Week Three 2016: Giants vs Redskins

We’ll it’s hard to find the right words to describe how the Giants played this past Sunday. This was a terrible effort by Big Blue. They had several chances to win the game, but because of dumb decisions and undisciplined play they lost the game. In the game against the Saints, they lost three fumbles. It’s hard to win a game when you have three turnovers, but it’s doable. But three turnovers and committing over 100 yards in penalties? That’s damn near impossible.



What Went Right

Beckham, who at times acted like a kid who got his Xbox taken away, had a good day against Norman. I don’t know why Josh Norman was strutting around like he did something important. It’s like Hawkeye bragging to Loki when the Avengers saved Manhattan from aliens. They’re both good at what they do, but neither were crucial to their team’s success.

Sorry, Clint, but you know it's true. Your only role in those movies is to be "the relatable one".

Bobby Hart played well as a fill in at right tackle. It looks like he’ll be there for the time being, and that should work just fine.

The run defense looked good I guess.



What Went Wrong

In a game where so much went wrong for the Giants, I’m just going to give some bullet points of the worst of the worst...

Nice try, Jim Bob, here's a Giants' jersey.

Watching the Giants trying to tackle was like watching hillbilly kids trying to catch greased pigs.

A blocked Redskins’ punt that was negated by an unnecessary roughness penalty on Andrew Adams, who just got added to the team for safety depth.

A critical Redskins’ 3rd down incompletion was negated by a roughing the passer penalty from Olivier Vernon.

A huge play by Odell Beckham Jr. that would’ve put the Giants in great position to get a touchdown was negated by Weston Richburg’s second unsportsmanlike conduct penalty when he taunted Josh Norman after knocking him down. Richburg was ejected because of this penalty.

The Redskins faked a punt on 4th down, and the Giants looked like a high school team by the way they fell for it.

Odell Beckham Jr. lost a fight with a kicker’s net.



On To The Next One

The Giants are facing a good team on Monday night in Minnesota. The Vikings look to be a very tough match up for the Giants.
This will be the first real test for Big Blue’s offensive line. Let’s see how it will hold up against this Kool-Aid Man defensive line.

OH YEAH!

Injuries are also something that the Giants have to worry about. Vereen is out for the rest of the season, and it looks like Jennings won’t be suiting up on Monday. This leaves Orleans Darwka, Bobby Rainey, and rookie Paul Perkins to take on this tough match up.
On the defensive side of the ball, the injuries are really stacking up. Eli Apple, DRC, Darian Thompson, and Nat Berhe are all banged up. This doesn’t bode well for Monday because the Vikings’ biggest play maker on offense is their receiver Stefon Diggs.

Despite these current pressing issues, we have history to deal with, as well. Eli doesn’t have a great history against this team. It’s kind of unreliable to say, because he’s not playing against the same roster time after time, but he seems to do poorly against the Vikings. In the eight times he’s played the Vikings he thrown four touchdowns and a whopping FOURTEEN interceptions. The Giants also lost five of those eight games. Now I’m no math wiz, but I think that’s not exactly the best.
But Eli doesn’t get bogged down in the past. When asked if the Vikings have his number, he smart-assedly said, “I don’t think anybody has my phone number on the Vikings. Maybe Linval, I’m not sure. I'm trying to think if I have anybody's number. Maybe somebody, I'm sure. I think I have Sam Bradford’s number. He’s got my number. I can’t think of anyone else off-hand. I’ll look through my phone and get back to you on that one.”

What a little jokester this guy is.

Maybe because of Minnesota’s improbable win over the Panthers, they’ll be over-confident and they’ll take the Giants for granted. The problem with this straw-grasping scenario is that Giants are a good team, so they won’t be taken lightly.



Monday night starts a gauntlet of sorts for the Giants. First they have the Vikings in Minnesota, then the Packers in Green Bay, then the currently undefeated Ravens, then they go across the pond to play the not good Rams, and it ends at home against the surprisingly successful Eagles. A win against Washington would’ve made this much easier. Hopefully they can win three of these five games, but I don’t figure that Monday night will be one of those wins.

