Loading ...The New York Giants are officially rolling. After a complete beatdown of the 49ers in San Francisco last week, the Giants came back home to take on rookie sensation Robert Griffin III and the Washington Redskins and made it three straight wins with a 27-23 victory. Eli Manning threw for 337 yards, Victor Cruz made a huge play to get behind the defense for a 77 yard touchdown late in the fourth quarter, and the Giants fought their way to 5-2 and the top of the NFC East division.
Key to Victory: Defensive ability to force turnovers and take points off the scoreboard
The Giants defense was far, far from perfect in this football game – but they came through in some of the biggest spots in the football game, and they helped New York do something Tom Coughlin always keys in on – winning the turnover battle. Even with a couple of interceptions from the Giants offensively, New York was able to be +2 in the turnover margin because the defense forced four turnovers including three fumbles that were recovered by Big Blue. For a defense that did a lot of bending on Sunday- giving up a whopping 480 total yards, the Giants did a great job of not breaking – and even better, they took the ball the other way and swung the scoreboard. No way the Giants win this game giving up that many yards without the takeaways.
GAME POSITIVES
- The camaraderie and chemistry on this Giants football team is a big asset. These are guys that play hard for each other, enjoy playing together, and really love to see each other do well and the energy rubs off. Tom Coughlin has done an incredible job making this a team rather than a group of individuals even with all the talent on both sides of the ball.
- Giants fans can't be happier about anything coming out of this game than a second straight impressive performance from the pass rush. Justin Tuck had what was by far his best game of the season after a frustrating first few weeks, Jason Pierre-Paul continues to make plays, and Osi Umenyiora had a sack of his own.
- Speaking of the defensive line, Linval Joseph continues to build on the most impressive stretch of games in his career individually. He's been very active and physical inside and has really been disruptive for this Giants front seven.
- Very good job on third down from the Giants offense hitting on eight of twelve conversion attempts. One of the most telling signs as to the efficiency of a passing game.
- Victor Cruz is just a big play waiting to happen every single game. Has some Eli Manning in him as well, in that he makes huge plays in huge spots. When Hakeem Nicks gets healthy, this Giants passing attack is going to get even scarier.
- Say what you will about Ahmad Bradshaw getting a little fired up and smacking guys on the helmet and yelling on the sidelines – this guy has been a lightening rod for this team all year. Tough, physical, feisty, and always inspired – Bradshaw is the kind of leader you want in your locker room.
- Even in his worst game of the season, Eli Manning continued to show that he might be the most clutch athlete in the history of any sport. Completely shook off two big interceptions, and yet again, remarkably, put the dagger in the Redskins with a 77 yard touchdown bomb to Victor Cruz in the final two minutes.
- Stevie Brown has made the loss of Kenny Phillips a little less damaging with his tendency to make impact plays. He's really taken advantage of his opportunities and helped this team win games.
- The Giants coverage teams on punts and kickoffs were very solid in this game. They had an advantage in the field position battle.
- Michael Boley is an underrated asset on this football team. Very athletic, very good range, a nose for the football and making plays on the ball, and just a legitimate impact linebacker in the front seven. Extremely impressed with the season he's having to this point.
GAME NEGATIVES
- 480 yards of offense is absolutely unacceptable for this defense to give up. That is a recipe for tacking one on in the loss column nine times out of ten and this Giants defense knows it. They did an excellent job of making big plays that kept the scoreboard under control, but they've got to play better as a unit.
- 248 of those yards came on the ground, as the Redskins gashed the Giants front seven in this game. A lot of Giants just were not getting off of blocks, and it was more of an issue of gaping holes and a lot of open space for Alfred Morris and RG3 to work with than it was missed tackles.
- Eli Manning can't be happy with those two turnovers. One was on a ball that sailed on him a bit, and the other looked like it may have been a misread, which is a lot more rare for Manning. Either way, it'll be something he'll focus on cutting back on going into this game against Dallas.
- The ground game struggled a bit for the Giants offense, as their longest run all game was 15 yards and they averaged less than 3.5 yards a carry. That's got to be a bit disappointing for Coughlin as his team was running the ball a lot better as of late.
PLAYER OF THE GAME – WR Victor Cruz
Just a huge play to get behind the defense, keep concentration and put his team ahead with the game on the line. Big play machine. There's no other way to describe Victor Cruz.
