http://www.giantsauthorizedshops.com/authentic-will-hernandez-jersey , then the New York Giants disappointed you with a 20-13 stinker of a loss to the
Dallas Cowboys. You have been waiting all morning for “Kudos & Wet Willies,”
and while K&WW is a little later than usual it’s here.Let’s get to our
traditional day after review.Kudos to ...Saquon Barkley — Well, if you are going
to spend the entire night checking the ball down you might as well set a record
while doing it. The 14 passes Barkley caught broke Tiki Barber’s franchise
record for receptions in a game, which had been 13. He’s a really nice option
when you can’t get the ball down the field, but Barkley can’t be the whole
offense.Riley Dixon — At least the Giants punter had a nice night. He punted six
times, surrendered just 14 return yards, had three punts downed inside the
20-yard line and had a 40.0-yards per punt net average.Damon Harrison — Big
‘Snacks’ just keeps going and going. Dallas did a lot of things on offense
Sunday — big plays in the passing game, mesmerizing the Giants with the read
option among them. The one thing they did not do was have any success running
the ball in Harrison’s direction. ‘Snacks’ had four tackles and quarterback
hit.Cody Latimer — Had the Giants only really big play of the night, making a
contested catch of a Manning pass for a 37-yard gain that set up an Aldrick
Rosas field goal that got the Giants on the board in the third quarter. Latimer
also averaged 28.5 yards on two kickoff returns.Wet Willies to ...Offensive line
— Here is something I wrote last night: “Stunts. Blitzes. Four-man rushes. The
Giants offensive line couldn’t handle any of it.”Here is something left tackle
Nate Solder said: “They blitzed. They ran stunts. They rushed four. They did a
number of things and we didn’t pick up any of it.”I swear, I wrote “Things we
learned” before seeing Solder’s quote. Really. Hand on a Bible.It isn’t, though,
like it was hard to see. When Dallas blitzed, it seemed like the Giants had no
clue where they were coming from or who was supposed to pick up the blitzer.
When the defensive linemen ran basic stunts the Giants — mostly Patrick Omameh
and Ereck Flowers on the right side — seemed unable to figure out how to pass
guys off. Eli Manning got sacked six times times, four in the first half when it
seemed like a constant jailbreak to the quarterback. The Giants averaged a
pitiful 2.1 yards rushing the ball (17 carries, 35 yards) with Saquon Barkley
earning much of what the Giants did get on his own.Maybe it will get better as
the revamped offensive line (with a new starting center following the awful
injury to Jon Halapio) but the rebuild to this point has been a failure. There
really isn’t a single member of that group who should feel good about the way he
has played thus far.The Giants will never be able to run a competent offense and
take advantage of the play-making talent they have without blocking that gives
them a chance.Shane Smith — I really like Smith. The young man is a great kid,
personable, accommodating. What good to a team, though, is a fullback who
doesn’t block? Smith played four snaps on offense Sunday night. On one, he had
no idea who to block and a blitzer ran right by him on his way to Manning. On
another
http://www.giantsauthorizedshops.com/authentic-janoris-jenkins-jersey , he knew who to block. He just got run over trying to do it.Pass rush — What pass
rush? While Manning was getting battered by the Cowboys, Dak Prescott was
enjoying a leisurely day at the beach. Prescott was never sacked in 25 pass
attempts, and was touched by the Giants just three times. He got hit more when
he chose to run the ball on the read option (7 carries, 45 yards), and even that
was usually after he had picked up significant chunks of yardage.Janoris
Jenkins/Curtis Riley — I’m not sure if Jackrabbit should get blame for the
64-yard Prescott to Tavon Austin touchdown pass or Riley. Jackrabbit appeared to
miss a jam at the line of scrimmage, then slipped and fell behind in the
footrace. Riley, the free safety in the middle of the field, seemed to be late,
took a horrid angle and wasn’t really close to keeping Austin out of the end
zone. This is the second game in a row the Jenkins/Riley combo has been burned
for a deep ball.Kaelin Clay — The Giants didn’t want to give up on Clay after
his misadventures in Week 1, including a muffed punt that cost the Giants an
opportunity at a final possession. Sunday night, Clay averaged 5.5 yards on two
returns and was fortunate not to turn the ball over one of those when a punt
landed in front of him and banged off his shins.Kwillies to ...Eli Manning — The
37-year-old took a beating Sunday night, and admirably kept getting back up. He
was sacked six times in 50 drop backs, the most times he has been sacked since
also being taken down six times by the Philadelphia Eagles Oct. 12, 2014. He was
hit eight other times. He ran two quarterback sneaks for fourth-down
conversions, with the broadcast saying it was the first time he had run the
sneak since 2010. Give him credit for still being able to take the hits and get
back up.Manning, though, orchestrated an offense that didn’t go anywhere. The
Giants actually an an 11-play “drive” in the first half that gained 23 yards.
