrisome and has to stop.  Maybe we can bring back Tiki Barber as a guest lecturer on recovering from fumblitis.

IV. Special Teams

Save for the Quinton Demps fumble, we got killed in this area during the first half.  To our credit, we responded in the second half, but this still has to be considered an area of concern.

I can’t figure out why kickoff coverage has been a sporadic vulnerability for us over the past couple of years.  If the Jerry Reese Giants are characterized by anything, it is their athleticism on the roster from top to bottom.  This would seem to be a team ideally suited to field good special teams.

By the way, Tynes has to be the worst kickoff specialist in league history.  His kickoffs are probably better than Carney’s, but really, what’s the point or carrying him and not an actual kickoff specialist.  Are there any of these guys out there?  Because when it comes for field goals, I think Carney’s proven enough.  He has to be our guy going forward.)

Also, it was nice to see Hixon break one today – that call on Johnson was bullshit.  After the Seahawks game, that guy has been somewhat slept on, but he reminded us again what an asset he is.

Big ups on special teams also go to Ahmad, who made two great sticks on kickoffs.  Speaking of special teams…

V. Chase Blackburn

A crucial fumble recovery in the first quarter and then the game-clinching stop of Westbrook, along with a nice tackle on a kickoff.  He started at weakside linebacker today and should stay there for the rest of the season.  As I said last week, this guy needs to be on the field.

VI. Corey Webster

Yes, he got beaten by DeSean Jackson on that last scoring drive, but aside from that, I’m pretty sure this was a blemishless performance.  People talk about how much this guy has improved, but that’s a backhanded way getting at how good he is.  Sure, Corey Webster is the 2008 Most Improved Player.  But he’s also one of the best cornerbacks in the game.  In the NFL, it always takes time for a guy’s reputation to catch up to his production.  In the postseason, look for announcers to be making this point: Corey Webster is a Pro Bowl caliber corner.

VII. Odds and Ends

–What happened to the end zone fade to Plax?  Surely it’s worth one play on a goal-to-go series.  If the Eagles can do it with Hank Basket on Aaron Ross, surely we can do it with Plax on Asante Samuel or Sheldon Brown.

–Antonio Pierce was getting abused in pass coverage by LJ Smith over the middle.  This seam pattern has been a consistent vulnerability for this defense.

–Madison Hedgecock needs to re-learn how to catch.  What is that, four passes in a row he has dropped?  I don’t get it: Last year he had pretty good hands.  It was a drop by Madison, along with an uncharacteristic drop by Ward (who’s a great receiver), which kept us from converting those two Eagles turnovers into 14 points.  This effectively allowed Philly to stay in the game.

–Mathias Kiwanuka made a nice play “setting the edge” on a Westbrook run, but lost contain on two other plays.  I’ve said this before: ‘Nuke needs to be more disciplined out there.

–Kevin Boss, the end zone drop notwithstanding, can play.

Right now, they see a wounded dog in the division, and they didn’t like the way the Cowboys came into this season basically anointing themselves Super Bowl Champions before the season began.  And, you know, they’re smelling blood and they’re gonna give it everything they’ve got.

–Troy Aikman

**

Wow, that was an awful Cowboys team we played today, and makes you wonder if things will be all that different when Romo comes back.  Aikman and Buck made this point a lot during the game, but quarterback play was only part of the problem.  What about stopping the run (we averaged 5.9 yards per carry), running the ball themselves (3.4 yards per carry), or protecting whoever is playing quarterback (4 sacks and tons of pressure)?

In the rubbing it in department, behold and enjoy the following G-Men quotes:

Plaxico Burress: “I mean, they had a star on their helmets so it was a Cowboy game to me.”

Justin Tuck: “They still had us outnumbered 10 Pro Bowlers to none, so I don’t see where all the sympathy is coming from.”

And even some words of wisdom from our favorite Cowboy shit-talking choke-artist, Patrick Crayton:  “In games like this against teams like this, if you don’t bring your A-game, you will get your ass whooped like we got our ass whooped tonight.”

It’s too early to write the Cowboys off, but making the playoffs would require quite the ill run.  It’s possible, and if they make that run, watch out come playoff time.  But they really have no room for error as they pursue the Wild Card.  At 5-4, they’re not catching us for the division.

Good God, that team is a mess.

**

But we’re not.  The 2008 New York Giants: Another week, another statement.

Ah, where to begin here?  Obviously the D, which allowed only one touchdown and 183 total yards, forced 4 turnovers, and was so dominant that even a downright bad performance by Eli didn’t get in the way of a blowout.

All three defensive units were nearly flawless.  We’ll start with the linebackers, who haven’t gotten much love this year.  Danny Clark made a team-high nine tackles and was generally all over the place, shooting gaps and making plays in space.  Is this guy rounding into Kawika Mitchell, redux? 

Chase Blackburn filled in for Brian Kehl – whose toe injury forced him to miss practice this week but isn’t serious – and did an admirable job.  This guy’s such a good player – even when Wilkinson comes back, wouldn’t you rather see Blackburn splitting those weakside snaps instead?  He needs to be on the field.

And Antonio Pierce made two big plays.  The first was when he stripped T.O. deep in our territory after Eli’s weird fumble.  The second was on the Cowboys second series, when he ran stride-for-stride with Jason Whitten down the seam and forced a perfect throw from Johnson that didn’t come.  Tony P has been assailed for his notoriously poor coverage of that seam route, so it’s only right to give credit where it’s due here.

Moving over to the D-line, Tuck was a force.  Coming into the season, we knew he was good, but it was still a question whether he would blossom into a truly elite player.  Eight games and six sacks in, that question is close to being definitely answered.