Game Balls
DE Jason Pierre-Paul, TE Martellus Bennett
OVERALL PERFORMANCE GRADE
You knew the Washington Redskins were going to come into this game and give the Giants everything they've got with an early to chance to make their mark on the NFC East race. But New York played very resilient football, and I was particularly impressed with the defensive line's ability to get to Griffin who is a very difficult quarterback to force into sacks and negative plays. The defense as a whole did not play well, but they made plays when they needed to, and the offense continues to be difficult to stop through the air led by ice cold Eli Manning. Not their best effort as a whole, but still a tough, resilient one that got them a W.
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Regarding that first INT, if you listen to Eli Manning it was his fault on a bad throw. If you listen to Martellus Bennett it was his fault on a poor route. I think we all know what the truth is, but it doesn’t really matter. Makes it easy to root for these guys.
Looking to the Cowboys, I think our secondary is the key to victory. I know their wide outs haven’t been performing thus far, but that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t focus on them. Make sure we’re not the team they turn it around on. Romo usually has HUGE games against us, win or lose. Don’t want to see that happen.
I don’t want to put Eli in the position to HAVE to throw deep into the teeth of their defense this week. That’s playing to one of their few strengths. Make them run it and let the offense work efficiently. The Giants are the better team and a controlled mistake free game should lead to a win.
Yes, we know the truth. It was both their faults, Eli threw a long ball and Bennett did not even attempt to jump up for the ball, which led to an easy interception.
Bennett didn’t jump for it? You saw the play right? Shaq couldn’t have jumped for that ball.
What I said was that if Bennett attempted to jump for the ball, the interception would NOT have been an easy one. Seeing a big tight-end jump for any ball, even an uncatchable one, is enough to disorient a not-so-tall cornerback that’s not necessarily used to catching footballs.
Amani Toomer even testified to jumping for balls that are clearly uncatchable, if only to try and force any defenders nearby to stop and hesitate for a moment, thus preventing what might have been an interception.
There has been some interesting discussion on our future roster decisions. One question that has begun to go through my head recently is the logic of paying both Nicks and Cruz big money – let’s say each of them make 9 mil year (Brown for Pitt signed a 5 year 43 mil deal) which would be a market bargain. Does that really make sense to form the best roster? That’s a ton of money invested in WR. I know Eli is in his prime so we want to surround him with top talent. But hasn’t Eli proven that he can adjust to missing a key WR pretty easily over the years? While it seems blasphemy to suggest we let go of Cruz or Nicks, it seems like a choice probably give us the best chance at winning future SBs. We still have both WRs for next year so a final decision doesn’t have to be made yet. But with Cruz showing production without Nicks and being a restricted free agent it seems that extending Cruz is a given. The time seems to be now because we can get a discount on a long term deal with Cruz still only looking at making around 2 mil as a restricted free agent next year.
Now if you re-sign Cruz now it doesn’t mean Nicks is won’t be but it means then over the next year plus we really have to evaluate what Nicks gives us and Randle’s progress. If Randle is seemingly ready to start by the end of next year keeping Nicks at his likely number would seem to be hard. We can retain Hixon and still have Jernigan. I think the selection of another first 3 round WR in next year draft would really be the signal we are only keeping one long term. Plus Nicks would seem to cost more as a classic #1 WR and is less durable.
It’s a tough decision. But given how good Eli is I think he can lose Cruz or Nicks and be highly productive. By not keeping one of those WRs we can keep players like good players like Bennett, Rivers, Hixon, etc. To me you fully take advantage of Eli’s greatness by not having to invest crazy amounts into the WR corps and therefore making other parts of the team better.
Nicks brings a whole lot. It is not any easy decision and IMO is not a decision, but we will see what JR does. Interesting point but when you have QB like Eli, you want to surround him with as much talent as possible. And the things Nicks likely brings to the locker room for the young WR’s are probably just as valuable as his onfield play in terms of player development. He is diligent, intelligent, and truly a master of his craft with room to grow.