Week Two 2016: Giants vs Saints

The Giants racked up their second win in as many weeks as they beat the Saints 16-13. This was far from the barn burner that everyone expected it to be, but that doesn’t matter if you get the win when the clock runs out.
Before the kickoff, everyone thought this game was going to be these two teams scoring at will. However, that wasn’t the case as both offenses struggled more than Darth Vader trying to blow up a balloon. Despite their offensive struggles, the Giants still left the field with the victory.

You'd think the Empire could spring for a helium tank or something. This walking sleep apnea machine can't fill these up.

What Went Right
In a complete 180° from last season, the Giants won their game because of defense, special teams, and clock management. The defense and specials teams brought lawyers, guns, and money and bailed out the offense the entire game.
Coach McAdoo’s clock management at the end of the game was smart. It wasn’t gutsy, but it was pragmatic and safe. After the Giants fumbled three times, the last thing he wanted was another fumble with the game on the line. Even though the Saints’ offense wasn’t lighting the world on fire, giving the ball to Drew Brees with a minute left to drive down the field is ill-advised. He did the Steve Urkel thing, it wasn’t sexy, but it was very smart.

Good job, Big Guy!

Obviously, that Jonathan Hankins field goal block that was housed by Janoris Jenkins was the play of the game. It was a huge play that happened at a pivotal time. It was just after the third consecutive Giants’ fumble when things were looking very bleak for Big Blue.
Eli Apple played really well, also. He didn’t have an easy assignment with the New Orleans receiving corps, but he held his own.

Sterling Shepard’s performance was just that... sterling. Sorry I know that’s cheesy, but this kid is a baller. He loves making plays, and I'm really excited to see where his career goes from here. 
Despite having a huge fumble earlier in the game, Cruz made a man catch to set the Giants up with their game-winning field goal. By man catch, I mean he ripped the ball out of the defender’s hands to gain possession of the ball.



What Went Wrong
Fumbles, fumbles, fumbles. Having three fumbles in one game is inexcusable, and it usually leads to a loss. A team can’t make those kinds of mistakes and expect to win those games. The biggest of the three was Cruz’s fumble. After he caught the ball, he broke out to the open field, it was there where a defender came from behind and knocked the ball out of hands like a bully swatting a math textbook out of a nerds hands.

As much I showered Coach McAdoo with praise earlier, he did screw up something early in the game. McAdoodoo, that's what I’ll call him when he makes a mistake, decided to go for it on 4th down when the Giants were only a few yards from the end zone. The unsuccessful conversion ultimately didn’t affect anything, but those three points would’ve come in handy towards the end of the game. He did the Stefan Urquelle thing, it might have been "cool", but man was that a stupid idea.

NSFW

On To The Next One
This Sunday the Giants square off against the reigning NFC East champions, the Washington Redskins. Between their previous two performances, and rumored turmoil in their locker room, the 0-2 Redskins look to have a tough match up against the G-Men. 

The Giants’ defense can keep Cousins and company in check. I think they’ll play just as well as they did last week if not better. This new defensive line should plug up the run, and apply enough pressure on Captain Kirk for him to make mistakes.

What I would really like to see is the Giants offense finally playing up to the standard that we all know they are capable of.
I’m a bit worried about their running game this week. We have to see how Jennings’s hand will hold up after he injured it last week, and with Marshall Newhouse on the mend, all eyes will be on who takes over at right tackle, whether it’s Bobby Hart, or Will Beatty.
As for the passing game, I expect Cruz and Shepard to continue playing like they’ve been playing, and Odell Beckham Jr. hasn’t been as stellar as he usually is. I know, if he made that catch last week I’d be singing a different tune, but he didn’t, so I’m not. Maybe this is the week where he turns it all around. Whether he thinks it or not, he definitely has the motivation to be great on Sunday.

Due to the Odell Beckham Jr. and Josh Norman rivalry, this is one of the most hyped-up games of the season. How will they act towards each other?  I’d be surprised if anything goes down like it did during their last meeting. Odell learned a hard lesson about the repercussions of not keeping your cool, and I don’t think he wants to let his team down again.
Now there are murmurs of Josh Norman shadowing Odell Beckham Jr. on Sunday. I find that interesting, because there has been so much talk about Norman just sticking with one side of the field. Is Washington so concerned with their “rematch” that they are willing to throw out their game plan because that’s what the fans and media want? If so, it’s no wonder why the organization is such a disaster.



