Giants vs. Redskins: Who's to Blame?

A lot of people have argued that the Giants are depleted and that’s part of the reason they lost. I agree with that, to an extent. The big names that were on the field did a lot wrong. While I may have a lot of negative things to say in this post, I still believe this is a good team that can get it together and make a run to the playoffs. Even if that is a BIG if. They also have the potential to be last in the NFC East. These guys did not help us out on Sunday:

• Kevin Gilbride: I've gotten used to the fact that KG is an ‘up and down’ offensive coordinator. Against the Redskins, he abandoned the run too early, and in doing so, he became predictable. He ran too many WR screens to stay on schedule, something the run game is supposed to do for our offense. The conventional wisdom is that pass protection is harder on an offensive line than run blocking. If that is the case, why was he passing so much with a refurbished O-line? Why not run the ball and give then time to gel?
• Perry Fewell: Are we that afraid of Santana Moss, Anthony Armstrong and company that we give them massive cushions on 4th down? They’re tiny! Get some hands on them. Redirect their routes. Chip Fred Davis! And when we have a depleted secondary, it stands to reason that we should rush MORE, not less. We had bottled their running game up, so our defense should have been able to pin its ears back.
• Tom Coughlin: I like TC. That said, he has never trusted young players. That’s fine when you have Steve Smith, Kevin Boss, Amani Toomer etc. on your team. When you’re playing Hakeem Nicks, Mario Manningham, Jake Ballard, Henry Hynoski, Victor Cruz, Will Beatty, etc. you can’t be like that! Simply put: Sure Cruz dropped the ball on a key 3rd down. Tough shit. Giving him the cold shoulder for the rest of the game doesn't help the team. He’s clearly talented and maybe he could have helped Eli. A young team is going to make mistakes, but that is something you live with if you’re in the middle of a youth movement.
• Corey Webster: A couple of good plays don’t negate generally bad coverage. Let me pain you a picture: Corey Webster sucked playing zone before Spagnulo came around. Then he got to play press-man and he excelled. With Fewell, we switched back to zone and he wasn’t that good. I can’t believe that the coaching staff hasn't considered that Corey Webster may not be ideally suited to a read and react defense. He screws our cap over too.
• Eli Manning: I’d consider myself an Eli apologist, and frankly he did some good things on Sunday. The interception wasn't entirely his fault and he was better with throwing the ball away. That said, he was entirely too jumpy and when you have a young team and offensive line, that attitude is contagious. Beyond that, Eli also needs to trust his receivers more. If Victor Cruz drops the ball, go back to him! I guarantee you Peyton, Brady, Brees, and Rodgers don’t lock guys out that drop passes on them. It just doesn't help the offense, especially when the O-line isn't doing a good job blocking for you. 

What do you guys think? This list isn't exhaustive, but there is a pattern. I'm starting to get frustrated with our coaching staff and the attitude they bring to this team. Before anybody jumps on me saying that I want a Rex Ryan circus, I mean a lack of adaptability. We're so rigid and regimented that the moment something goes wrong, we're in trouble. We have a young team but coaches won't change to address that. Travis Beckum gets injured late in the week, but instead of complaining, we should have another option. I've seen this for the last couple of years. Last year our offense struggled because of the injury to Steve Smith. The year before that, our defense sucked because KP was injured. The year before that it was Plax. We won the Superblow because we replaced Shockey, and we replaced Tiki. I have not seen that same resilience since.