3rd and 5...2:20 Left in the Game...Perry Fewell Has...

If we're going to get burned either way, I'd much rather get burned being aggressive and taking a chance, rather than getting picked apart down the field.

but fans jsut feel like putting all the blame on fewell without looking at what he is working with

the only thing i have issues with is the 3 man rush because i feel he is taking away the strength of the defense...but dropping back into zones rather than man to man is somehting he has to do...

but I wouldn't necessarily agree on that specific play, in that Romo's overthrow was probably influenced by the blitz the Giants were bringing.

the blitz actually did work because it caused Romo to rush the throw and throw off of his back foot.

The D is getting destroyed by just sitting back, and I have little doubt would have given up a first down if they dropped 8 on that play.

we were lucky as hell.

that the defense is unprepared for their assignments and positioning nearly every time the opposing offense steps on the field. I don't fault Perry for not blitzing or having an injured defense, I fault him for not having what he players he does have *ready to play.*

of that game, Aaron Ross was as bad as you can be. The overthrow and the blocked field goal saved his ass.

vs

Patrick Crayton in 2007

which play sticks out more?

and man-to-man, beaten both blitzing and rushing 3 or 4, but it is so much easier for people to generalize and act as if Fewell only rushes three and plays a zone almost all the time.

It's easier to do that then actually watch the game and see what's happening.

Did he press at the line or did he lay off and start backing up and give Austin the free start off the line - I can't remember.

if the players blow assignments isnt that indicative of the players??...i hate this notion that players win and the coaches lose...now i am not saying its all on teh players and fewell is perfect but he isnt working with all hands on deck and you know sometimes the players fuck up...look at aaron ross

Interesting, early in the Green Bay game, the Giants played a three-man rush and played coverage twice and it worked great. (Later,the Packers scored a TD in the red zone against it).

That's true, and it's time for Giant fans to face the facts, this team defensively is not that talented. To me Fewell has no choice but to be conservative. I believe that the blitz and the jam at the line threw Romo's and Austin's timing off, which was a good thing.

just ask BBI.

Fewell is coaching for his coaching future. He gets fired as DC, and any plans he has to be a HC or even a DC with another team go out the window. You bet your ass that he is trying everything he can think of to stop somebody.

drafted Ross. So if the guy sucks in zone or in man, that's on him and us for drafting him. He hasn't developed or progressed.

That's one specific instance. What about the countless other blown coverages this past game AND prior games?

veteran defensive backs who are in year two of Fewell's system. It just happens too often that a dude is running free and then after the play, Rolle, Webster and Ross are looking at each other like "what just happened?"

is that we aren't getting enough pressure with our DL to make it effective. We are giving the QB too much time and the opponents are taking the top off the defense and leading to easy completions underneath the DBs. That play is a good example of why he feels like he has to call a safe game. You have to question Reese's personnel at some point. Thomas is injured but we still have a lot of high draft picks and expensive free agents in the secondary. It should be a strength on this team with the resources we have spent.

He's been having them sit back in zones so often because he doesn't trust the personnel to handle man to man coverage and bring blitzes that way. Sunday night was exactly why.

He's trying not to give up the big play... which is exactly what we're prone to when we blitz in man.

I don't love Fewell but a lot of posters think it has been some blatantly obvious mistake that he's been using zone so often. I don't think he has much of a choice.

I think both INT's in the NE game came on plays where we showed blitz and dropped into a zone.

It has worked at times. It isn't the scheme to me, it is the communication issues where some guys think we are playing zone and others are playing man. Ross is one of the guys who looks serially confused at least several times a game. When even guys like Webster are confused - there's a problem.

not completely exonerating Fewell (I'm not sure what to think to be honest), but if the players want to play more aggressive like that, they have to prove they can do it on the field too.

Ross used to be a decent man corner. He didn't look it on Sunday night.

the giants are playing with 1 defensive end, 1 linebacker and a bunch of rookies, 1 corner and a rookie who is till adjusting, 1 safety playing corner, 1 safety who is old and slow and another good but not great safety...

this defense is HAMMERED with injuries...

just hate the rush 3 or less defense. I want at least 4 rushers, otherwise, the chances of pressuring the QB is small and one extra pass defender is not going to improve things that much. That is my position.

To lambaste Fewell for running a conservative zone scheme and then on the other criticize the play of members of the secondary (Ross, Prince, and Rolle this week in particular) seems contradictory to me.

Today's league is about throwing the football, no one would dispute that. But it's also about winning the pre-snap battle. Getting a blitzer through to the QB means little if the QB diagnosed it before the snap. If you don't agree go back and see what Eli did to Rob Ryan.

Off the top of my head there were three plays where Dallas's blitz created so much immediate pressure that Eli did not have time to drop back more than a step before throwing the ball. The results of those 3 plays:

- 60+ yard bomb to Nicks
- 18 yard gain to Nicks on the wheel route
- 47 yard TD to Manningham

There's clearly something wrong with Fewell's defense, but I'd submit it's not the scheme. My uneducated guess is that he's somehow falling short in relating the scheme to the players. But philosophically I think he's right to rely on the DL alone to generate pressure.

If you're playing a smart QB blitzing is suicide in today's NFL. If you don't believe me just consider the fact that Fewell was the better defensive coordinator Sunday night.

I do not know what most of these people look at.

Eric is absolutely correct about the 3 man rush and yet we see poster after poster complaining that "we always rush three and it never works." If you recall, we also played a lot of man-to-man in that game and Rodgers took off and ran.

the zone coverage doesnt bother me...that 3 man rush is terrible though especially when its tuck who can barely move is the one dropping back

Pressure to the QB, QB makes mistakes I am not sure why this is so confusing.

The fact that we blitzed made romo have to make quicker decision than normal thus = overthrow.

That is the point, it need not always be a sack or knockdown.

it's not just calling A blitz, it's the design and timing of the blitz. Our blitzes get picked up by opposing teams almost all the time. Why? The design ...apparently they are horribly disguised. GET ME SPAGNUOLO

problem is the DL isn't doing it. Tuck is getting no pressure. Tollefson flashes, but it is rare. You usually don't get much of a pass rush from your DT's in the NFL, but I expected more noise from Joseph and Canty on the pass rush this year.

We were leading the NFL in sacks before the 49ers game, but that was a long time ago.

Romo wasn't under heavy duress on the play.

That was a throw Romo has made and a throw he should have made. We caught a HUGE break there. That mistake literally saved our season.

because he had 3 great defensive ends that took on the offensive line and this created gaps for blitzers...

guess what the giants 1 have one good defensive end thats why blitzing does not work!

every defensive system....what i can't stand is the 3rd and longs and he rushes 3 and drops 8 into coverage. he just took the strength of the defense, its line, and turned it into a weakness.

let me say that again...he turned this defenses strength and made it a weakness.

