After this game, there has been considerable discussion of Eli and the Giants and the delay of game (DoG) calls. In fairness, the DoG can be created by the QB not being attentive, or the calls coming in late, or both. So, I won't say it's just Eli, but rather Eli and the coaches.
It seemed to me, we often run the clock way down and we get hit with what seems like one a game. But, I was wondering if that's accurate, and how Eli and Giants stack up to another team in this department.
So, I did a little research going through game books for each game so far this year.
Good news: I was wrong. We don't have 1 per game. But, we have have 1 or more in 4/9 games or 44% -- specifically, GB, Phi, Atl, and Dal.
Bad News: We also had 3 this week, which makes a total of 6 on the year for Eli and TC in the regular season.
Ok, but, how does that stack up against another team? In a vacuum it doesn't tell you anything.
Well, going through the gamebooks is slow and a PIA, and I can't find anywhere that they just list players and penalties. (If you can find this, please list them out.) So, I decided to just use 1 point of comparison. To be fair, I picked a player from Eli's cohort who should be similar in experience, and on a team with a reasonably similar record. I chose our favorite point of comparison: Big Ben and Pit. I honestly had no idea how many they had to date, or what I'd see.
Results: In 9 games to date, Ben and Pit coaches have exactly 0 DoG calls. None. I could only find 1 such call on the Steelers, and it was on a punt and may well have been intentional.
So, as a point of comparison: we suxed! I welcome anyone who can find summary stats of penalty by player or who wishes to check game books for other QBs to give other points of comparison. But, so far, this analysis suggests Eli and the coaches need to get their act together because that's too many.
On the up side, I will say that Eli is pretty good at the hard count, but that doesn't really excuse the DoGs.
ours seems like a mixture of the two, and i think it's just too time consuming. even on the plays where eli gets it off, the defense is given the ability to pin their ears back because they know as the time ticks down to 1 and 0 that the "hike" call will not be a false one.
In some games, including this one for the first 3 quarters, I wondered if it was on purpose in that we were trying to shorten the game and maximize our time of possession (which we were). So, that's fine to run the clock down.
But, when we are behind and in hurry up, that can't still be the mode they're in. So, how is it the coaches can't figure out what to call and get the play in quickly? Or, how is it Eli can't hustle the team up to the LoS and get a play off? Esp. when we are coming off a TO, TV TO, or other penalty?!
I agree, Eli makes a lot of calls at the line, probably way more than Ben/Pit does, but that's a choice of the coaches, and knowing that, they all need to get the plays in and get on up there. And, Eli needs to move the team with tempo and a sense of urgency (as JF loved to say). A coach as prepared as TC is supposed to be should not keep having this happen.
And, we have burned TOs to avoid penalties, too. I didn't bother counting that.
One thing this team is good at....is coming up with excuses.
Another bothersome fact is that most encroachments/off-sides due to Eli's hard count predominately occurs during first half of play clock, i.e, when the D is much more unsure. We've all seen it when a QB and Oline are trying to get D to jump in order to steal a 1st down, but as the clock winds down to 5 sec and below, the bluff is rebuffed.
Think this was a concern by someone before the game:
TrueBlue56
fraycous : 11/7/2007 11:06 pm
I agree with the pre-snap having been more of a problem, but I think I remember a huge Tiki TD run called back for a hold against Detroit, ala the Joey Tom Brady Harrington game, that seemed to really negatively shift the momentum of the entire season. Could be wrong but I remember that left side run inside the pile on followed by the collapse.
Aside from sans Luke, have a feeling pre-snap penalties/drive killers may diminish if the O picked up the pace, not necessarily in and out of huddle, but rather snapping earlier with variation between say 20-3 seconds left on clock. Seems most of the jumping occurs with less than 2 on the PC, which in turn gives the D a much more successful chance of timing the snap.
Nothing groundbreaking, but still pisses the hell out me.
Bottom line, way too much much outsmarting/overthinking on our part while at the line of scrimmage. No need for a full time 2 minute O, but should start assimilating the positives into the regular O.
I'm hearing more excuses now in the press about Dallas pulling a D alignment we hadn't seen and Eli having to figure out blocking. So, that's several excuses now.
In a 2 min. offense, trying to save the clock, we should not be running down the playclock close to 0 much less getting a DoG.