Sunday, September 9, 2007

Post Game Thoughts

Just finished watching the Giants game. A couple things real quick...
  • I did not realize how bad the Giants defense was. I knew the secondary was bad, but I don't feel like I heard a linebackers name making a play all night either. Plus we all saw how few times the Giants got near Romo. The Cowboys basically moved the ball at will. I honestly feel that this is more a representation of how bad the Giants defense is than how great the Cowboy offense is. Bottom line is that the Giants defense is built to blitz the QB. If they do that and aren't getting to him there are major problems.
  • Offense looks good but I am still a little concerned. Jacobs hurt his knee and Eli hurt his shoulder. I honestly feel that if the Giants held the Cowboys on that last drive they would have kept Eli in, but who knows. I guess we will find out later. Again, the Cowboy secondary is so pathetic that I am not going to be too pumped about Eli or the Giant offense after this performance, but its nice to see them clicking nonetheless. First of all I hope Eli is OK. Secondly, it will be interesting to see how they move the ball against the Packers D next week, which is really good.
  • From the little we saw of Brandon Jacobs I was not impressed. I really do not know if he has that shiftiness to be a good every down runner. Even the great runners who are big still have those quick feet (Bettis is a great example). We know Jacobs can bowl people over, but he needs momentum to do that. The ability to get going once he gets the ball and shift to the right crease is key. I guess we will get a chance to see. We had one of the best in Tiki in that department, so it may be a tough thing to assess.
  • All the Cowboys people out there need to calm down. I do not see this team going anywhere. The secondary is pitiful. It will lose them games. Plus they do not have a consistent running game. Lastly, as much as Romo is a gunslinger and a fun guy to watch, I am not sold on his consistency and reliability. He can make a lot of plays and is resilient, but I can see him throwing the key pick in a tough spot too much.
  • Tough game to lose considering how well Eli and the offense played. The injury report will be key going into next week. Assuming Eli is fine (which is a big if), Jacobs is a big key as well is Umenyori. Lastly, this will be another week for Strahan to get into better game shape. This team has ability and resiliency, but it is really going to come down to whether the defense can make the plays it needs to. After one game, that is really in doubt. The next two games are home against Green Bay and in Washington. Two teams that are not offensive juggernauts (to say the least). Lets see if the Giants D can step up a little and provide a glimmer of hope.

As for other teams of interest? Dolphins lost a tough one but played gutsy on the road. Talent wise it is going to tough for Miami to compete (especially on offense) but I think they have enough veterans to be the type of team that goes 7-9 or 8-8 and no one wants to play. They will play tough, low scoring games.

The Jets are in bad shape. QB controversy if getting very close (if not here already) and they just got whooped by their division "rival" at home. Everyone rode Mangini's nuts after one year, but this is where we will see whether he has it or not. Now there are expectations. Now there is real attention being paid to this team. How will they react? How will he treat the QB situation? I believe that this is the first time in his coaching career where there is a little heat and debate over what he will do. If he can guide this team to an 8-8 record (in a pretty tough schedule) and a relatively smooth QB transition then I would be impressed. Last year anything over 6 wins was really gravy. Obviously next week is key for the Jets as it is for every team that is 0-1. I just feel that with this QB deal looming it is a little more important for Jetland.

Didn't watch the Eagles. They were playing a tough defense on the road. You wanna win that game, but I would not go crazy if I were them about losing. I think Green Bay will be a very tough team in the NFC this year.

STKAFI

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

My shoulder hurts...waaaaaaaaaa.

Mike said...

Being in Philly, I watched the Birds. They looked terrible, absolutely awful. McNabb has no time in the pocket, threw poor passes and has a non-factor when he decided to rush.

I HATE the birds...

downey said...

somewhere where people are still reading comments i feel a need to point out da bocker's 5-9 start to the spread pick em season.