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| But the signing of cornerback Adoree' Jackson this offseason changes everything. "In our system, we want to be able to play man [coverage], when it comes to third down, red [zone] area, two-minute [defense]," Graham said. "In this league, you're going to have to play some version of man at some point." The Giants didn't feel comfortable enough last season to play man-to-man coverage often or when it counted most. Only the Carolina Panthers played less man coverage in 2020. The Giants played man on 33.1% of opponents' dropbacks last year, per ESPN Stats & Information. In comparison, Graham's defense in Miami the previous season played man coverage on 60.8% of opponents' dropbacks. During Judge's time in New England, the Patriots played the second most man coverage on 62.2% of the passing downs. ... An executive whose team faced the Giants last season said the team's game plan was simple against New York: attack whoever was playing CB2. Ballentine, Lewis, Isaac Yiadom, Madre Harper, Julian Love; it didn't matter. "That was every team's plan against them," the executive said. |
They've invested even more in 2021, it's time to see dividends on gameday.
Do we have the guys who can win upfront?
The bigger, massive problem is the offense.
There's immense value in strengthening a strength.
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it also allowed us to be even more flexible in the draft since clearly we wanted to upgrade CB by any means necessary. Adding Ojulari + 2 CB's who can play man coverage should mean a better pass rush.
Do we have the guys who can win upfront?
Of course the Giants do. The Giants were 8th in pressures, 10th pressure percentage, 7th in knock downs, 6th in knock down percentage. They were 10th rush yards against.
Pressuring the quarterback is consistently the number 1 predictor of lower passer rating against. The Giants are very good upfront.
The bigger, massive problem is the offense.
"massive problem" ... a bit dramatic? We improved on the offensive side of the ball this offseason. We should absolutely be better this season. I have high expectations.
And, ya know, an even better defense means our offense spends more time on the field. More weapons + more TOP will result in more points.
Depends; if we're emulating the Patriots, the Patriots don't seem to like productive edge players, just ask Chandler Jones. They prefer mediocre guys who contain the pocket.
That makes me optimistic.
Hopefully that investment works as well as the Bradberry one did last year. Playing man can really give Graham lots of options in facing the higher quality QBs on the schedule.
It's exciting to see what a real first-line coach is.
Yes, but at some point I still think they need to invest premium resources, aside from Ojulari. Hopefully, he's at least one part of a solution but suspect they still need to find a #1 rusher who impacts the game. I don't think Carter or X are long for the NFL.
A decent group of WR1's for him this year.
I think if he follows the top guys week to week and shuts em down he will be in the DPOY conversation, hard for CB to win that award though. Gilmore won it recently but the Pats D was insane that year.
That makes me optimistic.
100%
That's a good read. Yes it's all talk until we see results on the field...but this quote from the article is exactly how we want our coaches to feel:
"You need to play man-to-man coverage in this league, period, point blank. And obviously six wins last year, we didn't do enough on defense, so the hell with that; we are looking at all options, whether it's blitz more, blitz less, play less zone, play more man, we need a whole lot of options. Six wins is not going to cut it."
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new players to add to Ximenes and Carter. The edge HAS to be more productive.
Yes, but at some point I still think they need to invest premium resources, aside from Ojulari. Hopefully, he's at least one part of a solution but suspect they still need to find a #1 rusher who impacts the game. I don't think Carter or X are long for the NFL.
If I were the Giants, I’d use at least one of our top picks in 2022 (how many do we have, by the way?) to get an edge rusher like Drake Jackson, George Karlaftis, or Zach Harrison (Kayvon Thibodeaux might be out of reach should we do well this year). But hey, I’m not part of the Giants’ front office, they have a different idea than I do.
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"You need to play man-to-man coverage in this league, period, point blank. And obviously six wins last year, we didn't do enough on defense, so the hell with that; we are looking at all options, whether it's blitz more, blitz less, play less zone, play more man, we need a whole lot of options. Six wins is not going to cut it."
This is a very encouraging quote from coach Graham.
yeah, the defense was PERFECT last year, no need to upgrade. Getting off the field more consistently on 3rd down is over-rated. Let's get back to bashing the young QB!
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"You need to play man-to-man coverage in this league, period, point blank. And obviously six wins last year, we didn't do enough on defense, so the hell with that; we are looking at all options, whether it's blitz more, blitz less, play less zone, play more man, we need a whole lot of options. Six wins is not going to cut it."
This is a very encouraging quote from coach Graham.
It's perfectly put. A top 10 defense is nice, but tons of room for improvement and i'd like to think we can turn it up a notch with the additions we made.
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It improved and was top ten in points allowed. Sure, more flexibility and variation won’t hurt but let’s keep our eye on the ball.
The bigger, massive problem is the offense.
"massive problem" ... a bit dramatic? We improved on the offensive side of the ball this offseason. We should absolutely be better this season. I have high expectations.
And, ya know, an even better defense means our offense spends more time on the field. More weapons + more TOP will result in more points.
I get the expectations based on the investments to the offense, but that's THE problem we need to fix to really compete. And time will tell if these investments were the right ones.
Because the defense was a playoff defense last year - for sure. We didn't lose many games because of Graham's schemes and the overall talent. Unfortunately, the offense couldn't hold up it's end of the bargain.