#22 against the run

i don't care what Fewell is doing or isn't doing. whatever it is, it's not working. any parallels to the 2007 season are silly because that team played great defense. i don't even recognize this team.

the safeties, in particular, are abysmal and contribute basically nothing to the effort. and they might be the highest-paid safety combo in the league, too.

ross is not a starting-caliber CB, never really was. he's a good nickle corner to have on the roster, nothing more. perhaps this defense's fate was sealed when TT blew out his knee. our secondary has been trying to regroup, unsuccessfully, ever since.

idc who our defensive coordinator is..this defense is killed by injuries

I was talking with Giant Mike during the game and we both kept saying that Ryan is going to keep blitzing and we kept asking for him to bring it on.

Most of the time he blitzed, Eli had an open option well downfield.

and yet, that fat fuck's face is plastered on the TV after every play. Why wasn't he getting heat from the booth?

is the first play of Dallas' final drive. With Dallas on their own 20 and like 48 seconds left all Ross has to do is keep his man in front of him.

So what happens? He let's his man get behind him for a 20+ yard completion. Unbelievable.

their hand. Giants stuck with the call and got lucky.

who don't know their assignments. One or 2, you can blame the players, but when it's so many, either the scheme is too complex, or Fewell and his coaches aren't getting through.

Aaron Ross' splits day games vs night games....even going back to his rookie season, it seems like he plays a lot better during afternoon games than in prime time (cleveland in 2008, st louis/new orleans/dallas this season).

two plays in the game where we had God on our side (sorry Tim Tebow)...

The overthrow and Newman dropping the pick 6.

Saved our season.

Weird how often something like that happens in football. Hell, Packers barely made the playoffs last year.

I tend to agree with you, and why I haven't joined the anti-Fewell chorus on BBI. Which is kind of sad because of all the high-round talent we have in the secondary....then again, if the pass rush isn't getting home and even a decent NFL QB has several seconds to survey the field, even the best secondaries will eventually get exposed.

Outside of JPP is our line that good this year? I'm not a believer in Fewell but maybe our defensive talent just isn't that good.

hahah thats just stupid...they cant cover the entire field and one safety is playing out of position...

idc who the coordinator was this defense wouldnt stop anyone

and remmeber spagnuolo in 07 had 3 STUD defensive ends, a MLB who although wasnt the fastest was the smartest guy on the field

Fewell is awful at designing blitzes. He doesn't understand how to get a guy coming free. There are run blitzes and pass blitzes. It seems like all he knows is run blitzes because he tries to get a guy in every gap hence every guy is picked up. I have not seen one overload blitz all year.

Add in the fact that we disguise nothing on defense. We don't disguise our coverages nor our blitzes. It's quite embarrassing.

that was Ross.

Fewell is Spags but give him the weapons Spags had and then let's see if the blitzes he call are ineffective.

The scheme usually seems sound. The execution hasn't been good for a myriad of reasons. Hasn't anyone paid attention to St Louis this season?

Injuries have effectively made uncompetitive. The Giants are about 1 more major injury on defense from joining them

But he did see a blitz coming and get the ball out a little sooner than he would have liked.

Injuries, players, coaching.

However, it's hard not to Blame coaching when you see our good old friend Wade Phillips take over a crappy Texans D and turn them into one of the top Ds in the league. But, on the other side you have little Bill who is a defensive genius and his D has been getting killed all year. Maybe he's spread too thin since he's also the head coach.

and if they beat the pressure so be it. Because the alternative right now is getting dinked and dunked down the field and praying for a turnover or a red zone stop. And I'm not confident in either right now.

when we have no one on our line besides jpp that can rush the passer

i hate to say it but spagnuolo wouldnt be good with this defense either...

people forget our defense was pretty good last year, the reason? we had 3 healthy defensive ends who could get to the qb

Has had some really good games... and been awful in others...

that can change a game it's mind blowing.

Here's one: if Dallas runs on 3rd and 5 with 2:20 left we have to use our final time-out (assuming we stop them). Which means no T.O'.s left to "ice" the kicker at the end of the game and we go to O.T.

have better numbers against the blitz

completely whiffed on the jam!

If I remember correctly it looked like he wasn't even ready for the play.

had more experience at LB, I would move Kiwanuka to end now.

Moving forward, the good news is Jacquian Williams is getting extremely valuable experience. Boley is OK.

But Blackburn was cut for a reason and it showed on Sunday night. He comes out for a play, Jones comes in and botches the tackle in a big gain up the middle.

and his good games are only because his terrible technique occasionally works. He gets beat pretty much every play, and sometimes makes a nice recovery.

MUCH improved...there is a big difference there..

free.

and Williams definitely will need to improve. He's simply not good enough right now.

mid-year, and guys don't have it down yet.

or guys are simply trying to cover for the very weak links and the whole thing is breaking down. On the long pass to Robinson down the sideline, Grant went to cover the tight end and didn't get over to help out Prince.

The safeties may very well look bad because they are continually faced with a Hobson's choice of who to cover or which zone is being flooded.

And Rob Ryan sucks. A healthy Ware and some decent linebackers made Ryan look good.

I don't care if it's a 4-3. If your linebackers suck you aren't going to stop the run, and our MLB especially is atrocious. Goff was a huge loss.

Kiwi looked like a pass-rushing force.

It seems like we haven't seen that--even in glimpses--in a long time. With Tuck and Osi injured, he has to pick up some slack when he plays end and/or joker.

how the interior of the front 7 is getting gashed by the run? Felix Jones came on in relief and dropped 100+.

This defense just does not stop a damned thing. Sure, we have guys missing. But we have a lot of talented players healthy and suited up. This isn't a defense with a bunch of no-name young guys. Canty, Boley, Rolle, Kiwanuka, and Webster are on the field along with JPP. Do all these veterans just stink all of a sudden?

And, yeah, Ross blew it against Austin on that play. Yet the Cowboys still got into field goal range after we took the lead... a week after our 35-35 score against the Packers couldn't hold for shit.

I don't think coaching scared helps anyone. It gets everyone thinking about screwing up instead of succeeding. And that makes people screw up.

if we play a soft zone, especially 3 man rush, we're going to definitely give up a td, there's no reason why any offense should be stopped by that.
If we play a 4 man rush, with man to man, zone mixed in whenever, at least there's a chance that we'll cop a turnover out of it.
With the way the D has been hit, everyone knows it's not going to be a world-beater, but it doesn't have to be. All it has to do is create an occasional turnover, and stop someone now and then, and the O will do it for us.

That's why the 3 man rush from zone is so frustrating, it leaves us no chance of winning.

the cowboys' game plan in the fourth quarter was simply to pick on aaron ross. and they did so with great success.

was because we blitzed

or we can let him sit back there for 5 full seconds, as he had on that long TD pass, and find someone...and if he didnt have 5 seconds, he would not have thrown that TD pass

today's nfl is about pressure - why fewell refuses to do it is mindboggling...clearly what he is doing isnt working, yet he continues to do it

you know why spags blitzes worked?

becuase he had a hall fame defensive end and two very good young defensive ends...osi was a beast that year off the edge and tuck couldnt be blocked on the inside and guess what that frees up linebackers to rush the passer...

now fast forward to this year we have jpp and then we have tuck who can barely move...so guess what that leaves lineman free to block the blitzers they dont have to worry about doubling guys

from now, we'll be singing Jacquian Williams' praises. It's amazing they have to count on him so much given his limited experience both in college and the pros. He's an athlete and I think he wants it.

