GIANTS 101

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.