NY Giants 30 Baltimore Ravens 10

VERY NICE WIN.

1) Ward had a very nice blitz pickup of Ray Lewis on 3rd and 15 which enables a key 21 yard pass catch to Burress, giving a key first down in the first drive of the game and the tempo to be established for the Giants.

2)The Ravens simply made a cardinal sin, you cannot tackle Jacobs high. High they went, and loss they got.

2) Giants vs Ravens… 207 yards rushing against a team that was allowing 56 yards/game. This Ravens defense had not given up 100 yards rushing in 27 games. This was the first 200 yard running game given up vs this defense in 11 years. THE POINT- this Giants OL did it again. During the week, Lewis asked aloud, those holes the Giants OL created, c’mon, the RBs are not doing a lot, and he implied by it that the Ravens would not be handing the Giants those running lanes. Well, Jacobs, Ward and Bradshaw ALL had 20+ yard runs.

3) Robbins blocked a 33 yard FG. It will be nice when this guy’s hand/s are healed, because he’ll be resuming his pass rish too when that happens.

4) Aaron Ross had two picks, 1 for an TD. That TD was the killer of the game, effectively ending the game there assuming no craziness.

5) The Giants did not get a pass rush until late in the game.

6) Manning pick to Lewis was about the only real negative. Stop the telegraphing. (see #12 addendum at bottom)

7) Bradshaw had a 77 yard run, is he the best back on this team or what?!! Jacobs and Ward did great, but you have to ask yourself what would #44 be doing with the same opportunities. Ward had a big run for 22 yards early in Q2… you have to ask, would #44 have gone the distance on that same play?

8) Injuries? Ross, McKenzie, Jacobs?

9) Flacco (who was probably off their run radar) killed the Giants with those scrambles, but there was not enough around him to make them come together for the points to make a difference. Correctable mistake that Spags will clean up by getting more pocket discipline on those scrambling QBs.

10) Giants run defense continues to stuff the opponent.

11) Ravens only success came in trying to slow down the Giants successful D with those pesky reverses and screens to stop Giants overpursuit. That is not a big issue, it is correctable, and even by Q4 it was abandoned by the Ravens.

12) (addendum, added 10PM) Manning got a beating today. We saw him get hit on more than a few plays, but someone who was at the game and did not have to look through the camera’s eyes said that Manning took a lot of punishment. I want to point this out because when I mention the telegraphing, it is not to take away from a really good game that Manning played. His QB rating is a browning joke, the stat is so bogus at times, and this is certainly one of them. Besides, when there is that much wind, who gives a rat’s Brown about the surface. He uses that hard count, he deals with Gilbrown’s playcalling, he makes the decisions, he hits his receivers, he gets a tremendous amount of credit in this win.

Manning, Jacobs and the Ravens

Ultimatenyg comments in red

Out of Blue, Eli Manning hits a slump (where have we seen this topic before?)
By RALPH VACCHIANO
DAILY NEWS SPORTS WRITER

Tuesday, November 11th 2008, 8:50 PM

For 23 remarkable minutes Sunday night, Eli Manning was putting on a quarterback clinic. He had recovered beautifully from his opening-drive interception, which was batted at the line of scrimmage. He was right on the mark on almost every pass after that.

Then, suddenly, it all disappeared. He went from a brilliant, 13-for-17, 143-yard performance in the first 23 minutes against the Eagles to 4-for-14 for 48 yards over the final 37 minutes. Sure, the Giants won, 36-31, but the drop-off in the passing game was pretty dramatic. To be fair, he had a few dropped passes, but it is the “Old Eli” who would not be able to play 4 quarters with the same consistency and urgency.

Still, while Tom Coughlin admitted he’d prefer to see Manning “statistically being a little more proficient,” he didn’t sound concerned about what appears to be a quarterback slump. Manning may have failed to top 200 passing yards in any of the last five games, but the Giants (8-1) have won four of those. Maybe, just maybe, it is the job of Gilbrown to put Manning in play action for his pass atempts when the run is so effective, and NOT have Manning in shotgun? Ya think?

“We still had a lot of production,” Coughlin said. “And we would prefer to have pretty much a mix (of the run and the pass). You’d like to come off the field with an explosive team like Philadelphia and have the ball for 39-plus minutes. That’s the way you would want the game to come out. Gilbrown has the best OL in football. This was a game when punching Jacobs was more than adequate. To be fair, it was not Gilbrown’s fault that Jacobs decided to do his Olympic hurdles imitation.

“If you could sit and design something where everything was perfect, that would be fine. But it’s not going to be that way.”

The Giants did hold the ball for 39:10 against the Eagles, and their powerful rushing attack had its fourth 200-yard game of the season (219). Add in a stifling (huh? what DL non-existent pass rush were you watching?) defense that held the dangerous Brian Westbrook to just 59 total yards, and it’s clear the Giants don’t need big numbers from Manning to win.

The problem is that eventually they will need more from him – maybe even this Sunday when they host the Baltimore Ravens (YES, correct, Ralph… Ray Lewis and company will be waiting to tackle the behemoth and they will not be nearly as charitable as the Eagles), who have the best rushing defense in the NFL (65.4 yards per game). Through the first four games of the season, when Manning was completing 63.6% of his passes (84 for 132) for 1,032 yards with six touchdowns and just one interception, nobody doubted his ability to deliver. But starting with the Giants’ lone loss in Cleveland on Oct. 13, Manning’s numbers have dipped. (Manning Malaise, ahem.) His completion percentage in those games is at 57.7 (86 for 149) and he has thrown five interceptions to go with his eight touchdown passes. His yardage total in those five is 894, with a high (at Pittsburgh) of just 199.

