Giants game revisited. A few surprises emerge...

[brandon_87]

Apparently, I'm a glutton for punishment, because I went back and re-watched the game, taking notes as I went along. It's long, so don't read it if that's a problem for you, but here are my observations:

• The Giants are clearly a better team than the Panthers. While the score would vary, they would probably beat us 5 times out of 5. Much deeper, much more disciplined than we are.
  
• Especially in the first quarter and a half, the Giants absolutely dominated both LOS's.
  
• DWill ran well out of the read option. His runs out of an I formation were much less successful.
  
• The Giants game plan appeared to focus on not letting Cam run the ball. This helped DWill on some of the read options, but overall, it was a successful strategy for the G-men.
  
• Our game plan was to blanket Cruz at all costs, and let the rest of the Giant offense beat us. They did.
  
• Cam did not throw the ball well overall. It wasn't just a case of him making bad decisions leading to turnovers, he just wasn't very accurate all night. Case in point, on our first possession, he had a big completion to Olsen over the middle, but it was a great catch, not a great throw.
  
• We did a fair amount of blitzing, especially early, but generally without success. Remember the Jets preseason game and TD's delayed blitz that got Sanchez? We did the same thing on the Giants first possession, 3rd and 3 from the 15 yard line. This time we sent Anderson. It didn't work. Result, touchdown Giants. On the Giants 2nd possession, with them driving for the goal line again, we had them 3rd and 8. In this case, we just sent 4, but crossed up the rushers, and we got to Eli. They had to settle for a FG.
  
• It is notable to look at the circumstances around each of Cam's interceptions. First interception, we were down 20-0, Smith had just false started for a 5 yard penalty, and it was 2nd and 15. Cam's second int came when we were down 26-7, and it was 3rd and 22 after a big sack on 1st down. His last int came on 4th and goal. The point is, all of his int's came when our backs were against the wall due to down and distance.
  
• Not much point in dwelling on our soft zone coverage, or the poor tackling. That was obvious and has been beat to death.
  
• Joe Adams...ugh.
  

Two more things need discussing. First, Cam's demeanor...I was surprised when re-watching how much was made of nothing. Cam's demeanor was professional throughout the game, and was a big improvement over his demeanor in similar situations last year. Even into the 4th quarter after his first 2 int's, he was still engaged with Shula and other players, his body language in the huddle was fine, etc. Very late in the game, like with 5 mins left, he was still sitting with Shula, but at that point it was obvious nothing he or Shula said would have any outcome on the game. When Cam wasn't talking to Shula, he would typically watch the play on the Jumbotron. At the very end of the game, he was sitting alone on the bench with a dejected look on his face, but the same was true of Kuechly and Beason when they showed them on the bench. Cam went out and shook hands with Eli post-game, so no problem there. Really, all this nonsense about Cam's demeanor is just because he has a towel on his head. Good play or bad, winning or losing, Cam has a towel on his head. Why that is such a huge problem for some of our fans and media is beyond me. It's a towel. Get over it. He acted professionally throughout, despite tough circumstances.

On to Rivera. The on field reporter said he was upset about the soft coverage in the 1st half. I found that a questionable comment, given that he certainly was in a position to do something about it, and apparently didn't. I know you will think this is bs, so I dare you to go back and check...Ron Rivera was never shown on camera moving his lips even once. Not to a player. Not to another coach. Not to an official. Not into his headset. The first time they showed him speak was when he went on the field to congratulate Coughlin post-game. Frankly, I'm much more concerned with Ron's on field behavior than Cam's.

Chud's play calling was not as bad as I first thought. He tried a bit of everything, it just didn't work because of the domination of the Giants d-line.

McDermott and Murphy...not worth discussing.

Anyway, for those with the patience to read all of this, thank you for any comments you may have to add, and hope you found it helpful.

Can't believe you re watched and took the time to post all this... I had my head burried in my hands moat the game and noticed all of this... The first time, no need to ever have to re-watch that oo

[Dpantherman]

The towel is the most useless observation the 'analysts' make. Mostly because like the OP said, he has on when he wins AND when we lose. After TDs AND ints.