Tuck had the 2.5 sacks yesterday, but the guy I noticed the most, on a play-by-play basis, was Kiwanuka.  ‘Nuke was way too quick for Flozell Adams, and after being named the Defensive Player of the Week last week, he had his second excellent game in a row.  He only had one sack, but he routinely beat Flozell to the edge and forced Johnson/Bollinger to step up and get flustered.

It appears ‘Nuke is fully recovered from both the high-ankle injury from Week 1 and the leg injury from last year and is ready to explode into a full-fledged pass-rushing force.  I still think he plays too high and can be undisciplined against the run.  But he can straight-up abuse left tackles with below-average quickness, like Pittsburgh’s Max Starks and Flozell the Hotel.

As for the interior guys, I actually didn’t notice that much, but holding Marion Barber to 2.8 yards per carry speaks for itself.

Praise for the secondary begins with Corey Webster – or as Chris Berman calls him, The Dictionary – and his two picks.  The great thing about Webster’s first pick – the one he brought back to the Dallas 27 – was that it came right after that sideline circus-catch by Roy Williams.  Webster covered Williams very well on that play, but a perfect throw and a semi-miraculous catch beat him.  Such is the nature of playing cornerback or defense in any sport: If the offense executes perfectly, they’ll do what they want to do.  But the offense doesn’t always execute perfectly, which was apparent on the next play when Johnson badly overthrew T.O. and the ball sailed right to Webster, who provided great coverage for the second play in a row.  If you have a short memory and do your job play after play, you’re gonna get good results.  That’s how you play cornerback.

Let’s also use this opportunity to praise Webster’s season in general and how far he has come.  His improvement has been well-documented, but it bears repeating: he has evolved from a complete bust into a truly excellent player, though it will take a while for his reputation to catch up to the quality of his play (another Super Bowl ring will help, though).  I never thought I’d say this, but has Corey Webster become a guy you don’t want to challenge?  (And yes, he got beat by T.O. on that short touchdown.  But he had no help in the middle of the field because we brought a blitz.  Tough assignment.)

Then there’s Aaron Ross, who I didn’t notice in pass coverage (good thing) but who I did notice in run support (also a good thing).  Ross had 5 tackles including 3 solos – I continue to be impressed with the angles he takes and how surely he wraps up guys, usually by going low.  And for all those people who panicked so much after the Cleveland and San Francisco games?  I think you were overreacting.

Terrell Thomas started at nickelback and played well, making a big play when he separated T.O. from the ball on 3rd down on the Cowboys eventual scoring drive (The ‘Boys converted the 4th down on the next play.  Oh, and that touchdown drive was illegitimate anyway – that personal foul on Tuck for driving Bollinger into the ground was bullshit.).  Apparently the G-Men are very high on Thomas, and after today, we can see why.

After Thomas was injured on that play – I don’t know the status of that one – Sam Madison came in and provided excellent coverage of Roy Williams on an endzone fade.  At that moment, the following thought crossed my head: Holy shit we’re deep!

That goes for the safety position too, where James Butler headlined the action with his second athletic pick in two weeks.  Butler sprained his knee during the game, but he’s confident he will play in Philly next week.  James Butler… I think us fans are coming around.

Kenny Phillips and Michael Johnson chipped in with five tackles apiece, and another forgotten veteran, Sammy Knight, made five stops also, all of them solo.  Yep, we’re mad deep…

**

Offensively there was a lot to like too.

Obviously the running game, which ran for a clean 200 yards on 34 carries.  As always, the O-Line was the big star here.  Aikman – who, as loyal NYGMen commenter Dan pointed out, has gotten to know the Giants very, very well over the past few years – heaped his usual praise on the fatties up front.  At this point, there’s not too much more to say about them, other than to say definitively that they’re the best in the league.

I’ll once again avail myself of FootballOutsiders stats to prove my point: The G-Men rank third in adjusted line yards (run blocking) and second in adjusted sack rate.  No other team ranks nearly so well across the board.

As for the running backs, Jacobs bounced back from a rough game last week to average 6.9 yards per carry, including two Tiki-esque zig-zag runs in the second half.  He ran over guys and he juked guys out of their cleats.  He was terrific.

Derrick Ward was his usual super-competent self, a performance that included a number of key first downs.  Ward might be one of the most underrated players in football: how confident do you feel with the ball in his hands?

And Ahmad Bradshaw, stashed in the doghouse though he might be, turned in an impressive performance in his brief outing nonetheless.  That guy seems to rip off an awesome run every game.  (Here comes the weekly ritual: We need to get this guy more touches – it’s criminal how underutilized this resource is.)

As for the receivers, there’s Boss and his soft hands, Smith and his nose for the first-down marker, along with Amani and his solid awesomeness.  No receiver stuck out, but there was nothing to complain about.

Except maybe Plax, who dropped those two passes (including a touchdown), and had that miscommunication with Eli on Jenkins’ pick-six.  But while it wasn’t a good game for Plax, I can’t kill the guy. 

For one, the pick-six looked like it was Eli’s fault, at least judging by the body-language during the sideline conversation that was caught on camera.  On the play, Jenkins jumped the route, which probably called for Plax to break it off and run a streak.  Plax saw that, but Eli didn’t.  And wouldn’t that throw probably have been picked even if Plax ran did what Eli thought he was going to?

Secondly, Plax’s great blocking was on display during two key runs – Jacobs’ 31-yard run and Ward’s 17-yard touchdown run – on the touchdown drive that put us up 35-14.  (The awesome thing about that drive was that we answered the Cowboys’ scoring drive right then and there.)

So lay off Plax.  It was a rough game in a tumultuous season, but there’s much less to worry about than many people will have you believe.  He finally showed contrition this week and we’re 7-1 with an awesome passing game.  There’s no crisis.

**

So far, it has been almost all praise.  But now we get to Eli, who was pretty bad, no question about it.  To rehash, he went 16 for 27 (59%, not terrible) for a season-low 147 yards, averaging a sub-par, but also not awful, 5.4 yards per attempt (his career average is 6.4, and his 2008 average is 7.1).  The damaging things were his three turnovers, including an inexplicable fumble and the pick-six by Jenkins.