I also just don’t buy that he’s so injury prone. Breaking a bone doesn’t make you injury prone, just not a whole lot to be done about that. And having a 200+ lb behemoth step on your ankle (in the leg he just had a broken bone in if my memory serves me) and NOT winding up with something near a season ending injury reaffirms my opinion. If he were so injury prone, he wouldn’t have been out there the past two weeks.
He’s had his run ins with the team docs, but nothing recurrent. He hasn’t had hammy problems this year and while it remains to be seen how his foot holds up in the long run (See: Bradshaw, Ahmad), I am sure that will play a role in his negotiations anyway.
Basically- I think we ought to surround Eli with as much receiving talent as possible, even to the detriment of other areas of the team, and Nicks has way more upside than downside for a number of reasons.
I said durability. Nicks has missed 2-3 games every season and clearly has been far from 100% in other games. Nicks is a great talent, player and a warrior. Losing him we would no doubt lose a lot.
But my point has little to do with Nicks as a player. My point is if in 2014 we lineup Cruz, Randle (in his 3rd year) and Hixon/Jernigan or a 2nd year WR we should still be very good at WR. Add to that which should be a dynamic #1 RB in Wilson. If we re-sign Bennett and Robinson develops we have 2 talented all-around TEs. So the offense could be as good as anyone’s if we replenish the OL at RT and RG even without Nicks.
While every QB needs talent, Eli has shown the ability to succeed at a high level with numerous WRs. So while Nicks is great with Randle, Jernigan and another young WR developing, a top RB and a top pair of TEs why invest so much into Nicks? We could even reverse all of this and say keep Nicks over Cruz. The real point is that investing nearly 16-20 million in 2 WRs seems like an investment that JR could use better elsewhere.
We have to keep Beatty. JPP will cost a ton. Joseph will cost a decent amount as well and Canty getting older, Austin/Kuhn yet to really establish themselves Joseph becomes one of our possible key free agents in 2014. That’s already assuming we lose KP or re-sign him and let go of Rolle and reduce or cut Webster.
Basically, as good as both Nicks and Cruz are, I don’t think WRs are core players like DEs, LTs or CBs. Even safeties are just as important and it looks like we will lose a good one this offseason. There’s a reason we drafted Randle and Jernigan and will likely draft another WR this coming draft.
I disagree on your value of Nicks. He’s a legit #1 WR that can dominate from the X. You don’t find them laying around. You don’t replace them with somebody that is just OK.
Slot production is actually a lot easier to replace using a platoon of different guys and good play design. The X…there’s no substitute for raw physical ability out there.
Cruz’s home run hitting is what takes him from being “just” a top 2 slot receiver to unique talent status. And that is what makes this decision a tough one. If it weren’t for Cruz’s penchant for making “that play”, I’d have Nicks over him without a second thought.
But being that Nicks is a legit #1 X receiver and Cruz is a unique game breaking talent, I honestly think the correct move IS to break the bank for them. If that costs us Webster, Boley, Bennett, etc. so be it.
I think at this stage in Eli’s career, a guy who may miss 2 or 3 games a year but is a force in the other 13-14 is worth it. Yeah, he hasn’t been himself the past few games but as I said earlier, the broken bone is an anomaly and not indicative of durability issues (Unless it becomes bradshaw-esque). The thing with Nicks this year is he has had virtually no continuous time to get up to game speed. He looked much better last week than the week before, and I believe that trend will continue.
I mean, you must have seen how different our game has been without him. We don’t take the deep shots as often as we do with him, we just can’t. The safeties drop in and can limit our ability to make those plays. The healthier he gets, the more downfield we will see Eli throwing, and the more dangerous offense our is. Randle needs to develop but he’s no sure thing, these guys never are. He could get injured, he could be a bum, he could get arrested.
I don’t think any of that’s likely, btw, but we have a sure thing in Nicks and Cruz and the result is a devastating offense. Let the boys play and if the rest come along, more the better. I will take the known quantity when it looks as great as he does on the field every time for whatever cost. Cruz/Nicks when healthy is quite frankly one of the most unstoppable duos in the league and we must keep that continuity with Eli in his prime, IMHO.
My value on Nicks was only in comparison to Cruz. Before the season I would have said Nicks no doubt but now I’m not so sure Cruz could be a legit #1 as well.
