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Unpacking The Win: Giants Finish Off Arizona

Wed, 05 Oct 2011 09:00:04 +0000

Welcome to the fourth installment of my weekly segment dealing with statistical breakdowns of each 2011 Giants matchup — Unpacking The Game.

Some stats speak for themselves, others need to be expanded upon because they speak volumes. This is the place where we get behind the numbers and show what’s really going on with the New York Giants.

Let’s begin after the jump

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Giants Finish Cardinals

Joe Tufaro — Mon, 03 Oct 2011 20:08:12 +0000

The Giants beat the Cardinals Sunday with a fantastic 4th quarter comeback. Eli Manning was again efficient in the second half, and superb in the 4th quarter. Eli is 32-40 for 415 yards, 4TD’s and no INT’s in the second half of games in the past three weeks. That is just an amazing performance. However, I believe that this game was actually won in the first half. The defense that gave up some second half points, and some big chunks of yardage against the run, was superb in the first half. The Cardinals first three drives were as follows:

1. After an Ahmad Bradshaw fumble, the Cardinals started in the Red Zone (the Giants 16), and got three points.

2. After forcing the Giants to punt, Arizona got the ball at their own 48, and turned the ball over in the Red Zone( Giants 17).

3. 15 plays 80 yards 9 minutes of possession, and got three points.

The first half defense by the Giants, and their uncanny knack of denying points from point blank range, put the team in position to win the game in the end.

Last week I mentioned how statistically equal these two teams were. Well yesterday did nothing to change that. Here are some stats:

Total Plays: Giants 65 Cardinals 70

Total Yards: Giants 360 Cardinals 368

Turnovers: Two each

First Downs: Giants 24 Cardinals 22

The Cardinals had lost two games by a total of 4 points…now it’s three by 8 points.

Not much is different about these teams except the Giants have shown the ability to finish games this year, something the Cardinals still need to perfect.

Cardinals Coach: “It Shouldn’t Have Come To That Play”

Mon, 03 Oct 2011 14:47:08 +0000

Cardinals Coach Ken Whisenhunt is taking the high road when it comes the Victor Cruz’s controversial non-fumble. Here is what he had to say about the ruling after the game:

Cardinals Coach: “It Shouldn’t Have Come To That Play” - GMEN HQ - GMEN HQ - A NY Giants Fan Site - News, Blogs, Opinion and more.

A Pirate’s thoughts on the game…

Tom Brant — Sun, 02 Oct 2011 18:12:54 +0000

As part of GMEN HQ’s continued determination to provide you the best GIANTS feedback and coverage from all over the United States, I recently sought the feedback from Lindsay. Lindsay is a sophomore at Eastern Carolina University and a huge GIANTS fan. ECU has a very large GIANTS following on their campus in Greenville, NC. Below is a recap of our twitter conversation:

Question 1: With Victor Cruz’s stand out game against the Eagles, what do you see his future role becoming? Lindsay: Victor Cruz proved to Eli Manning and the rest of the Giants that he can be trusted and a valuable receiver. I think he can honestly be a star receiver and I plan on buying his jersey next!

Question 2: Which players on the GIANTS need to step up this week to make sure they do not have a let down? Lindsay: I think Corey Webster needs to step up and Aaron Ross needs to play like he did last week in order to shut Fitzgerald down.

Question 3: Which player(s) on the Cardinals scare you the most? Lindsay: Fitzgerald!

Question 4: Do GIANTS fans watch the games together on campus? Lindsay: Yeah Giants fans get together to watch the game or just a bunch of diehard NFL fans that aren’t NFC rivals of course! haha

Question 5: Which NFL team do most students root for: Lindsay: I would say that most people at ECU were raised Panthers fans, but a lot of them have lost hope and changed teams over the years.

Do you want to be the twitter GIANTS fan featured on Gmenhq? Follow me on twitter at twitter.com/tom_brant and let me know!