So even though some people might be disappointed with the WWE ODB/Norman
story line, I don’t think that Giants’ fan will be disappointed by the outcome of the game. The Giants appear to be the more talented team, but this is NFC East and you have to be prepared for anything. If the Giants stay focused and protect “The Duke”, they will get the win and the Redskins will essentially be out of the NFC East running three weeks into the season.

Okay. Their rivalry isn't as bad a Michaels/Hart saga, but I'll keep my eyes peeled in case ODB gives Norman the Sweet Chin Music.

Week One 2016: Giants at Dallas

The Giants kicked off their 2016 season in a big way with beating Dallas in Jerry World. It wasn’t the best win, but it was great to beat the Cowboys in their house again.

About Last Sunday
To be honest, I had no idea what to expect from the Giants during week one. I didn’t know how the offensive line was going to protect Eli and open the running game, I wasn’t sure how well the defensive line was going play against Dallas’ offensive line, and I was excited to see what Victor Cruz could do in his first game back.


What Went Right
The Giants offensive line played well. Manning only got sacked twice, and wasn’t running for his life the entire game. Plus when the Giants needed to run the ball to close out the game, they gave Jennings room to eat up the clock like the Ninja Turtles devouring a pizza.
Speaking of the running game, it was streamlined and effective. Last year, the running game was pieced together like a platypus, but this year it looks like they are using Jennings as the main back and Vereen as the passing down’s back.
It looks like Victor Cruz is back to form. He didn’t put up stellar numbers, but it was great to see him score the 4th quarter touchdown to give them the lead, and it was even better to see the salsa dance.

I can't believe I forgot how much I missed this. I also can't believe they got fined for this celebration.

Sterling Shepard made a real tough catch for his first NFL touchdown. He's looking very promising.  
The defense was solid. You’d expect them to play well against a rookie making his first regular season start ever, but the defensive line was able to get the best of Dallas’ vaunted offensive line. They held Ezekiel Elliott and Alfred Morris to under 100 combined yards, and towards the end of the game they were able to put pressure on Dak Prescott.
Landon Collins didn’t give up on a jump ball against Dez Bryant in the end zone. Because of that hustle, Dez couldn’t complete the catch, and there was no touchdown.
The defense only gave up one touchdown to the Cowboys. Their red zone defense was on point.


What Went Wrong
Eli Manning threw a really bad interception while trying to connect with Sterling Shepard. I’m not sure what happened, it looked like Shepard gave up on the curl route when Brandon Carr cut it off. I don’t know if Eli was already throwing his way before it happened, or if it was a T-Rex brained play by Eli. Either way, it was ugly.
Despite plugging the run, it took the Giants a while to get after Prescott, and even then, they couldn’t get a sack.
Even though the Cowboys scored only one touchdown, the Cowboys still dominated time of possession and were able to drive the ball downfield at will.



This was very close to going to Cowboys’ way. While trying to approach field goal range for Dan Bailey, Cowboys’ receiver Terrence Williams didn’t run out of bounds to stop the dwindling clock. Because of this, Dallas never got the opportunity to kick a game-winning field goal. Maybe this is an issue that slips the mind of the rookie Prescott, but it would’ve been discussed by Romo in the huddle.
That seemed like a crunch-time mistake that would’ve been made by Big Blue last year. Luckily, the Giants appeared to have fortune on their side, or at very least, Ben McAdoo drank Harry Potter's Felix Felicis potion.

Harry doesn't need a good luck potion, he's got all the luck he needs from J.K. Rowling and the screenwriters. In other words, Harry doesn't earn a damn thing. 

On To The Next One
Victor Cruz and Janoris Jenkins have their eyes and words set on Josh Norman this week. They’re calling him out for only covering one side of the field. This is certainly shaping up to be a great rivalry. The only thing is that someone forgot to tell them they’re playing Washington next week, not this week.

To be fair, you don't give a cornerback $75 million to only sometimes cover your opponents top receiver.

