Defending Gilbride

I agree that overall Gilbride is doing a fine job, but I’m siding with the 5th Down when it comes to these short yardage situations. It would be nice to just line up & and run straight up the middle every time we want, but the reality is that we 1) don’t have a big OL to really run over people (they’re a great O-line, they’re just not big) and 2) Jacobs is not at his best here because he doesn’t get low and drive a pile like great goal line backs (no matter how big he is). So when a defense knows exactly what is coming (especially a great one like Pitt), then it is pretty hard to execute because of these factors. Plus add onto the fact that I know of at least 2 instances in goal line situations in that game that if Jacobs had made a good read and cut slightly back, then he would have went in the end zone untouched. Listen, I love the Beast as much as anyone and I think are O-line is very good. I’m just saying I don’t think the best goal line strategy for this team is to line up and run the same play up the middle every time against a great run defense.

How long did we scream for the Giants to go “no-huddle” for Eli?

We want Jacobs to get the ball more
We want Ahmad to get the ball more
We want Ward to get the ball more
We want Hixon to get the ball more
And HEY! Why don’t the Giants throw to Tight Ends?

With the Giants offense, two things matter:

Are they scoring enough to win? Check.
Is Eli keeping the turnovers to a minimum? Check.

one goal line stand by (in rushing yards per game) the third best run defense in the NFL and Jacobs is “a tremendous liability in short yardage and the red zone”? guy’s averaging 4.9 YPC and already has more rushing TDs than last year, but, you know, let’s panic because of what happened on three plays. sports media are such idiots.

Honestly, has anyone ever met a loyal Giant fan that doesn’t complain about something. Lets face it, we were brought up that way, except for the 1950’s, Giant fans have had decades of bad teams. Yes we won 3 SB’s, but the Giants were never called a " Dynasty " . So , being a loyal Giant fan, we will always complain. Its how we were raised, its our fathers fault. I do believe the Giants found a formula to winning, and who knows, can these Giants become…wait for it…..a DYNASTY. Wouldn’t be great for the Giants to REPEAT and Possibly THREEPEAT…………………………you never know……

but please don’t mention the Red Sox on BBV. I have this condition that I tend to black out when talking about the Red Sox, my Doctor says I’m getting better but the pain is strill there……………

I watched the game with a steeler fan, and I was yelling at the TV everytime they tried to run with no success, most likely in the red zone or green zone or whatever. But this is what I thought at the end of the game, and although is very unlikely I think he set the steelers up. That is why the TD to Boss was so easy. He kept challenging the steelers D with Jacobs running into a wall. A play action was an option at that point, but it was also in the first, second and third quarter. So everybody was expecting a run on that TD pass. TC and Gilbride knew they were going to blow the steelers away. He kept them in the game by being conservative just to stomach punch them at the end. I agree the result is what matters, but I like to thing that he was smart enough to set the steelers up and they felt for it.

There are several reasons for this. I believe the following to be true:

1) Eli’s continuing maturation actually comes from Chris Palmer (vs. Gilbride) and the drills and lessons he has imparted on Eli

2) Gilbride outhtinks himself sometimes. Notice how often plays come in late and Eli is forced to get the snap off with 1 second left on the play clock (or, sometimes zero!). Now, in Gilbride’s defense, I think he has gotten somewhat better at getting plays in this season (ie the problem was worse in the past) however, it continues to be an issue and when the play doesn’t come in until late in the play clock, Eli can’t effectively audible or set up routes properly, nor can O’Hara set up the correct protection schemes in a timely manner. This is a problem and it can stall even the best drives.

3) this is more of a 2a, but sometimes I get the feeling that Gilbride gets too cute on offense. Rather than just lining it up and letting it rip, sometimes there are bizarre runs on 2nd and short (when you’ve got a great opportunity to take a shot deep).

4) With the playmakers on offense, I question the dearth of screen passes. There was (I believe) one to Manningham (Hey Mario! when you drop those easy passes – that’s an easy way to get into Coughlin’s doghouse…just sayin’). But no screen passes to Bradshaw (remember the ones that Tiki used to take to the house with regularity?) – no bubble screens to Boss to get him rumbling in the open field?

Other than those points above – I would like to see the run/pass ratios skew a little more towards the run throughout the game. But I ultimately think he’s doing a less-than-serviceable job. I think he can certainly do better – but I believe that he will get there. I’m hoping that he’s playing the “O” close to the vest and will be letting it rip as the schedule gets more difficult.

is for him to add more Run and Shoot elements to the team, since that’s what he (and seemingly Eli) is good at

Ive been a fan all my life, but even I must admit the schedule thus far has been fairly easy…we were able to catch the Skins and Rams at their lowest points, the bengals are miserable, ditto for the niners.

So we’ll so how Gilbrides play calling works against the remainder of the schedule, which is as hard as we’ve ever seen.