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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Victor Cruz can - well...... he can cruise.

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During the 2010 preseason Victor Cruz was  the second best rookie receiver next to Dez Bryant. With Eli Manning out, Bret Bohmar played nearly 3 games, repeatedly hooking up with Cruz. Except for making the hot read and blocking downfield Victor Cruz looked NFL ready.

Incidental contact is just that incidental contact, Cruz doesn't get distracted and maintains good body control.

Many times Cruz got in front of the defender and looked for the ball twice, first time in case he needed to adjust to the ball, and catches the ball clean with his arms extended

Run after the catch. Yeah he does that, he knows where he is on the field and where the defenders are.

Its hard to find any good info on Cruzs' 40 yard times, I haven't found anything conclusive, just he ran  a 4.47 on his proday. Cruz runs good routes, and if his rookie habit of looking for the ball release first and then second looking the ball into his hands can consistently be combined with looking out for the blitz and making the hot read, Cruz can make the vaunted Free Agent Secondary of the Eagles forget about Mario Manningham, and make the Giants forget about Steve Smith.

A prediction: When the Giants offense lines up, if we see Cruz on the right side with Hakeem Nicks on the left side, that means the Giants will looking for Cruz to make those nice deep plays that Manningham is noted for. Note- Manningham ran a 4.38 on his proday. Cruz with 4.47 speed is not a true speester, but his speed is deceptive. Like Manningham, and former Giant Steve Smith, Cruz has the ability to accelerate to gain separation. then the double look at the ball is vital, first time to verify the release and vector, this tells Cruz where the ball is headed and when its going to arrive. Many cornerbacks read the receivers eyes to judge when to turn to the ball, but Cruzs' first look can give Cruz an advantage by knowing exactly when to break, cut, juke, use a burst of speed to get open. Then Cruz looks the ball into his hands.

Cruz has the tools and talent to take advantage of the opportunity on Sunday. There is no question Cruz will get better, the question is how fast does he get better.

Week 3, Eagles vs Giants

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Nervous isn't the word. The Giants face a good quarterback in Michael Vick, with a secondary thats been decimated with injures. The Giants offense is a question mark, though showing some improvement in the Rams game.

Against the Rams the second half running game seemed to get on a roll. Having Jacobs pounding his way into the Eagles secondary late in the game will be a good sign.

Victor Cruz caught a ball last week, on a hot read no less. II was Coach, I would have practiced some longer routes for Cruz, he cane motor. As a Rookie Cruz brought some ready for the NFL skills. I would not be surprised to see Cruz expand on last weeks performance, and maybe snag a long throw.

Jake Ballard, at 275 and 6'5" Eli saw Ballard downfield against Washington for a good play. The Eagles have possibly the best triad at corner in the league, but those small guys don't want to see Ballard roaming in the secondary, or for that matter Brandon Jacobs.

Perry Fewell pretty much wrote the book last year on how to handle Michael Vick, but given a lead the Defense can't let Vick back in the game, they have to contain, and blitz, and make the Secondary look good. Victor Cruz played DB and receiver in high school.... just sayin....

Week 2: Giants vs Rams

Giants signed 13 year veteran wide receiver Brandon Stokely, who is an experienced at the slot position.

“Football is football. Routes are routes. At some point, you just got to go out there and play. I learned that you can’t really overthink when you get on the field. You have to let your ability take over, and so that’s what we’re trying to do if I’m playing on Monday.”

Victor Cruz has not lived up to his potential in the slot position on Stokely's signing:

“We had to put that game to bed. That game is over. There is nothing we can do about that ballgame. What we can do is come to work. We can come to work focused, intense in our focus, be sharper in our practices, be sharper in our meetings so we can give ourselves a better opportunity to be successful on Monday.”

From Giants.com 

Coughlin has been impressed with several of Stokley’s attributes.

“His maneuverability,” Coughlin said. “His ability to put his body in the right position and once he gets real sharp, he catches pretty much everything. He is something a quarterback can count on.”

From Giants.com

Obviously after Rex Brossamn lit up the Giants for 300+ yards last week, the secondary was as we thought it would be with all the injuries, very suspect. The Giants played a lot of zone and it may be that Perry Fewell wanted to keep it simple against the Redskins.