The part of my argument you are missing is that Randle is expected to develop and become at least a MM level player. I’m assuming that Randle won’t become as good as Nicks or Cruz but certainly a quality starter. In addition we will have a good 3rd WR option in Hixon, Jernigan or a 2nd year WR. Then how much better would having that other elite WR really make your team or offense? Of course Nicks or Cruz is a better player than the players you mention or another player you might keep but to me the point is producing a top offense not keeping players just because they are great. I think we can still have a great offense in 2014 without one of Nicks or Cruz. By investing so much in WR we will in turn make other areas weaker.
I think we forget how good Plax, Steve Smith and MM were for us and we survived fine without them. While both Nicks and Cruz are great, Eli does help make them better. Eli is the key not the WRs. I think Indy made some mistakes in trying to pay too many skill players to put around Peyton. Look when you are that good you will make lessor players look better, just like Eli has in games without Nicks this year and years past. Randle should develop into a very good player so Eli will still have weapons. I think we have to trust Eli and maintain a team balanced in talent on both sides of the ball and on both lines.
I agree we can survive without Nicks but for me the difference is night and day. We are just a dynamic offense when we have him, Cruz, and ___ at WR. Randle should develop really nicely and we have a nice stable of WR’s even if he doesn’t. The Plax/SS/MM Offense worked jsut fine but was a totally different animal than what we see today, largely because CB’s have two number 1′s to cover, one of whom is a physical monster who can catch damn near anything and the other a smart, slippery, arhletic home run threat who can cut like a razor.
You may be right that Randle can eventually fill that Nicks role (there is no plug in for Cruz) but I feel as though we are in “win now” mode. I think retaining Nicks, Cruz, and preferably Bennett gives us the best chance to do that. Reasonable minds can differ, and I see what you’re saying.
Also- I am not saying we should gut the team at the expense of all others. But tough choices are on the horizon and I think we can stomach losses on that side of the ball better because of the Offensive firepower we can bring to bear. Our defense has won us games over the past few years, but it’s not even close when you look at how many games the offense has iced.
“that side” refers to defense.
Krow – get ready for your head to explode
Michael Wilbon said that Robert Griffin is the best player in the NFL.
Yet another irrelevant talking head attempt to garner attention by making a self-serving and attention-grabbing proclamation.
Yawn.
You mean….he’s not??
I swear that this EXACT same thing was going on last year at this time w/ Cam when he had over 2000 yds passing, close to 300 yds rushing and like 15 total Td’s. When are people going to realize that when you run an unconventional offense in the NFL it take a while to figure out what’s going on? This is not to say he isn’t a talented QB, because he is, but this best in the NFL talk is f’n ridiculous.
Word
So I was listening to the respectable Ross Tucker this morning on Sirius talk about the Victor Cruz contract situation. He recommended that Cruz actually hold out from playing until Reese inks a new contract.
And honestly his arguments weren’t so bad either. Cruz definitely deserves more money. Without him, we wouldn’t be talking about the Giants as defending Super Bowl champs. The fact that he’s risking injury every single game for minimum pay is pretty damn risky from a financial perspective.
I agree with Tucker. I have been thinking the same thing. If I were Cruz and knew that every play or even every practice I stood to lose tens of millions I don’t think I would wait any longer either.
I know football is a business. But there are a variety of ways to go business. Cruz has done his business in a measured and respectful way. The organization was smart to wait and see what Cruz did this year. He’s now proven he is the real deal and not a one year phenom. It’s time for the organization to meet Cruz halfway and give him the contract. Set the precedent that if you honor your contract, produce, and refrain from airing your grievances to the press you will be honored with timely and appropriate compensation.
I’m not sure if I agree one way or the other, but I just don’t think that would ever happen w/ Cruz. He strikes me as a guy that is very grateful for the opportunity, thankful for what he has and a respect for the Giants organization that leads him to believe that a deal will be done. He’s just not the type of guy to hold out in the middle of the season, whether it’s what any of us would do or not.
I’ve always agreed with this view. That’s not to say that players always have a legitimate gripe…I have much less sympathy for guys making $6M complaining that they should be making $8M, but I think most fans screaming “honor your contract” are just jealous. They think anybody that’s worth more than they are has “too much” and shouldn’t be concerned with maximizing their earnings at all.
