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Second Quarter

1-Eli sacked far back. They blitzed and the offensive line was like a sieve. The guy blew by Diehl who didn’t even get a finger on him. This game is getting hard to watch Diehl play, he’s that bad. He has not yet made one block of anybody during this game.

2-Eli in shotgun to Cruz down the middle. The Giants finally gave the blocking help to Diehl, Bradshaw was on his side and provided enough time for Eli to throw.

3-Stupid, stupid, stupid. With a 3 man rush they did not give Diehl any help, his man blew by him and almost sacked Eli who missed Nicks. He was running for his life. Who made the call for the blocking, you can’t leave Diehl alone one on one.

4-Punt- it looked like a great punt but #30 Tryon miss-played it and took it into the end zone. I have to get a better film of this. Was it another mental error on special teams by Tryon? I remember it was while watching the game. I have to get a better view to 100% sure.

5-Pump fake by Romo, Bryant caught the ball inside 5 defenders surrounding him, what was that. The Giants shifted over from a Tampa 2 to the under/over linebacker alignment moving Tuck in tight. It would have worked against the run which the Cowboys faked. They are starting to out think the Giants coaching staff here.

6-Rivers makes a great play stopping the runner by slicing in on a perfect angle.

7-Some players did not maintain their gaps and Romo ran, he bounced it outside. Rivers looked like he was not only held but tackled by an offensive player, no flag.

8-Flag delay of game by Romo.

9-Boley intercepted Romo and should have had a TD. He was horse collared. Flag and Giants get it on the 1 yard line. I know I was thinking while watching the game they have to get a TD here.

10-Run right not a crease for Bradshaw who lost yardage. Bradshaw made an error by not just putting his head down and squaring up his shoulders, instead he let the Cowboys drive him out of bounds. That’s a big mistake in the redzone, you just do not do that as a back when you have to make ONE YARD.

11-Terrible play call in my opinion. This was a passing down and they tried to run it left, again nothing, no push at all, the Cowboys where in past the LOS. Boothe was supposed to lead the play but just fell down. More yardage lost.

12- Pass play, Eli had some time. Cruz was tackled in the end zone NO FLAG!!!!!!! That was pass interference period!!! He was obviously held, it should have been a TD.

13-FG made, this series of downs was overall a very poor one by the Giants by everybody, including the officials and Gilbride’s play calling. The Giants are NOT a power running team, someone must point this out to Kevin Gilbride and Tom Coughlin. They do not have a power back, why not try Hynoski down the middle for one yard? This is maybe where Martinek would have made a play. Maybe even Brown who has more foward power/drive than Bradshaw, although Coughlin probably has little confidence in Brown, I don’t.

14-Kickoff by Tynes, nice job by cover team but a little short on the kick. Still did not get to 20 yard line which is good.

15-Run down the middle bounced to outside right, Rivers made good stop, so far the best player on the field is Rivers. He’s making plays all over the place. Coe was also there to stop it.

16-Nice pass play by Romo, quick out for a first down again Rivers saved a huge gain. Webster was too locked on to his man but that is OK, he needs to do that with Bryant.

17-Short run down the middle as I said they would attack Bernard but he’s playing well as is Joseph.

18-False start Dallas, Doug Free.

19-JPP stoped Murray in the backfield the FB missed him completely.

20-Soft zone but Coe makes good tackle for a 9 yard gain it could have been a lot more.

21-Punt-fair catch by Hixon he had room to run if someone had made one block. It was Tryon who missed the block, this guy is killing the team on specials.

22-This was an inside run to Bradshaw. Bradshaw should have followed his blockers for the first time there was push and he might have had a nice gain. By bouncing it outside he ran right into a defender. Bradshaw is trying to make up for a poor line and adding to the problems.

23-Another run, to the right side, no gain even though it was a two TE line. This was a passing down period and a terrible call by Gilbride. I would have been happier to see him do the same play as before and tell Bradshaw to follow his blockers. But it was a sure passing down, Bennett has been open all game down the middle that was the call in my opinion. Will Beatty was the TE on the right side and did not block well at all. Nobody was blocked period. Also the play was telegraphed pretty much by the Giants, it surprised no one.

24-Pass to Bennett on the sideline, Eli just missed him because he had to get rid of the ball too quickly again the pass blocking broke down.

25-Punt 54 yards by Giants. Dallas on their own 27.

26-False start Smith on Dallas.

