New York Giants - v Philadelphia Eagles - RD3- REVIEW

The Giants entered this game on a 6 game losing streak to the Eagles including a playoff game. Two long range touchdowns to Eli Manning in the 1st quarter set up a healthy 14 point lead but the Eagles bounced back scoring the next 16 giving them a 2 point lead heading into the 4th quarter. Manning threw another pair of touchdowns and including a 2 point conversion gave the Giants a 29 - 16 win. Let's look at how they did it:


Air Attack

Eli Manning threw for 4 touchdowns for the 6th time in his career and completed 16 of 23 passes for 254 yards and thank goodness no interceptions. Not even a fumble!! Manning's passer rating of 145.7 is his highest ever in a game where he took most of the offensive snaps. Manning connected for 2 TD's to Victor Cruz for 78 and 28 yards. The 78 yarder being his 4th longest. A 92 and 85 yarder to  Mario Manningham (Inactive for this game) and a 78 yarder to Plaxico Buress. Manning also threw TD catches to running backs Brandon Jacobs (40 yards) and Ahmad Bradshaw (18 yards).  On a side note Brandon Stokley caught his first pass as a Giant receiver (8 yarder) making him one of only 2 people to catch a Peyton and Eli Manning pass, Jim Finn being the other.
Rating 9 / 10

Ground Force

Brandon Jacobs and Ahmad Bradshaw combined for 105 yards on 22 carries. Apart from Ahmad's 37 yarder and a couple of 3rd and shorts converted the running game was best described as serviceable.
Rating: 7.5 / 10

Rushing D

The combined yards conceded by the G-Force rush stoppers was 194 so 177 today seems a lot. However I would assume that the defence was going to focus on stopping the potent air attack with Vick et al being dangerous on any given play. Take that into account and the impressive play of RB LeSean McCoy and QB Michael Vick is just as dangerous as a runner as he is passing.

The Eagles rushed for 13 first downs but only scored 1 touchdown on 5 trips into the red zone and were denied both times Goal To Go. The defense as a whole also kept the Eagles offence out of the end zone for the whole 2nd half when the game was there to be won.

Rating: 8 / 10

Secondary Support

Crucified by injuries and giving up way too many big plays in the first 2 games you be ok in assuming that Vick was going to tear them a new one? Well a knew one was torn and it's bleeding/broken and whinging on the TV about the Ref's not protecting him. Silly me thought it was Vick's O'Line that was meant to do that. Vick eventually left the game with a broken hand but not before he was sacked twice by Jason Pierre-Paul and picked off by maligned Aaron Ross. Ross was actually benched last week but has redeemed himself with 2 interceptions (He also picked off Vick's replacement Mike Kafka (Not the famous writer!)). Safety Kenny Phillips also joined the fun intercepting Kafka on their drive as well as forcing a Vick fumble. The Giants secondary had conceded 300+ yards in 4 straight games. However they seem to be more stout and the largest play they gave up in the air was a 24 yarder. They also kept the Eagles to 199 nett yards.

Rating: 8  / 10

Special Teams

ST wasn't really an issue today. No Field Goals, no punt returns and a sole 33 yard kick off return.

Rating:  N/A

A Redskins win over the Cowboys tomorrow will mean the Giants are equal leaders of the NFC East with Redskins and Eagles on 2 -1 going into the clash against the Arizona Cardinals next week.
Until then hail to the awesome foursome!

New York Giants - v St Louis Rams - RD2- REVIEW

U G L Y we ain't got no alibi it was ugly.

However a win is a win and a 1-1 record is much better than a 0 - 2 start.

A shock loss to the Redskins in the opening round and this being a National Monday Night Football game the Giants needed to set the tone and show the league what they are capable of. Although Eli Manning came off to the very slow start the offence was opportunistic and got enough points on the board to never really give the Rams a sniff. The defensive line did their part and special teams came up with several key plays. I'm going to break the game into 5 sections for clarity from now on so we can focus on each group. So let's start with the pass attack.

