Week Two 2014: Giants vs Cardinals

Week two is in the books. Somewhere in the middle of the carnage that is the NFL soap opera, the Giants got dealt their second loss. Even though last week's loss was a complete disaster, this one hurt a little bit more. It hurt more because the game was in the hands of Big Blue, but turnovers and mental mistakes lead to the game slipping through their fingers. I can’t say that I’m surprised that they lost, but I wouldn’t be shocked if they won either, kind of like Leonardo DiCaprio being nominated for an Academy Award.

This will be Leo when he finally wins his Oscar, and this will be me when the Giants finally win a game.

Now, I hate the adage, “We beat ourselves.” Even if you made mistakes that cause you to lose, the opponent deserves the credit for capitalizing on those mistakes. Having said that, the Giants really did beat themselves. Their first win was in their sights, but because of fumbles, interceptions, and poor punt coverage, the Cardinals won. That’s the only reason that the Cards won;  it had nothing to do with their ability as a professional football team.

I also hate the adage, “The refs cost them the game.” Refs make horrible calls all the time. Both sides experienced the wrath of the flag happy gang. But a good team rises above the calls and makes plays. Having said all that, the refs cost the Giants the game. There were some calls that were just terrible. Soft “illegal contact” calls, a malarkey roughing the passer call on the first possession, and some non-calls all lead to the loss of the Giants.

I’m kidding, of course. The Giants made mistakes when the Cardinals didn’t, and they both had to deal with bad calls.

The game was going well for the most part. The Cards jumped out to an early lead, but by the end of the third quarter, the Giants led fourteen to ten with the help of two Manning touchdown passes. But then in the fourth quarter, all hell broke loose.

The game started breaking down faster than the public’s perception of morality in the NFL. The game turned on its head in back to back plays. The first play was a forty-five yard punt from Weatherford that was fielded by Ted Ginn Jr., who apparently the Giants are afraid to tackle. With relative ease, Ginn housed that punt, and the momentum started to swing in the Cardinals favor.
But the final blow, the Bane backbreaker, was on the following kickoff to the Giants. Quintin Demps caught the kick halfway into the Giants’ endzone. Instead of kneeling the ball for a touchback, he decided to roll the dice and take the ball out of the endzone.

"For the last time, Papa, I'm not gonna hang out with you!"

In football, the difference between a stupid play and a gutsy play is thinner than the veil of friendship between Peyton Manning and Papa John. It’s all about the result. If Demps got a touchdown on the play, or at least took the ball into Cardinals’ territory, it would have been gutsy. But Demps didn’t score, he didn’t have a big return. He fumbled. It was a stupid play. Throw in a fumble by Rashard Jennings that killed what looked to be a scoring, and possibly tying, drive, and you have a recipe for their second loss of the season.

For as painful as this game was, the Giants didn’t play that bad of a game. Don’t get me wrong, there are plenty of things that the G-Men need to fix quickly. But there were some positives to take away from this game too.

First of all, Eli played well for the most part. He had one terrible throw off of a defensive lineman’s shoulder pad which was picked off. But it wouldn’t be a Giants’ game without some Eli face. His second interception I’ll just chalk up to a last minute chuck downfield that found its way to a defender. His completion percentage was sixty-six. Sadly, for Eli, that’s stellar. He had time to throw, and, for the most part, his receivers seemed to be on the same page as him.

The defense played well. They only gave up one touchdown and there were a few questionable calls that kept that scoring drive alive. True, they were up against Drew Stanton, but still.

But the Giants’ biggest foe wasn’t a second string quarterback from Michigan State, it was mistakes at inopportune times. From Cruz dropping big passes after demanding the ball to Demps taking the kickoff out of his own endzone, these are mistakes that had an impact on the game. However, these can be corrected, and you can be sure that red-assed Tom Coughlin will make sure these get corrected.

"I'll just go home to my cats. Mr. Snuggle Tail loves me for me."

On to the next one: This week the Giants host the Houston Texans. This means J.J. Watt will be up against that sub-par offensive line. I’m scared about that match up. Like a contestant on The Bachelor scared about dying alone level of scared. But, if Pugh can get some help from the tight ends, running backs, and other lineman, and if Eli can work in the opposite side of the pocket, maybe they can avoid a J.J. Watt rampage.
Offensively, the Texans are strongest in the rushing attack. This is beneficial for the Giants, considering they are solid at run defense. The loss of Jon Beason is a big cause for concern though.
Like I said about Leo being nominated for an Oscar, I wouldn’t be surprised if the Giants won, but it wouldn’t be a shocker if they lost, either.

So what have I learned?

It’s nice to see the Special Teams coach, Tom Quinn, still doing a bang-up job with punt coverage. You’d think after last year he would have been thrown out with the rest of last year’s garbage, but he’s still around somehow.

Most fans would be excited to play a backup quarterback. However, this always seems to be a crux for the Giants. For whatever reason, it seems that Big Blue’s defense seems to struggle against backup quarterbacks.

I really hope Jon Beason can get back to a high level quickly. The defense is very different without him lining up behind the front four.

In recent years, the Giants success has been directly linked to their quarterback. If Eli continues to play like this, and ideally get better, the rest of the missing pieces could fall into place and lead to some success.