I had higher hopes for Greg Jones, but he hasn't demonstrated he can do it. I don't know why, but I just have a good feeling about Paysinger (athlete). I'm just not sure Herzlich is athletic enough for a 4-3 linebacker. We'll have to see.

said it perfectly. We have blitzed with some frequency and have gotten beat. We have also played a mix of man and zone coverage and have got beat with both. I think some of our coverage problems are stemming from our lack of pass rush upfront. The secondary can't cover forever. How many seconds is it expected for a DB to cover a receiver? On the long pass Amukumara gave up he was in coverage for almost 5 seconds before the ball was thrown. Tom Coughlin even said on the Amukumara play Romo had way to much time back in the pocket. On some plays when our pass rush doesn't get home the quarterback is never hurried and has all day to survey the field. I think the Cowboys simply failed to execute on the Austin pass. I'd have to rewatch it but I don't remember Romo looking particularly hurried on that play, nor do I remember his throw being effective by our pass rush/ blitz

Quote:

Canty, Boley, Rolle, Kiwanuka, and Webster are on the field along with JPP. Do all these veterans just stink all of a sudden?

No, they're still good...you just attack the other 6 who aren't.

I'm not sure if it's been because it isn't well disguised, like on the 3rd and 5, or if they are poorly designed, or if our blitzers aren't very good. But, it seems like our blitzers rarely get home.

if Herzlich starts over Blackburn if he's healthy.

think we blitz a lot. We blitz some. For instance there was on blitz up the middle by Blackburn who got to Romo right away, but Webster was called for interference on the play.

the reason spags blitzs worked was because he had THREE GREAT DEFENSIVE ENDS who took double teams and freed up rushing lanes for the linebackers...

this year we dont have that so lineman are free to pick up blitzers

misconception about the Patriots defense. they're the quintessential bend-don't-break defense. they give up a ton of yards, but they're middle of the pack in points against.

i would kill for middle of the pack in points against.

Giants have allowed 349 points, Patriots have allowed 273.

give us their defense and we're 9-4 right now or better.

we are getting torched routinely. and this is not a recent thing, either. we let Rex Grossman and Tarvaris Jackson do this to us as well.

and then the patented disappearing act in the second half. Look at all these talented teams who won Super Bowls when they got a legitimate DC in their 1st or 2nd year with the team. Saints with Gregg Williams,Pittsburgh with Dick LeBeau,Giants with Spagnuolo,Packers with Dom Capers the list goes on.

Dom Capers' defense is ranked below ours right now.

with the list then.

its easy to dial up a blitz when you have 3 guys who can beat their man almost every time...the reason his defense worked was because he had 3 guys who took on double teams..

why is it that his defense doesnt work in stl?

So the Jets can free up guys because their DL is so impressive? Does having guys like Tuck and Strahan help? Yes but it doesn't mean it is impossible without those guys. I guess I don't know how to get my kids running free at a QB on my defense because I don't have great lineman. Your point doesn't make sense considering that very few teams in history have had the talent that our DL had so designing blitzers to come free must be an extremely rare feat.

The system so he has that in his favor. I honestly feel like the Giants may have to consider bringing in Bullock, I know it's only 3 games left but they need bodies and he knows the system.

you realize when the jets get to teh passer its because they blitz EVERYONE and leave their corners on islands...

teh giants CANT blitz because they cant leave their corners one on one!

its very hard to blitz when your corners cant cover anyone and the reason the jets get to the qb is because they send everyone but the kitchen sink...notice the jets defense has been gashed this year

Look around the league. I watch the Pats a lot...they blitz plenty and they NEVER get home. Same thing with the Jets...never get home.

Being ultra aggressive sounds sexy and effective, but against a smart QB it's a great way to get destroyed. I mean come on who among us wasn't getting a hardon when Eli would audible after spotting the Dallas blitz before the snap?

their d was very good last year. if our d was playing anything like they were last year we'd probably be 10-3 right now or better

why doesnt his defense work in st louis? answer that please

the reason their defense was good last year was because they werent missing half their defense...

ever think he is being conservative because half the starters are hurt?

if the linebackers are weak then why do we want them blitzing?

Williams has actually done a pretty good job on opposing tight ends. I'm not sure why we'd want to take him out of that role.

its not the talent, its the scheme...spags had players coming from every angle, including corners and safeties...fewell has no imagination and no clue how to scheme blitzes

id rather give up 3 80yd td passes than 3 80yd drives for TDs...his bend-but-dont-break aint workin, and is the wrong use of personnel for this team

but ive been saying that since august...too bad none of you agreed then

the answer to your question is yes.

...along with 3 defensive lineman.

You have to withstand injuries to a degree but that's just an impossible situation.

was teh defense good last year?

sure, but it's not just the coaching. I'm not a big fan of Fewell, but we've been buying into this "blitz more and play man more" philosophy. Giants haven't demonstrated they can do that either.

As said above...we have one DE who is playing well. The LBs - because of injury and experience - have been a mess. We have had injury issues at CB all year.

talent difference is huge

The Giants have played a harder schedule then the Pats so you can't say that.

its hard to dial up a blitz when you cant trust your secondary to cover or you just dont have the personel to do it...

this defense is not talented at the moment

look more aggressive on D last year, didnt we?

Last year I feel like I remember seeing more blitzes than this year (of course). Like everyone says, must be personnel. Its not like he never was aggrssive. Im not imagining that, am I? ha

and guess what this defense right now doesnt have talent

but lets not overstate that either. this team has enough out there to not be flat out hemorrhaging points the way they have.

You guys make good points. The blitizng would be alot more effective if TT was not hurt and you had Ross and Rolle blizting..That's where it was very effective..Losing TT hurts alot in the blitz plan.

Also the fact that, Tuck is inuured (boy, I am tired of hearing from him how injured he is), Ois is hurt and out and that leaves JPP and Tolly. The pressure is just not getting there..Even the run stopping has been spotty. At one point, Grant had to call the defensive signals becuase Boley was out..

People can bitch all they want about the lack of blizting, but i'd rather take Fewells' approach of limiting the blitz and playing conseravative and hopefully get a turnover then sending a LB or CB and having the WR and TE's have a field day..

It's a pick your poison decision, considering the personnel..Th confusion part of who should be where is the troubling thing..This is week 14 and those problems should have been cleared in week 2..

You are putting words in my mouth. Stick to the argument. I never compared Fewell and Spags. You did. I never said the Jets have a good pass rush. I said they are able to get guys coming free.

I fnt have all day to explain defense to you. A good pass rush doesn't have to equate to sacks. Designing a blitz that is easily picked up kills your secondary even if you have a bunch of Bevis' out there. Getting a guy COOng free will force the QB into a quicker decision and leads to more mistakes.


My point that you twisted was very simple. He sucks at designing blitzes. The OL never has to adjust. We don't have the talent on our second levels to expect them to beat a guy. That is why the DC needs to figure that out.

for anything on just on just one play.

