We didn't run anything complicated/complex against Denver at all. On either side of the ball. What i observed (or think i observed)was that the Giants were hoping to grind out a win in what was being viewed as the de facto second preseason game. Unfortunately Denver did not share this approach and came to play. As a result the Giants ended up looking completely unprepared and hopelessly outgunned.
The Giants clearly worked to be more prepare and considerably more complex in this game. It was also clear that take that step on a short week was a problem. Everyone could see that it was causing problems. Jones seemed to be wasting a lot more time at the line trying to get things set. There were actual instances of him checking into and out of plays. There were wasted time outs. The defensive front had a number of plays where they looked like they weren't sure what they were supposed to be doing. This game looked like a sloppy version of proper pro football. As opposed to week 1 which did look like pro-football at any point on either side of the ball.
This is why I think this team will get better as the season goes on. I think Judge will run a tight enough ship that a lot of this will get cleaned up, hopefully as soon as next week. And as it gets cleaned up and as the coaching staff gets a better feel for what the team can and can't do i think we will start to see the team being put in more advantageous situations as the season progresses. That's my hope at least.
One final note specifically on the defense. It seems to me that Graham's defense, and particularly his coverage sets, require a fair amount of complexity and specific game planing to work. I think it really played to the defense's disadvantage that right out of the gate they had face two qbs with very little tape of them in they're respective offenses. Heinicke in particular strikes me as the kind of QB who is going to look like the second coming of Tom Brady right up until the point where defensive coordinators catch up with him. That process usually takes about of season of tape. In his specific case, as a career backup, probably only half of that. The Giants only had about 7 quarters of tape on him and only 4 days to prepare. I would expect the defense to look much better against him in Jan.
There was so much confusion because we had a bunch of new players out there because we had veteran lineman retiring in camp. Teams check in and out of plays all the time.
The one hope for the season is Graham and Judge adjust to the team they have. Garrett seemed to do just fine, some stuff you can nitpick there, but overall like 90% better than what he did vs the Broncos. That was waaay too sloppy for what Judge preaches.
your premise seems plausible enough, just hard to take any kind of comfort in it or be reassured in any way.
There was so much confusion because we had a bunch of new players out there because we had veteran lineman retiring in camp. Teams check in and out of plays all the time.
The one hope for the season is Graham and Judge adjust to the team they have. Garrett seemed to do just fine, some stuff you can nitpick there, but overall like 90% better than what he did vs the Broncos. That was waaay too sloppy for what Judge preaches.
My point was more they weren't doing it at all last week 1 and were clearly doing it more to the teams benefit week 2. I expect the team to continue to build off that over the next three weeks and I think the Giants will win some games if the do.
You're talking like teams much better than us don't struggle with this stuff every year over the first month of the season. They do, and they will this weekend expecting near-perfect execution out the gate, or expecting wins that have the as a prerequisite is foolish.
With respect to Heinicke, Dude was in position to win both of his last two games late against a championship caliber defense in TB in the post season and last week against a chargers defense that is expected to be one of the best in the league this year. Both teams have elite pass rushing that closed those games late. We don't and most of the league doesn't. If everyone has seen enough of this kid that this is the best those two top-tier defenses can do against him and he is going to continue to get more comfortable playing at this level then he is the second coming of Tom Brady and we can expect him carve up this division for years to come.
your premise seems plausible enough, just hard to take any kind of comfort in it or be reassured in any way.
This is 100% agree with. I can't stand teams in general and especially these struggling giants teams going all the way back to Coughlin's tenure completely mailing in the off-season and then showing up in the first 2-4 weeks looking like garbage compared to where they are Oct-Jan. That being said, it is all over the league, almost every good team will look better in October then the do in September and we looked better from the first week to the second. If we continue to improve, we will being improving into a winning caliber of football. That is my main point of this post.
And no, most teams aren't making the mistakes we were making in week 2. Not confusion out of the timeout, not hammering home to your players not to jump offside against a mediocre kicker at distance on a wetfield on grass, and most certainly not the game management snafus that Judge had. I do agree, the best hope for our season is our DC and HC figure it out. Which can certainly happen.
Been watching a ton of media today and Schrager is like that game was literally lost by the Giants more than WFT won it. Totally agree. He's not the only one calling it out. Judge was getting shit on by McAfee and crew. How do we know he's a good coach? We honestly don't. Even looking at that Seattle win our OL went all Ewing theory on the Seahawks DL and looked like the Cowboys 2016 OL. The way the Hawks play offensively very well into what Graham does every week.
We need coach coaches! Someone to teach the coaches how to coach. Carl Banks mentioned on a WFT scoring drive that we created a bubble for the Skins- and they ran right to it -and scored….he chuckled….as if to say “I can’t believe they did that!
Here's the thing: For year after year now, the Giants have been crummy in the pre-season, and the coaches sort of talk about how they'll be ready for the opener, but then they start out lousy.
I'm thinking it's time that the whole organization change its approach. If someone's keeping score, they should try to win. Because they keep doing the same thing over and over again, but expecting different results. It's insane.