Today was Eli’s second truly bad game this year, the first being the Cleveland game.  But doesn’t it seem like there’s a difference between these games and the bad games he had in the past, when he looked completely shook out there?  In his bad games this year, he has looked a little reckless.  But I’m sure most Giants fans would prefer Eli to have a bad game due to this overconfidence rather than the underconfidence that characterized his bad games in the past.

A mitigating circumstance in all this was the Cowboys’ solid pass rush, which was really the only facet in which they were remotely successful.  And look at it this way: How ridiculous is it that we beat the shit out of the Cowboys when Eli had a bad game?

**

Other negatives were the kickoffs and the kickoff return game.  On the kickoffs, Carney’s boots have reached a critical point.  The problem is that we shouldn’t part with him as a field goal kicker – a kicker having an automatic season must be respected.

So it looks like we’re gonna have to carry two kickers.  Yes, this seems absurd considering Tynes’ kicks are no great shakes, but it’s honestly the best thing we can do.  Let’s just not dress Rueben Droughns and be done with it.

And on kickoff returns, doesn’t it always seem like the wedge doesn’t get up-field enough for Bradshaw, which causes Ahmad to slow down and tip-toe into it?  This has been going on all year – it prevents Bradshaw from exploding through a hole for a big return.  There aren’t many areas in which this team to improve, but it shouldn’t be too hard to get a lot better in these facets.

What an awesome win, and what an example of the resiliency of that has become the hallmark of our New York Football G-Men.  I can’t think of an attribute I’d rather my team have – since we turned the corner late last year, the Giants have developed an ability to overcome shit, to get up and fight back from things that would fall lesser teams and lesser men.

The big thing we had to overcome yesterday was the officiating.  Normally, I refrain from bitching about the refs, but yesterday was unique: I can’t remember a game in which so many key calls were blown, so egregiously, against us.

–We’ll start with the fourth down goal line play on which Jacobs was stuffed.  1) That was a touchdown – he clearly pierced the plane; and 2) The challenge that preceded that play, while validly overruling the initial touchdown call, led to the refs spotting the ball about a foot further back from the goal line than they should have.  It was a shockingly careless spot, and it cost us.

–That ridiculous personal foul called on Kenny Phillips.  Aikman – who is amazing, by the way – was all over this one.  On that play, Mewelde Moore was bobbling the ball and Phillips led with his shoulder.  There was absolutely nothing dirty or unnecessary about what Phillips did.

The NFL has gotten so protective of players’ health that refs break out the flag at the mere sight of a big hit, as if automatically means that the rules were broken.  But as my brother said at the time, “I’m sorry that Big Ben exposed [Moore], but that’s not our fault.”

–There were two extremely visible holds by Steelers d-backs that weren’t called.  On of them was in the third quarter, when Smith, who would have been wide open on a flag pattern, was slowed up when a Steeler tugged his jersey.  This led to an incompletion on a key third down pass Smith probably should have caught anyway (not a great game for my man yesterday…). 

But the refs miss those calls occasionally, so you don’t get too bent out shape over one of them.  Until later in the game, when they missed an even more obvious hold on Plax on a fade play that probably cost us a touchdown.

**

Ok, let’s get to the players.

I haven’t reviewed the tape yet, but the obvious game ball goes to the swarming pass rush, which sacked Big Ben five times and knocked him down 16 times.  Remember after the Browns game when our pass rush was a huge question mark?  That seems like a long time ago now.

Again I haven’t looked at the tape so it’s hard to tell, but my sense is that we didn’t blitz very often and much of the pressure was generated by the front four.  Certainly the sacks themselves – three by ‘Nuke, one by Tuck, and one by Tollefson – went to our D-linemen, so good job, boys.

It was also nice to see us get those four picks, although two of them were on fourth down in bat-down situations.  But along with our pass rush, our seeming inability to create turnovers had threatened to become a disturbing trend.  Hopefully there’s nothing to worry about in both respects, Charlie.

Offensively, the game-ball goes to the O-line.  Although the run-blocking was uncharacteristically poor, the pass protection more than made up for it.  The Steelers have a nasty pass rush and Eli wasn’t sacked once.  Awesome job, fatties.

Eli also deserves credit.  No, it wasn’t his best game, but it was a winning performance that should make us even more confident going forward.  19 for 32 for 199 yards doesn’t sound great, but don’t forget those two drops each by Hedgecock (on short passes) and Smith (on the flag pattern described above and a deep post on which, although he got crushed, he probably should have secured the catch).

Eli also saved his best pass for the most important moment, that fourth and 6 to Amani that set up the field goal that pulled us to 14-12.  Speaking of Amani, a special game-ball goes to him: Once you saw that the open man downfield was Amani, did you not 75% more confident at that moment?  What a fine receiver and a great all-time Giant.

**

On the downside, yesterday’s game was a clear example of the coaching staff’s forcing the issue with Jacobs, particularly in short-yardage situations.  Just because a guy is big doesn’t mean he’s the best man for the job.  In fact, I would argue that Jacobs’ size prevents him from getting the leverage necessary to generate power in cramped quarters.  And his lack of short-area quickness precludes improvisation: if the hole is blocked and Jacobs has the ball, we’re fucked.

In terms of the running backs, the obvious question after yesterday is, as NYGMen commentator Cody put it last week, “Whither Ahmad Bradshaw?”

On Saturday, I gained some insight into this from a source I met while covering a story for my day job, who told me Ahmad has been “getting into trouble with the coach.”  So there you have it, folks: Ahmad is in the doghouse.  For what, we do not know.  Maybe it’s related to his historical legal troubles, and maybe it’s not.  Either way, this is very disappointing to hear.