Problem I have with our blitzes is they seem to rarely get there.

Has anyone seen a corner/safety blitz from around the corner?

the following players have missed time/on ir/been playing injured/rookies who had no offseason

goff
thomas
witherspoon
johnson
tryon
herzlich
jacquain
paysinger
jones
amukamara
osi
tuck
austin
phillips
boley


ffs we're on our 4th mlb of the year, a guy who was chilling at home 2 weeks ago

question is false equivalence. what he does with their personnel does not necessarily dictate what he'd be capable of with our personnel.

right now, it'd be hard to imagine Spags doing any worse with what we've got. we're #27 in the league in team defense. we've allowed the 6th most points in the entire league and we've played games against Rex Grossman, Tarvaris Jackson, Matt Moore, Ryan Fitzpatrick, Kevin Kolb, Vince Young and Alex Smith.

there is something drastically wrong, here.

this d even with the injuries has above average talent. if the DC was doing even an average job we should be roughly middle of the pack in pts allowed (maybe slighly worse due to stenght of schedule) but nowhere near as bad as we have been

Have the most injuries in the league and the hardest schedule, being 7 and 6 is a damn blessing.

they have enough out there? tell me if this is enough

1 defensive end and 1 defensive end that cant move

2 dt that although are good at stuffing the run they are not pass rushers...canty and joseph have played well

1 lb and then a bunch of no name rookies..one bright spot has been williams but he still makes mistakes

1 corner in webster, 1 rookie who is still coming back from a broken foot and one corner who cant cover anything 1 on 1

you have two safeties who are good when playing their natural position but 1 safety has to play corner teh otehr who is slow has to play deep and another safety who has played good but is basiclaly playing deep by himself

does that sound like a lot of talent?

we have the worst LBs in the NFL. It's reached comedic status at this point.

People either think it's the injuries or Fewell.

Why can't it be both? Maybe Fewell is an average DC running a below average defense because of the limitations the injuries are creating with what he can and cannot effectively do.

the giants are playing prevent defense for the entire game - and its not working

the way to protect a supposed weak secondary is with a fierce pass rush - as parcells did with the giants in the 1980s...fewell is doing the opposite and it hasnt worked

prince had his man covered for at least 3.5 seconds...it was the last 1.5 seconds where his man got open...you cant cover forever...same thing happened on GBs second TD from inside the 10 (the one where the WR almost stepped on the backline of the endzone) - he was covered for 4 seconds (in an 8 man zone), then got free

Austin lost it in the lights. Watching the game again last night, you can see him looking in the air and complaining. If he sees the ball, he adjusts, and the game is over.

Romo was not rushed. How could he have been? Austin got a relatively clean break off the line. Ross totally missed the press, and Austin ran right by him.

On a blitz like that, the defense has to have someone come free and pressure the QB immediately. Romo knows its coming, and has too many options to go with the ball.

So, in my opinion, two bad things: Ross' coverage and the fact that even bringing a house blitz, no one came free. We're just lucky that Jerrah's house is built the way it is.

The Giants do not have "the most injuries in the league". Stop stating opinions as fact.

It's not 100% on him and certainly injuries play an important part.

But regardless of what scheme they run, it is the coach's job to effectively communicate to his players and put them in the best position to succeed. I think it is silly to argue man to man versus zone at this point... however I think there is ample evidence to suggest there is a disconnect between PF and his players.

Busted coverage, players looking confused, inability to stop drives, players playing worse than they have previously... these are signs of a broken system and for that I look squarely at the coach.

PF may be playing with less than full deck this year but he has not shown any ability to rise above it and get the most out of the players who are available to him (as Spags did in 2007).

name them ,their draft position and level of play under Spagnuolo if applicable. THEN compare that list to the rest of the D's in the NFL.

Surprise surprise...not NEARLY as bad as you think

because to compare to the jets is stupid because they have a shut down corner and a very good corner on the other side...it gives ryan the freedom to send everyone..

i agree that when he does call a blitz it doesnt come home but was his defense good last year? it seems so...the difference between this year and last is the injuries

again agree to disagree i blame the injuries more than anything this year

poor blitz designs and the confusion that we often see from players on the field. Complaints about his "gameplans" and "playcalling" are ridiculous. He's tried EVERYTHING... man, zone, combo man and zone. There simply aren't enough dependable players in the back 7 to cover if the pass rush doesn't get the job done.

it's because that conclusion doesn't lend itself to much debate. wouldn't be interesting if we all just said:

"yep, i agree."

I am glad we have a young core of LB's on the roster. I really feel Williams, Herzlich, Paysinger and even Jones will be either really good or serviceable they just need time. These guys were drafted in later rounds or were undrafted for a reason they need be taught and brought along. In our case they have been thrown into the fire and have flashed some. Are they getting killed on some plays? Yeah but what rookie in the history of the league hasn't? I see a bright future with these guys.

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id rather give up 3 80yd td passes than 3 80yd drives for TDs

I couldn't possibly disagree with this more. The more plays it takes for the opposition to score the more likely they are to make a mistake.

The Giants are tied for 7th in the NFL in turnovers forced, and are 8th in sacks (remarkable considering the injuries to Tuck and Osi).

At some point we're talking about blood from a stone. We're nearing it now with the personnel on defense, particularly when it takes an LT-type effort from a second year player to make any sort of defensive impact on the whole.

This team, this year, is going as far as Eli takes it. Just like Green Bay is with Rodgers.

That's the league today, for better or (IMO) worse.

Much easier said than done. A lot of our pressure isn't getting home quick enough on blitzes. You're risking giving up big TD plays by doing that.. which is exactly what would have happened on that Dallas 3rd down play if not for Romo overthrowing Austin.

that Spags had during 2007..A healthy Strahan Osi, Tuck, Cofield and Robbins..

very well said

So we should just take extreme and inaccurate stances for the sake of debate? Sure.. makes sense.

Osi (in his prime)
Tuck (healthy)
Cofield (I think it was him)
Strahan

vs.

JPP
Joseph
Canty
Tuck (banged up)

I don't think the drop off in the pass rush can be blamed on Fewell.

a 3rd and 5 and going cover 0 with Ross in the slot just is not a smart play. Injuries and inexperience is forcing Ross to play the slot corner but he does not have the quickness/recovery speed for it. Im assuming he is in the slot because its too complicated for Prince to pick up right now so Prince is learning the outside and focusing on that.

With it being only 5 yds to the first down the CB has to respect the short route as well as the deeper route. If you go single high then at least the CB knows he has more help so he can go for a stronger jam and then trail the WR. if its 3rd and 10+ you can bring the cover 0 blitz where the CB knows his main focus is taking away the deep route and if the receiver makes an underneath catch he has a chance to make the tackle before the first down.

I know a lot of people are just throwing out the terms man and zone but thats way too general. Even when we are playing man sometimes the type of man defense that it is doesn't make much sense with the down/distance. We do have defenders that need help in man especially in the middle of the field like with Ross in the slot or our LBs on athletic TEs. Use a safety to help those guys and keep one up top. Our outside corners have not been getting beat on vertical routes in man but they need safety help on deep posts etc over the middle. the long play on Prince was another example of that.

