'Kudos & Wet Willies,' Winning Streak Edition

From beginning to end they never stopped and played their best game of year. I know a lot of people say why did we continue to pass the ball with such a big lead. The answer is simple their was way too much time left in the game to get away from our gameplan

Yes they was errant throws however that was what was working sometimes you have to take bad with the good

Not enough hang time? He had nearly a 50 yard average, and more importantly no shanks or line-drives…if we got 11 more weeks of this, I can’t imagine too many Giants fans would be complaining. (Other than the whole absence of playoffs implied by only 11 weeks, I guess)

He came in and played great when deihl went down not to mention playing TE as well

A big mention to JPP on special teams and even Linval on a few plays at the end where he bust through. My god they both look really good. The way JPP bursts through a tackle is very impressive.

Also I have to say Mitch Petrus was so excitable on the sidelines on his own grabing AB and cheering him on. I love this guy and his attitude and heart. Sorry silly mention but its what makes the Giants great.

Dodge, well I love this kid as well i am really pulling for him.

Still think we need to keep a lid on things a lot of improvement needed especially turnover wise, Eli will cost us games if he makes stupid plays like he did and the delay of game penalties are just totally unnecessary.

Tollefson again made plays on the Dline and on special teams – how does he beat all of those speed guys down the field?

Tony Romo for continuing to prove that statistics are meaningless.

How can SF not get 10-15 yards with 50 seconds left? Their pass blocking is crap. But why were they running routes far down the field?

After Daniels burned us a few times, saw Boley all over him. And Goff made a few plays again. It’s hard for the LBs to look good when no one escapes the Dline.

Name of Amani Toomer. Look how that turned out.

Panther’s, Dec 2008. Or maybe it was when they beat the Steeler’s in NOV of that year.
Last years 5-0 always felt more like the ineptitude of the other team to me, I never saw the fire in our G-Men last year like I saw yesterday. Not to count the chickens before they’re hatched and fried, but this game was a beautiful thing to witness. Standout moment for me, when I realized this team IS a better model than last years: Schaub back near his own end zone, Giants let loose the hounds, Schaub is simply overwhelmed by white and blue, like someone finding themselves face to face with an unexpected tsunami. I think he threw the ball away, don’t remember, but the image of those Giants defenders swarming over the opposing QB with unbridled fury — mucho kudos!

I really think he will get better as the season progresses.

kudos to the receivers and backs…..

I like what I saw from the defense and hope this will continue. So far the Colts are the only team that really beat us, we pretty much beat ourselves in the Titans game, since then the defense allowed only 3 points against the Bears which is a decent team and allowed only 10 yesterday to a team that I would consider a very potent offensive team.

I’ve been saying this team has questions that if it can find some answers can do well. Yesterday they found some answers.

Questions:

My boy Tolly still doesn’t get a kudos, come on man?!

Was this Reynaud guy actually a good return man at some point? I originally was happy about the pickup because I felt like we needed a return man. This guy is not a return man. He has no business being back there. He hasn’t done anything but muff stuff. DJ Ware could do that! Starting to look like a wasted trade.

When is O’Hara back? Koets at least has done better than I expected, but the flaws are starting to show. Some very ugly snaps, stupid leg whips (he committed more than he was called for), and an inability to get downfield and keep blocking. I’m glad Koets has done enough to not kill us, but I want O’Hara back.

Answers:

Bear Pascoe at FB was the spark this offense needed. That lowly FB spot doesn’t get much credit, but I think Bear is a big reason people came out of this game feeling like our offensive line is getting back on track and our passing game is improving. I also think Bearhad a lot to do with Jacobs looking like a worthwhile RB again. Unlike Hedgecock Bear was locating linebackers and blocking them out of the play. He was clearing holes and sealing edges. This vastly improved the run game which in turn helps the passing game. Adding to the passing game is unlike Hedgecock Bear is a threat to catch the ball. How often has Hedgecock roamed into the flat uncovered because they know he can’t catch or run even if he does catch it. On a big pass play to Boss early in the game Boss was open because him and Bear were running a high low and the defender had to cheat down onto Bear. Jacobs looks good running behind Bear because Bear takes out that first LB and Jacobs gets to smack that backfilling safety. Jacobs always looks better dominating a DB then trying to push through lineman and linebackers.

