Week Six 2014: Giants at Eagles

Well, that was awful. Is awful the right term? Horrible? Embarrassing? Pathetic? How about disgusting, does that work? Good. This game was the kind of disgusting that makes rolling around the Penn Station bathroom floor at three a.m. seem like laying out on a Maui beach.

It doesn't seem that disgusting now. But let's just say by three a.m. it gets a bit... soggy.

From the very beginning, the Eagles had the Giants’ number. Big Blue found themselves in more hot water than a Real World cast member who discovered the hot tub in their house.

It’s been a while since we’ve seen the Eli face, but we saw plenty of that goofy mug this past Sunday night. He completed just over half of his passes for only one hundred and fifty-one yards, and obviously no touchdowns. It’s hard to blame him for his lackluster play, though. Manning was constantly under pressure from the Eagles’ pass attack. Just like someone farting in the shower and being engulfed in stink, Eli was engulfed with black jerseys. It was as equally inescapable as it was unsettling.

The main reason why Eli was running for his life was because of the awful offensive line play. The defense cut through the offensive line like The Bride’s katana cut through all of the Crazy 88s. Besides the first game against the Lions, the o-line has been on point. But they completely unraveled against Philly.

Part of this game should of been in black and white to make it less graphic.

The lack of Rashad Jennings had much more of an effect then I thought it would. While Andre Williams can make some plays, as we saw him completely truck stick Eagles’ defensive back Malcolm Jenkins, but I think he’s too green for a starting role. He’s definitely not on the same level as Jennings, and it shows as the Giants were one dimensional on offense. The Giants being down early also caused the offense to abandon the run as well.

wait for it.. BOOM!

The receivers obviously didn’t do much because Eli didn’t do much. You can’t have one without the other. The big story with the receiving corps was the devastating injury to Victor Cruz. While going for it on fourth down, Eli throws a ball to Cruz in the end zone. As Cruz jumps and tries to secure the catch he grabs for his right knee. When he lands without the ball, he just lays there clutching his knee and screaming in pain. Players on both teams were taking a knee in support of Cruz. Even the usually vicious Philadelphia fans were relatively quiet while Cruz was getting looked at on the field. This injury stole any chance of winning from the Giants just like that drunk girl stole the prosthetic leg from Sonny Forriest Jr. at the Eagles game.

Stay classy, Philadelphia.

On the defensive side of the ball, they held it together as well as they could. The offense couldn’t piece together any long drives, so the defense was always on the field. They picked off Foles twice, one of those picks almost went the distance. But McCoy and Sproles ran all over the Giants. Of course, McCoy sucks for five weeks, then when he’s up against the Giants, the offensive line clicks and he suddenly gets his groove back.

I was actually surprised that the special teams didn’t give up any big plays. Yes, they let Sproles have a big punt return, but he didn’t take any to the house. So there’s that.

Basically, this was a game where nothing went right for the Giants. This game was full of questionable referee calls, devastating injuries, and overall poor execution. But besides that, everything went well...

On to the Next One:
This coming Sunday, the Giants will face off against the Cowboys in Dallas. As a Giants fan, this is probably the last team you want to face. The Giants are coming off of an absolute beatdown, and the Cowboys just solidified themselves as one of the best teams in football after beating the Seahawks in Seattle (Don’t get me wrong I hate the Seattle fans and I’m glad they lost at home. But did it really have to be to the Cowboys?)

This is going to be a knock-down, drag-out brawl. I’m saying it’s going to be a brawl, because it needs to be a brawl. The G-Men need to come out swinging and prove to the world that last week's game was the fluke, not the previous three.
First of all, lets see if the offensive line can protect Eli Manning. If Manning only gets two seconds to throw the ball, they’ll be in trouble again. Andre Williams and Peyton Hillis need to step up and give Dallas a reason to worry about the run. The receivers, especially Odell Beckham Jr., need to fill the void that’s left with the absence of Victor Cruz. That’s easier said then done considering that the Cowboys defense is stingy against receivers. This leaves room for Larry Donnell to make some plays. You might see a lot of balls thrown his way on Sunday.

Jerry finally opened up his eyes and put together a good team.

On the defensive side of the ball, the key is to contain DeMarco Murray. Ever since Dallas opened their eyes and decided to utilize a game plan revolving around a great running back, the Cowboys offense looks very good. The Giants haven’t been great against running backs this year, so they have their work cut out for them. Also, since Jerry Jones drafted smart and got Zack Martin instead of Manziel, Tony Romo has been very well protected.
And on some plays when the rushing attack breaks through, he became harder to wrap up then a greased pig on cocaine. The Giants have to take him out of rhythm early and make sure he doesn’t get back into that rhythm. The loss of McBride and potentially DRC is gonna put a lot of pressure on the secondary, so the front four needs to change the direction of the game in their favor.

This game is winnable for the Giants. Obviously, it won’t be easy. They gotta play smart, and play tough. The Cowboys are coming off of a game that was both physically and emotionally draining, but they are still one of the best teams in football right now. But maybe, just maybe, the Giants can steal a victory here as if it were cologne and underwear.

So what have I learned?

Maybe, and I hate to say this, the G-Men needed to get their asses kicked. With a three game winning streak, some of the Giants started to run their mouths a bit. Maybe they took those three wins for granted. It was the game that the Giants deserve, but not the game it needs right now.

The Cowboys could have been this good for a while if they were smarter with their drafting and offensive schemes. Don’t get me wrong, I’m happy that Jerry was running his team like a kid playing with G.I. Joes in the bathtub, but now it seems that he turned it around.

If there was ever a time for ODB to make up for his lost time, it’s right now. He’s gonna have a ton of opportunities, and he’s talented enough to make the best of them.

Now that McBride is out, Jayron Hosley is stepping in as a corner. This concerns me quite a bit considering that he’d have trouble defending a sleeping bulldog. He claims he’s in a better state mentally, let’s hope so.

Even in the Giants’ Super Bowl seasons, they lost a game or two in horrible fashion, but in those Super Bowl seasons they responded well to those losses and became a team to be reckoned with. Every team faces adversity during a season. Only the truly great teams learn from that adversity, overcome it, and come back even stronger. It’s time to find out if the Giants are truly great this year.