How is that even possible? They didn’t cross midfield until the second
half.Manning completed 33-of-44 passes and had a nice passer rating of 98.6.
Those completions, though, generated only 279 passing yards. That’s 6.3 per
completion. Subtract the six sacks that cost the Giants 59 yards and Manning
averaged only 4.4 yards per play on 50 drop backs. That’s not going to get it
done.If my math is right, the Next Gen Stats chart shows that 12 of Manning’s
passes (27.2 percent) were thrown behind the line of scrimmage. Seventeen more
were thrown within 5 yards of the line. Only seven were down the field beyond 20
yards.The pass rush was without doubt a major part of the problem. Many of those
check downs were because Manning had no choice due to the pressure. At
times
http://www.giantsauthorizedshops.com/authentic-connor-barwin-jersey , though, it looked like the Giants wanted to go down the field and Manning chose
not to pull the trigger. Did Manning miss opportunities? Make the right choices
because guys were covered? Not trust his protection and sometimes get the ball
out too quickly or exactly what happened?Right now, those questions are hard to
answer. Through two games, though, the Giants have scored 28 points. Ten of
those came in Sunday’s fourth quarter when it was, realistically, already too
late and the Cowboys weren’t applying as much pressure. In those two games, the
Giants haven’t gotten a single really big play from Odell Beckham Jr. The
offense — Manning included — is going to have to be better than that or this is
going to be another long, wasted season.When the Cowboys have the ball: A game
of cat and mouse Any matchup against the New York Giants and Dallas Cowboys is
going to feel like a big one, especially when it gets the primetime Sunday Night
Football treatment. It might seem like hyperbole to say the course of the rest
of the season for these two teams hinges on this game, but it might not be so
out there with both teams sitting at 0-1. Consider there’s an average difference
of 2.5-wins and 31 percent playoff probability between teams that start the
season 1-1 and those that start 0-2. That adds more stakes to this divisional
matchup.When these teams were contenders in 2016, the Giants had one of the
league’s best defenses and the Cowboys rolled out one of the league’s best
offenses. Those units dropped off in 2017, but they’ll both look to get closer
to 2016 as the 2018 season rolls on. Here’s what to watch on that side of the
ball come Sunday night:Landon Collins’s alignmentOne of the things to watch in
the new James Bettcher defense was how Landon Collins was going to be used. He
might not exactly serve the moneybacker role the Cardinals set up for Deone
Bucannon, but Collins was often hovering around the line of scrimmage in the
season opener against the Jacksonville Jaguars. On half (16-of-32) of Collins’s
first half snaps, he was within five yards of the line of scrimmage, but never
between the hashes. He was typically between the hashes and the numbers, split
between each side. On only three plays in the first half did Collins line up at
least 10 yards from the line of scrimmage.Collins wasn’t much of a factor,
though, and most of his box score stats came in the second half. He was sent on
a blitz three times per Pro Football Focus, but did not create a pressure.It’s
likely the Giants remain in a single-high safety look against the Cowboys. In
Week 1
http://www.giantsauthorizedshops.com/authentic-b.j.-goodson-jersey , Dak Prescott had and below average depth of target (aDOT) of 7.3 and his longest
pass of the day traveled just 23.7 yards in the air from where he released it,
the fourth-shortest long pass of the week, per Next Gen Stats. Prescott only
tried three passes more than 15 yards down the field against the Panthers.Dallas
doesn’t really have a deep threat that would warrant keeping another safety back
in coverage, which should allow the defense to continue trusting the cornerbacks
in man coverage.Blocking the boxBecause of the lack of talent at wide receiver
and because the presence of Ezekiel Elliott, the Cowboys are going to want to
run the ball. The Giants are going to want to stop the run. Earlier this week
Landon Collins said, “we really just have to focus on stopping Zeke??we do that,
put the ball in Dak’s hands, I think we have a better shot at winning.”It would
be a similar game plan to what the Giants ran against the Jaguars. Per Next Gen
Stats, the Giants had eight or more men in the box on 57.1 percent of T.J.