Fewell has learned his players. This is different than 2007. That year the players had to learn and accept the system. The system didn’t change that year, the players did. This year Fewell came in with one approach that wasn’t working well with our unit. Theplayers didn’t need to buy into the system, Fewell needed to figure out a system to use our players. You now see our DBs getting more press calls. The defense is having more pressure calls over all. Tuck is now being used on more stunts which he is great at. Fewell has earned my respect by being willing to adjust and use the tools he has to the fullest.

Diehl is fine as long as he is given help like he should be in certain situations. The Indy debacle is on Gilbride in my mind. When he was getting TE help or a RB chip Diehl did just fine with Williams. Also, we can stop calling out for Andrews. He looked worse than Diehl when put in at Tackle and needed more help. He almost fell over just try to get back pit of his stance.

Nicks has become our big play threat we needed. Why Gilbride still calls the long streak plays for Smith I have no clue. The nice trickle down affect I see coming is that Nicks should see more double coverage, which should free Smith from that allowing him to get back to being the possession monster he is.

Goff is starting to figure out coverage. Thank you for proving me wrong. Coverage is still his weak spot, but he showed major improvement and flashed some big potentially recovering down the seam to swat that ball away from Olsen.

All in all I’m starting to climb off the fence onto the confident side. I do still feel a little bit like the girl who has been cheated on who is starting to trust again. The bottle of wine and roses in Houston was nice, but these guys better not cheat on me again when Detroit comes to town.

can somebody else return kicks???? reynaud is mediocre at best..

I was at the game, so I was not subject to the media slant, the replays and such so I can only comment on what I could see…

1) Goff made a couple of plays across the line of scrimmage, which was good. He seems like he is getting more aggressive like a MLB should be, he needs to force the action more. Still overall, it seems like it is our DL or our secondary making the plays.

2) I love Eli, but he made some boneheaded throws. And there were several times where he could have run down the sideline for 30yds but opted to throw it into coverage instead.

3) The DL is terrific and improving. For the life of me, I don’t understand why Linval does not get in there more often especially instead of Canty or Bernard. The few times he gets in, he is like a wrecking ball, it takes two guys to block him and he can collapse the pocket. He’s a real man mountain. He must have pissed in Coughlins wheaties or something is all i can figure. Cofield continues to play like a stud.

4) Stupid penalites on specials. I still have no idea how a pro player can just blast a guy in the back in front of the ref on a kick return then throw his hands in the air like he can’t believe they called that…. Webster was guilty, Jackson, et al…

5) Renaud is terrible. Dodge, though we can see his potential, has the potential to cost us games.

6) We were sitting right on top of the that stupid punt where first off – why the hell is Reynaud hovvering around a ball that is bouncing on the three yard line. Secondly, how can the captain of the Specials, Blackburn, touch that ball bouncing around down there? He looked like the white Leon Lett without the snow. They both should be shot. More disturbing than that, we were looking for Coughlin to pounce on the both of them after the play and give them an earfull – guess what they got, NOTHING, just a Coughlin constipated look. They got lucky it was ruled a touchback.

7) “the oline sucks”, “need two OT’s”, “we should have drafted 3 OL”, blah blah blah….. The Ol is fine. Koets is an adquate sub for Ohara and the Texans didn’t even breathe on Eli all day. Moving Andrews in as an extra tackle has helped trememdously. Are they the best in the NFL, no. But this veteran group is solid.

8) I will tell you one thing for sure, if you remember the Tiki days, our bread and butter was the Power right with Tiki purposely cutting back to the left. The Giants ran that play about 10 times yesterday, every time, the left side was WIDE open. If they ever figure out to run that play as a pure cutback ala Tiki, it will get big yards.

9) Glad to see Jacobs do something, I hope they work him in more. He flat fell down a couple of times when he had BIG yards in front of him, its almost like he is anticipating contact alot of times.

10) If Kevin Boss keeps getting hit like this, he will be done before the end of the season. He’s a hit magnet.

All in all, the team is improving. I really wish that if Giants management feels we are a contender, I still don’t see why they would not make a move to improve our Specials somehow with a returner or a kicker. Don’t be surprised if we get in a big spot and our Specials flat out cost us the game.

You know, my dad noticed it too. The guy that looks the MOST fired up to be playing in the NFL is Mitch Petrus. He runs everywhere, fires up everyone even though he is only a Special Teamer at this point. You can just tell, the guy has the attitude to succeed. He will be a starter for us in the future. Just watch him working out with the OL guys, he looks way more athletic too than all of them.