Is it a slump? Is it a product of playing tougher defenses? Is it just because the Giants are content to rely on the run? And how can the Giants explain his dramatic in-game decline in Philadelphia, which seemed to start the moment Brandon Jacobs lost a second-quarter fumble? Until the Giants pulled in the reins in the fourth quarter and ran on their final 13 plays, they were a perfectly balanced team – 32 runs and 32 passes. (Gilbrown wuz here.)

But after his hot start, Manning went 1-for-5 for just six yards in the final 6-1/2 minutes of the first half, and was 3-for-9 for 42yards in the second half.

“I don’t know what exactly the reason would be,” Coughlin said. “There are always things as you look at a play you go hindsight. Sometimes there is a balance issue, there is a set issue or whether the quarterback is rushed or whether he just makes an inaccurate throw, or whether the receiver wasn’t on the same page with the quarterback and that type of thing, or a Gilbrown in shotgun.”

Those issues are part of the reason why the Giants’ once-dangerous passing game is now ranked just 16th in the NFL (205.8yards per game). And those are issues Manning needs to work out down the stretch, against a difficult schedule. A powerful defense and running game could carry the Giants to another Super Bowl championship.

But at some point they’re going to need their quarterback, too.

This was a fantastic article by Ralph Vacchiano. He nailed it. This Sunday we will need to pass against what Wonder refers to as a suspect group of DBs for the Ravens. Yes, we have to run vs the Ravens to keep them honest. But Manning is going to have to deliver. Hixon and Burress need to stretch the field, because if this team cannot go vertical, that just means the Reed and Lewis poaching will get ever more pronounced. The Giants like to punch, and that can work against an undersized Eagle DL, but against the front 7 of the Ravens, punching with Jacobs will not be as effective as BOXING with a mix of passing, passing deep, running with Ward and running with Jacobs. DO ALL 4, and don’t be utterly anal in your attempt to be balanced. Jacobs does not need 20 touches this game for us to win, spread it around, keep this defense off-balance, Lewis knows tendency better than anyone. I may be wrong, but I fear that Jacobs’ lack of speed will be a tremendous liability against this run defense.

the Steeler connection

The Steelers were thin at RB, and then on Monday night Ray Lewis made a legal but nasty hit on rookie 1st round RB Rashard Mendenhall that put him out for the season. So now the Steelers are shopping for a RB, and guess who they have been looking at? Giants RB Danny Ware. Do not give this guy up in a trade without getting MORE than just a token draft pick. Ask for a 3rd rounder. Why?

1) The Steelers are desperate because their style of play is a ball-control offense that limits the number of times Roethlisberger throws the ball. Last season they were 3rd in the league in rushing attempts per game. This year they are still running the ball and they want to keep it that way. So make them pay.

2) We have 5 RBs if you count Droughns. Just because we CAN trade him does not mean we should just give him away. But it does give the Giants flexibility.

3) WE PLAY THEM LATER THIS SEASON. So only trade him away to this team if they are going to PAY UP. If the Steelers find another stooge to help them with a cheaper solution, so be it. But there is no reason for us to help this team to give us a loss later on… unless we know we are going to get MORE than what is fair.

The Ravens and Steelers

Did you miss the Ravens-Steelers game on Monday night? The Giants play both of these teams later this season; both will be a handful. They both play solid defense and make you earn your points. Neither has a dynamic offense… they get it done by having their defenses force you into mistakes and then shortening the field so that they can take advantage on a small porch. Watch the video for Flacco’s poise and presence, as well as his rookie mistakes. He looks like he has game. Ray Lewis thinks his team is live because they can play on both sides of the ball. To me they look a year away, but since they play defense anything is possible. Just look at the Giants last year. In fact, it is Ray Lewis who sites Strahan when comparing his own crusade for a title.

The NFL in 2008

Pat Kirwan of NFL.com writes a good review of where the NFL has been migrating. The league is always changing. This blog has talked up those changes more than a few times to emphasize where resources need to go in order for teams (specifically the gmen) to remain competitive.

Note how Kirwan mentions the need for a TE to be vertical so that it can foil the “box” safety. While the Giants used Shockey to beat Williams, he was not used the other 13 games he started nearly as much in that ‘vertical’ capacity.

Note also how the need for today’s LB to have more lateral range is discussed. The LB today gets outsourced to either rushing the passer or pulled off the field for the nickel or dime defensive back because they are simply a liability in the middle of the field. This is why these 4th rounders do not make a whole lot of sense here… either you are drafting a LB with a lot of speed who can play all three downs or you almost should not bother. Is the hope here that Kehl or Goff turn into Brandon Short or Dhani Jones? Or is the objective to get a Jessie Armstead? If it were not for Armstead we would be talking 24 years ago at #1 Banks to get excited about a LB draft choice. Nowhere on the field is lack of speed more embarrassing than watching a LB in space on a pass route. Guys like Urlacher and Ray Lewis made their defenses dominant because they were an asset on those plays instead of liability. Do not forget that Pierce was a liability on the first touchdown pass (interference penalty) of the Super Bowl. We need to cover that vertical TE!