Loading ...The New York Giants were mauled in Baltimore on Saturday night, as the team had its worst showing of the preseason in a game that is seen as a dress rehearsal for the regular season. New York dropped the game 24 – 10 , but more importantly – the first unit looked completely out of sync and was unable to find success on either side of the football. Eli Manning played through the first two quarters, but the Giants were unable to score an offensive touchdown in the first half with their starters in the game. The first unit defense gave up 17 points to Baltimore’s starting offense.
Game Positives
- The defensive end play continues to be a plus for this Giants defense. While not showing an elite pass rush in preseason, the Giants have gotten a good push from their defensive ends over the past two weeks and have been getting to the quarterback with more regularity than last season. Justin Tuck looks ready to have a pro-bowl caliber season for New York this season.
- For the most part, the Giants really did a good job containing the Ravens running game on Saturday night. Ray Rice was unable to get get going and no Ravens running back was able to break through the front seven for a big run into the secondary.
- Much better job punting by rookie Matt Dodge in this game. Dodge got better length and accuracy on his kicks throughout the game. Unfortunately for the Giants, he saw the field far too many times.
- Solid showing inside from new Giants signing Shawn Andrews, who will be one of the few guys coming out of this game feeling good about himself.
Game Negatives
- Zone coverage looks like a huge issue for this defense going into the regular season. The Giants secondary has been completely unable to communicate and close down holes in the zone, with opposing teams abusing them down the seams and over the middle. That continued against Baltimore.
- The depth at cornerback is almost non-existent for this team. Bruce Johnson has not played up to the standards the Giants expected of him going into camp, and Courtney Brown has been absolutely abused time and time again, week after week. Should an injury hit one of the G-Men’s top three corners, they can find themselves in real trouble in the regular season. The Giants may have to look around the league after team’s make their final cuts, for some kind of help in this area.
- The offensive line hasn’t been healthy all August, but that’s no excuse for the way they’ve protected the quarterback to this point. Eli Manning and the passing game could not get in sync as Ravens blitzers consistently found their way into the Giants backfield. The front five also struggled to get a good push in third and fourth and short situations, as they got pushed back off the ball repeatedly. Very troubling for Tom Coughlin just two weeks away from the start of the regular season.
- To add to Tom Coughlin’s headache, New York piled up several damaging penalties throughout the game whether it was the first unit or the second. So far, this certainly doesn’t look like a team that can shoot itself in the foot with penalties and get away with it.
- Where is the Giants return game, whether it be kicking or punting? New York is heading into the final game of the preseason, and there still has been almost zero production out of the return units outside of a big punt return from Aaron Ross in the second preseason game. Think the Giants want to risk putting Ross out there on punt returns with the play of their backup cornerbacks?
- Backup quarterback looks like an issue for New York. With Sorgi still out with an injury, Bomar once again struggled to consistently complete passes, and his lack of accuracy is certainly troubling considering the fact that he may be the Giants 2nd string quarterback in week one of the regular season by default due to the Sorgi injury.
- This game was almost a complete failure for the Giants, from start to finish. New York has struggled to get in rhythm this preseason on either side of the ball, and in their most important preseason game came out and layed an egg. Big Blue has to regroup and can’t let the sour taste in their mouths carry over to the start of the regular season.
INDIVIDUAL PERFORMANCES
TOP PERFORMERS
WR Victor Cruz : Who else did you expect to see on this list with the way this kid’s been performing? Although expected to compete primarily as a kick return when he signed with the Giants, the rookie has not only been impressive as a receiver, but has now not only put himself in position to win a roster spot with his play in the passing game, but he’s even thrown his name in the hat for the #4 wide receiver job in this Giants offense. Cruz scored the Giants lone touchdown against the Ravens, on a one-yard pass from Rhett Bomar. He finished the game with 4 grabs for 76 yards and the score.
DE Justin Tuck: Two sacks of Flacco in the first half for Tuck, who gave Giants fans a scare when he went down awkwardly on his hand in the second quarter. Tuck did return to the game. The veteran defensive end looks ready to be the leader for this Giants defense this season, as he’s been the only starting defensive linemen to consistently play well for Perry Fewell’s defense to this point.
CB Corey Webster : With the massacre around him in the secondary, Webster did a heck of a job keeping his concentration and focus in coverage. He did a great job when matched up one on one with Derrick Mason, and intercepted Flacco on a play where the pressure up front forced a bad throw, bringing the pick back 37 yards into Ravens territory late in the second quarter.
DT Linval Joseph: Good penetration inside from the rookie, who did a good job eating up space against the Ravens run game. Joseph also found his way into the backfield for a sack.
P Matt Dodge : At least punting is one aspect the Giants can say they improved upon in this game. Nice bounce-back performance for the rookie after two shaky performances in the prior games.
ROUGH NIGHT FOR..
CB Courtney Brown: Yes, for the third straight game Brown makes this list. There is absolutely no way the Giants can go into the season having to rely on Courtney Brown to cover NFL receivers. Brown has been targeted and abused by every offense the Giants have faced this August, and the chances of him making this roster seem to be next to none. Brown was undressed when matched up with Anquan Boldin, and found himself unable to even compete with Ravens wideouts downfield.