I don’t agree : early in the 3rd, being like 21 points ahead, you need to run and kill that clock. He threw, even though Eli did not get protection (Kudos to the Oline ? I don’t think Eli ever had more than 2 seconds to throw). It led to the interceptions that could have turn the game around.

…due to the brutal work travel schedule, but it appears that once again the guys stepped up and made big plays all over the field.

It’s not fun talking about how good the Giants are… when everyone is on the bandwagon. Definitely seeing the most people on here, since the start of the season. Let’s Go Giants, we’re the best team in the NFC.

Don’t have enough time to read so I may be repeating.

Eli, kwillie, when will he learn? The bad judgment throws must stop.

Maybe TC saw the gun pointed at his head.

I never want to see HHog on the field again. Did anyone notice Chandler playing FB for the Cboys? Letting him go was a mistake, said so. We need another TE NOW.

Kudos of course to the entire D but you MUST give a great kudo to Fewell. He called the right schemes and motivated players.

Anybody see the Anvil? Saw him squish a runner.

Reynaud, let’s get our money back, we need to develop, draft, trade. Returns stink.

Overall, first good game of the year.

Unlike most fans and writers I have always supported Gilbride, say what you want he gets results. I thought his game plan was solid and he recognized poor safety play and overall leaky secondary. However in the third quarter I think he and eli got far to greedy. At one point the were up 21-3 and gilbride called 4-5 passes in a row. They needed to get back to the run at that point. Eli then threw a pick and eneded up throwing another. Some of the passes were safer routes, bubble screens and what not, but I was surprised as were the announcers that they were still passing. Your up 17, establish the run. Won’t kill Gilbride but it was the first time in a while I was upset with him. Eli’s decisions did not help obviously.

Now onto dodge – yes the stat line was good, but this is a case the results did not match his play. Again the kicks were far to low. He was lucky to get some bounces but it is still clear he can’t get any hang time. This guy WILL kill us at some point. Hard to believe there isn’t a better vet out there, surprised we let hunter smith get away (not that he is so great anymore but he is a vet who can at the least directionally punt) , Not sure dodge has any idea what directional punting even is.

He is, but most rookies ride the bench till they are ready or are so highly touted they are thrown to the wolves. This is a case where we simply have a desperate need and he does not look ready. Say what you want about him and a couple of big kicks, but he has been very inconsistent and some team will take advantage.

While the coverage unit did improve there were also 3 penalties , maybe 4 on that unit alone, far too much.

Look the team played there best game yet, but you can see that this unit could hurt us moving forward. Im not being a negative nelly just saying wins can cover up a lot of bad and this unit is still something that needs to be fixed.

In the post game coughlin said something i couldnt understand. He was talking about quinn (presumably tom quin) having a star on hakeem, anyone catch that and get it?

Mr Ernie Palladino agrees with me, I know he isn’t the be all end all, but a smart guy who has covered the gmen for years.

MATT DODGE: He didn’t do poorly overall, hitting four punts for a 49.2 gross average. But one of those was a liner and another fell short and took a fortuitous Giants bounce. He’s getting there, but not by leaps and bounds.

COACHING: You’re up by 18 halfway through the third quarter and the first thing that pops into your mind is to throw it three straight times? That wound up being Manning’s second interception, which put the Texans on the Giants’ 18 and set them up for their only touchdown 32 seconds later. It might have been a real momentum-turner, but the braintrust finally got back to the regular gameplan and Manning engineered a field goal drive on the next possession. Nobody is advocating sitting on the lead. Just run the normal offense.

those plays were called…he never checked at the line or audibled. So three throws in a row is on gilbride and then executing is on eli…Look it’s nitpicky, but why risk it up 17 points?

the Giants seem to have way too many delay of game penalties or have to call time-outs to prevent them.

You won’t catch my ass painted blue..That dude on the left looked like he was wearing a blue sharks helmet..I draw the line on looking like a nim-rod..you’ll never see me with a hunk of cheese on my head or any of that shit..You’ll catch me in a Giants jersey with a beer in my hand..looking at my wife in disgust wearing her new Witten jersey…I hope there is a good supply of oxygen up there..for 250.00 I should at least be able to breath…

Jonathan Goff? His play in the first quarter set the tone for much of the game. He played instinctual, intense and had a few hard hits. Most importantly he was fun to watch. We desperately need that from the MLB position and (at least this week) he provided that for us. He is still relatively young and although I’m still hoping that they get someone in there who is a consistent playmaker, it’s nice to see some sort of development (Brian Kehl, anyone?) from a young linebacker.