[Snake]

The giants oline was beastly while ours was collapsing on the right side. Very thin there

[TheMaulClaw]

Good post...doesn't change my opinion. Hurney needs to go.

[Proudiddy]

Good post Mar...

I'd like to add on to your point about Rivera and his comment about being unhappy with the soft zone.

I mentioned in one of the post-game threads that in Ron's interview after the game on our post-game show, he even said something then to the effect of "We were too soft. Especially in coverage." He elaborated on it, but it really struck me as a weird thing to say because I thought the same thing you did - doesn't he have authority to change it?

That's why I have expressed even more concern about him since the game. It isn't any longer just about our team coming out looking unprepared multiple games now... It's clear something is amiss during games as well. The statement he made in the post-game interview suggested either he doesn't have any say or that the amount of cushion our DBs and LBs were giving was completely up to their own discretion, or both. Either way, something is off.

[RelaxImaPro]

Props to you for rewatching the game. I could barely stand to watch it the first time, let alone rewatch it and do a complete breakdown.

[cammycamjooce]

Rivera is awesome!

[TheMaulClaw]

Rivera is a Hurney puppet, and Hurney needs to go.

[The Special One]

Well said.

[PantherTrain84]

All I know is Sean McDermott is done in my mind. Infact I have had with him, I want him gone so bad I actually hope our defense gets even worse just to ensure he will be gone without a doubt. Isn't the bye week usually when coaches and coordinators get fired? If so, Sean better be gone by the time I tune in to the Cowboys game after the Bye, he is that terrible. All 3 of our games this season the offense has scored on ALL opening drives, pathetic!

[PantherTrain84]

I'm also not sold on Rivera also and most likely he's not our coach of the future BUT I believe Sean Mcd is so terrible I'm willing to give Rivera one more season under a brand new defensive coordinator and see what he can do.

[Brooklyn Bully]

Why that is such a huge problem for some of our fans and media is beyond me. It's a towel. Get over it. He acted professionally throughout, despite tough circumstances.

You should tell this to Steve Smith. He obviously thinks different than you do.

Also... I wouldn't be shocked one bit to learn Gatorade pays Cam to wear the towel.

[pantherj]

McDermott must have been afraid that the Giants would rape us with deep passes over the top of our defense if we used tighter coverage. That's a bad sign that McDermott has no confidence in our secondary, and would rather play a soft zone to prevent huge plays. What's most disturbing is that McDermott has a say in who we draft, pick up in FA, and who starts, but now doesn't believe in his players. How many more seasons will pass before we have defensive players good enough for McDermott to shine? There were plenty of good DBs availble in the draft, and floating around in FA. Our coaches chose Nakamura and Norman, so now they're going down with the ship.

As for our defensive line, we completely failed to draft the right DTs. McClain and Fua were a total disaster from day one, and now we fans are paying the price. When you fail in the draft, the only other option is FA to fix the problem. If your GM has burned through your teams money, then you get scrap heap players in FA. "We build through the draft" talk is bs code for we don't have the money to fix the problem in FA, and we screwed up the draft building part, so get ready to lose.

It's no wonder that the Giants handed us our ass in prime time. They draft extremely well, and they are smart with their money. I'm not going to say that we overpaid for player-X, I'm sick of that gabage. What I will say is that the amount of revenue each team spends on players in the NFL has leveled off, and yet we have considerably less talent than the Giants and many other teams in the NFL.

I expect this team to finish somewhere between 6-10 and 8-8, and I have to imagine this is McDerps last season, but who knows.

[Marguide]

You should tell this to Steve Smith. He obviously thinks different than you do.

Also... I wouldn't be shocked one bit to learn Gatorade pays Cam to wear the towel.

Let me ask you a question. Last year against Minnesota, when Cam had just converted a 4th and 14 to Brandon LaFell for the first, and they were in the red zone, should Cam have jumped all over Smitty for his holding that killed the game winning drive?

Cam didn't do anything any different than Luke Kuechly or Jon Beason, both of whom were seen hanging their heads on the sideline.

Here's an idea...how about letting one of our coordinators, or one of our veteran players show up for the post game press conference, and see how chipper they are.

Cam is a 23 year old kid that is expected to carry a not very good team. There are going to be rough spots.

Smdh.