with no giants game today here's a little homework on the next opponent. that stadium is always a tough place to play and the TLDR is that they look to be a very strong roster top to bottom. no obvious weakness to exploit as there was with clevelands OL or appeared to be with dallas' defense.
their defense is solid at all 3 levels but especially the secondary - old friend Julian Love is the #1 graded safety in the NFL so far fresh off his new raise/extension. witherspoon is a stud and tyriq woolen looks to be having a bounce back year after sophmore slump. vet rayshawn jenkins has slotted in and been good too.
boye mafe is not listed in the graphic below but he has had a breakout seasons so far with 3 sacks and 17 pressures. 2nd year edge derrick hall also has 3 sacks. Leonard Williams has 2 and is their highest graded player in the front 7, though he's currently banged up and rule out for week 4.
OT3 from the 2022 draft Charles Cross is at present their highest graded LT. that one burns when thinking back on how joe schoen described their decision to choose neal as something to the effect of "icky had been picked" (implying they had those guys as their clear top 2 ahead of Cross).
Geno Smith enters week 4 with just 3tds/3ints and 1 fumble having been sacked 8 times - so that goes to show how good the rest of their team has been to be 3-0 despite that.
They have 2 very good RBs who have 4 rushing tds combined and 3 solid receivers, if Banks matches up with DK have to think they are going to try to take advantage the way Lamb/Cooper have the past 2 weeks. By a pretty good margin this team has the deepest set of skill players NYG have faced so far. Fant has generally been inconsistent but he has been good against NYG.
Rookie head coach Mike Macdonald, also a Dean Pees disciple like Shane Bowen, brought over the baltimore system and in their first 3 games they are 3rd best in points allowed, albeit against 3 week offensive opponents (Denver, Pats, Miami without Tua). No new scheme adjustment period needed for them apparently.
Their offensive coordinator Ryan Grubb is pretty fascinating too - he is a deboer disciple who was the U dub offensive coordinator the last 2 years with Penix but prior to that he was a mountain west guy at fresno state under qb guru Jeff Tedford.
a tough test also provides an opportunity. on it's face winning on the road in seattle appears far more difficult than winning against a beatable dallas team that had a bunch of injuries and shot itself in the foot a lot. if they could somehow pull it off that would make up for the cowboys loss and get the season somewhat back on track.
despite facing a rookie head coach with 2 coordinators who have very little NFL experience however that seems a very uphill task against a very complete team that will require this giants team to put together a complete effort. they have the DBs to make life difficult for Nabers so if they go in with a gameplan of just peppering him with targets that seems very unlikely to work out in their favor. they will need to run the ball effectively because unlike dallas they arent likely to have receivers breaking open all game.
Seattle's MNF @ Detroit should be a fun measuring stick to see how they stack up against one of the top teams in the NFC and if there's any hope for the giants next week it may be that it sets the giants up as a psychological trap game, especially if they win and go to 4-0. they are a 4.5 point underdog, which seems a little bit high though they do have some key injuries.
This will be the first game of the Giants season where they go in with the prospect of a really ugly blowout with issues on both sides of the ball. The spread opened at 3.5 but has already moved up to 5.5. the Cleveland win gave Daboll & co a temporary reprieve and a modest burst of optimism going into the Dallas game. He wasnt wrong that there was improvement in that game, but improvement doesnt matter unless it leads to wins. Another loss will get more than a little bit of blood in the water with matchups against Joe Burrow on SNF, then the barkley bowl vs Eagles on deck, and a road game to Pitt in the hole.
0-4 in those games is a distinct possibility and as tough as seattle appears, with this 11 day mini bye it very much feels like dabolls best and only hope at salvaging himself here. if he cant compete with a rookie coaching staff, the odds against 3 teams led by head coaches who have made it to super bowls aren't going to get better.
also seattle is an interesting team in that they offer no roster excuses - on the day schoen took over seattle was picking 1 spot behind the nyg in the draft (when they took cross). like schoen they got an extra 5th overall pick from the russell wilson trade which turned into devon witherspoon. they replaced russ with geno smith (backed up by drew lock) and extended him off his career year at the same time schoen extended jones off his. they traded a 2nd round pick for leonard williams and extended him. their head coach is the guy who replaced wink after we hired him in baltimore. their 2 highest ranked players were guys we had every chance to keep or pick (love/cross). a beat down in seattle will be an indictment of every level of this regime's decision making the last 3 years.
