Thanks a ton for that 3-4 look with JPP at ILB and Osi at RDE that left a hole you could have driven John Holmes through with no pain. Brilliant way to use your best edge rusher, on the fucking inside. I'm also pretty happy with how you haven't closed down the zone coverage at all and moved your safeties closer towards the hash marks and 2-3 yards further up the field like a real Cover 2 would, you don't need to study what a shitty team like the Bears do on offense, and certainly you wouldn't want to pattern anything after the Steelers and their rolled up C-2. Be your own man!!!
And Corey Webster being totally flummoxed 9 weeks into the season against the opponents best player? Bravo sir, why on Earth would he want to waste time playing defense when standing still is just as easy and the results are the same? I'm also particularly proud of how wide you allow your worst DL to play outside at RDE, why use gap discipline when Osi can fly upfield 8 yards past the QB and have a nice view of the Cincinnati 100 sections which are chock full of tubby midwestern goodness. Kudos as well for allowing teams free reign over the middle as you did in week one Vs. Dallas and continue to do in week 10. I predicted the night prior to the opener that our biggest issue would be deep and medium middle because you don't press your CBs, your LBs don't sink well enough usually (save for one play in the Super Bowl) and you love to stunt your tall athletic DEs inside or play them at DT so there is no WAY they could affect the wide open passing lanes that have existed since you got here.
Pressure? You don't need no stinking pressure, just send a 265 slow footed LB on a..delayed blitz on Osi's inside shoulder, that should work because the two guys who had to block #72 are really bored as he runs himself outside of the play by ignoring essentially 3 gaps at once. A gap blitz with a fast LB because double teams are aimed at JPP? Noooo JPP is inside or at LB or ..where is he?? that's a fun game. Using the talent you have at DE to open up the inside to LB, S, CB blitzes would be silly, you just keep looping them around like very slow flies swarming a carcass they may or may not want to eat. Most coaches would have watched tape, adjusted or gone back to the basics of the Cover 2 that you learned but not you big guy. You just won't let anyone dampen your creative spirit, now matter how badly you fingerpaint a all over our defense.
In your defense, you don't have much to work with, only 4 All Pro players, and certainly no high draft picks, I mean Corey Webster was a 2nd round pick...what a LOSER, Phillips, Rolle and Amukamara are all #1s so trust me pal, I feel your pain. Your DL?? Big money on Chris Canty, Rocky Bernard, premium picks in Kiwi, Tuck, Osi, JPP, Linval Joseph but your hands are tied by that confounded Jerry Reese who just keeps stockpiling OL players but won't even look to the DL or secondary. He sure never got you any LBs, he didn't sign a high priced one, draft 3, trade for another and dust one off and buff him to a big white shine so he could rescue you in the Super Bowl. What are you supposed to do when you have no talent, and the front office does nothing to help your side of the ball at all. Stay strong Perry, you'll show those bastards.
This group has become remarkably predictable from September- November under Coughlin. But what they do from there is always a bit of a mystery. This season will be defined after the bye week and we'd be crazy to say we know exactly what to expect from this group in those six games. I've come to learn that Coughlin's Giants are really capable of anything, both good and bad.
I hate shitty performance and whiny reasons why it's ok because it's happened before. If you're ok with it, I applaud you because then you won't suffer the angst that I do when I see a front four oozing with ability being neutered by a middling OL and overall crappy team.
And no, we're not overrating the talent. This isn't the '86 Giants, but there is absolutely no way they should be ranked where they are ranked. I have no confidence in the defense because they seemingly have no confidence in their scheme. Webster has looked baffled at times this year, a la the fog he was in for 2 seasons with Tim Lewis. When he was allowed to play aggressive man coverage, he was an elite corner. Now he is confused.
Let these guys play like they should-attack, tight man coverage, and make the opponent beat you that way. To allow completions and the soft zones the linebackers play (and you have a couple of good cover LB'ers in Boley and J.Williams when he comes back) just makes no sense to me.
