You got to Rolle with it baby.....

Giants starting safety Antrel Rolle is always good for a few comments, this week was no different. The Giants didn't have a sense of urgency, didn't feel like we had the energy, we're better than that.

“Just watching the film, it wasn’t as bad as I thought it was, but it can definitely get a whole lot better. And next time we face them, I can pretty much guarantee the outcome will be different.”

Mike Garafolo of the Star Ledger:

Maybe, as I noted in my game review, the Giants should get back to playing more man coverage. For whatever reason, they played a lot of zone after being a predominantly man-coverage team during Perry Fewell’s first season as defensive coordinator.

The results were less than spectacular, with Rolle giving too much of a cushion on a fourth-and-5, the linebackers struggling at times to provide coverage support underneath and rookie safety Tyler Sash late to break up on a ball thrown up the seam.

I have to agree. Rex Grossman has all to often fallen prey to a good defensive scheme, mixing up coverages, blitzing and covering out of the same personal package can and has led to a pick or 2 of Rex. At the very least play man on the 2 wideouts within zone coverage. 20 years ago Quarterbacks were taught at the college level to see the seam in the zone coverage and how to take advantage. Its no surprise a career journeyman, Grossman, fed a steady diet of zone coverage, ate it up.

The Giants would like to be able to blitz and cover out of the same personal package, facing an offense in a hurry up scheme you dont want to let substitutions tell the offense what you're going to do. Unfortunately the Giants may not have much of a choice, going from the base dee, to a nickel or dime package may require substitutions. Antrel Rolle did play a little corner in college, but he's just not that good, his forte is playing a safety who likes to do little freelancing, and Rolle flourishes as a blitzer, run stop, safety over the top guy. He's also the perfect compliment to Kenny Philips, who has the speed to cover deep passes from sideline to sideline and reads the run very well, and with his speed gets up on the line for a run stop as good as anybody in the league.

So my advice, hey Coach, leave Rolle as a safety.... Maybe a corner will come off of someone's practice squad, no one of any quality most likely, but a body, maybe competent in nickel and dime packages, can help add some depth.

Antrel Rolle can be used as a linebacker, hes a fearsome hitter defending the run, has the speed and moxie to blitz, and get to the quarterback. Its gonna take the linebackers helping out with good execution on the underneath plays, and better than average man coverage from Ross and Wester as well as solid play from 10 year vet Brian Williams, who at 5'11" might see time as a nickel back,  or 4 year man, the 6 ft Michael Coe.

Interesting note, Kenny Phillips and Deon Grant are both 6'2" making them easily the 2 tallest members of a secondary that otherwise is a bit short, at 6 foot and 5'11".