In spite of Sunday night’s 27-26 loss to the Cowboys, the New York Giants can build off various successes from the Week 1 defeat.
By Bryan Pol
Even now, New York Giant fans, mired in the analysis of what proved to be Big Blue’s snatching victory from the jaws of defeat, remain catatonic over Sunday night’s final four minutes (Barnwell, according to analytics, projected their win expectancy at 95 percent after Eli delivered what was thought to be a dagger to Odell Beckham, Jr., to grab what should have been a game-sealing first down near the two minute warning).
Alas, too much went wrong in the contest’s final quarter, by which the Cowboys outscored the Giants 14-10, taking the lead for good with seven seconds remaining, thanks to Tony Romo’s second touchdown pass to his ever reliable Jason Witten. With 25 career fourth-quarter comebacks, Romo is second in the NFL in the category since 2004, his first year in the league (Eli has 26, the NFL’s leader since ’04).
Shockingly though, with a shade over eight minutes left in the fourth quarter, the Giants held a 10-point lead, at 23-13, a margin that was largely the defense’s doing.
Despite the loss (the Cowboys have now won five straight against the Giants, and are 8-0 all-time against them in season openers), there were a few bright spots New York can structure their game plan around going into Week 2’s matchup at home against the Atlanta Falcons, who reigned victorious on Monday night, beating the Philadelphia Eagles 26-24.
Here are some points upon which the Giants can build heading into their home opener at Met Life Stadium, with hopes of not falling to 0-2, especially on the verge of a quick turnaround against the Washington Redskins next Thursday night in Week 3.
The offensive line showed signs of improving.
Going into the year, the Giants had a gaping hole to the left with the loss of Will Beatty (out until November at the earliest) and would call upon Marshall Newhouse, a cast-off from Green Bay and Cincinnati, to support Eli’s right side, a bad proposition given Newhouse’s putrid pass protection skills.
Rookie Ereck Flowers, caught jawing with Dallas’s Jeremy Mincey late in the fourth quarter, showed poise in not being baited by Mincey, allowing the latter to fall victim to a personal foul that, initially, seemed to cost the Cowboys the game. His play alongside Justin Pugh, who made some telling strides in providing Rashad Jennings some holes on some large, drive sustaining runs, was commendable.
Flowers will take some time in gelling with his line mates, but the former Miami product showed promise, while Pugh made some gains to begin his third season in the trenches with Big Blue.
The running attack was dynamic.
Nothing from the box score will suggest the Giants were world beaters at tailback. In fact, second year back Andre Williams was otherwise a non-factor and conveyed little flair in his drive to unseat the oft-injured Rashad Jennings as the Giants’ number one option in the backfield.
That said, Jennings worked with what his line gave him, even ripping off a 27 yard run late in the fourth, reaching pay dirt on a rush at the one yard line to help New York to a 23-13 with 8:07 left in the game. The Giants outgained the Cowboys on the ground (99 to 81), and proved just as convincing in the passing scheme as Joseph Randle and Lance Dunbar were, thanks to the efforts of the newly acquired Shane Vereen.
Vereen, otherwise middling as a rusher (although he had the team’s highest YPC rate, at 4.7 yards a touch, on minimal handoffs), became a go-to option for Eli, who was without Victor Cruz, accruing 46 yards off four receptions. Once Vereen garners the attention in the passing game that he had with Tom Brady, the Giants will become that much more dynamic under Ben McAdoo’s newly minted offense.
An otherwise shoddy defense is capable of being aggressive and opportunistic.
Defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo parlayed his Super Bowl-laden success of building a unit centered around getting to the quarterback, with pass-rush specialists Michael Strahan, Justin Tuck, and Osi Umenyiora at his disposal, into a head coaching position with the St. Louis Rams that never panned out. After various stints as a defensive assistant with the New Orleans Saints and the Baltimore Ravens, Spagnuolo is back with New York, aiming to recapture the glory of his tenure with the organization in 2007 and 2008.
Alas, not even Spagnuolo could foresee Jason Pierre-Paul blasting his hand to oblivion on the Fourth of July. JPP, offered a franchise tender in light of a rejuvenative campaign in 2014, was to be the cornerstone of the Giant defense in 2015. With news that he may not play the year surfacing over the weekend, the Giants are left with no options on the pass rush, other than hoping for Johnathan Hankins to build off his eye-opening rookie season and hoping beyond hope for Robert Ayers and Damontre Moore to pass for adequate.
On Sunday, despite injuries in the secondary and at linebacker, from the departure of safety Antrel Rolle to a slew of injuries, including the loss of middle linebacker Jon Beason (knee) and the losses of Justin Currie, Josh Gordy, Bennett Jackson, and Mykkele Thompson (all at the safety position), the Giants defense, not its highly-touted offense, toiled to provide Big Blue a late fourth quarter lead.