But young players in Cruz’s position, that haven’t earned life changing money yet? I wouldn’t begrudge him one bit if he sat down. Every single day he takes the practice field he’s one weird “pop” sound from losing EVERYTHING he’s worked for to this point.
By that same token, he should let the Giants have a little “get-back” for stepping up to the plate and giving him his security before they really have to. They COULD retain his rights for pocket change at least another year. They take a big risk by giving him a chunk of their future cap too.
At the end of the day, Cruz is risking far more by showing up to work every day than the Giants would be by tearing up his contract.
I’m not saying he will. At his age I probably wouldn’t do it either. I was naive and believed in karma. Now that I’m old enough to know how life can turn on a dime I wouldn’t be so restrained.
Also, building on your comment about fans who implore players to honor their contract. These are the same fans that want players to take a pay cut if they under-perform their contract. You cannot have it both ways. I’m fine with teams requesting pay cuts for bums, but the guys who aren’t should be able to respectfully request a pay increase.
Ok, I may be in the minority here…but how is several hundred thousand dollars a year not life changing money? How many opportunities would this guy have to make that money if not for the NFL? I understand he’s not making much compared to his production or what others are making, but let’s not pretend that this guy is living a rough life. He’s making a TON of money off of endorsements and he WILL get a contract. I don’t know about anyone else, but I feel I have enough business sense to take a couple of million dollars and invest properly to ensure myself and my family live comfortably the rest our lives. He should have that opportunity more so than I.
With that said….While I value everyone’s opinions, this is truly a moot point. This guy is not going to hold out.
Victor Cruz has an agent and will do what he needs to do to protect his future. Just as you or I would do in his situation. He’s a great guy and team player but he’s not stupid.
Holding out and how much money a person deserves are related, but separate points. I think everyone is entitled to look out for their self-interest. I understand those who feel that these salaries are comfortable, but I don’t consider it offensive for players to get what they can while they can get it. Life is short.
I totally agree with looking out for yourself. Why not pursue money if you’ve earned it? (Which he clearly has). I was more trying to address the notion of him holding out during the season (which I think is close to 0%), and caught myself ranting a bit.
Endorsements – the one thing that prevents this issue from flaring up during the course of the season. Victor Cruz is literally cruising off endorsements right now. If he wasn’t, I’d expect that this contract issue would have stirred up some more drama.
Anyway, I still think we should get a deal done with Cruz before the season ends, as a way of saying thank you. Yes, he may get injured the day after he signs our contract, but we still owe him for the past year and a half of great service.
Also, great analysis of the game. I think we’re being a bit too harsh on the defense here, even though it did give up 480 yards. The fact that it was able to churn turnovers from a stingy Redskins offense almost makes up for that. Not to mention that trying to prevent the NFL’s leading rushing team (let alone a division rival) from running the ball is not necessarily the easiest of feats, although they did a pretty decent job in the second half following that disastrous first half…
I agree. The only way I’m ok w/ close to 500 yds is if we force multiple turnovers or hold them out of the endzone. (We succeeded w/ the former, and to a certain degree w/ the latter). I don’t know about anyone else, but I’ll take a ton of yards every week if it means turnovers and field goals.
I agree. Turnovers is far more important than yardage allowed, although it is important to keep the other team’s offense off the field for as long as possible to allow your offense to rack up points.
Pay Cruz now. Reese needs to address this quickly. VC has proved to be worth much more than he is, he’s been durable and just keeps making game changing plays.
Trying to sign both Nicks and Cruz in the same year will be extremely difficult, and I think we need to keep both while Eli is still in his prime. This passing combination will keep us in contention for years to come.
Soooo Beckum is practicing today. Assuming everything plays out to where he’s in condition to be activated, does he have a place on this team over Adrian Robinson? I feel pretty safe in assuming we’re not going to have 3 TE’s active, so is it worth potentially losing Robinson to have Beckum be a healthy inactive every week?
I personally like Beckum and I think he was starting to show signs of better overall play. I know Pascoe isn’t going anywhere, and I love the possible upside of Robinson. Either way, this will prove to be interesting as it plays out.
UUT
The trouble with Beckum is that everyone knows we are going to pass if he’s on the field. He hasn’t been able to prove he can block anyone, and really doesn’t fit this offense, I’ll take Robinson potential over Beckum anyday.