Giants vs. Cardinals: What to look for…

Joe Tufaro — Sat, 01 Oct 2011 10:00:50 +0000

The Giants (2-1) face the Arizona Cardinals(1-2) Sunday afternoon at 4:00 Eastern time on Fox. The announcers will be Kenny Albert, Moose Johnston, and Tony Siragusa once again. Actually I don’t mind having the same crew back to back, as they might actually remember how the Giants played last week, and have some useful insight. We can only hope. This match-up may sound one sided, but the reality is, you can’t find a more statistically even game on the schedule. Despite their 1-2 record, the Arizona Cardinals will be a very tough opponent. They have lost to Washington and Seattle in the past two weeks, but only by a total of 4 points. Returning home, they will need to make a statement, where even in the weak NFC West, falling to 1-3 is not a good thing to do. After the Giants, they face the 0-3 Minnesota Vikings before their early bye. You know they would love to hit the break with a winning record.

On Offense: The Cardinals have struggled so far to gel as an offense. New Qb Kevin Kolb, whom the team acquired from Philadelphia in the off-season, has struggled in his decision making. He has not yet found a chemistry with his teammates. He has thrown for 5 TD’s while also throwing 3 picks, and fumbling once. He has also been sacked 8 times in this young season. Of course the Cardinals have All-World WR Larry Fitzgerald on their team, and he can be instant offense for any QB. Fitzgerald is capapble of making any catch against any number of defenders. We can only hope this isn’t the week Kolb and Fitzgerald find the same page. Also back in the mix for the Cardinals is running back Beanie Wells. Wells was out last week, but says he’s ready to go for the game on Sunday. Wells has 32 carries for 183 yards in 2 games, a great average, but if he only carries the ball 15 times, the Giants will have done their job. The Cardinals are a veteran team that have not learned how to work together.

On Defense: The Cardinals play a 3-4 defense. They are very strong up front and have an active Line backing corps. They are particularly strong on the left side with Darnell Dockett, Joey Porter, and rookie CB Patrick Peterson. Once again they are a veteran group, except at the two corner spots. Second year man A.J. Jefferson joins the rookie Peterson in the defensive backfield, however they are backed up by 18 years combined experience at the Safety spot in Adrian Wilson and Kerry Rhodes. Look for Rhodes to blitz off the corner on third downs. The Giants must establish some dominance in the running game to neutralize the safeties. The more the Giants can run, the better chance they will have to throw it over the top of the defense for some big plays.

As I stated earlier these two teams are statistically similar. Let’s take a look:

Offensively the Giants rank 10th in the NFC, the Cardinals 8th. Yards per play, and total yards are almost identical. The Giants hold the edge in points per game and also in the all important turnover category. The Giants are +4, while the Cardinals are -1. On Defense the Giants currently rank 8th, while the Cardinals are at 14. However yards per play and points scored are virtually identical.

This contest will be all about turnovers, and pressuring a Qb in Kevin Kolb that hasn’t quite grasped his new system. Kolb will throw some prayers against pressure, the Giants have to hope Larry Fitzgerald doesn’t answer those prayers. Controlling the running game and forcing Kolb to look across at JPP, Tuck, Canty, Osi, Kiwi, and Michael Boley all day on third and long should prove a successful formula for the Giants. If this team were coached by anyone other than Tom Coughlin I would warn against the long travel, and a let down after last weeks big win. I don’t feel these are concerns. Giants should prevail, but this game is closer than most people think.

Team First Attitude with the New York Giants

Ed Roberts — Fri, 30 Sep 2011 15:54:13 +0000

As the Giants prepare for Week 4 (Already?) of the NFL football season, a familiar face should be back in some capacity against the Cardinals. This familiar face is none other than Osi Umenyiora.

Umenyiora is coming off a rocky offseason to say the least in which he demanded more money from the Giants, but ultimately had to get arthroscopic surgery in mid-August. This made his attempts futile at securing the new contract he said was guaranteed to him by Jerry Reese.

While Osi has been sidelined, 2nd year former 1st round pick Jason Pierre-Paul has taken the reigns and run with it. And by run with it, I mean run AT the quarterback.

Jason Pierre-Paul has 4.5 sacks registered thus far through 3 games. His athleticism and explosiveness is exactly what made him a 1st round talent.

Even though Pierre-Paul is taking the NFL world by storm, he knows that Osi will ultimately jump back into his starting role.

What may be a problem to some is not a problem for the young star.

The confidence from Pierre-Paul could be heard from his quote earlier in the week on the matter, “It’s cool. When they put me in, I’m going to get a sack regardless. It’s not if you start. When you come off the bench you can do the same thing.”

The team first mentality and swagger that JPP has shown is exactly what the Giants need to finish atop the NFC East.

JPP and Osi

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