New York Giants defensive coordinator Perry Fewell spoke to the media Friday, and there were two main subjects on tap: Dealing with the Indianapolis Colts' potent offense, and playing time for certain young players.
Seeing as how both of these topics have been at center stage here on Big Blue View, let's get right to it.
With a prime time game against the Colts looming, the Giants are obviously anxious to see cornerback Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie on the field
"We are working him. It depends on how he feels. Sometimes he is really good, when I say good he has been good back to back practices so we will see tomorrow if he tightens up, stiffens up, what have you. That is how we kind of approach it - it is a day-to-day kind of assessment with him." Fewell said of the injured cornerback, who is dealing with an inflamed itiotibial -- or simply "IT" -- band.
He went on to add " Well, yesterday and today was a back-to-back for him. The last time we played we didn't do that with him. He stayed here for treatments during the bye week so we felt like we can push him a little bit." And when asked if he liked what he saw from DRC, Fewell gave a simple affirmative "Yes, I was."
From there, the defensive coordinator was asked about dealing with Indy's formidable young quarterback, and in particular if he goes into games expecting to get beat. "When we play an offense like that I don't want to use the term beat, beat, beat. They will move the ball, we have to get red zone stops and we have to get turnovers, we have to get those red zone stops. A team with good skills and with an excellent quarterback like that they will move the football on you."
Fewell also added on the subject of turnovers "No, doubt. I think because anytime they continue to put the ball in the air that gives you the opportunity to have some interceptions." He also stressed the need for discipline when defending the run " Against Philadelphia, we just weren't gap sound. Against Dallas, I thought we hustled - I thought we played hard. DeMarco Murray made some good plays, and we just didn't do a very good job of tackling sometimes. We didn't have a lot of missed tackles, the runs, he had some big runs that we thought we were going to shut those things down and knock them down and we just didn't do a very good job of that. For the last two weeks, in the bye week, we looked at our run game. We made some adjustments and some of the things that we are doing in our run game, so I look for that to improve."
Of course, Fewell was also asked about why some of the younger players haven't seen the field, and Jerry Reese's statement that they want to see Damontre Moore on the field more.
"We would all like to see him play more obviously. He is a talented guy. I think we are all kind of waiting for him to come out of his shell and be consistent in what he does so that we can put him in the football game and get him more snaps." Fewell said.
That was quickly followed by a question about why Kiwanuka has been on the field as much as he has.
"I think Mathias Kiwanuka has played very well, better than he did a year ago in the run game. Obviously, in order to get sacks, in order for Damontre Moore to play more we have to do a better job, which we haven't done, of playing the run game. I think Mathias Kiwanuka has done an excellent job in our run game for us."
Fewell also added some insight into how rookie Jay Bromley is viewed by the coaches, and what his role could be with Cullen Jenkins injured. "We wanted to involve Jay Bromley a couple of weeks ago, in one of our game plans. He came to us as kind of a pass rush kind of guy. When you test him in some of the other aspects he didn't kind of pass that test for us a couple of weeks ago. This is a pass-happy team, I won't say pass happy, but because they pass the ball a lot. We can definitely involve him we think in some of our rush opportunities, and I think that is where his strength lies right now with the rush opportunities."