November 21st, 2011 
Jeremy Fuchs 
Posted in Well that sucked. The Giants let a winnable game slip through their fingertips.
-Why can’t the Giants beat worse teams? Why can’t they just come out strong and whip teams?
-It’s great that they can come from behind. But, you can’t rely on it. You have to get out in front. Simple as that.
-That fumble, maybe Eli should have held onto it. But, you want to avoid being put into a position where you have to come back in the last minute.
-Vince Young cannot throw. So they did a ton of checkdowns. And the Giants’ linebackers couldn’t really stop it. That 8 minute drive, that’s all it was.
-And then our running game could’t get going. The Eagles were getting a good push. Need Bradshaw back.
-Just bad protection overall.
-No pass rush either. Young shouldn’t have any time to throw.
-DeSean Jackson is an ass, but he can play. He was beating Webster all night.
-C’mon Jake Ballard, hold onto the ball.
-Some positives: Mathias Kiwanuka was a beast. Making plays behind the line. Sideline to sideline. Put him at middle linebacker?
-Chris Canty continues to be great this year.
-Mark Herzlich has work to do.
-Could see how much you need Michael Boley back.
-The Prince had the interception, and played better than I would expected.
-Aaron Ross had a big game.
-Individually, some good performances. Just collectively, a sort of tepid performance. No fire. No passion. This playing down to opponents is getting old. Come out and play like you can! Dominate teams! Because they can. Yes, I know they’re banged up. But that doesn’t excuse things. This team is really good, when they’re playing at their best. And, too often, not just this year, but for so long, they play down to opponents, lose to teams they shouldn’t, it’s enough.
-Eli has been terrific all year, and he had his moments last night, but where’s the consistency. Okay, the run game isn’t working. But Cruz is beating Nnamdi. Target him. Ballard is getting open. Who cares if he’s dropping it, throw it till he catches it. Where’s Manningham?
-And where’s the passion after Eli gets knocked over after that pick? That should rile up the team, not make them complacent.
-I did like, however, the involvement of Da’Rel Scott. Use his speed.
-The Jackson punt return was just painful to watch. Too many bad memories. Can’t they just punt it out of bounds.
-Jackson is so damn talented. But that taunting penalty? C’mon. Shut up and play the game. You’re too good for that. Frustrates me to no end.
-The Giants aren’t done. It’s one game. They can recover. But the Cowboys are coming on. And the schedule isn’t getting easier. They need wins when they’re there. Can’t let ‘em slip. But they did this time. This was a winnable game. And they messed it up. Typical Giants.
Why can’t the Giants beat worse teams? Because our coaching staff cannot prepare the team and if Eli is not being the usual magician we lose. It has become clear to me without Eli we would be the Colts.
That game was a disgrace from the top to the bottom. Why was Snee playing when he was so ill, he stunk as did Diehl who missed key blocks. The OTs were bad because why the hell was Eli taking such long drops with that pass rush?
Gilbride is an A hole, period, end of story. Gogolfing(Coughlin) is a stick in the mud, we need NEW blood at the coaching level. Fewell is a passive defensive coordinator and that will not do.
As with almost every year the coaches fail, Coughlin fails and then the players fail. The buck stops here and that’s what should be on Gogolfing’s desk NOT Reese who did not hire him and does not pick his coaches.
I can make a list a mile long about what’s wrong and what has continually been wrong over Gogolfing’s tenure. It happens almost every season, same thing. If people do not see it by now they will NEVER see it.
- O line desperately needs an infusion of physicality. Can we give Petrus a shot?
- Jacobs isn’t what he used to be but Gilbride’s plays gave him no shot at success.
- Big props to Cruz. Kid showed no fear going up against a world class CB.
- Ballard looked like what we would have expected out of him pre season. We got spoiled by his Bavaro impression year to date.
- Tuck needs to sit and get healthy. He’s simply not a productive player right now. Sure hope it;s due to health.
- Who is this team’s emotional leader? After watching your QB get cheap shotted, Ware KO’d on an obvious helmet to helmet and Jackson openly mocking you, where was the response? Someone should have stood up and said “no more”. Who is that guy on this team? Boley?
Ballard had a bad game, everyone has them. But then again so did Cruz. Both dropped EASY catches.
The problem is that Gilbride was afraid to air it out after a few drops that he refused to abandon a non-existant run game.
I’m not quite sure of the stats but how many times did they run a 3 or 4 man wide spread? How many times was Nicks targeted? Answer = not enough.
While there hasnt been much of a pass rush in the last two games, the scheme has been working. NE was held at bay and so was philly for the most part. 4 turn overs and the giants still couldnt win! Offense takes the blame on yesterdays loss
Let’s see, the cheap shot on Eli, when retaliated upon, caused BOTH teams to get personal fouls, HUGE miss by the refs, then the helmet to helmet (LEADING with the helmet IS unnecesarry roughness no matter who’s carrying the ball you moron Collinsworth, and leading with the helmet is what was done), another miss. It’s hard to retaliate when that leads to personal foul penalties, the refs NEED to catch this shit when it first happens, it’s getting almost unbearable watching these games, these refs should be suspended, fined or fired for these blatant missed calls. In essence if a player is fined, yet he didn’t go penalized, the ref should have to pay a fine equal to around 5-10% as a sign that they league really does care about player safety.
Agree with you on those shit calls. However some games those calls go for
you some games they don’t. Giants have enough talent to win these games
however when they loose they always seem behind the other team by 1/2
step……….Am I crazy, but is manning the worst Q.B. in the league at detecting
pressure coming from behind?
