Justin Tryon suffers broken arm vs Miami

The young 4 year cornerback the Giants picked off of the Colts waiver wire Justin Tryon broke his arm while tackling Reggie Bush on Sunday. I'm guessing Tryon made an impact with Perry Fewell, enough so that the Giants signed Tryon and released 10 yr veteran Brian Williams. Tryon has been an undersized but solid corner for Washington and the Colts, playing man and zone coverage as well as being a gunner on special teams. In the 2010 Colts Jets game Tryon had 3 tackles and a pick for the Colts. Justin earned the trust of Perry Fewell and saw significant snaps in his 2nd and 3rd game with the Giants. Against Miami Justin had a very nice batted ball early in the game, before the injury.

From the Star Ledger:

"The gunners, as you know, in that situation have not always come through for us, and this kid did,” Coughlin said. “The other thing I appreciated and I take my hat off to him is I was standing close by as the doctors were showing him and talking to him about his injury, he didn’t want to hear about it. He said, ‘When can I play? Can I play again? Just put a cast on it and I’ll play.’ That was something to hear a young man talk like that, how badly he wanted to play.”

Coach has to love this guys attitude. And it gets better, Justin tweeted a picture of his x-ray at about 7pm EST. And at about 8pm he tweeted again.

2weeks to heal this bs... 1week get my legs back underneath me. I'm COMING BACK. Can heal doing the offseason not now! SORRY just not me!!

https://twitter.com/#!/JTryon30/status/131166904332201984

So Gaints fans, Justin Tryon is saying he'll be back in 3 weeks! And Justin the Giants need you back. Most teams carry 5-6 CB's on the roster, currently we have Aaron Ross, Cory Webster and Micheal Coe. Coe plays specials. Which means we cant play nickel or dime packages without moving Safeties into corner positions. And as good as Antrel Rolle is, hes not a corner, neither is Deon Grant. IF the Giants are going to make a playoff run we have to have 4 legit corners, so if Tryon comes back, the Prince will probably play in 2 weeks, we will have 4 corners the last month of the season.

Yes I know, the Patriots released Leigh Bodden and he cleared waivers. But according to Evan @WFAN the Giants are about 30k under the cap and Bodden signed a 4 year 22 million dollar contract in 2010. Can the Giants restructure enough money (maybe 2.2 million just for this season) to sign Bodden and stay under the cap. The Giants can go over the cap but will be penalized in the outgoing years. Bodden is solid corner and would give us depth.


Justin, get healthy, see you in 3 weeks.

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Justin Tryon plays larger roll vs Buffalo

I traded emails with Mike Garafolo of the Star Ledger concerning Justin Tryon. Mike told me that the play Tryon was credited with a tackle was a blown coverage by Antrel Rolle in corner roll, Rolle had the inside receiver, Tryon had the outside receiver. Tryon saw the throw going to the inside receiver, left his man and moved in to tackle the receiver right after making the catch, for a 14 yard gain. Justin saved some run after the catch, a heads up play by Tryon.

From Mike Garafolo.....Final 30 seconds of the first quarter:

As for the 60-yard TD pass from Fitzpatrick to WR Naaman Roosevelt, the Giants were trying to show man coverage and then rotate into a reverse Cover-2 look. By reverse, I mean Rolle jumped down to the cornerback spot in the flat and CB Justin Tryon became the safety. 

I missed seeing that Tryon was in the game this early, and as Mike Garafolo points out Perry Fewell was moving him around, this might be more responsibility than Brians WIlliams was given before being let go. This may speak to a higher level of trust, that Tryon is a smart guy and generated some trust right away with Perry Fewell.

The defense found trouble early on when they tried to mix up the looks. On one play, they showed Cover-2 and then rolled into Cover-3. It didn’t work. Later, they showed man and converted into a reverse Cover-2. It was a disaster. (See below.) Finally, Fewell trusted his DBs and allowed them to play tight, aggressive man coverage, even on the final drive when teams often drop back and play soft zones.

Theres a few things going on here, in the past we've gone into the nickel by having Antrel Rolle leave his deep safety spot and move to corner, lining up on the line of scrimmage. A linebacker goes out, and safety Deon Grant comes in.

