Giants LOSE 38-20
Goat 1
Goat 2
Goat 3The Giants tonight gave away control of the NFC, largely, because in a critical game, the coach, the quarterback and a cornerback couldn't get things figured out.
Coach Coughlin had a critical and game changing error in the 4th quarter, when he elected to go for an impossible field goal - which was returned 108 yards for a TD by Devin Hester - instead of punting with lots of time left in the 4th and the game momentum back with the Giants. Instead of playing field position, when trailing by just 4, he went for a meaningless - though unkickable - field goal. This is a coach I have alway respected, but I have never seen a Giant coach do anything stupider than to call that FGA. The game became unmanageable after that point, and he has no one to blame but himself.
Eli Manning came up tiny on National TV - again. The serially idiotic play calling didn't help him at all, but he was off and throwing picks and near picks all night long. He has shown us an amazing upside, but tonight, he also showed us, he cannot be counted on in a big game. He was playoff game bad, and questions have to be asked about his committment to the Giants and the job the coaches have done in developing him. He's got to get better.
Cory Webster became a target late in the second quarter and Grossman didn't stop looking for him till they had scored 4 more offensive touchdowns. This kid looked like a playmaker at LSU and in his first Giant preseason, but he has not been a playmaker in the regular season. He looked lost most of the night, and the Bears weren't doing anything exotic. Again, his development has to be questioned.
With any luck the Giants will start getting some players back next week, but unless the Coach, theQB and the "most talented" remaining CB step up, the Giants will keep losing.
posted by Kalel9 @ 8:29 PM
11 Comments:
Spot on as always Phil. The tendency for Eli's mechanics to completely disintegrate disturbs me. The accolades he gets for being cool under fire are evident at times (San Diego, Philly '06, at Dallas '05, etc) yet in certain huge games he flails like Danny Kanell.
The misuse of Shockey is criminal.
Yeah, this is year three, and we still don't know which Eli we are getting from week to week or from quarter to quarter. I don't know why they extended Shockey if they weren't gonna get him involved.
If you're not going to unleash an all-pro TE against cover 2, when are you going to use him?
I use to think it was a schematic issue, but in recent weeks Shockey has been split out, motioned, stacked with Plax....they're trying.
Replay can be deceiving, but several times I saw him running free down the seam or singled up with a safety. Eli needs to adopt the seam pass. Simms always said it's the most reliable throw in the meadowlands wind.
Eli needs a lot of work. It's hard to believe that a kid who is said to work as hard as he does is still so inconsistent. I question the instruction he is getting.
I agree. There's a disconnect there somewhere.
re: your contacts
Have there ever been rumblings of discontent with either Huf or Gilbride?
No, I haven't heard anything, but I have rumbled about them plenty. The Giants have a huge investment in Eli and he has done his best when left to his own devices in the no huddle. I don't know how that truth can be taken as anything but and indictment of Huf and Gilbride.
That FG attempt was a terrible decision. spot on, Phil.
Not using Shockey was criminal.
Another real problem was the 3rd and 15 right before the 52 yard FG attempt. I looked at where we were on the field and thought "too long for a FG, it'd hurt to punt from here, great time for a draw." If Tom had decided to kick the FG from 52, he obviously thought it important; why not pick up 6 yards or so to give Feely a chance?
It isn't fair to call the FG "meaningless." Yes, they were down 4, but a made 45 yarder would have put them in a position to win the game with a FG. I personally didn't see them scoring a TD later on, so that would've been significant.
See, I could see them getting the ball back and scoring a TD. The Bears couldn't really stop our run when we stuck with it. The play calling and the call for the FGA destroyed our chances.
Did they have the ability to score a TD? Of course. Would the playcalling have allowed it? Would the drive have been stalled by another in the seemingly endless string of penalties? Who knows.
Regardless, the Bears were likely to score again, in which case the FG would have been huge.
I don't think you can assume the Bears would be likely to score again if we backed them up with the momentum we had. We made sure they scored again; however, with that blisteringly idiotic field goal attempt.
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