Speaking of the doghouse, this shit with Plax has gone too far.  I’ve tried to defend him all year, but his most recent episode of insubordination has, I fear, made a fool out of me.  Plax: Stop being a dick.  We just gave you a new contract, and all we ask is that you do what’s asked of you at your job.  It shouldn’t be so fucking hard.

**

This game reminded me of the Green Bay playoff game last year.  It was a tough road game at dusk against a storied opponent wearing yellow helmets.  And while that opponent was favored, it became evident over the course of the game that we were the better team.

As with the Green Bay game, our dominance wasn’t reflected on the scoreboard.  Yesterday, we had to overcome poor red-zone efficiency when our first four trips yielded four field goals.

Also like the Green Bay game, our inferior opponent stayed in the game with a couple of big plays: Against the Packers, it was that bomb to Driver.  Against the Steelers, it was the long run by Moore and then the bomb to Washington (obvious point here, but what in the world was Butler thinking on that one?).

And like the Green Bay game, this one appeared to be slipping away in the third quarter, when our opponent finally got their shit together and started playing well.  But in both games, we came back and won the fourth quarter decisively.

I’m proud of this team.

First, I apologize for the late post.  I actually went to the game on Sunday and then went out that night, and because I had a ton of stuff to do yesterday for my day job, I didn’t get a chance to watch the tape until last night.

Second, I find it hard to believe that people are complaining about Sunday’s win.  If a 12-point win that would have been a 22-point win if not for the fluke of having a field-goal blocked and returned for a touchdown isn’t enough, then the sense of entitlement in this town is completely out of control.

Sure, the 49ers handed us the game.  But we took it, and didn’t give them a chance to take it back.  Was there really ever a doubt about the outcome?  Of course not.  The G-Men won going away.  As fans, we should be happy our team is capable of this even when they don’t play their best.

**

As long as I’m accentuating the positive, I’ll start with the defense.  Going into the game, the big concern was our pass rush, which had been nonexistent against the Browns.  Also, the fact that we hadn’t forced many turnovers this year was threatening to become a gathering concern.

Both trends reversed against the Niners: We racked up six sacks, “forced” two interceptions (granted, that might be a stretch) and four O’Sullivan fumbles, one of which we recovered and one of which led to the safety that put the game away.  (Nothing more fun than dong the safety dance – the contradictory motion of powerfully bringing your hands above your head like He-Man while gyrating your hips like a teenaged girl.)

For much of the first half, O’Sullivan actually did a good job evading our blitzes and finding guys.  But that changed very abruptly, as he went on to play a brutal game.  But still, credit our defense for completely shutting the Niners down in the second half, during which they gained just 67 yards and managed a mere four first downs.

There are many game balls to go around on D:

Justin Tuck was thoroughly disruptive and made a sweeeeeeet play when he forced that fumble that led to the safety by coming around the edge and deftly separating the ball from O’Sullivan’s hand.

Robbins and Cofield consistently got great penetration into the backfield on a day where we made 12(!) tackles behind the line of scrimmage.

Michael Johnson, an overlooked member of the 2007 draft class considering he has probably had the biggest role the past couple years, made the first two picks of his career.  The first one was easy, but the second one was impressive: he did a good job recognizing the post route and turning his hips, and then took a good angle on the coverage of the receiver.  The guy is a pretty good player.

Chase Blackburn started in place of Pierce and frankly looked faster and more physical than him.  Blackburn notched twelve tackles, two of them for losses, and forced a fumble of O’Sullivan.  I know Pierce is the leader of the defense and everything, but I’m sure most Giants fans will join me in telling him to take his time getting back.

And Spags.  Maybe the magic isn’t gone.  As ineffective as the blitz packages were against the Browns, they were that good against the Niners.  Like all sports, football is a game of adjustments and counter-adjustments.  The league adjusted to Spags, and if Sunday’s game is any indication, he countered.

On the downside, much has been made of Aaron Ross’ recent struggles – he even sat on the bench on a couple series’ in the second half while Dockery filled in.  But I don’t think it’s anything to worry about.  On the touchdown he allowed, he actually did a pretty good job in single coverage until the ball was in the air, at which point he suffered a very uncharacteristic breakdown in ball-skills.  Against the Browns, he had a rough game; against the Niners, he had a rough moment.  He’s good, he’ll bounce back, so let’s move on.

**

On offense, not so great, but serviceable enough.

Eli wasn’t at his best, going 16 for 31 for 161 yards.  He averaged 5.2 yards per attempt, well below the standard he has set for himself this season of 7.3, and even his career mark of 6.4. 

And no, he didn’t throw a pick, but there were two balls that probably could have been picks (one on an out to Smith that the defender undercut and could have taken to the house had the ball not been thrown high).  He also had four passes tipped, a distressing reemergence of an early-career trend that we are probably lucky didn’t lead to a pick.

But while it wasn’t a good game, it was an adequate game.  And sometimes, good and even great quarterbacks play merely adequate games.  Will that type of effort cut it against Pittsburgh?  Probably not.  But who among us isn’t confident Eli won’t play better next week?

At receiver, the game ball goes to Steve Smith.  If all Chris Carter did is catch touchdowns, all this guy does is catch first downs.  What a nice player.  Such great field sense and such good body control.  This guy is gonna be good for a long time.

Although we only averaged 3.5 yards per carry, I was actually pleased with the running game.  Not counting Eli’s rushing line (3 carries for -4 yards), we averaged 4 yards per carry, which isn’t bad considering we were sitting a lead for most of the second half.

Jacobs, who I’ve been harsh on in the past, was very good, as he has been all year.  On his first touchdown run, he made a nice little hesitation before squirting through a small hole, a sign of his improved feel for the holes this year.  On his second touchdown run, he kept his legs driving after the initial contact and plowed into the endzone decisively.  He’s been excellent, and it’s time for me to admit I was too harsh on him.  (Although the first-series fumble was worrisome.)