Thats whats on film, teams know we do this, so we to try to confuse the opposing offense. This is what I thikn Garafolo is describing. Rolle comes to the line of scrimmage, but no LB comes in, Justin Tryon is in and plays deep. Rolling from a cover 2, to a cover 3 means somebody rolls out to deep cover so there are 3 deep safeties instead of 2.

Cover 3 in a nickle situation leaves 2 players up front and 3 deep, so the underneath throw might be a better choice for the QB. Unlike the standard Cover 2 nickle where you would see 3 corners up close and 2 safeties deep.

Hopefully what happens is you bait the quarterback to throw to an area he thinks has coverage he can take advantage of. And instead the quarterback throws into the strength of the secondary, possibly for a pick. Well it didn't work, so Perry Fewell went to man coverage.

And so early in the 3rd quarter, Rolle playing out of position, just like against Seattle when Aaron Ross and Antrel Rolle had a miscommunication, Rolle lets the receiver past him, the quarterback saw it and threw for a completion but Justin Tryon saw the throw and moved over to make the tackle, preventing some serious run after the catch.

I think Perry Fewell is liking what we've seen from Tryon, that 1) we can trust Tryon to perform to confuse coverages, and 2) maybe Tryon should be the standard nickle back, not Rolle. This keeps Rolle at his natural position safety, and allows the Giants to line up 3 competent cornerbacks at the line and bump and run in man coverage while keeping the Kenny Phillips Antrel Rolle tandam over the top, where both are excelling. The 4-2-5 cover 2 might, for some defenses, leave a vulnerability deep. But Kenny Phillips and Antrel Rolle are fast and make good reads. Having these 2 guys deep for the Giants might be as good as a cover 3 for other teams that dont have 2 quality safeties, because our 2 guys can cover a lot ground.

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Not the Prettiest Win, but we'll take it

What can I say about Cory Webster? Webster had what is probably his best game as a 7 year pro. 3 batted balls, 4 solo tackles and 2 picks. Aaron Ross had a quite day, 1 pass defense and 2 solo tackles. I saw Justin Tryon play early in the second half, he was covering the outside receiver, saw the ball being thrown to the inside receiver and moved over to make the tackle. IIRC I saw him play in at least 2 more plays.

And what can I say about Jake Ballard? Ballard has 15 catches for 273 yards, on track for over 800 yards and 6 touchdowns. Ballard has averaged a stunning 18.2 yards per catch, and has started to draw comparisons to Mark Bavaro as far as Ballards ability to carry 1-2-3 defensive players for extra yards.


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Giants vs Bills

I haven't felt like writing after last weeks loss to Seattle.

The Giants actually match up quite well with the Bills, except for our running game, the Bills have rushed for 691 yards while Giants have rushed for 419 yards. The Giants linebackers have to fill gaps stopping the RB near the line. They cannot wait for the RB to come to them, Seattle ran up the middle on us and ran wide, and our containment was often not present.

On Paper the Giants passing offense is better than the Bills, we have 3 fine receivers and a better quarterback.

The Giants pass defense is ranked 20th, the Bills 30th so we should be able to shred their secondary. Our rush defense is ranked 21st the Bills 29th. There is no reason the giants cannot beat the Bills, on paper.

Look fors:

Look for a defense that bends, but doesn't break. If we win, you'll see our secondary performing well, our cornerbacks overacheiving. At times our secondary has looked great, I thought Aaron Ross's pick in the Seattle game was great, in the sense he earned it. Ross was behind the receivers right shoulder, got an early look at the throw,  read it, and just flat out beat his man to the ball. Ross's 2 picks against the Eagles were nice but particularly his was Ross's best overall pick in a  long time. Against Arizona Cory Webster had 2 really great batted balls, his first against Larry Fitzgerald to kill a drive. Antrell Rolle had a pick and a fine batted ball.

Look for the Giants to use both DJ Ware and Da'rell Scott. 160 yrds rushing if we win.

Starting LT for the BIlls Demetrius Bell will not play. Chris Hairston will face Osi.
Mike Garafolo wrote:

But the one thing I noticed, and I'm sure Giants DE Osi Umenyiora noticed as well, is Hairston's feet looked awfully slow out there. He had problems dealing with DE Darryl Tapp's speed moves.....So this weekend, Umenyiora could create massive problems for the Bills. And I mean big-time problems. The way he's been moving and getting off the line, he figures to give Hairston fits.