I will say this...Fewell hasn't inspired on during his media Q&As on Thursday. In a game where Frank Gore was hurt coming into the game, Fewell said he was surprised the 49ers passed more. A week or two ago, he seemed at a loss (at least publicly) in saying what the problems are.

Go look at our defensive backfield during the 2007 playoff run... it was pretty suspect. Yet the defense dazzled.

romo overthrew BECAUSE OF THE BLITZ...fewell's problem is that he cant design blitzes...spags, jim johnson, buddy ryan - those guys know/knew how to get a blitz home...fewell doesnt have a clue

go terps - fewell has been doing what you want (80yd TD drives), and it isnt working...so you need to do something else

Quote:

Q: What’s been going on with the defense the last two weeks? A: I thought Monday we just didn’t play well. We were outplayed, outhustled. They’ve played with more effort, more energy. We got outcoached. We just didn’t play well last week. So for whatever reason, I can’t explain that, I don’t think any of those guys can explain that either. We prepared well. We didn’t perform well – bottom line.

Quote:

Q: If all of your defensive linemen are being double-teamed how do you beat a max protection? A: Sometimes you have to will yourself to win. You can’t always scheme an opportunity for them to come free. Sometimes you do, sometimes you don’t. Sometimes you just have to beat a double team. I’ve seen that many times. Some of our guys are able to beat double teams and we just haven’t been doing tha

I don't think you can say Romo overthrew because of the blitz. He wasn't pressured on the play. You're changing reality to fit your argument.

"extreme and inaccurate stances for the sake of debate"

pretty sure you just defined every message board on the web.

on IR for the Rams?? Everything i've seen shows 5 cbs and 1 safety.

which is about the same as the giants.

But it is pretty simple to understand. If everybody matches up man for man (I'm making this very very simple) then you have one guy that will take care of the QB. That is without even taking into consideration overloading a side to get a guy coming free. I don't know why this is so hard to understand. Let's take a very simple play that doesn't always work but it gets the point across. Second two guys off the edge. You are putting the OT in a tough spot. If there is no back there then it is a free run at the QB. I'm not even getting into DL stunts, bring guys from the secondary, etc.

That was a throw Romo probably makes 9 out of 10 times. We got extremely lucky and dodged a huge bullet there.. the pressure was not overwhelming at all.

that should be an easy catch/throw for a NFL QB.......

If I'm not mistaken, it was in the playoff game against Dallas during the SB run that Ross made a big tackle of Marion Barber despite having a dislocated or separated shoulder. I remember thinking then that Ross was really endearing himself to Giants fans. Quite a contrast with this performance in Dallas.

it'll be even more interesting too compare the spags yrs vs the non spags yrs. wonder what the coaching apologists will come with then if the D magically improves again with mostly the same personell

think Spagnuolo is far more likely to end up in Philadelphia than with the Giants if he is fired.

and someone mentioned it above...

I haven't seen a blitzer come free at all this year...at least I can't remember it. You literally see it in every NFL game you watch.

Every sack we've gotten is either from a DT/DE or if it's from another player, due to coverage.

the ball was out of Romo's hand way before the blitzer got anywhere near him.

just a bad throw or a bad route. in either case, our season should be over today. thankfully there's a team in our division that's even more inept than we are. and even more thankfully, we play them again.

Hopefully not.. but it makes too much sense.

The S get repeatedly bashed on this site, but Philips, by most accounts from media people watching the games, gets pretty good praise for the season he was having. Rolle, for the most part was not playing S for more than half the year - he was playing slot CB.

Fewell is playing his safeties so deep so they don't give up a big play. By doing that, they also don't make any plays. i continue to think he is misusing Webster - he can cover - but clearly not in zone. Utilize him in bump and run more than zone

Ross - I throw my hands up - he is complete feast or famine. He has zero middle ground. For a guy given a huge chance to play for a big contract, he hasn't capitalized

There are 2 LB who can run and be assets in Boley & Williams. There are injuries to DE - let Kiwi rush the passer, and bring in the nickel back.

Having any DL drop off of rushing the passer into coverage is useless

Yes there are injuries, but there is no way that this D should be this bad

Has to dial up a blitz in that spot on 3rd and 5. If Dallas converts a 1st down, which is likely considering how our pass defense has been carved up in zone, then the game is probably over. If Romo beats the blitz the game is over as well, but I'd much rather lose being aggressive and applying pressure than dropping a bunch of guys and hoping the opposing offense makes a mistake.

Well please show me a team with more injuries.

let's see how the season ends.

The Giants just gave up 49, 38, and 34 points.

If that continues, it would be hard to see Fewell coming back.

It's amazing we went 1-2, and almost 2-1.

Also, the Giants would be smart to realize TC's age, and Spag's connection to this organization, also realzing Spag's connection w/ Reid.

is all 3 CB's tried to play Cov. 0 up in the WR's face and then didn't lay a hand on them. It doesn't work. If they're being taught that then they're set up to fail and if they're being taught otherwise it isn't sinking in. There isn't a CB in the NFL that is going to be successful playing up in man coverage giving a free release, opening up and chasing.

since we arent aggressive going out to get coaches for the most part. but one can hope...the giants do still like spags and maybe more aggressive going after a guy who they know and like

I great pass rush will make a secondary better..The secondary was not as suspect as you think..I would take that secondary over what we have right now..Not including the injury to TT of course..

The Rams have NINE corners on IR. They also have 3 defensive lineman on IR. And that's just their defense. Bradford has been banged up all year and missed some time, SJax has also missed time.

It's not always about numbers, either. I'm sure the Colts would rather have 10 players on IR than just Peyton Manning. Certain positions carry far more magnitude than others.

to recover - a guy with 4.35 speed? He's the fastest DB they have. Unless he's got bad hammies, he should have plenty of make up speed. I'm at a loss at to why he was 5 yds behind Austin on that play; whiffed on the jam?

I'm really at a loss as to how week after week experienced DBs are confused in coverage. It has to be the coaching.

Cannot understand why Joseph, Canty and the other DTs are having trouble with the inside runs - those guys are not below average DTs or are they.

And yes the blitz designs are putrid - every one comes up the middle of the guard gap - no corner, no safety.

it is a combination of factors, it's not any one thing. injuries, scheme, and maybe even the fact that Fewell is jut not a charismatic coach. he doesn't seem to inspire anyone to do much of anything.

the players LOVED playing for Spags. i don't know if that's because they loved his scheme or loved winning or loved him as a person, or all three. but we played with fire under Spags.

this team is going through the motions. and if you think charisma doesn't matter in the NFL, see Tebow, Timothy.

I've never seen a BBIer waffle on one coordinator as much as you have with Fewell..

if this D somehow still blows next year under him with roughly the same personell then the coaching apologists certainly deserve some credit.

