Superfan: Giants vs. Falcons (11/23/09)

Off the Schneid

By Superfan

Wow, what a wild game. A little close for comfort, but a HUGE win nonetheless. As will be the case for every game we have left, that W saved our season. There are some very good aspects to take away from Sunday’s win over Atlanta, and some very troubling issues.

Let’s start with the good:

Over the past two games, Eli Manning’s looked as good as he has all season. Except for a first-half interception, he was nearly perfect on Sunday. Certainly looks as though the issue with his heel is no longer cause for concern. Most of all, his accuracy is back on track.
Of course, Eli couldn’t succeed unless his receivers performed well. And that they did. For the first time since the first few games of the season, I was confident that nearly every pass thrown within the vicinity of a receiver (including Kevin Boss) was going to be caught. Mario Manningham, Hakeem Nicks, Kevin Boss, Steve Smith, and Domenik Hixon all came up huge on Sunday. Big thumbs up to the receiving corps.
Our red zone play has finally turned into green zone performance. In five trips to the green zone against the Falcons, the Giants scored three touchdowns, made one field goal, and missed another. We’ll get to that miss later on. I guess the “powers that be” consider that going 3 for 5, although I always assumed a field goal in the red zone is still a red zone score. To each his own, I guess.

Now, on to the negatives:

I can’t seem to comprehend how our defense went from being so strong in the first half of Sunday’s game to being that much softer in the second. The Falcons came out of the locker room after halftime wanting to score, and they did just that. Seemingly at will.
Like the Eagles game, the opponent’s starting running back, and probably their best offensive weapon, didn’t play. Yet, with Michael Turner on the bench, Atlanta managed to run on our defense as they pleased with their back-up, Snelling. The defense has to get tougher against the run. Not being able to do so is what helped Matt Ryan, Tony Gonzalez, and company slash our defense late in the game to erase a fourteen-point deficit.
I don’t know if it’s exhaustion, bad schemes, blown coverages, or a combination thereof, but our defense hasn’t been playing Giants football for several weeks now. Something needs to change. Since I can remember, the Giants have been a defensively-led team. Trying to run against us always ended badly for those crazy enough to attempt it, with plenty of bruises left behind as reminders. Now, back-up running backs are tearing into the secondary. We used to be a sack machine, and despite the fact that all of our star pass rushers are healthy and active, we’ve had a severe recession in sacks this season. I simply don’t understand.
Speaking of absent aspects of Giants football, what happened to the running game? What’s happened to the holes that used to exist up front? It’s one thing for Jacobs to break the first tackle, then bust through more when he gets into the secondary. But he’s got several guys on him instantly every time he gets the ball. He can’t be expected to break eight tackles on every run! This ties directly into Ahmad as well, because he has the most success after Jacobs has worn a defense out. When this happens, he’s able to glide through exhausted defenders, breaking off huge gains. For reasons unknown, that’s all been sorely missed this year. We’re really going to need to get our rushing game going in a big way if we want to make a legitimate shot in these final six games. Eli can’t be expected to put up over 375 yards passing each week.
If I’m not mistaken, I think that Lawrence Tynes has a missed field goal in every game he’s kicked a game-winner. Even if they are game winners, they’re only necessary because of an earlier miss. This isn’t baseball – you can’t go .500 and be okay with it. Even one of the extra points barely went through! That kind of inconsistency in our kicker really worries me.

I know it seems like I’m spending a lot of time complaining about a game that we won, but that’s only because I have such high expectations for our Gmen. At the beginning of the season, this team was regarded as one of the best in the league. We all know they have the talent to be among the elite. So why should we expect anything less than excellence every week? I assume the coaches and players expect nothing less from themselves.
When you take into account the remaining schedule, the Gmen can’t afford anything less than 100% performance in every game left. This past Sunday was the first of our seven game season, and every game’s a playoff game. We’re 1-0. Time to take the next six.
The best news of all is that the division is very much in our reach, and we still get to play Dallas and Philadelphia at home. It’s all up to us. We have a very short week this week, then some rest before a huge game against the Cowboys. But, first thing’s first. We’re heading into very hostile territory this upcoming Turkey Day against a team that’s starving for a win. And nothing’s more dangerous than fifty-three hungry guys on Thanksgiving! But I have a sneaking suspicion we’ll be feasting on some Broncos this holiday season.

The rest of the year is officially off to the right start, Giants fans! Gotta keep the wins coming. This is a short week, so I’ll keep my comments short as well. If you want to contact me, my e-mail is gmensuperfan@gmail.com, and you can find me on Facebook under the name “Gmen Superfan.” Until next week, happy Thanksgiving, and GO GMEN!!