How the Bills deal with this remains to be seen, as they did last week they can run the screen pass, and give the LT help, maybe with a TE. If Osi gets off to fast start it can only be good for the Giants.

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Giants by 10 pts vs Seattle

I doubt there will a let down by the Giants, considering they did well against Arizona in a potential let down game right after the emotional high of beating the Eagles, the GMen will do well vs Seattle. This game has the potential to be a blowout, I would not be surprised to see the score run up and offensive records for the young season set.

It looks like Brandon Jacobs will not play, look for DJ Ware who is a combination of Bradshaw and Jacobs, and we might even see some Da'Rel Scott who logged a 4.35 at the Combine. Proof of Da'Rel's speed came during the preseason when he ripped off a 97 yard run from scrimmage for a touchdown.

Justin Tuck is out, as is Free Agent center David Bass, Kevin Boothe who is a guard who also plays center, will start in place of Baas. Cordle just moved up from the practice squad, will back up at center.

Look fors:
Last week I thought Mario Manningham would be the star, he was not. Look for Eli to hook up with MM for at least a touchdown some good yardage.

With a good lead in the 4th quarter, we may get to see Da'Rel Scott, it may not take too many touches for him to flash his speed. We'll see. With a good lead do we see David Carr at the end of the game?

Look for 4-6 sacks, Osi, Tollefson and JPP are likely to team up for pressures, hits, and sacks. I really want to see the defensive line stuff the run. 80 yards rushing from Seattle.

Look for 160 yards team rushing.

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Flurry of roster moves for Giants

The Giants signed 4 year veteran cornerback Justin Tryon, Jim Cordle was moved from the practice Squad to the active roster. Receiver Brandon Stokely was released with an injury settlement while QB Sage Rosenfels was also let go. The Giants then signed 2nd year OT Selvish Capers to the practice squad.

This leaves the Giants with 54 players and they need to get down to 53 tomorrow.

I might regret going out on this limb by Wednesday, but here goes. At the end of preseason Coach Coughlin kept 2 tight ends, Travis Beckham a 3rd year pass catching TE and 2nd year TE Jake Ballard who is a sound blocker. Some Teams like to use a 1 RB, 2 TE set, some teams like the Giants last year used a lot of 2 RB sets, and if the blitz comes, the 2 RB's protect, if not at least one will go out for a pass route. If the Giants had wanted to run a 2 tight end set, I think Coach would have taken at least 3 true tight ends, Bear Pascoe is a good blocker, but more of a H-back slash tight end.

So if Coach is good with the single tight end set, Travis Beckham is expendable considering Jake Ballards production of late. In Arizona Ballard caught 3 passes for 33 yards and a touchdown catch in the corner of the endzone. Ballard almost had 2 touchdowns, if you remember the play- his knee was down and the ball was a foot or 2 short of the goal line. Ballard is on track for 28 catches and 480 yards, Kevin Boss like numbers, Boss last year had 30 catches and 500 yards.

If my logic holds true thru to Wednesday Beckham will be released.

Jim Cordle Played center at Ohio State and was on the Giants practice squad last year, so he's a known quantity and is a true center vs Kevin Boothe who filled in against Arizona when David Baas left the game. Boothe is a guard who can play center, so Cordle gives the Giants better experience at the center position should David Baas nor be able to go on Sunday.

 Justin Tryon is a 4 year veteran cornerback. He's 5'9" has 4.41 speed and a 35 inch vertical leap who has played for Washington and Indianapolis. The Colts waived Tryon last week. Tryon gives the Giants some sorely needed depth and can play nickel probably against a slot receiver. Tryon is just too short to go against taller outside receivers.


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EDIT: Veteran Cornerback Brian Williams was released Wednesday monrning. This makes sense after the Giants signed a younger corner Justin Tryon.

Arizona Review and then on to Seattle next week

Before the game I had these thoughts.

Look fors:Look for TE Jake Ballard to see continued time as a run blocker, Eli will probably throw to Ballard at least twice, as he's been a reliable target so far this year with 4 catches for 87 yards. If Gilbride has anything extra in store for Ballard, that there's something he thinks the TE can take advantage of, then that increases the odds of the big man (275 lbs.) rumbling thru the Arizona secondary. If Ballard continues to catch the ball he's on track to gain about 450 yards for the season.

