SuperFan: Giants vs. Broncos (12/1/09)

So Many Questions, So Few Answers

By Superfan

After viewing last Thursday’s abomination, I have decided that it’s extremely unfair to have teams play any time after 4pm on Thanksgiving. This past week, I was so focused on the upcoming game in Denver that the holiday itself kind of just happened. I couldn’t really enjoy the time I spent back east with the family, nor could I savor what’s supposed to be the most delicious meal of the year. Instead, I just went over every possible scenario for how the game could play out in my head. Of course, when the game was over, I damn near lost everything I’d devoured hours earlier. I’m sure there were lots of Giants fans out there who weren’t so lucky, and recycled their turkey dinners that very same night. That’s just not fair to the chefs.

It may sound redundant at this point (which makes things all the more disconcerting), but this debacle is getting out of hand. Especially when you watch teams like the Vikings this past Sunday, and the Saints Monday night, how can the Giants be expected to do anything playing with such inconsistency? We’re heading into week 13 – all of the stupid penalties and missed communications should have been fixed months ago!

Once again, what frustrates me more than anything is that we in no way got outplayed last week. If anything, the Broncos seemed to do everything in their power to keep us in the thick of things all game. The fact that they only had 16 points on the board at halftime, despite several long drives into our territory in the first half, was miraculous. Despite our defense holding them to field goals on three out of four scoring drives in the first half (giving our offense chances to get back in it), our offense responded with a performance that was beyond anemic. To be more specific, they gained a total of 43 yards on six offensive possessions (one more possession than the Broncos had, by the way). How did those possessions go? Punt, punt, punt, fumble, punt, and punt. The middle four were three-and-outs.
What’s worse, it seems like each week we’re unable to make any sort of adjustments at halftime. In the second half, the Giants’ offense gained 219 yards on five possessions, but only came away with six points to show for it. Most of those yards came on their final 7-play, 84-yard scoreless drive that ran out the clock at the end of the fourth quarter (AKA – GARBAGE TIME). How did all five of those possessions go? Field goal, field goal, fumble, interception, end of game.

What happened to our offense? Eli’s come out and said that the “stress reaction” in his heel didn’t affect his play, and I believe him. It used to be that with this team, as long as the game was close in the fourth quarter, we always had a chance. Eli used to play at his best when his back was against the wall. I realize it’s never easy to play well on the road following an tough overtime win in a short week, but there’s no excuse for Eli to go from having one of the best passing games of his career to one of the worst in less than a week. And I don’t know if it’s even worth complaining about the bad clock management. Giants’ fans seem to have grown accustomed to the play clock being down to five seconds before Eli even starts calling out the blitzes and changing the play. He used to be able to use his cadence as a weapon to draw opposing defenders offsides in critical points in the game. Now, he’s lucky to get the play off in time on every snap. And to use a timeout in the 1st quarter, after your team’s first play from scrimmage, only to follow it with a draw that gains nothing on second down, is inexplicable. I always figured the quarterback went into the first drive of the game with several options of what plays they wanted to try to use to get themselves into a rhythm (kind of like a pitcher in the first inning). There is absolutely no excuse to have to waste a timeout on the second play from scrimmage. Mind-boggling.
Jacobs had pounded opposing defenses for so long that by that point, anyone in the backfield had an easy task of slicing through their front seven. Now, when the fourth quarter comes around, they play their worst. What were Jacobs’ numbers headed into the fourth quarter last Thursday, you ask? Good question. Through the first three quarters, Brandon Jacobs carried the ball nine times for eighteen yards. I don’t know what’s worse – the fact that he only carried the ball nine times, or his two-yard per carry average. When we’ve been successful, it’s because we were able to consistently run the ball against opposing defenses. Despite Derrick Ward’s absence, and Bradshaw being out last week, this is still the same offense that had over 200 yards rushing against the Baltimore Ravens last season! WHAT HAPPENED?!?! It could be their age catching up to them, but our offensive line looks disturbingly off-kilter. At first, I thought the majority of Jacobs’ struggles were due to the fact that he had almost nowhere to go each time he touched the ball, and as a result had to break three or four tackles just to get into the opposing team’s secondary. The past few weeks, however, he looks more and more like Clark Kent did in Superman II after leaving his powers behind in the Fortress of Solitude. Guys are bringing him down on first contact all of a sudden, even in the open field. Either he’s off a step, or defenses have finally figured out how to neutralize his powerful running style. Either way, if we can’t conjure up a way to get our running game back up to snuff, we’re in worse trouble than we thought. I understand he left the game in the fourth quarter last week, but eleven total carries is ridiculous, even if he were to have only played the first three.
What was so effective about our rushing attack last season wasn’t necessarily the yards gained every time Jacobs touched the ball, but the punishment he served against the defenses he faced. We’d let him wear them away with ten to twelve carries in the first half. Sure, he might’ve only gotten one or two big runs, and the rest short carries, but every time a defender was forced to take him down, it took a lot of energy. By the time they reached the end of the third quarter, opposing defenders were sucking wind. It was then that we’d be able to break off big plays both on the ground and through the air.