Giants Rookie Greg Jones played Ok, aginst the Redskins, recording 4 tackles, as the defense sacked Grossman 4 times and limited Hightower to 76 yards and 2.8 yard average. Carl Banks gave the Rookie a passing grade, acknowledging Jones must play better in coverage. If the young linebacker corp can execute against the pass, they can lend a hand to the depleted secondary by not having any mistakes in the way of a completed pass in the area of the linebackers responsibility, and the receiver making into the defensive secondary.

NY Giants 53 man roster for 2011

The Numbers game and a little surprise.
The question in my mind was do the Giants keep 8 Dee linemen and 8 receivers, if so, how many tightends and how many running backs do they keep, and that has meant very few linebackers the last 2 years.

Da'rel Scott makes the team, he's a burner and brings some sorely needed speed to the offense. Imagine Scott blocking in a 2 back set with Amhad Bradshaw, if the rush comes he blocks, if the defense covers, he moves past the DE, into an open area and catches a pass. Scary thoughts. Brown is released. They keep 4 backs.

Coach Coughlin decided to only keep 7 receivers, in recent years he had kept 8. The 6'6" project Ramses Barden is PUP, Nicks, Manningham, Hixon, Cruz, Thomas and Jerrigen will start the season. Nicks, Manningham, Hixon are all proven or potential 1000 yard receivers. I personally like Cruz, he may not be as fast as Da'rel Scott, but Cruz can, well cruise, Cruz needs to show he can make the hot read, and block downfield. Last year Cruz nearly always turned his head to look for the ball well before the DB, and consistently made better adjustments to the ball than the DB covering him, because of that.

Coach kept 2 tight ends. Travis Beckum and Jake Ballard.2 Fullbacks   Bear Pascoe who is a good blocking tight end and Henry Hynoski who is huge and low at 6'1" 266,  it looks like coach wants some blocking for the running game. 


Heres where I was surprised, Linebackers. Coach Coughlin saves a roster spot with Pascoe, and by keeping 6 receivers instead of 8, that makes 3 spots. With the injury to Clint Sintim. Jacquian Williams gets 3 sacks and 7 tackles in the final preseason game and probably makes the team based on that performance in 2 quarters of play. In addition to Willims,  Mark Herzlich, Greg Jones and Spencer Paysinger join Kiwi, Goff, and Michael Boley who may end up inheriting AP's spot. 7 Linebackers on a team that plays the 4-3?.Interesting.


As I thought, the Giants will keep 8 Defensive Linemen, Perry Fewells Scheme requires 8 big guys to shuffle in and out, keeping everyone fresh and opposing offenses shaking in their boots. 9 year veteran Jimmy Kennedy, a small surprise, makes the squad. At 6'4" and 320 he should be a welcome addition at the Dt spot,  clogging the middle on run plays, something Barry Cofield did in college playing the nose tackle in a 3-4, and did for the Giants in their 4-3, but with Cofield gone, there was a spot to fill.


At corner the Giants brought in 10 year vet Brian Williams to help, after the injuries to Thomas and the Prince, so the Giants will play with 4 corners until the Prince comes back from his injury. At safety Rookie Tyler Sash joins Phillips, Rolle,  Grant and veteran pick up Derrick Martin. Long gone are the 2  mid round draft picks at safety from 2010.


Davis Carr will back up Eli. The O line, traditionally a good unit looks to get better with a mix of vets and young guys David Diehl, Chris Snee, Kareem McKenzie, Will Beatty, free agent acquisition David Bass, Stacy Andrews, 2nd year man Mitch Petrus, James Brewer, Kevin Boothe.


Dodge is gone, Offensive Tackle Adam Koets is on the PUP. 
Tynes is the kicker.


This is a team with a defense that will destroy the running 
game, depth at the Dee line and at backer should give the 
Giants enough talent to shut down everyone. The question 
is cornerback, if Rolle can slide over and play some 
corner in nickel or dime, and our backers cover, we should 
be ok.


I dont see 4000 yards passing from Eli like the last 2 years, 
with 4 quality running backs and a younger O line, 
I expect to see more run plays, but that should open 
up the passing game by the 4th quarter.