[su_youtube_advanced url=”https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SdLwAOhzJ-4″]If not for Trumaine McBride stepping out of bounds at the one-yard line after intercepting a ball knocked lose from a crushing Brandon Merriweather hit on wide receiver Devin Street, the Giants would have mustered two defensive touchdowns in one game, remarkable considering New York managed one all of last season (earlier on, Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie, thanks to a McBride tackle and strip, scooped up a Cole Beasley fumble for a 57-yard return for a score).
[su_youtube_advanced url=”https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HXxYRDB-p_0″]Dallas started the game with a 10:27 drive, of which New York held the Cowboys to a mere three points, thanks to great plays by Rodgers-Cromartie and Prince Amukamara in the red zone. Rodgers-Cromartie, called for a criminally questionable defensive pass interference call in the fourth quarter that set up a Gavin Escobar touchdown to cut the score to 16-13, was beyond serviceable all night, especially given that his defense on Terrance Williams in the midst of the DPI call was otherwise stellar and would have forced Dan Bailey into a 37 yard field goal try. While the onus is on the officials for their mishandling of an otherwise iffy call, there was not much bad to be said of the secondary’s work, at least by the fourth quarter’s midway point, after which the Giants were abused up the middle on two separate Jason Witten touchdowns in the fourth quarter, the latter of which was the byproduct of an especially soft prevent defense employed by New York in the game’s closing moments.
Eli Manning kept his mistakes to a minimum.
Manning’s final line–20-for-36 for 193 yards, zero touchdowns and zero interceptions–was hardly remarkable (his QBR by night’s end was 38.63, a mere two points better than his rating over the course of his abysmal 2013 campaign), although his numbers would have improved had Preston Parker, favored by the organization over James Jones (who quickly scored two touchdowns in his reunion with Aaron Rodgers on Sunday against Chicago) for his ability on special teams, managed to grab a few more receptions (his three drops on Sunday proved crucial in many ways). His 55% completion rate is unsightly, but much of that can be attributed to far too many drops by his receivers. He also did not lose a fumble, which has been an issue for Eli over the years, more so in times when he is playing behind a makeshift line.
With eight “blemish-free” games in 2014, Eli begins 2015 with a step in the right direction, although his last touchdown and interception-free game came in a 27-0 October defeat to the Eagles last season (which further saw the loss of Victor Cruz to a torn patella tendon), a feat he hopes not to replicate too often this season given his signing of a contract extension.
As an added bonus, Manning had the wherewithal to provide a key block on the left to free Shane Vereen, who would scamper for a first down, and threw a money pass to Odell Beckham, Jr. on third-and-long on the Giants’ final drive that ought to have sealed the victory, threading two defenders in the process. Despite his otherwise average performance, a throw such as that, which Eli needs to make more consistently and abundantly, indicates how worthy he can be of his freshly inked extension.
While Eli has exhibited mental toughness quite frequently in his time with Big Blue, he showed mental lapses on Sunday night, most notably in his third down playcalling on his team’s final drive and his reportedly telling Rashad Jennings NOT to score a touchdown on said push near the end zone. He cannot afford these hiccups, especially with Atlanta’s ability to fluster Sam Bradford on Monday Night Football.
Despite Steve Weatherford’s release, the Giants have another great punter in Brad Wing.
Other than Jennings’s one-yard gimme score to extend the Giants’ fourth quarter lead, the New York offense mustered only nine points, thanks in part to Josh Brown’s foot, which booted field goals of 50, 40, and 30 yards respectively.
To the chagrin of many Giant fans, the organization deemed it necessary to cut favorites in fullback Henry Hynoski and punter Steve Weatherford, arguably the most fit player at his position across the league. On the same day of Weatherford’s departure, the Giants swung a deal for Pittsburgh Steeler punt specialist Brad Wing, who arrived at the cost of a seventh round pick.
On four punts Sunday night, Wing was brilliant, averaging 44.8 yards per punt, booting three inside the opponents’ twenty, even adding a 63 yarder to his collection. Given what the Giants had in the likes of Jeff Feagles and Weatherford, the franchise looks to thrive off the Wing acquisition, putting the days of Matt Dodge even further behind them.
With special teams being addressed in the offseason, from the coverage unit (Preston Parker was retained, along with fullback Nikita Whitlock, who takes over for Hynoski, and linebacker Uani’ Unga, who filled in admirably in Jon Beason’s absence on Sunday) to its kicking tandem (Brown, lest we forget, managed 24 field goals on 26 tries, a Giant record for accuracy), Big Blue aim to control a facet of its team that was severely lacking in 2014.