not all tests are equal in strength and the stakes of each test ratchet up as the season goes along, not down.
this is the toughest test YTD perhaps with the highest stakes.
seconded...
last year they put banks on him on a lot and he did fairly well but - stop me if you've heard this one before - he gave up 1 td where he was in phase but didnt make a play on the ball.
so yes, DK is a concern, but there they at least sort of have an answer (banks). beyond that JSN in the slot vs who?, the Seattle running game, lockett on the other side vs flott, their defense at every level vs our offense - all of it is concerning which makes the whole matchup so concerning.
against Cleveland their OL was beat up and their running game weak with ford. Watson was bad. against dallas their whole defense came into the game under fire and through 3 weeks they had no running game to speak of. seattle appears to be a very different beast in a very difficult environment.
im in the same boat i was in midway through 2021. we arent at the Fromm stage yet but getting there. just as winning vs dallas would have changed the trajectory of the season this game could do the same. im not holding my breathe that will happen, but if it did the season has a chance instead of unfolding as it appears to be on track to do right now which is regime change.
if they do lose the silver lining is it gets closer to some kind of regime change. i dont think this organization can bring back this leadership without changes if the season is over before november.
yep mentioned that in the OP.
Until this team shows some consistency and the ability to actually you know when games, every week is a tough test. This team has no track record of success and absolutely no positive team identity. Essentially their hope for a victory week in and week out is going off the Any Given Sunday mantra.
Very tough game on the road. Perhaps Seattle is a little banged up heading into it.
They could be really good, but they could also be a bit of a mirage.
I think we should have more than a puncher's chance.
They could be really good, but they could also be a bit of a mirage.
I think we should have more than a puncher's chance.
agree about the soft schedule but they're a 9 win team in a tough division 2 years in a row. always one of the toughest places to play. looks like a bunch of their young players have taken steps forward (mafe, jsn, cross, love, hall, woolen, charbonnet/walker, etc).
agree with this sentiment but winning coaches get their teams to make winning plays, losing teams descend farther once the players lose faith - which happens quicker when a coach is in year 3 vs year 1 when everything is fresh.
i agree with daboll that there was improvement in the sloppiness on thursday. fewer penalties, better defense, better specials. but there were missed throws/catches and their run game/run d both sucked whereas the cowboys coaching was able to get those areas fixed. if the nyg dont put together a full effort soon though they are going to lose the lockerroom.
the only positive is that there are 2 guys who know how to win out there available for hire. so this is a year where knowing they are in market sooner is better.
especially given the specific sloppy problems of this organization, especially special teams and defense, belichick is just such an obvious opportunity they'd be smart to take advantage of. hire him as prez give him total control and let him evaluate everything the rest of this season. if he wants to make himself head coach at some point so be it.
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so far. Especially the QBs they have played.
They could be really good, but they could also be a bit of a mirage.
I think we should have more than a puncher's chance.
agree about the soft schedule but they're a 9 win team in a tough division 2 years in a row. always one of the toughest places to play. looks like a bunch of their young players have taken steps forward (mafe, jsn, cross, love, hall, woolen, charbonnet/walker, etc).
Seattle is indeed a very tough place to play. And I think Schneider has done a nice job rebuilding Seattle through the draft. Credit to him and Pete for bailing on Wilson at the right time.
I just thought the context of their schedule was a worthwhile add to the conversation.
This sums up the reality of the current Schoen/Daboll/Jones NY Giants.
Richard Sherman, after the game Thursday night "you can get away with games like this when ur playing against Daniel Jones”
Offensively, it is literally not possible to run worse than we did against Dallas. Astonishing really - a level of futility it seems impossible to fix in 10 days or even at all.
In other words, we'll lose badly.
Offensively, it is literally not possible to run worse than we did against Dallas. Astonishing really - a level of futility it seems impossible to fix in 10 days or even at all.
OK to slam the offense running game but Dallas didn’t run at will against us. 80 total yards
Win and we are back in the race, so to speak.
1 - 4 is just too hard to rebound from and make a run. If we can't make a run you may want to bench Jones at some point and see how Lock does and/or Devito. Cut Jones at season's end and rebuild via the draft and UFA (key guys).