Ward, as usual, was terrific.  Announcers don’t seem to have caught on to how powerful this guy’s lower body is.  On that third down pass play in the first quarter – before Ahmad’s fourth down conversion – Ward pushed the pile a solid three to four yards, getting us close enough to compel Tom to go for it.  It should also be noted that Ward is a really smooth receiver.

And Bradshaw, despite the fumble, was impressive as well.  Sure, he only managed 28 yards on 8 carries, but he was facing 8 and 9-man fronts during clock-killing time.  For as sparingly as that guy is used, he always manages to do at least one thing that shows how good he is.

It seems like Coughlin and Gilbride are loosening up their rigid running back hierarchy, something long called for here at NYGMen.  Using Bradshaw on that fourth down toss-sweep was an inspired stroke.  It also seemed like they worked in the backs at different points of a series, rather than just being like, “Ok Brandon, it’s your series.  You take every carry.”

And Tom deserves credit for going for it on that fourth down play.  When you’re dominating the line of scrimmage like we were early in the game, you have to make hay.

The papers have tried to create a to-do about Plax, who seemed to be in a terrible mood all game.  There was the sequence with the personal foul followed by cursing at Coughlin, though that seems like a much bigger deal to everyone else than to the Giants.  Coughlin actually defended Plax, saying something along the lines of, “He’s a competitor.  Shit happens.”

And let me ask you, was it me, or was Plax’s gesture of firing the ball into the stands after his fourth quarter touchdown a kind of “fuck-you” to the fans, who booed him after the personal foul?  But whatever.  As a fan, I’ve made the same calculation as Coughlin: the guy can tell me to go fuck myself every once in a while when he’s PMSing, and I’m not gonna get bent out of shape.  He’ll get over it and generally be a great receiver for me.  Plax is a moody, mercurial athlete, but he’s worth it: my guess is he has a huge game against the Steelers next week and gets people off his back.

Allow me a slightly lengthy preface here.

Here at NYGMen, I’ve long relied upon the unique stats created by the smart guys at FootballOutsiders.com, especially their DVOA stat, which breaks down each play and determines its success based on situation and opponent.

DVOA is a better gauge of how good a team is than raw yardage stats, which are often skewed by situation – think about when a team piles on chunks of yards while getting blown out – and opponent – maybe a 90-yard rushing performance against the ’85 Bears is more impressive than a 100-yard game against the 2008 Seahawks.

It is also a better gauge of how good a team is than wins and losses, which are subject to simple luck: what if the tipped pass is caught by a wide receiver, or even falls incomplete, and doesn’t get intercepted and returned for a touchdown?  Looking at teams on a play-by-play basis puts in their proper place these random elements of luck that have a disproportionate impact on the outcome of games.

The value of a stat can be judged by how predictive it is going forward.  As it turns out, DVOA is more predictive of win-loss record going forward than both win-loss record itself and yardage stats.  In other words, a team with a good DVOA but a mediocre win-loss record can generally be expected to have a good win-loss record going forward.  Conversely, a team with a mediocre DVOA but a good win-loss record can expected to be mediocre in the future.

So there you have it: DVOA, the best gauge I know of how good a team will be from a given point forward.  The stat is expressed in terms of a percentage relative to the league average: to give a general benchmark, a team with a 30% DVOA is Super Bowl worthy, a team with a DVOA of 0 is average, and a team with a DVOA of -30% is first-pick-of-the-draft worthy.

Ok, anyway…

This is all prologue to a discussion of how ridiculously good the Giants have been this year.  Their DVOA of 56.7% is by far the best in the league, significantly better than the second-best Ravens (I know, it seems weird, but bear with me on DVOA, please), who stand at 42.5%.

Their offense has been truly phenomenal, sporting a DVOA of 41.1%, more than 10 points better than the second-best Broncos.  Their running game has been the best in the league by far, with a 38.6% DVOA that ranks much better than the second-place Falcons at 26.2%.  Their passing game ranks a very narrow second to Washington’s – of all teams! – by a margin of 43.7% to 43.6%.

The defense has been merely excellent: their DVOA of -12.4%, (which was brought down by getting sliced up by Carson Palmer) ranks 7th in the league.  They have been excellent against both run (-10.2%, which ranks 9th) as well as the pass (-14.0%, which ranks 7th).

And thanks to John Carney and some good returns by Hixon and even R.W. on Sunday, the G-Men are even very good on special teams, boasting a DVOA of 3.2%, which ranks 10th.

The upshot here is that the G-Men have been absurdly good on a play-by-play basis, probably better than you would have thought.  Detractors might point to our soft schedule thus far, but the beauty of DVOA is that it accounts for opponent.  (Although at this point in the season, the strength of opponents is hard to pin down.  Also, the G-Men get a lot of credit in this system for beating the Redskins, but it seemed pretty clear that the Redskins of Week 1 weren’t the same team as they are now.  But I digress…)

How good has this Giants start been?  It is the 7th best start since 1996, the point at which FootballOutsiders has enough data to calculate DVOA.  The top team on this list?  None other than the 2007 New England Patriots, with an absurd 72.4%.

Their offense has been nearly as good from a recent historical perspective: It ranks 8th best through four games.  Strangely, the 1999 Redskins top this list.

I’ll let Aaron Schatz, the genius behind FootballOutsiders, take this one home:

“Yes, that’s right – so far, the Giants have been that good.  They have a better pass defense than they had a year ago, and a much, much better passing game on offense.  Many NFL observers felt Eli Manning would continue to play at the high level he showed in last year’s postseason, with improved confidence moving him into the upper echelon of NFL quarterbacks.  Pro Football Prospectus 2008 said Manning would put up better fantasy numbers this year because of the “third down rebound effect.”  [A FootballOutsiders tenet that says that guys who are significantly worse on third down than they were on first and second – which Eli was last year – will bounce back as their third down performance gets more in line with their early down performance.]  It looks like both of these things have happened.  He’s the clear leader of the team and as we learned this week, he can even play well without Plaxico Burress on the field.  Meanwhile, the Giants offense leads the league on first down and second down and is fifith in third down.  Last year, the Giants offense ranked 12, 17, and 23 on those downs, respectively.”