OL Will Beatty: Very tough night for Beatty, who came into this season as one of the Giants most promising young offensive assets. The team saw the second-year man out of Penn State as its possible left tackle of the future going into camp, and he sure didn’t look to fit that title against Baltimore. Beatty has to do a better job being aware of blitzers coming his way, and doesn’t look stout when facing the bull rush.
S Antrel Rolle: After playing very well for the Giants to this point, Rolle had a tough time dealing with Ravens tight end Todd Heap. Rolle gave up several receptions in coverage, and had a costly penalty on one of the several drives that ended with touchdowns for the Ravens first unit offense.
CB Bruce Johnson: If Johnson struggles in coverage like this during the regular season, the Giants are going to be in serious trouble against teams that like to spread the field and pass the football. He continues to give up way too many completions his way.
QB Eli Manning: Manning could not get in sync behind a struggling, undermanned offensive line that just did not allow him to get comfortable in the pocket. He hit on just 50% of his passes, and was only able to get small gains in the air, as his 9 completions went for just 63 yards.
RB Andre Brown: Brown did little as a return man on Saturday night, outside of dropping a kickoff (although he did recover, only to return it 12 yards), and his three carries went for just 8 yards.
OVERALL PERFORMANCE GRADE: D
The Giants can not go into the regular season this out of sync on offense and in the secondary. There has been very little success from the first unit offense, and that continued on Saturday night as the Ravens absolutely dominated the Giants up front – making it almost impossible for Eli Manning to make plays down the football field. The return game looks very unimpressive, and the Giants are giving up a ton of big plays over the middle and down the seams in the passing game. Outside of a couple of individual performances and Matt Dodge’s punting, this was a very disappointing performance for Big Blue just a couple of weeks away from their opening game against the Panthers.
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Nice piece Haz.
“The ship be sinking and the sky is the limit.”
Re…re… repost…
It’s not the winning or the losing of meaningless exhibition games that bothers me. But I’m nagged by the feeling that they aren’t playing tough, hard-nosed football. And that there doesn’t seem to be any sort of style developing on either side of the ball.
They look confused. Weak. Not physical. There’s still apparently open competition for key slots. The special teams look like Swiss cheese.
I’m not saying we should jump off a bridge, but I don’t know how anyone can look at the product on the field and be confident that we’re going to play well. I don’t know how you could draw that conclusion based on any sort of factual observation.
What have we seen… what do we know… that makes us think any unit is going to perform at a playoff level?
I think that Manson pic is bad luck. The Giants have had nothing but problems since you put it up. Change it NOW!… lol.
We are in BIG F-ing trouble. Now we just need FF55 to tell us he predicted it several months ago.
no we arent..NYG will be fine once the games that count start…
Oh, they’re saving all their top secret stuff for the regular season? Now I feel so much better!
uh..no, but they are resting up all their dinged up starters so they will be ready to roll week 1.. Have some faith my man..
Hanshi, panic away. When do you get around to admitting how wrong you’ve been about many of your opinions?
I’m getting pretty sick of all the slings and arrows from guys who see a bump in the road as Mt Everest.
Meow!!
I’m not panicing at all. I don’t panic over a meaningless football game but i do get disappointed. I never panic about anything as a matter of fact, I’ve been trained not to. I respond when I’m in the position to.
Tell me what opinions I’ve been wrong about. Unlike you, I am wrong at times… I’d just like to hear which opinions I’ve been wrong about.
And BTW if meow is your way of calling me a ****… F you. I’m not afraid to use the word you long winded A$$hole ****.
LOL its like a scene out of Grumpy old men!
One thing I can say is a dont think Beatty is big enough to be a mauler in the run game at RT and is better suited for the blind side protection at LT..Either McKenzie or Dielh will be our RT this year, not Beatty
Beatty- UConn…..FYI
“Jews are crafty. They are hated worldwide.”
“Are you kidding me? They are. They’ve got the best security system in the world. Have you ever been to an airport in Tel Aviv? They’re real crafty. Listen, they are hated all over the world, so they’ve got to be crafty. They got a lot of power in this world, you know what I mean? Which I think is great. I don’t think there’s nothing wrong with it. If you look in most professional sports, they’re run by Jewish people. If you look at a lot of most successful corporations and stuff, more businesses, they’re run by Jewish. It’s not a knock, but they are some crafty people.”
I knew the ship be sinking quote, I had to look up the Jew quotes…
Ahhhh you’ve given me an avatar idea.
I think gramps should be your avatar. Coughlin or Munster, either one.
Crazy Mel Gibson….
He looks like Manson in that pic. He is a litle nuts but I like Mel. At least we know where he’s coming from..lol.
A little nuts? Have you heard the tapes? He calls up his baby mamma and just grunts for 5 mins before hoping that she gets raped by a pack of n!ggers…
Mel Gibson is batsh!t crazy.
Okay, he’s crazy!