It's easy to sit back and say "Wait till February", but we've waited in Coughlins 8.5 years and been heart broken by talent that didn't come through in all but 2. Sure it beats being a Skins, Cowboys, Eagles or hell most anyone else's fan but as Coughlin says, "run the race against yourself" and against our best we are shit, utter shit. How you can take that in stride is beyond me. Constant self evaluation and constant improvement is something I seek and I'm not naive enough to look at this roster and the others in NFL and think we are a 6-4 team with a shitty defense. I watch a TON of pro ball, I don't see teams with 1/2 our talent on defense playing sound football week in and week out. Fewell thinks he has to tinker in a lab all week to outwit an offense, when the truth is, he has horses up front who can trample 90% of the teams in this league if he would just unleash them. He doesn't, he coaches scared and gets too gimicky and guy see it and know it and they play like it.
If I'm a 6-5 280LB freak of nature and my coach tells me I'm going to "hide" at ILB I wonder...does he trust me...does he trust my skill or is he just trying to be cute? Let the big dogs eat and they will eat. Try to make them play games and they will. Defenders are dogs, they do as they are told and when they get conflicting messages they hesitate, they falter and they get caught flat footed. Defense is a mind set, and LT, despite his flaws..said it best ..."Let's go out there like a pack of crazed dogs and have some fun". That's defense when you have the dogs and we do. What we saw in 1990 from Bill I and Bill II was being creative with limited speed and aging talent against a formidable foe. We outwitted that day, but in 1986 we didn't, because we didn't' have to. We don't have to now but we do, because Fewell won't let our dogs go.
I only ask because I saw so much of what we wanted to see-even if it was in a somewhat limited, "I hope this will last" format. I just fell like after finally "getting it" and steamrolling a couple teams and playing tight with some great offenses in the playoffs and Super Bowl, that he's completely reverted back to the playbook that produced some epic shitshows in '10 and '11.
And I don't buy that they simply got healthy and dominated from there. It was like night and day starting with the Jet game on the defensive end.
getting stoned in the redzone, having what may be the worst 3rd down conversion rate in the NFL... Is not a badge of honor... For all that's wrong with the fewell defense, they have given the offense the chance to even up, take or extend the lead in nearly game. Extra possessions with the opportunity to put the game out of reach in multiple games that have gone wasted.
yesterdays loss was bad... However, a fumble followed by two interceptions is worse... 4 ints and one touchdown over four games has more to do with our swoon than anything fewel has done.
Yesterday was a bad loss. Everyone wants to figure out who they can attribute the most blame to because that's the natural reaction.
I don't really understand the whole "he was aggressive and that's why we won the SB but now he's not". If it worked so well and got us a Championship, why would he just go "eh, fuck it.. I don't feel like doing that anymore" ? It makes no sense.
I don't love JPP away from DE.. but I guess Fewell is trying to move the most athletic guy in the front 7 around a little bit to give a different look. I guess it didn't work well, not everything is going work.
I'm actually way more concerned with the fact that it looks like the book is out on our offense and teams know exactly how to defend it right now.
Adjustments need to be made on both sides of the ball. The bye week came at a good time. I understand the frustration and anger.. I'm pissed as well. But we could easily come out and look better after the bye . There's a lot of football left to be played. I'm going to see how we respond to the adversity before I freak out just yet.
The reality is Fewell isn't a top DC. Seriously, do some of you actually watch the NFL at all and really think he's as good a coach as Belichick, Dick LeBeau, or even Wade Phillips.
If coaching didn't matter what the fuck happened when Harbaugh came in and the Niners went from a bunch of fuckups to a powerhouse?
Fewell isn't the worst DC in the NFL but he's not very good and as its been pointed out by Joey in specifics(despite the sarcasm) he gets too cute and the Giants get abused by teams with less talent.
Great talent can overcome bad coaching at times. Just not all the time. The BBI coaches are never wrong contingent who say Joey can't be right don't give ANY example of where he's wrong other than we won the Superbowl. Great. We lost the year before. You can't give credit for one and ignore the other.
This defense should be knocking the shit out of teams like the Bengals. Zero running game means you can focus on their passing game. Mike Zimmer did it to us. ANother guy who is much better then Fewell.
the defense that took us to the super bowl victory was not the same defense that went 7-7 last year...so all of you saying "wait till the end of the season because fewell did it last year" are really saying that you want to wait and see if fewell changes the system again, as he did last year
which means you are actually agreeing with all of us here who want fewell to change the system
You're literally saying that the guy changed the system, everyone played better, we won a Super Bowl.. and then this year he just said "you know what? I'm going to specifically NOT do what I did last year throughout our playoff run".