I’ve been pouring over the game film, so here are some general thoughts on the D.  Observations on individual players will follow in the next post.

Obviously, it wasn’t our best effort.  23 points on 347 consequential yards, with an untimely choke at the end of regulation.

And we were lucky to give up only 23 points.  The Bengals horrific clock management at the end of regulation kept 4 points off the board.  Earlier in the game, on the second series, an obvious endzone pass interference by Butler on Houshmenzadeh was not called, leading to the Bengals settling for a field goal.  And in the third quarter, and endzone drop by tight end Daniel Coates – who was double-covered by Dockery and Butler, neither of whom managed to get a hand on the ball – led to field goal instead of a touchdown again.

A key factor in the D’s struggles was the ineffectiveness of the blitz.  Yes, we had those 6 sacks, but Palmer – who did an outstanding job hitting his hot routes – burnt us on many a blitz.  As Justin Tuck himself said, “Sometimes, the stats are misleading.  We had six sacks today, but I don’t think we rattled [Palmer.]”

With a game like this, it’s hard to separate out where blaming the defense ends and crediting the offense begins: Was it Spags’ fault those blitzes didn’t work out, or was it because the Bengals’ line did a good job picking them up while Palmer got the ball out quickly and accurately?  Surely some credit must go to the Bengals’ game-plan, which was predicated on quick passes – to the elusive Chatman and the Housh, a big target – designed to neutralize our blitz.

On a somewhat related note, sometimes the offensive play call just happens to work out given what the defensive call is.  There’s not a “moral of the story” to every play, where you can neatly ascribe blame to a given defender for any big gain.  Sometimes the defensive play-calls, coupled with the offensive play-calls, give the defenders little chance to do their jobs well (and vice versa).  There’s not much to say after something like this, other than to hope we’re a little more lucky next time.

This seemed to happen to the Giants D on Sunday, including three big plays that totaled 76 yards and were instrumental in 10 Bengals points:

The most prominent of these was the Perry touchdown in the second quarter, when the Bengals went up 10-7 and we all knew we were in for a game.  It was 2^nd and 10 and Spags guessed pass, which meant our dime defense was in. 

Normally, the dime defense is the “safest” defense, designed to minimize chance of a big play, but in this case it backfired.  Because of the personnel grouping, Michael Johnson had linebacker duties.  After slo-moing the tape a few times, I realized that it was his responsibility to fill the gap through which Perry galloped on the way to the endzone.

But because Johnson was in unfamiliar environs, he was hesitant to fill the gap, which allowed a blocker to engage him and clear a huge, gaping hole.  That, right there, sprung Perry, who sprinted through the hole “unmolested” – I can’t write that with a straight face – and away from Corey Webster, who was occupying the safety position.  (I don’t mean to overstate the point on this one: a hold on Johnson at the end of that initial block, a slow reaction to step up by Webster, and Big Fred’s and Tollefson’s getting more washed down than they should have didn’t help either.)

Why were we in the dime defense on that 2^nd and 10?  A 25-yard gain two plays earlier might help explain why.

On 2^nd and 10, we blitzed a safety off the quarterback’s blind side, which left Dockery singled up against Chatman with no deep help on that side of the field.  The  Bengals picked the blitz up, and Palmer hit a little hitch to Chatman, who had been given a huge cushion by Dockery.  Because he caught the ball with so much space in between him and Dockery, he had room to maneuver, and maneuver he did, scampering for 25 yards on the play.

This was an instance of Palmer doing an excellent job hitting his hot read and a blitz backfiring.  It also underscored how things aren’t as cut and dried – Dockery sucks! – as they often appear.  (Dockery does suck, and we’ll get to that in the next post, but he’s not as bad as he looked on that play.)

Also, this play to Chatman explains why Spags called the dime defense on 2^nd and 10 on the Perry play.  When an offense is designed to get the ball to the receiver on the edges, it’s good to have as much speed as possible.  On the Perry play, we went speed while they went power, and we paid the price.

The third play I noticed in which we got caught in a bad defense for their play-call was on the Bengals’ last series of the first half, when we sent a zone blitz with Tollefson dropping back into pass coverage.  Unfortunately, Tollefson wound up being responsible for picking up Housh, who was dragging across the middle.  Not surprisingly, he didn’t get there nearly quickly enough, and Housh caught the ball with nobody around him, free to pick up 26 yards.

Again, it kinda just so happened that a wide receiver was running a shallow crossing pattern in Tollefson’s territory here.  It could have been a tight end, who would have been easier for Tollefson to spot and react to.

If you weren’t happy with the Washington win, is there anything to complain about now?  Sure the Rams suck, but one of the hallmarks of great NFL teams is that they blow out the scrubby ones.  This game is a reassuring sign that we are among the NFL elite.  Two games into the season, the Super Bowl Champs couldn’t be more encouraging.

Yes, it was a seven-point game as late as the fourth quarter.  But to say that the final score did not reflect the feeling of the game is bullshit: the Giants dominated this game on a play-by-play basis from start to finish, but it wasn’t until the final minutes of the fourth quarter that the scoreboard reflected this.  Look at it this way: we outgained them 441-201. 

At halftime, the score was only 13-6, yet the Rams had not advanced past the Giants’ 36-yard-line.  It was only those two 54-yard field goals by Brown – one of which was enabled only by Tuck’s facemask penalty [on a play he was held on, no less] – that kept the Rams in the game.

