Loading ...In an aspect of this Sunday's upcoming bout with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers that has gone generally undiscussed, the New York Giants will square off against several former coaches and players that may possess an in depth knowledge of Big Blue's schemes and personnel.
Among them are Bucs offensive coordinator Mike Sullivan and defensive coordinator Bill Sheridan. Having two high level coaches with significant experience within the Giants coaching staff on the opposing sideline could present an issue for Tom Coughlin and Co.
While Bill Sheridan's time as the Giants defensive coordinator was a complete train wreck, Mike Sullivan's tenure as Eli Manning's quarterback coach resulted in his two best seasons to date. In both years that Manning had Sullivan in his back pocket, the Giants franchise quarterback threw for over 4,000 yards.
While natural maturation may have had something to do with Eli's progression, there is a clear correspondence between his success and the implementation of Mike Sullivan as quarterback coach. Today, Justin Tuck talked about how the Giants are preparing to face their former coach.
"I know Sully’s going to have some tricks to kind of keep us off rhythm, give us some looks that we see from our offense every day and do something different with it," says Justin Tuck. "We know he’s going to throw some wrinkles in the game. The thing we have to do against a team like this where you feel like you know what they’re going to do, is you have to play your keys because he’s going to throw some things that’s going to look exactly like something we did on our team but is a completely different reality. So just play our keys and we’ll be fine."
However, Sullivan is not the only guy the Giants have to worry about keying on their plays. As you may recall, the Giants cut veteran running back DJ Ware less than two weeks ago, and Ware was quickly snatched up by Tampa Bay. In fact, it's more than likely that Ware has a better knowledge of the Giants offense then he does of his own team. Ware will know every signal, audible, and formation that the team had in the playbook at the end of the preseason.
On a lesser note, former Giants offensive tackle Jamon Meredith is also on the Bucs. Meredith played the majority of the 2010 season in New York. While he will not be as knowledgeable as DJ Ware is of the Giants offense, he could provide some insight into Big Blue's blocking schemes.
The Giants will surely have a few tricks up their sleeve in order to throw off their former comrades. While it certainly puts the team at a disadvantage to have so many people on the other side of the ball with an in depth understanding of the team's offense, this is almost a weekly occurrence in the NFL. With the non-stop coaching carousel that spins each offseason, it's inevitable that team's are going to be forced to play against former coaches. The Giants have dealt with situations like this before, and they are smart enough to figure ways around this issue.
Photo Credit: Mike Gannon
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Interesting… must be really horrible to be cut so early
Eagles waived S Jaiquawn Jarrett. Jarrett was widely viewed as a reach when the Eagles selected him with the 54th overall pick in last year’s draft. Although he was billed as an athletic hard hitter, Jarrett’s instincts never developed. Often left floundering in coverage, Jarrett also showed a penchant for taking bad angles and missing tackles. Though he was given plenty of opportunities to win a starting job, Jarrett had tumbled to third-team defense after a disastrous preseason opener a month ago.
I don’t think the inside info is enough for them to us. They are overmatched.
Spags had plenty of inside info, but couldnt get his craptastic rams team to beat us, tho he did give us a pretty good fight in the first half.
it will be interesting to see if the Bucs D is as good as it looked last Week against Carolina or whether the Panthers offense was that bad
whatever the answer, the Giants MUST win
We know the bucs coaches as well as they know us. We should have the same advantage over them that they have over us.
Kurt Warner looked all world in St. Louis for a while, all world in Arizona, but in between, very pedestrian here.
Not to dump on this coaching staff, but it pains me to have to only imagine what Eli could do in an Eli system.
Watching Peyton Manning show up and receive full control of the Denver offense was tough. Watching Andy fn Dalton handed the reins to a no huddle offense made me want to assault an inanimate object. And it stands as a great embarassment of 2011 that a nobody in Sam Bradford came to town and ran a no huddle that famously forced the Giants to feign injury to slow it down. All the while, future Hall of Famer Eli Manning sits on the sideline restricted from such ability.
Now, if I had time, I’d write my thesis on why the 2011 system made sense (short hand: pound our backs into your front seven for 2.5 hours while not showing anything on the outside, then unleash fresh routes and tempo against a tired defense), but, c’mon man. Let me see what Eli can do dictating tempo, forcing defenses to forego substitutuons and pick holes in what he sees.
Amen
He looked pedestrian his final two years in STL. And his first two years in AZ. And, of course, the Giants in between. It wasn’t that pronounced.
That’s very fair. But, I guess a better way to put it would have been that he found 2 systems that he could excel in, and for whatever reason, this system was not one of them.
I also admit that Eli just threw for 4900 yards in said system.
But I also feel that he had the best trio of receivers in the league, and could have done some silly damage.
Don’t be a Jabroni
Vote for Stoney!!
Don’t act like dix,
Vote for Mix
Joe Nathan (the Texas rangers pitcher) is a huge NY Giants fan and had to come out on the field in Texas in a full Cowboy uni to pay off a bet.
i’m hoping last week was a one time thing with Webster. he leads cornerbacks in yards giving up so far this season, and i know its only one game but thats still not something you’d expect from the vastly underrated Webster.
its especially necessary to have him playing as well as he usually does since everyone behind him is either an unknown in terms of potential ability or just flat out not good *cough* Tyron *cough* times like this i miss Aaron Ross because despite what some said that dude was solid. he was also my favorite Giant but that’s besides the point.
“So far.”
It’s one f-cking game!
Our defense set the trend for the NFL. But our offense seems to be wedded to the past. In an era of wide open, no huddle, spread offenses we still employ a traditional TE, the same style ground attack we’ve always had, and there’s nary a trace of the ‘hurry up’ till there’s seconds on the clock.
You can’t argue with success … and I’m not advocating radical change. But I do sense an evolution in offensive philosophy … one we don’t seem willing to entertain.
At least Mix meets all the criteria for a legit G101 HOF candidate.
But how in the hell did William Joseph wind up on the ballot? Dude was a first round pick – so I doubt there was ever a moment in which he exceeded fan expectations, however modest they may have been. At least Stoney and Mix managed to outplay their lowly origins for a minute or so, thereby giving the fans some hope that they might actually turn out to be something. I can’t recall a single instance in which Willie Jo ever looked like anything close to a first round pick.
I know there currently is no place in the G101 HOF for busts. But the only way Willie Jo deserves to be inducted is if Dan adds a Rocky Thompson wing. HE HAS NO BUSINESS BEING CONSIDERED FOR THE JONAS SEAWRIGHT WING!!!!
That he is on the ballot is a travesty. That he currently leads the balloting with 25 votes leads me to question the sanity of 25 readers of this blog.
ELECT STONEY WOODSON!
I nominate Prince Amukamara for the Rocky Thompson wing. Too soon ?
I couldn’t agree any more on Joseph.
Although he’s going to jail, so he’s got that going for him.
Well, his impending incarceration should make him eligible for the Mark Ingram wing, whenever that gets built.