Air Attack

Eli Manning was woefully slow to get momentum and again threw a crucial interception on along drive. He went 3 for 11 with an interception to start the game but ended it 15 for 18 and 2 touchdown for redemption. So while 200 yards and 2 TD 1 INT is an average game it was enough pull out the win and looking at the start he had quite a game to end it. For the Giants to beat the Eagles next week Eli will need to start the game like he ended this one, crisp and precise.

Rating 7 / 10

Ground Force

While some people look at 50-60 yards a game as average, for the Giants they need to take into account that 2 running backs share the load and although either will be unlikely to be named to the Pro-Bowl while they are doing this it is their shared contribution that the Giants will be looking at. Overall they combined for 109 yards and touchdown. While their 3.51 average is suspect they do include a lot of 3 and short ad 4 and 1's. Steady would be an apt description to the output for Brandon Jacobs and Ahmad Bradshaw but they did keep several drives alive and all behind a new o-line that is still finding its feet. Bradshaw also caught a 23 yard screen pass on 3rd and 18 to keep a drive alive for Jacobs to score a touchdown on the next play. This wasn't a super game on the ground but again was enough to get the W.

Rating: 7.5 / 10

Rushing D

It's fair to say the Giants ability to stop the run kept them in the game against the Redskins (74 yards) and they did it again against the Rams. The secondary was porous however the against the run stout would be a better adjective. They kept them to 59yards. They also kept them out of the end zone 3 of 4 entries into the Red Zone, the only touchdown being in the air.  They places them 3rd in the league for run defence. LB Michael Boley also used nous in picking up a seemingly dead ball for a fumble and rumbled 68 yards for a score. This is also his 2nd fumble recovery in 2 games. Notre Dame alum Justin Tuck returned to his bruising best with 1.5 sacks and 5 tackles. Antrel Rolle led the team with 9 tackles.

Rating: 9 / 10

Secondary Support

It has been widely acknowledged that the corner backs for the Giants have fared about as well as swimmers at Amity Beach. Take into account #1 Corner Terrell Thomas has a season ending knee injury, #3 corner Bruce Johnson is out and 1st round draft pick Prince Amukamara is currently out with an injury. So it's no surprise secondary again gave up 300+ yards in the air making it 4 in a row (1st two games this year and last 2 games 2010). Even if the concussed Michael Vick doesn't play next week the secondary will need to tighten up given the aerial weapons the Philadelphia Eagles have it could get ugly.

Rating: 2 / 10

Special Teams

The special teams was a mix of good and bad. Bad being a 29 yard punt return. Good being a Dave Tollefson muffed punt recovery at the Rams 38.

Rating: 6 / 10

Bring on the Eagles next week, I'll be getting at 3am to watch the game.

Until then hail to the air attack!

New York Giants - WR Steve Smith signs with rival Eagles.

Damn!!!!

As far as possession in-side slot receivers go, Steve Smith is the best the Giants have had for a awhile. He was part of the 2007 Super Bowl 42 winning team and a Pro-Bowl player in 2009 after catching a record smashing 107 receptions for 1220 yards and 7 touchdowns.

Last year he was hampered by injury catching the pigskin 48 times in only 9 games. He suffered a season ending injury in a Giants' win over the Vikings at Ford Field in Detroit on Dec. 13.

Giants Coach Coughlin announced that Smith had "a ways to go" from this injury which Smith refutely denies.

If Smith lines up this year amongst the star-studded receiving line-up for the Eagles that boasts 2 time pro-bowler DeSean Jackson and Jeremy Maclin who held onto the ball 70 times last year, he will have 2 opportunities to play his old team the Giants. They are NFC EAST rivals and both will be pushing for that East crown and this only makes the duels that more interesting. Not to mention the punting fiasco form last year when the Eagles came storming back in the last quarter and won the game on a punt return on the last play of the day. The Eagles have been ruthless during the last 2 weeks bringing in 6 pro-bowlers into the team including, cornerbacks Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie and Nnamdi Asomugha, defensive end Jason Babin, quarterback Vince Young and running back Ronnie Brown.

Until then hail to the slot!