Giants must work on rushing and stopping run
Photo credit: AP | New York Giants quarterback Eli Manning hands off to running back Brandon Jacobs (27). (September 20, 2009)
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Sept. 21: Giants 33, Cowboys 31
There's no reason to think the Giants won't be 5-0 after devouring three straight cupcakes. They play at Tampa Bay, at Kansas City and then host the Raiders in the next few weeks. Realistically, it should be like preseason games, when Tom Coughlin is asked how much he will play his starters.
But this lull in the schedule gives the Giants just what they need: a little time to work out some of the issues that haven't cost them a game yet but are still serious concerns. It'll be a chance to try a few wrinkles, put a few plays on tape, and figure out where they go.
"You bet we have work to do," Coughlin said. "Our inability to stop the run and our inability, really, to run the ball the way we wanted to, those are issues that are first and foremost with our team."
Those are the issues that were supposed to be the easy ones. The Giants led the NFL in rushing last season and were the No. 9 defense against the run. So how could they now, two weeks into the season, be 22nd in rushing and tied for 27th against it? It's only two weeks, but those are mighty low numbers.
The offensive numbers will rebound. The Giants run a reactive offense that takes what defenses give them. Through the first two games, defenses have been focusing on stopping the run. That might change now that Mario Manningham and Steve Smith are off to such quick starts. If it doesn't, then the Giants will remain a pass-first team.
The issue on defense has been giving up the big plays, and that might be a bigger problem. The Giants have yielded 336 yards on 50 carries, which is an average of 6.72 per rush. But 196 of those yards have come on just six carries. That's 58.3 percent of the yardage on 12 percent of the carries. Take away those six plays and the Giants are allowing 3.2 yards per carry and 70 per game.
But how do you take away those six plays? Rather, how do you prevent them from happening again?
Trust and communication. The Giants show that they are a formidable run-stopping defense on 88 percent of their plays. But that defense is so choreographed and practiced, it can sometimes be unhinged by just one miscue. With all of the rotating the Giants are doing on their defensive line - and especially with Justin Tuck out for the second half of Sunday night's game - those dance moves were flawed.
Players need to trust and be trusted. Without Tuck, other players were trying to do too much.
"We're a gap-sound defense," linebacker Danny Clark said. "It takes one guy or two guys to peek inside or peek outside and it's like water running off a table. The back will find an open hole, and he did."
The Giants allowed 251 rushing yards to the Cowboys, more than they had in any game since 2005. Dallas also had an 8.7-yard average. The last time the Giants had allowed a rushing average of 8.7 yards or higher with a minimum of 29 carries was Oct. 17, 1948, when the Chicago Cardinals averaged 8.8 on 34 attempts.
A few times, all but one defensive player would stunt in one direction, leaving them vulnerable. That's what happened in the opener when Clinton Portis rumbled for 34 yards on the Redskins' first play. It was corrected, but it came back again in Dallas.
"They were just ripping them off," Mathias Kiwanuka said. "Obviously, we need to do a better job against the run."
That hasn't happened in a while. And it probably won't happen for a while to come. At least for the next three weeks. But the Giants had better use that time wisely and find solutions, because even if they beat those inferior opponents, being 5-0 won't mean much.
Not in January, anyway.
