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Yesterday was a great start to the rest of our season. I have no illusions about making a playoff run as we almost assuredly wont be in it. But yesterday was the most proud I've been of our team in a long, loing time. It brought back memories of 1990 and maybe early 1991, when our team was over-matched on paper but fought hard, made some plays at opportune times and found a way to win. Now I am not saying Jason Garrett is Jimmy Johnson, but I am saying there was a similar "feel" to how yesterday played out.
1) What a difference coaching and leadership make in the NFL. Garrett got these guys to buy into something in 3-4 days. These same guys who were coddled to death and had to prove nothing to the prior HC all bought in, worked hard and gave great effort. And they did it without the pro bowl QB, basically without both starting CB's and a hodgepodge DL. There werent the stupid penalties, the masses of missed tackles, the drive killing drops or tipped balls that led to easy picks. Imagine what he can do over the course of the next 7 weeks.
2) I dont want to get too carried away about one game, and I do think the Giants were looking past us somewhat. (I think they play Philly next week). Who could blame them if they did? That said, I never envisioned us actually winning the game. I would have been more than happy with better effort and just keeping the score respectable. I saw yesterday as the LEAST winnable game of any remaining on the schedule. In all liklihood we wont win out, and the injuries are really mounting. But there's not a team left on the schedule they cant beat if they are relatively healthy and continue to maximize the effort. Coaching DOES matter.
3) Was deleted, entire section was meant for CZ.
4) Defensively, yeah we gave up a ton of yards. But the Giants offense has been rolling the past 4-6 weeks. The pass rush isnt where it needs to be, but other than a couple games Manning has hardly been touched this yr. (12 sacks overall). People forget though they had been averaging 36 pts per game the past 4 and had back to back games with 41 pts. Manning had 12 tds alone in the last 4 games. I think anyone that thought we were going to come out and suffocate their offense were more than just wishful thinking. Pasqualoni may or may not end up a good DC here and in all liklihood wont be the DC here next yr even if Garrett does get the HC job permanently, but we should cut him a little slack for now. Our DL is really hurting and for a significant portion of the game yesterday we were missing our two best CB's. For alot of the game we had a rookie free agent and a late rd pick playing the 1-2 CB spots. What should be praised though is the great job they did of run defense and the fact that they did make 4 huge plays in key situations (McCann pick, Butler strip on bad snap, James 4th down stuff and Ball's game sealing pick). We have not been making those kinds of plays this year.
5) Great game for Jon Kitna. Hopefully last week in GB was an aberration. He threw the ball great yesterday and even made a few plays with his feet. For the role he was acquired for, he's pretty good at it.
6) Jones and Barber ran hard and Jones's long td via the screen pass was a thing of beauty. I'm surprised Choice got no carries, in fact I'm not even sure he played. But as long as Jones and Barber run the way they did yesterday, it isnt an issue.
7) OL deserves some credit for a change, very solid effort. The Giants had been hitting QB's left and right for most of the season, and yet they hardly touched Kitna. They did just enough in the run game to keep the Giants off balance and we didnt have the multitude of negative rushing plays on 1st or 2nd down that would put us into really bad situations.
8) Dez Bryant just continues to amaze. This kid is such a winner and his talent is just awe inspiring. Numerous teams have to be kicking themselves over passing on this guy. Glad we have him. You love to hate Jerry the GM for just about everything that goes wrong, then give him some credit for this.
9) Alan Ball, worst starting FS in football for the first half of the year. FINALLY made a play, and it was a great read. He finally attacked the ball in the air. He still isnt much of a tackler, but if he can make a few plays like that one it will help make up for some of the shortcomings. I think alot of us thought we'd be seeing plays like that routinely. Maybe he will start coming around.
10) Other than the injury to Jenkins (who got injured giving great effort, and even forced a fumble on another play by making a text book hit) the only negative to the game yesterday IMO was Buehler missing from 34yds and kinda struggling with the kickoffs. It will be interesting to see what happens with him the remainder of the year. He might get the next two games without any competition, but I suspect if he misses another gimmee we will see some potential new kickers brought in after the New Orleans game for try outs.
Love Garrett's attitude about the win, its only one game and I think he wont let them get caught up in it and get complacent about it. As some others have alluded to, the Detroit game will be very interesting to see if Garrett does get the message through, that the Giants game was only ONE week. With the prior HC, I dont know that this would happen.