Yeldon’s rushing attempts, the third-highest rate for a running back with at
least 10 carries in Week 1. But we know box usage is heavily influenced by
offensive personnel and the Jaguars spent much of the game in heavy formations
running with the lead.Dallas didn’t have that luxury against the Panthers. The
Cowboys played catch up and Elliott saw an 8-man box on just 13.3 percent of his
carries, the sixth-lowest rate for a back with at least 10 rushing attempts.
Dallas wants to come out heavy and run the ball, but without the lead they don’t
always have that opportunity. Prepare for play-actionWhat could make Dallas
dangerous is knowing that defenses know they want to run, come out in those
heavy run formations, and run play-action. It’s something the Cowboys didn’t do
nearly enough of as a run-heavy team last season — just 22 percent of pass
attempts last year included play-action, 19th in the league per Sports Info
Solutions charting from Football Outsiders. They used it on 24 percent in 2016,
at that time the third-highest rate in the league (smart teams are realizing
more play-action is good for the offense).With a defense overly committed to
stopping the run, play-action is a great way to create passing lanes, open
receivers, and easy throws. It’s also something the Giants have been susceptible
to in the past. No team had play-action used more on them last season than the
Giants and one of the downsides to Bettcher’s aggressive looks at the line is
that it can leave space for big gains off play-action if the defense doesn’t
react right away. Last season the Cardinals allowed 9.0 yards per play on
play-action, the fourth-highest number in the league
Womens Odell Beckham Jr Jersey , but they allowed 5.4 yards per play on non-play-action passes, the third-lowest rate in the league.The Jaguars used
this aggression against the Giants in Week 1 with play-action and misdirection
setting up Giants defenders to be out of position. If the Cowboys are smart,
they’ll go to that well often, but there’s already been talk about Scott
Linehan’s future as offensive coordinator in Dallas, which shows you “smart”
isn’t exactly something that would describe that offense at the moment.Causing
confusionFor years, the strength of the Dallas offense has been the offensive
line. But that isn’t really the case right now. Travis Frederick is sidelined
indefinitely with a serious illness and Zack Martin dealt with a knee injury
throughout training camp. With a reworked and not 100 percent line in place, the
Cowboys had some communication issues up front against the Panthers.The Giants
could easily exploit this by loading the line of scrimmage and disguising which
defenders have what responsibilities — a hallmark of the Bettcher offense.
Stunts along the defensive line could also test the communication skills across
the offensive line. This is something the Giants could easily do to manufacture
a pass rush, especially if Olivier Vernon is not available to play again. If the
Giants can create some pressure just backfield penetration by confusing the
offensive line, everyone else on the defense will have an easier job.The ghost
of Jason WittenWith Jason Witten retired and in the Monday Night Football booth,
he’s no longer a concern for New York Giants linebackers. For his entire career,
Witten was a monster against the Giants, even as he slowed down significantly in
the latter years. Without Witten, the Cowboys aren’t exactly deep at tight end.
Geoff Swaim and Blake Jarwin combined for three catches for 18 yards on five
targets against the Panthers.More good news for the Giants, they didn’t give up
a touchdown to a tight end in Week 1 — well, not officially. Austin
Seferian-Jenkins did score a touchdown against Alec Ogletree, but the play was
called back because of an illegal hands to the face penalty against Andrew
Norwell. Officially the Giants only allowed 25 yards to Jaguars tight ends and
finished ninth in VOA (DVOA without the opponent adjustments) against tight ends
in Week 1, per Football Outsiders.