Maybe Jackson solves a problem. But that money, IMV, could have been much better spend to beef up a bigger question mark - the OL.
There's immense value in strengthening a strength.
We gave up 22ppg. Top five gets us to about 20ppg. So I'm not sure improving 2-3 more ppg is the answer to really get over the hump.
Significantly increasing the 17.5ppg from the offense is the real opportunity to success.
So we can play more man to man, get off the field quicker, etc. But this success of the season still boils down to the offense scoring a ton more points.
That makes me optimistic.
which is why he's a good coach.
And we invested in the offense so we will see there too. The Giants feel differently than you on the OL - they could have used the cap to sign a FA or draft one, they didn’t do either. Doesn’t mean they are right but that’s what happened, no sense longing for them to have done otherwise.
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the offensive rabbit hole. There's any number of threads to discuss that. And just because the defense was top 10 doesn't mean we shouldn't want to shoot for top 5. And if that happens, isn't that a good thing for everyone including the offense?
There's immense value in strengthening a strength.
We gave up 22ppg. Top five gets us to about 20ppg. So I'm not sure improving 2-3 more ppg is the answer to really get over the hump.
Significantly increasing the 17.5ppg from the offense is the real opportunity to success.
So we can play more man to man, get off the field quicker, etc. But this success of the season still boils down to the offense scoring a ton more points.
Those PPG stats are misleading imo. Giants sat in zone, and slowly got picked apart, especially as the year went on. PPG was great sure, but they were 15th in Points Allowed per Drive, 18th in Yard Allowed per Drive - this was a middle of the pack defense.
And we invested in the offense so we will see there too. The Giants feel differently than you on the OL - they could have used the cap to sign a FA or draft one, they didn’t do either. Doesn’t mean they are right but that’s what happened, no sense longing for them to have done otherwise.
Agree with this. Our defense was light years better, but still struggled to get 3rd down stops in big moments.
If Giants want to be a team that can pull out close games we lost last year against teams like the Rams, Bucs, first Philly game, first Dallas game, they need to be better on defense too, not just offense
Exactly. This was not a playoff defense simply because it was Bradberry on an island there. Jackson helps fill that void.
Really the whole point of teh tread, but not surprisingly the misdirection here is to discuss the offense.
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1 metric. What about 3rd down defense (ranked mid 20s)? Turnovers created (ranked 13th)? We have a ton of room to improve.
And we invested in the offense so we will see there too. The Giants feel differently than you on the OL - they could have used the cap to sign a FA or draft one, they didn’t do either. Doesn’t mean they are right but that’s what happened, no sense longing for them to have done otherwise.
Agree with this. Our defense was light years better, but still struggled to get 3rd down stops in big moments.
If Giants want to be a team that can pull out close games we lost last year against teams like the Rams, Bucs, first Philly game, first Dallas game, they need to be better on defense too, not just offense
The first Dallas game is one that really sticks with me. That last drive to the field goal...
Do we have the guys who can win upfront?
You've got to figure at least one of the edge guys will pop, whether one of the new guys, or X/Zo Carter. I still think that analysts have under-appreciated the pressure the Giants were able to generate last year. They were 8th in QB pressures, 12th in sacks, 7th in QB knockdowns.
Not saying that pressure doesn't need improvement, but it wasn't as dire as some analysts make it out to be.
That's how it works. The other team attacks your weaknesses and pushes you to get stronger there. You do the same to them.
Saquon back, KG and Toney, Rudolph, young OL and QB development... and there is hope. Adding depth at CB and a legit CB2 + Azeez and Elerson is just icing on the cake. Playoffs or bust now.
PPG is a one metric. But a significant one because the lower the numbers the more games you are in (obviously).
Turnovers are almost impossible to predict one year to the next. So I don't try to forecast that. But, yes, if we can get more turnovers to create more points, and have a better +/-, that would certainly help.
More pressure with a improved secondary is gonna make it tough on QB's imo.
Should the O improve even a little bit that will make our D even better.
All the O has to do besides reducing turnovers is to increase first down conversions and red zone conversions.
Improvement in TOP will greatly benefit the D as they will be a bit more rested.
Converting some red zone field goals into Touchdowns will both energize the D and force the opposing O to take more risk which given the improved talent level in the D might mean more turnovers for us
Easier said than done for sure. But the talent level has improved on both sides of the ball. So should our compete level
What I love about it the most is his fit with Bradberry. They now have a top notch physical CB and a top notch speed CB.
It also sounds like the Giants are using Jackson in the slot, too. Still can't believe he was available.
Was very much what Spags had when he first came here - good players but just not quite enough.
This year will be good, by next he should have enough to be a Super Bowl contender, (on his side of the ball).
5-1 or even 6-0 in the division is doable with this team.
If the Giants assessment is true, he's got the talent and pedigree to be a dominant pure edge rusher.
If you rewind to the middle of March and predict the Giants pick Ojulari at number 11, I don't believe you'd get many batted lashes. If he's healthy he's the edge rusher that's been missing.
Well, that would be a departure from what Graham learned under Belichick because BB demands that his corners tackle. That's always been a staple.