If you didn't know, we have a tight end, his name is Jake Ballard. The fact that Ballard was used in the red zone offense means the staff has confidence in Ballard, and Jake was only a foot or so from having 2 touch downs. We'll see number 85 gain, no doubt.

Look for Victor Cruz to not be the star, 75 yards and one touchdown.

Well I was off a little bit, 98 yards no touchdown and an incredibly lucky break with the "player gave himself up" call. We'll take it. Cruz won't make that mistake gain.

Look for Osi, Tuck and JPP to crush Kevin Kolb, as long as they're healthy. Good pressure on the QB can lead to an interception, but it wont be Aaron Ross.

Osi Umenyiora and David Tollefson had 2 sacks each, and I was right Ross didn't have a pick.

Look for Aaron Ross to try and show he can be consistent, no picks but a defended ball on 3rd down to end a drive.

I'm guilty of wishful thinking. :~ )

Look for Mario Manningham to try and make Giants fans forget about the Salsa dancing of Victor Cruz, he'll lead all Giants receivers with a big day. But Cruz will laydown a downfield block for MM.

The Cardinals busted up a play with Bradshaw running right (1st half), Cruz was lined up on the right side, at the snap of the ball he ran to his left and was poised to run block for Bradshaw, except for the Cardinals reading it and stopping it. Manningham only had one catch and it was Hakeem Nicks who lit the night up.

Rotoworld: 
Nicks was a beast, dominating.... blew by.... monster fantasy day....on pace for 96 receptions, 1,388 yards and 12 touchdowns.... is locked-and-loaded as a WR1.


The Huddle said:
...had a blazing hot end of the game.


Yeah, we like him too......


Corey Webster had 2 real nice batted balls, one on Larry Fitz who was wide open, (was). And Antrel Rolle had an off game, only 6 tackles (and a pick :~ )). I was a little skeptical about seeing Rolle used to cover in the nickel. Rolle started his NFL career as a corner, and moved to safety, I wondered how good of a corner he was. Well Rolle has continued his overall good play and that includes his more recent efforts in the nickel.


At this point in the season Eli does have some stats that are better than Tom Brady, again, I'll take it.



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Week 4: Arizona Cardinals

Arizona drafted Dan Williams in 2010 as their nose tackle in the 3-4, Williams backed up 13 year vet Bryan Robinson. Neither had a sack in 2010. Now as the starter at Nose tackle, Williams and rookie David Carter have no sacks.  So far Arizona has been rushing 3 down linemen and blitzing, and they seem to use everyone to get to the quarterback, linebackers and DB's. Defensive coordinator Ray Horton likes to pressure  and blitz opposing quarterbacks and has not yet installed all of his defense, early in his first season.

Rookie Corner Patrick Peterson has 14 tackles and a pick 6 and will likely cover Hakeem Nicks, though last week budding star Victor Cruz saw time on both the left and right side.

Offensively Tight End Jeff King has gotten off to a good start for the Cardinals, catching 4 balls for 97 yards and 2 touchdowns while starting TE Todd Heap is injured. King might be a worry because of his ability to work deeper into the Giants secondary, so our linebackers will have to execute well in coverage to hopefully not let King loose in what is an already weakened secondary.

Vegas had this game at 3 pts, I think its down to 1.5, so Vegas is thinking a trap game for the Giants. If the Giants are to continue to show weekly improvement, they need to focus against a somewhat improved Cardinal team they should beat by 14 to 17 points.

Look fors:
Look for TE Jake Ballard to see continued time as a run blocker, Eli will probably throw to Ballard at least twice, as he's been a reliable target so far this year with 4 catches for 87 yards. If Gilbride has anything extra in store for Ballard, that there's something he thinks the TE can take advantage of, then that increases the odds of the big man (275 lbs.) rumbling thru the Arizona secondary. If Ballard continues to catch the ball he's on track to gain about 450 yards for the season.

Look for Victor Cruz to not be the star, 75 yards and one touchdown.

Look for Osi, Tuck and JPP to crush Kevin Kolb, as long as they're healthy. Good pressure on the QB can lead to an interception, but it wont be Aaron Ross.

Look for Aaron Ross to try and show he can be consistent, no picks but a defended ball on 3rd down to end a drive.

Look for Mario Manningham to try and make Giants fans forget about the Salsa dancing of Victor Cruz, he'll lead all Giants receivers with a big day. But Cruz will laydown a downfield block for MM.



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