Please explain to me why any coach would do that.
If it were as simple as just "being aggressive", don't you think he would have done that weeks ago? The guy may not be the best DC in the game.. but he has a brain.
Case in point. Why do some players thrive then go to another team an shit the bed. The CB for Philly maybe? Can't even spell his name too late.
I just see Fewell as a guy who over coaches and at times gets to cute with his schemes. Again. He's not the worst DC in the league by any means but some of the stuff we keep seeing where the D looks a mess makes me think he needs to adjust. Hey it should work but you can only coach the guys you have. An if some of those guys can get their assignment correct still he may have to adjust.
Apparently Kenny Phillips is a pretty important component of this defense and maybe we hadn't realized it so much until now. I don't expect him to magically fix everything but I think some of these blown coverages are happening because of his absence and bad reads as a result.
To me, it's a group effort. They've all got to do a better job.
People vent. I try to ignore the knee jerk stuff. We all get a bit nutty after such a bad game. I just hate the "we won two Super Bowl" excuse. It's as silly as the FIRE AND KILL Gilbride and Fewell stuff.
I'll feel a lot better about the state of this football team if the offense can at least get back to being the force it looked like it was earlier in the year.
and it took perry 15 games to finally change what wasnt working...and we never lost again...why he went back to his crap scheme this season is the question we'd all like an answer to
no one does less with more than perry fewell
Please explain to me why he would abandon something that worked for no apparent reason. It makes zero sense. I can't wrap my brain around why you think an NFL coordinator would see something work and win a Championship and then go into the next season and completely ditch that approach.
There's way more to it than you think. I'm pretty sure if it were as simple as just being more aggressive, he would have tried that already.
- The defense kept the Steelers to 24 points last week despite a horrific special teams performance
- The Giants are among the leaders in sacks and turnovers since Fewell became DC
- The Giants won their last six games last year without surrendering more than 20 points in any of those games en route to a title
You don't get to just pick which facts to consider and which to ignore. The past two weeks have sucked, but excuse me if I don't freak out because the Giants aren't going 14-2. Most of us expected anywhere from 8-8 to 12-4. Don't know why we manage to be surprised when these expectations come true. Defies logic.
Getting turnovers are great, and they have helped us win A LOT of games the last two years, but I think the majority of us dont feel safe with any type of lead late in games. I dont think we are confident of getting many 3 and outs (I wonder where we rank there?)
You arent going to hold teams to 17 or less evrey game, but it would be a nice change to see the defense get some more 3 and outs and be confident they can hold a lead. So far, its apparent we cant do either.
Thats not good defense.
The Giants are basically constructed as a team that will win most games if the offense plays up to par. The defense isn't going to carry us and they're going to give up some plays but they will usually generate turnovers at least.
Prior to yesterdays loss, we had allowed 24, 19 and 24 points in the 3 other losses which really isn't terrible. Our offense is good enough to win games like that.
Lets be honest we have athletes on defense and other than chase and KP not many cerebral players. you put a complicated zone scheme with too many reads and checks and you make the player have to think too much and take away their aggressiveness. so yes the players are making a lot of mistakes but its up to the coaches to put the players in a position to succeed with a system that matches their talents. We have already seen what they can succeed in over and over but our DC always tries to go back to his roots even though it doesnt mesh with our players. Its a DC job to understand right now only Webster and Rolle have experience in his system. Brown, Hosely and Prince with his limited work last year are new to the system so to put all those complicated checks on them is not putting them in position to succeed especially when their background and playing style doesnt match the system. Hosely and Prince are aggressive man corners and Brown is a converted LB who you cant expect to have the footwork in C2 zone 1 on 1 with receivers.
The Green TD yesterday is a perfect example. A combination of Rolle and Brown at safety and Chase at MLB should NEVER be in a cover 2 zone in a multiple receiver set because 1) Chase will most likely have to be covering a WR down the deep middle. 2) one of our safeties will likely have to cover 2 WRs which means he has to split them and break on the one being thrown to. That takes footwork that neither Rolle nor Brown have. Even if brown had stayed back and covered green on that play there was another receiver that would have been wide open for the TD down the middle because there is no way chase could stay with him.