Between last nights game and Washington blowing their OT possession yesterday I am heart broken.
Jacobs if you want to whine about playing time/touches/money etc.. Then you need to step up and perform.
Eli – throw to the guys with GIANTS jerseys please
Ballard, get some stick um gloves son, that was gross
Typical Giants indeed…what was it 9 0r 10 drives that ended in punts in the middle of the 3rd quarter? Pathetic…and I knew Ballard was too good to be true…now all of a sudden he gets a case of the dropsies? He has been so dependable and I thought finally somebody to replace the hole after Shockey left(Boss was allright but would drop perfectly thrown balls too).
I like how you didn’t say squat about the coaching? Com on man the coaches are the problem don’t tell me that they aren’t. If you think our coaches are worth a damn you aren’t watching Giants football. Ive been a fan of this team my whole life over 30 years and Tom Coughlin has done some great things but his time is up!!!! It was up two years ago!!! Move on!!!!! iTS HARD TO CONTINUE TO PUT MY TIME AND ENERGY INTO THIS TEAM AND BE A DEVOTED FAN WHEN THESE COACHES TAKE SO MUCH TALENT AND THROW IT AWAY!!!
The one thing we’ve all seemed to fail to mention is that this team is horrendous at home, and there’s NO excuse for that, start winning some goddamn home games!!!
keep going to Ballard? for what? they threw him the ball 7 times and he dropped 3! Ballard just had a bad game.That first drop completely crushed our opening drive but no excuse to not snap out of it until the 4th quarter.Last time i said if we start like we did last game we’re going to get murdered the next week was when we played the Dolphins and then beat the Pats so we’ll see MNF.At the end of day I dont care about winning and losing as much as I do competing.I want to see games like we played vs San Fran.we lost but we played hard.That crap last night was just ridiculous.a loss hurts but playing with no passion heart or urgency is just embarrassing and thats the only reason I would boo.All I want is for them to play hard and i think 90% of the time we would win.
I think it is a little absurd that you are saying Manning was inconsistent, he had the pass rush in his face the entire game.
- Gilbrides refusal to call any screens or short passes along with the insistence that we have to run the ball despite it hurting us left Eli like a sitting duck while he waited for routes to develop OR in 3rd and longs where the Eagles DE’s just went straight up hill.
-Every game I watch the giants Win and Lose on the deep ball. I understand the importance of trying to stretch a defense but frankly noone respects our run game anyways so it is not like they are overloaded the box.
- The best way to frustrate a defensive line like the Eagles would be to get the ball out of Eli’s hands quickly. Short slants and comeback routes that get 4-5 yards at a clip and keep the defense on the field. The eagles have virtually no depth on their defensive line so with a long drive they are gonna tire out and thats when you can take your shots on the big plays.
- We also need to utilize the 2 minute drill. I recall you posted an article in which Gilbride discussed why he does not use it. Not directly quoting but he basically stated that he liked to control the clock and the tempo of the game, however our offensive line is horrendous and we cannot run the ball. The inability to run the ball makes it virtually impossible for us to control the tempo of the game so instead of worrying so much about buzzwords like “clock control” and “balance” in the offense we should worry about scoring.
- I understand that being too heavy in the passing game could become an issue but until it does the primary concern is winning games and frankly putting the ball and the play calling in Eli’s hands as well as tiring out the other teams defense seems like a good way to change the pace of the game and get momentum onto our side.
-On the defensive side I think its partially due to the injuries we have at personnell and also to our overall philosiphy. I think it is very hard as a player to get excited and ready to play when every time we get a team into a third and long we rush 3 and drop into zone. I think players would rather go into man coverage and send blitzers. This way they get stats and also on the outside the cornerbacks and safeties have to enjoy the competition of a one on one matchup. It shows confidence in your team and I think the Spags era showed that they really respond to that.
-Side note: Did anyone else think that JPP was off the field too much. I noticed on alot of early downs for the Eagles (1st and 2nd) that Umenyoria and Tuck were out there, which for me makes no sense since Umenyoria is horrendous in the run game. I would much rather see him only come in for 3rd down. Keep him fresh and frankly all he has to worry about then is the quarterback
-One last thing I saw that really bothered me was in a 3rd and 4 or 5 the giants lined up with four Defensive ends on the field and Tollefson was playing DT. The eagles ran the ball up the middle since Tollefson got pushed back and out of the play. I think this is inexcusable, it is one thing for JPP or Tuck to go inside becuase they are too good of players to not be on the field (Tuck is obviously struggling this year but he should still be out there) but Tollefson is a backup DE albeit a pretty good one. I thought Canty and Joseph were the best linemen on the defense that game so I do not understand the reasoning for something like this.
-Overall this Giants team has been a puzzle ever since Coughlin became head coach, even if we win 10 games again and miss the playoffs he has to go. The playoffs are the key, if he only wins 10 and we miss them then we need to find the coach that is going to win us 11 because we have had the same excuses year in and year out and its time we went in a different direction
My reaction to the game played on Sunday night is, What, are you kidding me!?!
How can this team that was humiliated so badly, one year ago, come out so flat against the team that eliminated them?
I like and respect Coughlin, but I have to wonder if it is time to bring in a coach who can do a better job of motivating players.
And to Brandon Jacobs: Take a hike; nice knowing you.
It is apparent that they thought they had this game in hand before it
even started. Vick out, no problem. Manning to me looked horrible,
seemed confused even when he had time. Needed to get rid of the ball
more on quick slants.
Again am I crazy or is Manning the worst in the league at detecting
pressure from behind?