I have seen here and other threads that if Spags gets fired he is more likely or willing to go back to Philly and not us. Why is that? Has that been stated?

it's well he teaches his system and concepts. We blew tons of assignments in the first two weeks under Spags. Then we didn't see that again. Under Fewell, the assignments are continually blown and he can't get it fixed. That is a major aspect of coaching and that's why he needs to be replaced.

I thought Perry and his known ability to adjust would be a big boost for this D. However it hasn't been and alot of us including me were wrong in our estimation of him. But this D has plenty of talent on it. Youre delusional to think otherwise. A good DC would almost definitely have us playing alot better than this

are 2 diff things. Ross has good top end speed but just does not appear to have great acceleration and/or change of direction.

excellent post!

when healthy has talent. When Justin Trattou, chase Blackburn, a rookie LB and Tyler Sash are all on the field at the same time, the talent level is sub par.

A good DC would help with this set of player? The healthy ones?

.

but we shouldn't be worst in scoring defense than New England for instance. There are still some talented players. I'd settle for mediocre. We aren't getting that.

agreed. Also when we were healthier we should have been playing like a top 10 D.....dont forget Kiwi who could be playing DE more often.

about how poor of a blitzing team we actually our. The blitzing defenders on this play showed way to early, and stood flat-footed at the LOS waiting for the snap.

It was brutal, and allowed Romo to check into that play.

I don't believe anyone is suggesting PF should have us in the top 10 of defenses with this crew.... but we are historically bad right now. Just flat out awful. Embarassing.

And that is more than just injuries.

if he only has top end speed? Ross has plenty of quickness. You cannot run a 4.3 40 and not be quick.

Jerry Rice ran a 4.65 - he wasn't caught from behind too often - top end speed. Hakeem Nicks gets caught from behind often (i.e., 60 yder Sunday), quick enough, but not a burner.

I'll stick with bad scheming and on Ross' part bad technique.

I have never been a fire the coach guy. I want Coughlin around and I think the people that jump all over Gilbride are idiots. Fewell is differnt.

Anyone here who would rather have PF over Spags.

Absolutely no doubt in my mind that Spags would be doing a far better job with this defense this year and last year over PF.

First: This is an interesting discussion !

Second:

Like to clarify my earlier point about pressure: from what I have seen that the best way to get any QB off his game is knock him down as much as possible. No secondary can keep people covered indefinitely.

Even if on said play Romo had no pressure, if the QB is thinking of pressure and sees a blitz coming he will have to make a quicker decision than normal thus potential for mistakes. I don't think you can say that the 2 things are not connected ( pressure + mistakes )

I always thought that was the balance you shoot for on a defense a) how long will it take us to get to the QB with 3,4,5 etc rushers b) how long can we reasonably keep receivers covered with 3,4,5 rushers.

With 3 rushers ( which fewell has done and drawn my anger ) the QB has had 7+ seconds to throw to someone ( or run ) ... I think in that situation you are letting them off the hook.

I agree 100%. I couldn't describe my opinion any better.

are only preventing us from being a top defensive team, not assuring that we should be horrible.

I completely agree with Dave

The defenses on the Packers, Pats or Saints or so good either..that vaunted defense of Gregg Williams isn't that much good either..

Of our sacks. I know that one reporter did one of JPP and it showed that a lot of his sacks were linked to good coverage. I would bet that a huge percentage of our sacks have been because of the QB holding on to the ball too long or just one of our DL making a great play like JPP last week. I would het very few if any are because of our blitzes getting there in under 3 seconds.

JPP's 2nd sack was on a 3 man rush.

chances of this being a good defense. Start with losing a starting corner. Tuck may as well have been out the whole year cause most anyone could play as well as he has. Prince is still in pre-season game mode. They had no one capable of replacing Goff (that's on Reese.) Osi has been healthy for just a few games. Then add in games without your best LB Boley and a starting safety.

Should they have had better depth to compensate for injuries? Yes, and that is why I think Reese is much over-rated. Is Fewell a good enough coach to overcome these injuries? Obviously not. Does it matter what scheme they use? Beats the hell out of me.

but here are the Points Against for each of those teams:

Packers - 278
Saints - 286
Pats - 274

Giants - 349!


Very few teams are worse than us in PA... and of those 5-6 teams, only the Raiders have a winning record.

We are bad on D! Bad!!!

Osi is the most explosive off the ball of all of our DE's right now..

It was an amazing play but you are asking you DL to make an amazing play every time you call for only 3 rushers. Now, there are times it works but the majority of the time it doesn't. I'm not against a 3 man rush just not that often. I'm not against dropping DEs in coverage just not that often. People notice these things because we get burnt on them not because we make great plays with them. Spags ran some plays that DEs dropped into coverage but fans only started realizing it when Sheridan was getting burned with it. People notice the 3 man rush because the QB has all day to throw pick us apart. Most don't notice that we ran a three man rush against Rodgers in our own territory on third down and got the stop.

the same way Brandon Jacobs runs a blazing 40 time for his size but if you ask him to start/stop/change directions you dont see that speed. Your Jerry rice post is proving my point. Jerry does not have great top end speed but he has great quickness and acceleration (as well as being great at moves to setup defenders). There are always plenty of guys with great straight line speed in the NFL.

Ross has always had some problems covering guys on out/ins/drags etc. On the short TD pass that he gave up he read the quick out route by the WR and made a pretty good break on it but just could not close the gap. it goes beyond a 40 time.

Much worse can this defense be? Why not go down swinging. Will Greenbay score 60? The thing that fewell is afraid of is already happening. So go on the attack.

so forgive me if this has been pointed out. In my opinion, when teams play man and are blitzing, the DB's have to be physical with the WR's at the LOS. The whole point is to disrupt the timing of the play. Ross completely whiffed on the jam which allowed Austin to be wide open.

Nah, i don't think that at all..But if you look at the the total yards allowed, yards per game, and passing yardage, the Pats, Packers, Giants, and Saints are all in that bottom 5. The Saints are a better run defensive team, according to the stats..

have been against top tier QBs.

It is EXTREMELY difficult to jam a slot receiver that is off the line. He should have been playing off coverage in my opinion.

You don't lose games by having less yards than the other team - you lose by having fewer points.

The other metrics are nice, but Points For and Against are ultimately the only stats that matter (outside of W's and L's, of course)

and speed is the opposite of mine. Jerry Rice was slow (4.65) coming off the line, but once he started going was fast. Jacobs is neither quick nor fast - he's slow as molasses off the ball.
I'll leave it there because we just have different views of quickness and fast.

I think those teams know their offenses are going to put up points so they are not afraid to take chances and make mistakes. Us on the other hand are not giving up points because we are taking chances and making mistakes. We look like we are giving up points because we play scared and are afraid to make mistakes. I know that sound weird.

I agree. Press man in cover 0 on a slot WR on 3rd and 5 is asking for failure. He didnt help himself by whiffing totally but he wasnt put in a position to be very successful to begin with.

The other thing I'd mention is that - without looking - I wonder if those teams you mentioned give up yards, etc b/c they usually are in a big lead.

Whereas we play close games and give up our yards/points in key situations.