Michael Ray was a piece of work.
Okay, I have to get going. But this whole series of threads is really amusing me.
repost
as ff55y so rightly put it we are a long way away talentwise from those teams of the 70s .I will forgive myself for my momentary lapse into draining self pity I will now look forward with enthusiasm and sip the herbal tea(hopefully mixed with something more potent ) of a preseason not full strength team not showing their hand . I would like to know what kind of herb it is though . I ve had some of that in the past and I still get flash backs . I await the hordes – is it too early to quench the thirst of non rational fandom ?
I think not
Krow , I agree with the thought that they are not playing as hard as they can – its annoying to watch the end of a play and just about every time some player is hanging his head and someone else is casting acusatory looks of wtf?
I thought this was worth re-posting from the previous thread. Haz, pretty good piece, as usual. But I don’t think anything you’ve said suggests that this cannot be squared away given another 3-4 weeks. Like I’ve said many times, the season really starts in October unless they manage to lose every game before then, which I don’t believe is going to happen.
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GIANTT says:
August 29, 2010 at 11:07 AM
as ff55y so rightly put it we are a long way away talentwise from those teams of the 70s .I will forgive myself for my momentary lapse into draining self pity I will now look forward with enthusiasm and sip the herbal tea of a preseason not full strength team not showing their hand . I would like to know what kind of herb it is though . I ve had some of that in the past and I still get flash backs . I await the hordes – is it too early to quench the thirst of fandom ?
I think not
Reply
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fanfor55years says:
August 29, 2010 at 11:08 AM
And so goes a pleasant morning of amusement at the incredible, wondrous, ever-expanding pussification of Giants 101.
I think Dan should fire Serena. She has too much backbone (although I see she wimped out last night…shame on you you little girl). Bring in a new set of writers who can analyze their fears and feelings. Tell a lot of human interest stories. Some makeup tips. How about some cooking tips and where to find the best bargains at the produce market?
Boy, this reminds me of some tough corners that I’ve been in over the course of a long career. I always determined who I wanted as emerging leaders by figuring out who was willing to believe (with appropriate realism) in whatever mission we were on. Because when people are fearful they are only of very little use. You have to pay them attention because their fears should be taken into account in figuring out for yourself where the truth lies, but once you’ve done that with proper humility you have to be willing to just leave them behind and allow them to hopefully draft off the breeze the believers create. Do you always succeed? Certainly not. Will you succeed if you don’t believe in what you must do? Certainly not. Is tempered optimism almost always a better long-range strategy than tempered pessimism? Well, that has certainly been not only my experience, but a pretty good general reading of human history. We can’t help our dispositions, but we can allow them to be seriously modified by the facts, and the tasks at hand.
So while I think it’s clear that there were some worrisome issues that arose last night, I actually do not think they were really all that significant with the exception of the problems getting some kick return patterns established and that it appears our D-line won very few one-on-one battles.
But why bother talking about this? Tell us about the latest shoe that is taking Milan by storm, or the newest organic eyeliner. Seems more appropriate right now.
Okay, that’s it for me. I actually have a lot to do, but I couldn’t start without making my absolute astonishment at the feminization of a great football site absolutely clear. Last night and early this AM may have been the all-time nadir for Giants 101. I sure hope so.
Also reposted from the end of last thread:
norm says:
August 29, 2010 at 11:17 AM
It’s funny that Jim mentions Fox News at the outset of his epic rant [in the last] thread because I was just thinking last night that the partisan bickering between the optimists and pessimists on this side was reaching a level of hysteria matching that commonly found in the political arena nowadays.
The irony there, of course, is that many of the rank and file supporters of both the Democrats and Republicans have become so blinded by their chosen allegiance to their party (or “team” as it were) that they’ve lost site of the fact that both parties are simply opposite wings of a single party whose primary function is to protect the interests of the oligarchy. Similarly, here on G101, the ongoing foodfight between the Os and the Ps has now reached such convulsive proportions that we seem to have lost sight of the fact that we’re all Giant fans here.
In the meantime guys like me – who honestly have no idea yet how this season is going to turn out – are becoming increasingly irrelevant; washed away in all the noise. At various times, depending on the disposition of this post or that post, I’ve been accused by the Ps of being a head in the clouds homer; or the Os have alleged me of being a bedwetter. The reality is that both are true. I see things about this team that are cause for excitement. I also see things that are cause for alarm.
But at the end of the day, I’ve decided to just do what sports fans have always done: Wait and see how things play out over the course of a season once the games start counting for real. Does that mean we should not spend the time until then discussing – and, yes, even arguing – differing points of view? Of course not, that’s all part of the fun. And speaking as someone who honestly does not have a finger on the pulse of this team and where it might be headed in 2010, I often find these discussions informative. But informative posts are growing harder and harder to find amidst the current onslaught of noise. Seems people are more interested in staking out their position… and then zealously defending their turf, any and all reason be damned.
All of which is to say, it’s growing a bit tiresome. Really looking forward to my exile this year once Herb is cut in a week or two.
Hey! We are fair and balanced.