This week, however, the Saints are parading towards us. (Sorry, there must be a better way to phrase that.) This looks to be another barn burner, maybe not to the extent of a combined score of 101, but it still has the potential of being a shootout.
This will be the first real test for the defense. Drew Brees is better than Dak Prescott, and New Orleans' receivers as a whole might be better than Dallas'. Let’s see if Big Blue can contain this C-4 offense that the Saints have.
I have no doubt that Giants' offense will be able to dominate the Saints’ defense. If the Saints have a C-4 offense, they have a sparkler defense.
The fact that this game will be played outdoors and in possible rainy conditions also gives the G-Men a really big advantage. These dome babies from New Orleans might have trouble in these adverse conditions. Will it be enough to tip the game into the Giants favor? Maybe they won't need nature's help, or a liquid luck potion. 

Preseason Wrap Up

The NFL season has officially kicked off with the rematch of Super Bowl 50, and before Cam Newton’s head stops ringing, the Giants will kick off their 2016 season in the least likely place, sorry, I mean the most likely place. AT&T Stadium in Dallas.

The fact that this is actually a thing, really bothers me.

The Giants didn’t look all that great this August. I know that it’s only preseason, and you get the same amount of facts from those four games as you do from Flat Earth "Truthers", but what I saw from the team made me a bit nervous. Like getting a call from your mom out of nowhere kind of nervous. Mostly because when your mom calls, it could be something as simple as her checking in, or your dog might be dead. It’s that kind of uncertainty that we are faced with as Giants’ fans. 



This preseason had some positives and negatives, much like Adam Sandler’s career. So using him as inspiration...
What was Billy Madison about August:
Defense overall seemed to be vastly improved from last year. This is especially true with  the defensive line. JPP, Olivier Vernon, “Snacks” Harrison, and Johnathan Hankins have shown that they can be a force to be reckoned with this upcoming season.

What was The Longest Yard about August:
The offense hasn’t exactly impressed this preseason. It wasn’t Ann Coulter at the Rob Lowe Roast bad, but maybe the Situation at the Donald Trump Roast bad? A lot of the troubles had to do with the offensive line. Ereck Flowers is still developing at left tackle, and the right side of the line has gotten desperate enough that they had to re-sign Will Beatty. Hopefully the more they play, the more the o-line will gel.

"When I'm President, you'll be the first one deported, grease ball."

The linebackers looked to have improved from last year, but they are still the weak spot of the defense. Early middle linebacker front runner, Jasper Brinkley, got cut, and Kelvin Sheppard is now running the defense. Hopefully, the front four has improved enough to cover up linebackers like a turned over couch cushion.

What was Jack and Jill about August:
Learning about Josh Brown’s domestic violence incidents, and worse, learning that the Giants knew about the incident and still resigned him, has shaken my confidence in the organization a bit. It’s not as bad as Ray Rice’s situation, or Greg Hardy’s, but it’s still something what shouldn’t be tolerated. 



Truth be told, I don’t know what to expect this season from Big Blue. They are a team with issues, but so is every team in their division.
Tony Romo, out with another back injury, is a huge problem for Dallas. They still have a good line, and an impressive young back, but unlike Cowboy's cheerleader disguised as a journalist pundit commentator, Skip Bayless, I’m not convinced that Dak Prescott is another Cam Newton or Russell Wilson. Although I think he’s a better option behind center than the Rolodex of intramural flag football quarterbacks that were used last year. Also, a few of their defensive play makers are serving suspensions at the beginning of the year. 

Congratulations on your move to FOX Sports, Skip. This is nothing like what you did at ESPN.

There hasn’t been back to back winners of the NFC East since 2004 when the Eagles did it. I don’t think Kirk Cousins has it in him to lead the Redskins to do so. Also, if they're expecting Josh Norman to replicate what he did last year, they better have one of the best front sevens in the league, because that's the only reason he was so good last year.
The Eagles are suffering a hangover from the Chip Kelly years, and it’s something that Gatorade and Advil can’t fix. Their starting quarterback is a rookie who missed most of the preseason because of fractured ribs, they don’t really have play makers on offense.

The Giants had a chance to win this division last season, but they lost too many close games and let the division slip through their fingertips. There were an unprecedented amount of screw ups which I don’t expect to see this time around. They can have the same opportunity to win the NFC east this year, and I hope they don’t blow it.