Is basically it seems like we should be taking more chances.

and you see things like

3 man rushes with your best end lined up at DT,taking on triple teams at times
4 man rushes in which just about every player is watching the qb,not coming forward
Dave Tolefson at DT

Than you take a look in the secondary,and 90% of the time your safeties only show up when they are making a tackle.

That tells you all you need to know about Fewell.All he cares about is turnovers and not giving up the big play.Getting after the quarterback...that's not him.

Right now the Giants have to live with it and see how far they can get,but part of me says not to get my hopes up.

the last 3 weeks. when we played patriots we seemed to play pretty well.If we give up the yards and points this week vs low skill washington team(especially with fred davis suspended) then ill be more concerned.The numbers were a bit skewed on how we played the run sunday and during the yr.Early in the yr we just gave up 1 or 2 big runs every game. On sunday we gave up some runs in the 1st half but in the second half we did a good job. I give no blaim to prince on that long pass to robinson since the only reason he was open is we had zero pressure or anything so he was able to sit and wait.One thing that gets overlooked in the dallas game is how good of a job we did on witten and bryant(save the blown coverage td)

At what point do the players take the blame for their confusion and mis-communications? I'm sorry but I'm looking at the replay of the Dez Bryant blown coverage TD and I can't help but feel that was on the Safety. How much blame can you assign the DC when the safety jumps a short route?

and count how many times we blitz. We blitz at a normal rate, it just never, ever works. That itself is more frustrating than our subpar coverage. We can't get consistent pressure with our front 4, and we can't get pressure when we blitz. Our talent just isn't as good as we think.

in favor of the 3 man rush - I loathe it. I think the OT fell must have falllen sleep there on JPPs sack.
I just cannot believe that this D cannot get one or two blitzes a game to work. At least chase the QB a little. They are futile. How many 3rd and longs have they given up the 1st downs on in the past 6 weeks? It has become a surprise when they do stop somebody rather than a surprise when they give up the 1st down. Its infuriating, even with the injuries they should get some pressure a few times per week.

Rolex said he was where he was supposed to be. That means one of two things. One, Webster doesn't know what was going on or he didn't hear the call. If he didn't hear the call that is on Rolle. If a corner doesn't hear the coverage that is on the safety. If he did then it is on Webster.

at 4:15 is one of the keys. whether it is man or zone, it doesn't seem that fewell is particularly good at teaching guys what to do. they seem lost way too much. and we really haven't seen much improvement from anyone. is there a defender who anyone thinks has shown dramatic improvement since the season began? even without training camp, you'd think that some of these young players would be getting better as a result of all the reps and work. compare it to the breakout guys we have on offense - ballard and cruz, or even hynoski. they are young, inexperienced, and seem to have improved pretty dramatically as the season has gone on. we haven't seen that at all on D.

IMO.

If the players are playing scared or confused - then you're likely to see the breakdowns/missed assignments/confusion that we've seen with some regularity this season.

While that is, of course, the players responsibility - I am inclined to also point the finger at the coaching.

we are on our way to giving up 400 points?

That's excuse enough for a change......injuries aside.

Almost every game we won has been in the 4th quarter..So, no it's not like we have big leads and give up points..my point is, not really to you but to others who keep pointing out fewell, Wiliams suppose to be this guru defesnive coordinator and his Saints are not that good defensiviely..Belichik is also the defensive guru..

I don't think fewell is the greatest, but i think he's playing with far inferior talent right now with the injuries and if you look at cetain losses they had this year, 49'ers, Eagles, Seahawks, they were held to very low scores at times during the games and the offense gave them no help at all..

not know where to be 2 years into having a DC. If it wasn't for the offense, I can't imagine what our record would be.

a 3 man rush and then a delayed blitz???

When I saw I don't mind it I mean very rarely. Here is a good time for it. If we have consistently blitzed on second and short then most likely the opposing offense might try a quick slant or something like that. If we drop 8 into coverage then maybe we get someone jumping the route for a pick six.

Like I said, I'm not a fan of it often but once a game doesn't bother me.

?

its not a big deal but here is what im talking about. Lets look at the 40 times vs 3 cone drills from the combine.

Jacobs ran a 4.56 40 time and a 7.5 3 cone
Bradshaw ran a 4.55 40 and a 6.7 3 cone
Ross ran a 4.4 40 and a 6.7 3 cone.

Jacobs ran as fast a 40 yd dash as Bradshaw but a much worse 3 cone. Thats because Jacobs has much less quickness and acceleration than Bradshaw. And Ross even though he ran a faster 40 than Bradshaw they ran the exact same 3 cone. you would expect that with that big a difference in 40 time that he would have a better 3 cone number. Thats because although Ross is fast he doesnt have the quickness and acceleration you would expect from someone with that 40 time.

I can't think of a great defense that doesn't have at least one player who's also a larger than life guy like a Strahan or Armstead or Pierce. If you recall when Strahan was playing our record without him on the field was abysmal. I get the sense if Strahan, or a guy like him, was on this team he'd go a long way to keeping guys like Ross's head in the game - both on field and during the week.

and when i was asking him about the game last friday he said your # 31 is gonna have a long night .lol ..So Dallas defenitly was looking to throw on Ross ..

But plays influence each other. QB hits accumulate. We beat Romo mercilessly in '07, and knocked him out altogether with Boley blitz last year....

Sometimes even a failed blitz can be a very important part of winning a game. Who thinks that Romo would have missed that pass if he wasn't afraid of the blitz?

Wait until JPP starts to become the outspoken leader of our D. When a guy of his talent level never stops hustling and he calls you out then you listen. Players with immense talent that bust their ass all the time hold a lot of weight. It becomes contagious.i

Great point. Lose the battle, win the war.

Quote:

Under no circumstance should the players tito wooten : 5:02 pm not know where to be 2 years into having a DC.

Which is why I blame the players. (Provided that the player was here for two years) Dudes in Buffalo seemed to be able to get it. Of course, the fact that some players are playing out of position and there is a new first year guy next to them....

Oh frack it. I'll just blame the DC

who were here for the Spags years didn;t have trouble back then, and they were younger and less experienced. Guys like Rolle and Webster shouln't be having problems. It's on Fewell. He's terrible.

The players are at fault but this has been going on all year. It's Fewell's job to eliminate it. Why are veteran players having trouble? We aren't talking just rookies here.

I said the same thing in a recent preview. We're missing a personality on defense.

thanks for the scoop.

and if we had lost, it was Miles Austin getting a clean release against Aaron Ross that would have done it, not the decision to blitz in-and-of itself.

I said on another thread the following:

Quote:

Ryan and Fewell are taking two opposite approaches to the same problem Kyle : 1:41 am Your defense can't cover for shit, and it seems to get worse as the game goes on, presumably as the pass rushers wear down some. Ryan says "fuck it, send ALL the blitzers!" Fewell says "fuck it, three man rush and drop ALL the defenders!"

Based on my own likes and dislikes for defensive philosophy, when it comes to having a team that can't cover, I prefer the "go down swinging" method versus the "sit back and play the odds" method.