The G-Men seemingly put it away by mounting an emphatic 97-yard drive on their first possession of the third quarter, but the lucky bomb to Holt – who probably didn’t even catch the ball – meant that the G-Men had to keep the can of whoopass open.  To their credit, they did for the rest of the game. 

Offense: 

Eli was excellent, going 20-29 for 260 yards and three touchdowns, averaging 9 yards per attempt – for perspective, realize that his career YPA is 6.3.  He made a couple of bad throws, but didn’t seem to make any dangerous throws or bad decisions like the near-picks last week, which is an important distinction. 

The square-ins and back-shoulder fades to Plax, the hitches to Toomer, the touchdown on the post to Toomer – that’s the throw Eli routinely makes the best, in my opinion – the catchable passes to the backs, that pass to Boss that got called back, that gorgeous touch-pass to Hixon down the sideline, and last but not least, the lefty toss to Jacobs that set up Carney from 33…  Great job, Eli.

The pass protection was solid overall, save for a brief period near the end of the second quarter when Long sacked Eli and then McKenzie got a holding penalty on the next series.  Overall though, they did a good job. 

But the pass protection had nothing on the run-blocking, which is probably the single best facet of this team.  Jacobs had 93 yards on 15 carries, Ward had 58 on 8, and Bradshaw – in addition to his touchdown catch – had 5 carries for 32.  Overall, we had 203 yards and averaged 6.8 yards a pop.  Much of the credit for that goes to the fatties up front.

Like a lot of Giants fans, NYGMen has long beat the pro-Bradshaw drum, wondering why the clear-cut best back on our team doesn’t get more burn.  Once again, Ahmad was electrifying.  On his touchdown run, when he exploded through the hole with one man to beat, was there any doubt he was gonna beat that guy?  And after today, is there any doubt he’s criminally underutilized?  Please Tom, since we know you’re reading this, FREE AHMAD! 

As for Ward, he was very effective too.  Ward hits the hole decisively and he hits the hole hard.  With our physical offensive line and our physical fullback, he’s a good fit.

And now Jacobs…  Look, I know his overall numbers were good today (though much of his totals came from one perfectly blocked 30-yard run at the beginning of the third quarter).  And I know his overall numbers last year (5.0 yards per carry) were good too.  But please, how much more effective are the other two backs when they enter the game?  To put it another way, when was the last time you remember Jacobs being more effective than Ahmad or Ward? 

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, but the coaching staff’s insistence on making Jacobs the featured runner is holding this team back.  Yes, there’s a place for Jacobs on this team; it’s just a lot smaller than the coaching staff thinks. 

Moving on, the receivers were very good too.  Plax abused whoever covered him, and Smith made a couple great plays, one of which was called back on the down-by-contact call.  Amani, for some reason, was featured, and he acquitted himself well.

I’m not sure why Amani got so many looks – probably because Plax was being double-covered, though I’m not sure – but some of those plays showed pretty clearly that he’s lost almost all of his speed.  Amani is a very skilled receiver, adept at finding creases in the zone and a master of the toe-tap.  But at this point of his career, he’s just too slow to run by defensive backs.  There were at least two plays yesterday where he was isolated one-on-one against a corner, but the defender was able to run stride for stride with him.  Amani still has his uses, for sure, but he also has his limitations.  Going forward – and by forward, I mean possibly as early as the second half of this year – we’re going to be happy that we have Maningham, Hixon, and Moss on the roster. 

Defense: 

201 yards of total offense, and only 68 allowed against a ground game that boasts Steven Jackson, one of the best backs in the game.  6 sacks and pressure on Bulger all day.  The Tuck touchdown.  For the second straight game, what a performance by the D.

As was the case on offense, it all started up front.  Tuck, who has become the face of the defense after the Osi injury, was a beast.  Big Fred, who has late-bloomed into a star, was beastly as well. 

The pressure on Bulger was constant, and Jackson didn’t have any success running between the tackles.  The only success Jackson did have was running outside, but that’s a small thing to complain about.

The starting corners, Webster and Ross, were absolutely phenomenal.  How exciting is it that we have two potentially awesome young corners?  Who could have predicted this before last year? 

And even though the Rams’ touchdown came at Phillips’ expense, wouldn’t you even say that that play was overall encouraging?  I mean, here was our rookie safety running stride for stride with one of the best receivers of the era.  He made a smooth attempt at the ball, and although he didn’t haul it in, it was only an unpredictable bounce of the oblong ball – and a highly questionable call – that made that anything worse than a nice break-up.

Not so spectacular was Butler, who was late arriving in safety help on a big play during the series on which Holt scored the touchdown.  Yes, I know safeties are always left holding the proverbial bag, but doesn’t it seem that way too often, Butler is nowhere to be found on deep help?  He seems to lack the range you want from your deep safety – you have to think it’s only a matter of time before its Johnson and Phillips getting the majority of the burn. 

And Dockery had a bone-headed pass interference to keep that touchdown drive alive: on third down, he laid a hit on a receiver before the marker.

Special Teams: 

This was an underrated aspect of this game.  The punt and kickoff coverage was excellent, which was a relief after the brutal kickoff coverage last week.  And Hixon’s punt return in the fourth quarter should finally close the book on the R.W. era.

It was an uneven offensive performance, with our low point total (16) somewhat belied by our 354 yards, more than the 331 we averaged last year.  And because we sat on the lead for much of the second half, you have to think we could have done a bit more.

But the second half was poor, no question about it. After gaining 241 of our 354 yards in the first half, we were out-gained by the Redskins 158 to 113 in the second.  A 9 point lead isn’t comfortable enough to justify this – as is their unfortunate wont, the G-Men seemed to fall asleep on offense with a lead that, based on the flow and feeling of the game, seemed bigger than it actually was.