I'm excited about the rest of this year. As I mentioned above, it kinda has that early Jimmy Johnson years feel to it now to me. Only right now, this team has more talent than he did in 1990 and maybe even 1991.
1) What a difference coaching and leadership make in the NFL. Garrett got these guys to buy into something in 3-4 days. These same guys who were coddled to death and had to prove nothing to the prior HC all bought in, worked hard and gave great effort. And they did it without the pro bowl QB, basically without both starting CB's and a hodgepodge DL. There werent the stupid penalties, the masses of missed tackles, the drive killing drops or tipped balls that led to easy picks. Imagine what he can do over the course of the next 7 weeks.
2) I dont want to get too carried away about one game, and I do think the Giants were looking past us somewhat. (I think they play Philly next week). Who could blame them if they did? That said, I never envisioned us actually winning the game. I would have been more than happy with better effort and just keeping the score respectable. I saw yesterday as the LEAST winnable game of any remaining on the schedule. In all liklihood we wont win out, and the injuries are really mounting. But there's not a team left on the schedule they cant beat if they are relatively healthy and continue to maximize the effort. Coaching DOES matter.
3) Was deleted, entire section was meant for CZ.
4) Defensively, yeah we gave up a ton of yards. But the Giants offense has been rolling the past 4-6 weeks. The pass rush isnt where it needs to be, but other than a couple games Manning has hardly been touched this yr. (12 sacks overall). People forget though they had been averaging 36 pts per game the past 4 and had back to back games with 41 pts. Manning had 12 tds alone in the last 4 games. I think anyone that thought we were going to come out and suffocate their offense were more than just wishful thinking. Pasqualoni may or may not end up a good DC here and in all liklihood wont be the DC here next yr even if Garrett does get the HC job permanently, but we should cut him a little slack for now. Our DL is really hurting and for a significant portion of the game yesterday we were missing our two best CB's. For alot of the game we had a rookie free agent and a late rd pick playing the 1-2 CB spots. What should be praised though is the great job they did of run defense and the fact that they did make 4 huge plays in key situations (McCann pick, Butler strip on bad snap, James 4th down stuff and Ball's game sealing pick). We have not been making those kinds of plays this year.
5) Great game for Jon Kitna. Hopefully last week in GB was an aberration. He threw the ball great yesterday and even made a few plays with his feet. For the role he was acquired for, he's pretty good at it.
6) Jones and Barber ran hard and Jones's long td via the screen pass was a thing of beauty. I'm surprised Choice got no carries, in fact I'm not even sure he played. But as long as Jones and Barber run the way they did yesterday, it isnt an issue.
7) OL deserves some credit for a change, very solid effort. The Giants had been hitting QB's left and right for most of the season, and yet they hardly touched Kitna. They did just enough in the run game to keep the Giants off balance and we didnt have the multitude of negative rushing plays on 1st or 2nd down that would put us into really bad situations.
8) Dez Bryant just continues to amaze. This kid is such a winner and his talent is just awe inspiring. Numerous teams have to be kicking themselves over passing on this guy. Glad we have him. You love to hate Jerry the GM for just about everything that goes wrong, then give him some credit for this.
9) Alan Ball, worst starting FS in football for the first half of the year. FINALLY made a play, and it was a great read. He finally attacked the ball in the air. He still isnt much of a tackler, but if he can make a few plays like that one it will help make up for some of the shortcomings. I think alot of us thought we'd be seeing plays like that routinely. Maybe he will start coming around.
10) Other than the injury to Jenkins (who got injured giving great effort, and even forced a fumble on another play by making a text book hit) the only negative to the game yesterday IMO was Buehler missing from 34yds and kinda struggling with the kickoffs. It will be interesting to see what happens with him the remainder of the year. He might get the next two games without any competition, but I suspect if he misses another gimmee we will see some potential new kickers brought in after the New Orleans game for try outs.
Love Garrett's attitude about the win, its only one game and I think he wont let them get caught up in it and get complacent about it. As some others have alluded to, the Detroit game will be very interesting to see if Garrett does get the message through, that the Giants game was only ONE week. With the prior HC, I dont know that this would happen.
I'm excited about the rest of this year. As I mentioned above, it kinda has that early Jimmy Johnson years feel to it now to me. Only right now, this team has more talent than he did in 1990 and maybe even 1991.
