The offense:  Michael Vick appears to be out for the game tomorrow night, as does WR Jeremy Maclin.  In steps Vince Young who has thrown a total of one pass this season, and that was intercepted.  Which Vince Young do you get?  The one that can break open a game at any moment with his strength and speed?  The one that doesn’t go down so easy when hit?  Or the depressed, once great, washed up, indecisive Qb that was shipped out of Tennessee?  I believe the Giants will see both Vince Young and Mike Kafka tomorrow night if Vick indeed is inactive.  That leaves LeSean McCoy as the main weapon for the Eagles, and he is a formidable one.  On a team with Vick, DeSean Jackson, Maclin, Avant, and Celek, McCoy has managed to rush for 900 yards and 10 TD’s.  The Eagles LEAD the league in rushing averaging over 170 yards per game.  The Eagles are 3rd in total yards, but only 11th in scoring with a Net Point Differential of only 17. (more…)

Will Beatty: (A) Will played a very good game yesterday.  As the new starting left tackle their was much concern over how Will would respond.  He was left alone most of the day on Stephen Bowen who had one tackle, and got a late sack when he was moved to the other side of the line.  Beatty had some key blocks on running downs, and protected his side well.  It seems that the coaching staff trusted Will with his assignments because most of the afternoon he was left one-on-one against both Bowen and the linebackers on his side. Hopefully Will can continue to play at a high level, and the Giants can figure out how to help the other areas that are in need of help.

Greg Jones: (C-) Greg had a tough night, but was also in a tough spot starting week one.  He played mainly on first and second downs, and was replaced by Williams on third down.  Greg seems to be a better straight ahead player, and struggles with the side to side.  He is going to need to get more aggressive and find the gaps to the backfield.  At times he seemed to hide or wait behind the defensive line instead of attacking and shooting the gaps.  Again, not knowing the play calling, it was hard to tell if he was properly placed on pass plays.  He seemed to be chasing a lot instead of putting himself in good positions.  He did make some tackles in the passing game on receivers that certainly weren’t his to cover, which shows some hustle.  He was credited with 4 solo tackles.  This, of course, is a work in progress and we will see if there is improvement week to week, or if the Giants feel they need to make a change there already.

I hope you find this feature informative.

The Giants have struggled on Special Teams the past few years.  Tom Coughlin and Jerry Reese made a strong effort this year to handle that problem head on.  In an interview with Jon Gruden before the Bears pre-season game, Coach Coughlin stated he wanted to use more linebackers on Special Teams.  This little tid-bit of information passed on during the telecast may have gone un-noticed, but it bode well for the young players wanting to make this team.  The coverage teams in past years have shown a lack of team speed.  We lost players like David Tyree and Domenik Hixon to injury and retirement.  Special teams coverage guys need to be very athletic, speedy, and big enough to fight off blocks and make tackles.  Big receivers such as Hixon are naturals.  However, big linemen usually are not.  The answer in today’s game are Linebackers and Safeties.  Most of them are fast enough to get down the field, strong enough to fight through blocks, and certainly they should know how to tackle.  The opportunity was there for some young players, and they took it.  Jacquian Williams, Spencer Paysinger, Tyler Sash, Greg Jones, and of course fan favorite Mark Herzlich all walked into a great situation and made the most of it to this point.  These are the names along with Zak DeOssie, Da’rel Scott, and Devin Thomas that you will hear all year long when it comes to Special Teams play.  The Giants had a plan to get faster and more athletic and this roster shows that.  There has been an out cry from fans for the past years about the lack of Linebacker talent on this team, well that has been addressed through the draft for this year and for years to come.  I personally believe that Mark Herzlich will be a long time success in the NFL.  Greg Jones could be another London Fletcher, a guy that everyone says is too small, but does nothing but make plays, and Jacquian Williams may be the fastest and quickest Linebacker we have had since the Glory Days of Banks and Taylor in New York.  This is the first step in revamping the Special Teams, and along with Steve Weatherford I think it will be  successful one.  The one thing that will make this make-over a total success?  Jerrel Jernigan will settle down, learn the fair catch signal, and understand that possession is the key to punt returning.  This is not a video game anymore, this is the NFL.