Alas, we Giants fans have become accustomed to this maddening trait, and I doubt it’s gonna change.  This week, we got lucky – our defense played great and the Redskins were clearly not ready to score points at this point of the season.  But we haven’t been so lucky in the past, and we might not be so lucky next time.

One of the reason the scoreboard didn’t fully reflect our dominance in the first half is that we didn’t fully capitalize in the red zone (I refuse to call it the green zone, Tom), where we came away with only a touchdown and a field goal in three trips.  Last year, we were 13^th in the league in red-zone efficiency, scoring touchdowns 54.5 percent of the time compared to the league average of 52 percent.  Based on this percentage, we scored around 2 fewer points on Thursday than what would be “expected.”

Our low point total also owed itself to being stopped on a couple of third and shorts you would expect us to convert: 1) On our second possession, when Ward was met by London Fletcher at the 7 (John Madden aptly called this “a four point tackle); and 2) on our fourth possession, where Jacobs got stopped on a toss sweep, setting up Carney’s 47-yard field goal.

Going forward, these short-yardage situations shouldn’t be a problem.  Last year, we ranked 7^th best in the league in a FootballOutsiders stat called “Power” situations – the percentage of runs on either third or fourth down that result in either a first down or a touchdown.  The year before, we ranked 6^th.  Basically, we have a big, physical line made for such situations.  (My only complaint is that we seem to assume that Jacobs is our best good short-yardage option, just because he’s big.  When we had Tiki, I thought Tiki was better than Jacobs, even in these situations.  Now I think Bradshaw is.  More on this at some point in the future…)

Eli and the passing game:

Like the entire offense’s performance, Eli gets mixed reviews here.  But his sub-par stat-line – 19- 35, 216 yards, averaging 6.2 yards per attempt – sells his performance a little short, I think.

The guy did a lot of great stuff: a couple of those throws to Plax (including the pump-fake on the 30-yarder on the first drive), the pocket presence on the long 3^rd down completion to Sinorice (very nice to see), and a nice play where he stepped up in the pocket and hit Jacobs over the middle come to mind.

There was also his confident demeanor, something not only Madden picked up on, but also my friend Wong, who put it well by saying: “Do you see the balls on Eli now?  He thinks he can pretty much put the ball wherever he wants to now.”

Unfortunately, this confidence verged into recklessness on a few occasions.  I’m not even talking about the interception, on which Boss was actually open – that was just a poorly thrown ball.  What was more troubling were the four near-interceptions resulting from either bad decisions by Eli or miscommunication with the receivers.  One of these four near-picks — when Rogers jumped a route – could have gone back for a touchdown and changed the complexion of the game.

So overall, Eli did some great things and some bad things.

As far as the O-line is concerned, the protection was pretty good in the first half, but pretty bad in the second half.  On each of our first four second half series, the protection badly broke down at least once.  Eli threw his interception with Andre Carter in his face, which might have altered the trajectory of the throw. 

Plax:

What more can you say here?  Toby Hyde, the purveyor of Metsminorsleagueblog.com, pointed out in a non Mets-related note that on passes targeted for Plax, Eli was 10-13 with 10.23 YPA.  On passes targeted for all other receivers, he was 9-21, averaging 3.95 YPA.  This speaks for itself. 

Plax is a great Giant, he was a great signing, and he’s in for a monster year.  More than anything else, the hope of an improved Eli and a healthy Plax is reason to believe we’re gonna be better than last year.

Smith:

First down machine.  Thank God the Panthers took Dwayne Jarrett.

Running game:

Pretty dominant, though less so in the second half.  Still, its’ hard to complain about 4.8 yards a pop over 32 rushing attempts. 

Our run-blocking is probably the best single facet of our team, and is the reason that Jacobs, Ward, Bradshaw are all good contributors.  FootballOutsiders has a stat called Adjusted Line Yards, which seeks to separate the roles of linemen and backs to apportion credit on running plays.  The formula is kind of complicated, but the G-Men ranked 2^nd in the league in this stat last year after ranking 4^th in the league in 2006.  So basically, the stats — whatever value you put in this particular one — bear it out: our run-blocking is elite. 

As far as the backs go, you have to be happy with what both Jacobs and Ward gave you.  But at the same time, you have wonder why Bradshaw didn’t get in.  Ward and Jacobs are fine, but it’s pretty clear that Ahmad’s our best back – some of those holes were so big, maybe Ahmad could have maybe hit a home run with one of them.  The rotation should be set up around Bradshaw, to keep him healthy and fresh, and not Jacobs.  There will be more on this point as the season goes along.

Andy F., the proprietor of UltimateNYG and a huge Bradshaw supporter himself, dug up something of an explanation of the situation from Coughlin’s press conference: 

“That was my fault.  I didn’t get that rotation worked out the way I really would want to. …  When we were making yards, they were tough yards, and I was pleased with some of the things that were happening with Jacobs and then with Derrick Ward.  Not that I am not pleased with Bradshaw, no that is not the case, but I just didn’t get the right rotation.”

(I don’t really understand this.  Did he not put in Bradshaw because Jacobs and Ward were playing well, or did he fuck up the rotation?)

But give credit to Jacobs and Ward for doing a nice job.  As many have pointed out, Jacobs has looked a lot spryer this year than he did toward the end of last year. Maybe the key to keeping him effective over the course of the season is limiting his carries, which is why his 21 carries were a little bit worrisome and unnecessary.

Also, it’s pretty clear by now that Jacobs is a pretty brutal receiver.  He has stone hands, which not only causes drops, but also precludes him from maneuvering immediately after the catch because he doesn’t bring the ball in smoothly.  It’s almost as if you can see the defenders converging on him as he battles the ball.

Ward did a good job, showing his trademark one-cut, downhill style.  He had a nice, smooth catch ‘n’ run as well, which contrasted with Jacobs’ inability to do the same.