Rewatching the Giants Game

[jspchief]

The miracle of Tivo has allowed me to rewatch tonight's game, complete with slo-mo and frame by frame viewing.

So far I've watched the first few series by both teams and here are my thoughts:

Defense:
1. Eric Hicks is clueless. Not only does he not have the speed or strength, he doesn't have the brains. His reaction at the snap seems to have no bearing on the ball or the play that develops. He just starts running to a spot on the field regardless of whether it factors in the play. LDE play immediately improved when Wilkerson came in.

2. Our scheme is fucked. Amani Toomer and Plaxico Burress had numerous occasions when they were lined up against LBs. It was an easy read for the QB and a wide open reception for the WR. Kendrell Bell is especially bad in coverage. Teams will be able to exploit this scheme the same way all year unless changes are made. Our safeties are taken out of the equation because they play so deep.

3. Our DTs played OK. Not great, but not bad either. The apparent lack of pass rush had more to do with Manning have quick options to get rid of the ball (LB on WR).

Offense:
1. Turley was out of his league. Over the course of a full game, he would get abused by someone (Yumenyora?) with that much speed and strength. He's going to need to put on weight or he will be abused by powerful ends all year.

2. Chris Bober sucks. He was getting beat or missing his assignment on a regular basis. I expect a glaring improvement with the return of Waters.

3. Sampson is not Welbourne. Whether it's his feet or just a strength issue, he gets knocked off balance a lot. He'll be the weak point on our line most likely.

4. LJ's pass blocking is very solid. He picked up pretty much everything, the only miss being a result of Bober missing his man leaving LJ to face two guys.

5. The play-calling kind of sucked. For whatever reason, this offense doesn't seem to have pass packages that exploit the blitz. If we ran the same patterns New York ran, Green could have got rid of the ball a lot quicker, taking the pressure of his line in the face of the blitz. Gonzo needs to start shortening his routes, or a WR is going to have to cross more often.

When I watch more, I'll post more thoughts, but this includes pretty much all of the play from the starters.