Let’s move on to the biggest concern of all – our defense. Let me list of a few teams for you: New Orleans, Arizona, Philadelphia, San Diego, Atlanta, Denver. What do they all have in common? Well, besides being the Giants’ last six opponents (five losses, one eeked-out overtime win), they are also all teams who, before facing the Gmen, had offenses who had played very much out-of-character the weeks prior. Respectively, here’s how many points those recently “sputtering” offenses put up against us: 48, 24, 40, 21, 31, 26. It seems like the newest trend in the NFL for opposing offenses is to use the Giants defense as an opportunity to bounce back. I never ever thought that could possibly be the case. And don’t let our league rankings fool you – our D is only ranked as high as it is because of how insanely well they did the first five weeks of the season. If you compile stats for the six weeks since, we’re one of the worst. Of course having two defensive leaders on IR (Phillips and the recently-added Pierce) doesn’t help, but I can’t logically pinpoint that as the reason things have fallen apart so terribly.
The fact is, our defense is incredibly soft, and our coaches admitting it each week won’t change results as well as doing something about it would. We’ve got to get more aggressive. I saw good things from the defense right off the bat – including a big sack by Danny Clark during Denver’s first possession, one where they went three-and-out. Unfortunately, the tide quickly turned as the game progressed, as penalties, blown coverages, and missed tackles became the norm. There were lots of times where defenders would bite on a play-fake, and they’d have a huge gainer on a screen because the defender bit, and the next closest guy was back in deep zone coverage. Another week of surprisingly soft, unaggressive defensive play calling.
Kevin Gilbride and Bill Sheridan are both very intelligent football minds, and have proven themselves to be more than competent coaches. For whatever reason, their play calling hasn’t been able to mend appropriately with the players ability to execute efficiently on a consistent basis this year. And if they can’t figure out soon what it is that’s making this year’s team so incapable of playing at a consistently competitive level, and fix it, it’s going to be very hard to make a case in their favor regarding their role with the team next season.

Having traveled back east for the holiday weekend, I watched the game at home in New Jersey on Thanksgiving night. And I’ve never been more impressed at our fellow fans’ dedication to ritual regarding our beloved Gmen. Despite the fact that it was Thanksgiving night, every managed to duck out on their respective gatherings early enough to make it over to our house by kick-off. All the familiar faces were there – my dad, my brother Robby, my friend BJ, Jay (family friend), his son Matt, and me. Good to know the fans at least have their priorities straight.
The game itself was insanely hard to watch, and most of us spent about as much time trying to keep our turkey day dinners down as we did screaming at the television screen. Let’s hope when I head back home later this month, it’s a better experience.

Here are some random sports musings, not entirely Gmen-related:

• In the Tuesday edition of Monday Morning Quarterback this week, Peter King reminded me of something that’s been driving me crazy since I read it. Mike McKenzie was unemployed until two weeks ago. TWO WEEKS AGO!! I realize that our deficiencies lay more in the safety department, and McKenzie’s a cornerback, but still. A defensive back is a defensive back, and when one as talented as he is sitting around watching games at home every week, you gotta at least try to go out and pick him up. We can worry about what would be the best way to utilize him once he’s here. Of course that means nothing anymore, but it’s still an interesting “what-if” scenario.
• I can’t believe how poorly executed NFL Network’s production of Thursday night’s game was. I was excited about the idea of having Bob Papa doing a Giants game on TV instead of the radio. While he was still great, the rest of it was awful. Discounting the whole incident where they aired profanity in a RECORDED segment, they also had bad angles on their replays, came back from a commercial break with the producer still talking over the radio, missed a bunch of plays, and their “studio halftime show” consisted of two very long NFL promos. This is the league’s network, broadcasting nationally on Thanksgiving night. You’d think they’d put in the extra effort to at least feign a top-tier broadcast.
• I wish the Colts and Saints played during the regular season. What an awesome game that would be to watch.
• Love him or hate him, you have to admit the whole Brett Favre ordeal is one of the most incredible stories of the year. If you were to have told me before the season started, just after the Vikings signed Favre, that he would lead them to a 10-1 start and secure Brad Childress’s employment for the foreseeable future in the process, I’d have laughed you out of the room. There’s still a lot of football to be played, but what Brett’s done so far is nothing short of incredible.

As grim as things seem, the season’s not over yet. We get to play Dallas and Philadelphia at home in the next few weeks, and the entire season will ride on each game as we play it. I remember thinking the Giants were left for dead several years ago, then we barely secured a wild card spot with a game left in the season. We all remember how that turned out. In this league, especially if you’re still above .500, there’s always a chance for a miraculous turn-around. It’s our job as fans to believe it can happen, and it’s the team’s job to execute. Hopefully, in about a month, we’ll be laughing about this whole predicament, happily awaiting a playoff match-up. WE’VE SEEN THEM DO THIS BEFORE!! IT CAN STILL HAPPEN, FANS!! LOOK OUT, DALLAS!!

Just as a reminder, you can e-mail me at gmensuperfan@gmail.com, or find me on Facebook under the name “Gmen Superfan.” Until next week, GO GMEN!!