This isnt just about yesterdays game. yesterday the offense had more to do with the loss than anything else but more times than not our offense has bailed our defense out and our defense has been consistently been the weaker unit even though it has more resources devoted to it.
Again, you're basically saying that he saw something work well and saw it help win a Championship and then he went into this season and decided to abandon that completely. Why would he do that? I've yet to hear a single person give any sort of reason as to why he'd do that.
If it was as simple as just simplifying everything, he'd have done it. I pretty strongly doubt it's that easy.
I look at this way, if I order something at a restaurant and I get a shitty waiter, it's on the guy who hired him and stuck him on the floor. Find someone better, train them better or dont' trot them out there when it's crunch time. You've seen Brown and Webster excel and you've seen this defense excel when players admittedly do less thinking and play. So what do you blame that play on? It's damn sure someone's fault, but why? Did Fewell not make it clear who has deep responsibility on a specific formation or are Brown and Webster both just idiots?
Again, I don't mean to sound preachy, but when you play and coach enough you can see when players are tentative because they don't a) understand and b) trust what they are being told. Can I quantify it? NO. Can I draw it up? NO. But when players of that caliber are being hung out to dry weekly and you see the hang dog look and arms up in confusion, it's not because they're just bad players its because they didn't see it, weren't prepared or don't trust what they're being told. When you're asked to do anything you don't see the point in or don't quite understand it's natural to do it hesitantly and not at full bore and I think....once again, that is what we're seeing with this bunch.
If 31 points against the Bengals, Cowboys receivers running free all day long and a choked away 4th quarter lead against the Steelers doesn't bother you then we agree to disagree that something stinks. I've said this before plenty of times, but when you watch film and you practice and you see in the game what you saw on film or were taught during the week, a bell goes off...you see it, you feel it and you get a surge because you know you have your opponent figured out and you go in for the kill. If you aren't sure, don't think it's right or wonder why you're in a certain coverage for a certain play despite your instincts you hesitate and we see a TON of that now. It's not lack of effort, it's not heart, it's not people who don't care or lack talent. It's people who don't have faith in their coach or his scheme or the play calls and it shows as plain as day. I've been on both sides of the coin, utterly confused and supremely confident because of practice, film study and game plan and the difference in how you play on both sides is staggering.
Listen, I get what you're saying.. adjustments need to be made. But it's also not as easy as "well, this guy is making mistakes he's got to sit" because we don't have enough healthy players to play that game. We're already down Phillips. Sash hasn't shown much of anything and got hurt.. if you sit Stevie Brown, who the heck is taking his place?
I guess as I keep saying, I can't think of any logical reason why if Fewell just simplified everything and saw such great results, what incentive would he have to make it complicated again? Why would any coach do that? Wouldn't Coughlin pull him aside and ask him why he completely abandoned something that worked so well for seemingly no reason?
It just seems to me like there's more to it. And of course the choked away lead to the Steelers bothered me.. and so did the Bengal game in a myriad of ways. But as I pointed out earlier.. we went 3 and out offensively THREE consecutive times to close out that Steeler game. That's a game that was easily winnable. The defense didn't play all that great but they also didn't make it so that there was an insurmountable lead for the offense to overcome. The offense didn't score a single TD in the 2nd half and only had one all game. We keep settling for FG's in the red zone. And against Cincinatti we gave the ball away 4 times. The odds of winning a football game dip down to almost nothing when you do that.
The defense has its issues. I'm not ignoring that. But there are just as many problems on the other side of the football right now. Maybe more.
We agree with much of what Joey has said as of now at least eyeball test-wise..ALL we're saying is that we've seen this picture before and CHOOSE to allow it to play out BEFORE making definitive judgements.
We were fortunate against GB last year with drops/fumbles.
We were fortunate that Brady missed a wide open Welker and they were missing their best receiver.
Sometimes you gotta nut up and stop a team from driving. We havent proven to do so yet.
Fewell being subpar has been a story for most of his tenure here. The offense sucking bad now doesnt change that.
Regardless, the defense is a problem so is the offense. There's solid football discussion going on in this thread, though. I don't think there's really any reason to derail it by critiquing what's being discussed rather than simply contribute to the discussion.