Ross is best on the outside and terrible in the slot for the most part. He doesn't have a good feel for covering in space without getting a bump at the line. He needs to press and use the sideline. I think we are poorly coordinated and guys are not on the same page.

& read and react schemes. Aggressive on 1st & 2nd down early in games and then coaching scared on 3rd down and late in a close game.

lined up in ways that threw off NYG defensive checkdowns - and that resulted in some confusion in the secondary.

Maybe NYG needs to devise some slick CB and safety blitzes.

the DL gap assignments rather than lots of blitzing.

however, this would take lots of coodination with and training of the linebackers, as they would have the duties in minimizing the run defense risks associated with agressive DL gap assignment varieties.

Maybe with goff gone and blackburn back we can look for blackburn to know the system that must have gone along with such gap varieties during the spags days and can mitigate run defense risks that such a variety of gap reposnsibilties would entail?

with the DL getting aggressive with varieties of gap schemes...the neccessary adjustments would fall only on the linebackers...and not domino all the way back to the secondary.

"close man cover until the whistle blows."

conversly- with safety blitz and zone play on the other hand, the entire D would need 2 be on same page.

how many times are we going to hear how the opposing offense confused us or we weren't prepared or caught off guard LOL

is predicated on getting pressure with the down 4 and an occasional blitz. If the front 4 don't get there and with a one legged Tuck and no Osi that will happen often it leaves the back 7 with a solid CB (Webster), a solid LB who is just back from a fairly serious leg injury (Boley), a solid S who is often used as a slot CB where he is less than solid (Rolle), a solid FS who didn't play last week (Phillips), a rookie who likely will develop but isn't ready to cover top flight TEs (Williams), a converted DE who doesn't play well backing up (Kiwi), a 3rd CB who has to play as a #2 (Ross) and absolutely no NFL caliber MLB so that we need to use a slow over the hill S (Grant) in the base formation. There is no chance that this D will stop anyone if that is who is taking the field. Fortunately Dallas decided to never double JPP - I doubt that Washington throws a pass without there being a double team or a chip on JPP.

If the blitz doesn't get home, you leave yourself open for the big play.

And the benefits are obvious. You can either get a sack or get the QB off his spot or force him to rush a throw.

To me, being bad at m2m isn't the reason you don't blitz. If you don't blitz well, or don't disguise them well (Romo caught us a couple of times), that's when you shouldn't blitz.

running the ball (who's 31st) in the league then it's really time to get worried. Our QB, few lucky plays, and a couple of drops made this team 7-6. I'm guilty and started Santana Moss in my spot in the playoffs in FF because Of Jennings being hurt, I knew he was playing the Giants D this week. Either way, at this point of the year we're always going to constantly hear about injuries. Since the Fewell era has dawned upon us, even with a healthy defense didn't the Giants get thwomped? <-- Not a real word.

Could it be it's a combination of both scheme and injuries? The Giants D did shut out Tom Brady and an entire half in Foxboro. I thought they played OK against Philly except for that final drive during a game which the offense was nonexistent. I'm hoping that defense vs Philly can came out against Washington and force Sexy Rexy into some turnovers.

left, we've had nothing but fair to mostly horrible defense except for the two years under Spags. Lynn, Lewis, Sheridan and now Fewell.

We've seen this movie far too many times. We know how it ends.

Washington and NYJ are not exactly The Greatest Show on Turf. Yet again, I hope I don't bite my tongue saying that seeing Rex Grossman going for three straight games vs the Giants with 300 yards. Would be four but he had 296 with the Bears in 07, I should wash my filthy mouth out with soap now...

Let’s compare 2007 stats to 2010 and 2011 stats.

In 2007, the Giants defense was ranked 17th in points allowed while giving up 21.9 points a game. Also, the defense ranked 7th in yards per game. The team had 53 sacks, 15 interceptions, 14 forced fumbles and 5 defensive touchdowns.

In 2010, the Giants defense ranked 17th in points allowed while giving up 21.7 points a game. Also, the defense ranked 7th in yards per game. The team had 46 sacks, 16 interceptions, 30 force fumbles and 0 defensive touchdowns.

2011, The Giants defense is ranked 30th in yards per game (ahead of both Green bay and New England). The defense is ranked 27th in points allowed at 26.8 points per game. Also, the team has 36 sacks, 15 interceptions, 9 force fumbles and one defensive touchdown.

We can see that with a relatively healthy squad the Giants defense under Fewell was statistically identical to the 2007 defense under the golden boy. So, why the drop off this year? We can see from 2010 that Fewell can put a competitive product on the field.

Ross, Webster, and Grant are all vets. There should not be so many blown coverages this late in the season. Maybe it's coaching, or lack of execution but it's ridiculous to say it's all injury related. If it is on the players shouldn't Reese also shoulder some blame?

In the second half of the season, 3 of those 4 games the Giants won the opponent was held to ONE touchdown. They held teams to field goals and low points enough for a low scoring offense to walk away with wins. It seemed like that defense would always allow a touchdown early in the game (Chicago and AT Philly) and for some reason that would be it as far as touchdowns were concerned. Other than Buffalo jumping out to a 14-0 lead, we relied on the defense to get the Giants to the playoffs. Oh, and 2 of the last 3 TDs the Giants had were scored by the defense and that 88-yard scamper by Bradshaw. A good way to ice a playoff spot.

I remember a defense shutting down Tampa, getting a game clinching interception against Dallas, a pick by Webster in OT to basically win the game for us and holding one of the best offenses of all time to 14 points and a beat up Brady.

Do you have any confidence that this team is capable of one game like that let alone an entire post season run?

you can live with guys occassionally running free if odds are the QB is going to make an off balanced throw.

this team has no personality or swagger. Fewell is less like Spags and more like Tim Lewis. We need a good DC here that will inspire this team to greatness like Spagnuolo did

Giants led the league in sacks. I wouldn't use 2007 as a threshold. As someone pointed out, healthy Strahan, Osi, Robbins, Cofield with Tuck subbing. LOL, give PF that and he may get a call from the Redskins and Rams too. Get pressure up front and many of these secondary problems go away.

While I agree with you that going man-to-man and blitzing is what I would want the Giants to do there, I don't think it's fair to predicate an entire argument on one defensive call and one play where the DB got severely burned.

In fact, when analyzing one play, there shouldn't be any "go-to" defensive play call. If there was, then the Cowboys would just run a play that matches up well with it.

that 3 of the best passing teams in the NFL (GB, NE & NYG) rank at the bottom in yards allowed per game. Obviously, they don't have great defenses. But their offenses are also quick strike, which leads to more possessions in a game. Is there a team stat for yards allowed per possession?

That's a very good post. Thanks for that.

I'm re-watching the game now, through halftime, and the difference is pretty easy to see without even looking at the secondary. Eli usually has sufficient time to throw, but there's usually at least one guy in on the OL in the process of getting beat. Our DL - which is the supposed strength of the D - by and large is just stoned cold. No-one is beating the guy in front of them. In fact most of the time it doesn't look like the OL is even struggling with the guy coming at them.

advice would be to blitz Rolle as often as possible since he can't cover anyway.