27-Too much cushion great catch by Bryant. Williams was in and took too long to diagnose play, was late to area as was DB.

28-Short pass Coe missed tackle but receiver went out of bounds, Chase was there quickly for once.

29-Draw play, Chase whiffed on a tackle, Bernard did NOT maintain gap integrity, if he did it would have been a zero gain.

30-Pass to right by Romo off target, broken up by Williams’s presence.

31-This play is interesting. Blackburn is pointing frantically to the right and Romo looks down Bryant for a big gain. Webster was late as was KP. What happened here, did Chase totally miss diagnose the play and cause the defense to over shift to their right when the play was going left? KP saved TD for sure.

32- Short pass to Ogletree. The Cowboys are on the Giants 10 yard line.

33-TD for Dallas, obvious holding on Smith against JPP or he would have had Romo. Blackburn releases good coverage on his man and he scored, was wide open. A terrible decision by Blackburn that cost the Giants. He made the mistake of not allowing others to make a play, he was worried about Romo running when he should have stayed with his man, there were enough defenders to stop Romo. You don’t give up a receiver running into the endzone on coverage unless you know there is safety help and there wasn’t any.

34-Dallas kickoff, really nice run back by Wilson, too bad Barden could not hold his block or it was a huge gain or possibly a Giant TD.

35-Cruz drops an easy pass. It looked like he wanted to run before he had the ball, he had a huge gain if he caught it. Again Giants players trying to make plays and not keeping their focus.

36-Eli in shotgun, complete collapse of the offensive blocking and a sack. Diehl whiffs again and Bradshaw was out of position to help. Deihl has single handedly allowed the Cowboys to beat the Giants with his poor play.

37-Draw play to Bradshaw…DUH!!!!!! Either throw a Hail Mary at this point or put a knee down. Again Diehl could not make a block and Bradshaw was tackled by his man from behind. Only a three man rush with a nice wedge in front of Bradshaw and the play goes nowhere because of Diehl. It really didn’t matter the half was over, it was really painful to watch for a Giants fan.

End of half.

For some reason Rivers was not in there toward the end of the half. Williams was playing. Beatty was in a few times as a blocking TE and did not look very good, is it rust or he’s just not ready? Bradshaw made some errors that you would not see unless you were watching the game film, both as a runner and blocker. The reason is pretty simple he was over compensating, great players tend to do that and it makes them not great players anymore. Blackburn made some terrible plays and was just not a factor.

Now for the real culprit so far, it pains me to say this but David Diehl is the worst right tackle in the NFL. He cannot move and has no functional strength to take on any defender. In my opinion ANY legitimate NFL right tackle would be an upgrade. I have never seen such a poor performance from an offensive tackle in my 50 years of watching football. The only other time was an Eagles game where Osi ate up a guy for like 6 sacks. Diehl is just as bad not only in pass protection but he was the cause of some runs going nowhere. He blocked no one. It was agonizing to sit at my PC and watch his play. If he is there next game for the Giants it could only mean that the Giants could not find anybody off waivers or a free agent and/or Brewer and Beatty are not healthy yet. There has to be someone out there sitting home waiting for a call, please Reese find someone, anyone.

I cannot see his performance getting better. The same goes for Chase Blackburn, Herzlich would be an improvement and Boley really should be the MIKE at this point with Kiwi and Rivers as the OLBs if they feel Herzlich is not ready yet. Blackburn is just not playing well, he’s a nonentity on defense and does nothing really any average backup MLB cannot do. He’s killing this defense and was the reason for the only Cowboy score at this time.

To watch the game like I am is to see exactly who is doing what. I have the ability to watch plays over and over again. I can watch a condensed version and a coach’s version called ALL 22. So please I am not making stuff up. I am injecting some of my own opinions but overall I am reporting exactly what I am seeing. It is upsetting to see two players I always liked play SO bad. I saw it during the preseason and hoped it would improve but it has actually gotten worse.

I cannot believe Tom Coughlin would allow both players to be the starters. I do not understand why, their play has been horrendous and has not improved why are they there? With Blackburn we have an alternative in Herzlich and Boley, in the case of Diehl the Giants are stuck they have nobody healthy. I honestly would try moving Cordle to the LOG and Boothe to the ROT. It would be an improvement, because it cannot get much worse.

The second half is coming soon to a blog near you, at Giants Gab!!! Yes I know that was corny I had to inject some humor after watching this.