Aug 2, 2010; Albany, NY, USA; New York Giants defensive coordinator Perry Fewell holds up a play card for his players during training camp in Albany. Mandatory Credit: Noah K. Murray/THE STAR-LEDGER via US PRESSWIRE

As OTA’s get started and training camp right around the corner, what are the keys to watch for this season? For the Giants to get a playoff birth and make another run at the title they will need to fill the holes of outgoing players and upgrade at a few other areas.

1. Who will be the Victor Cruz of 2012? When Steve Smith departing last offseason there was a huge question mark at the WR position. Thankfully out of virtually no where Cruz emerged and had a monster season finishing behind only Calvin Johnson in recieving yards in the NFC.  With Mario Manningham gone to the left coast and now a question mark on Hakeem Nicks season the WR position has yet again become a problem area. So, who will step up? As of now we have Cruz, Domenik Hixon coming off injury, and rookie Rueban Randle as the likely top 3. After that it’s  Ramses Bardan and Jerrel Jernigan both of which have yet to show any promise. Hopefully Nicks can return to form by week 4 or 5.

2. The linebacker position seems to be the opposite of last year at this time. With Chase Blackburn being re-signed and emerging as a force in the middle and the signing of Keith Rivers from Cincinnati really will solidify the LB corp with Boley and Kiwi flipping between LB and End. And the experience that Williams, Jones and Herzlich gained last year filling in now makes this a strength and no longer the weak link of the defense.

3. The running game had an extremely lack luster year in 2011. Being non existent for most of the year only emerging in the latter part of the regular season and the playoffs, mainly due to the respect for Eli and fear of the big play, needs to be better. With Jacobs joining Manningham in SF and DJ Ware and Da’rel Scott showing very little last season it was clear that Bradshaw would need help. The Giants turned to the Draft and picked David Wilson. With Bradshaw always fighting injuries from his running style and Wilson being a rookie it would appear the G-Men will probably go to a 3 headed running attack with Bradshaw, Ware and Wilson. But this area will be a question with only 1 back That is battle tested.

4. The Offensive Line had an up and down year in 2011, giving good protection in the passing game and poor run blocking. The one constant on the line has been and will be Chris Snee at right guard. With Kareem McKenzie not being re-signed mean that Will Beatty and James Brewer fighting for right tackle, off season signing Sean Locklear with provide depth. The left side appears it will be David Diehl at LT and Kevin Boothe and Mitch Petreus battling for RG. Petreus would add needed toughness and help for the running game. David Baas had a rough start, but seemed to settle in at the center position nicely.

These questions should be answered by the end of training camp and will be key areas that will need to be solid for the Giants to make another run to the playoffs and possible championship.

-The Giants run defense had, for the most part, been playing much better in the last two games of the season and it carried over into this game. It’s just about impossible to contain a running back like Michael Turner but the Giants defense did a fine job of limiting his productivity today.

-Not only has the Giants run defense improved but so has their own productivity on the ground. And both Brandon Jacobs and Ahmad Bradshaw have had more success when the Giants run the ball behind left guard Kevin Boothe, not right tackle Kareem McKenzie. McKenzie has been rather soft on run blocking all year and he looked lost at times today, especially on the safety where he failed to pick up the blitz. But when they run it to the left behind Boothe, or pull him to the right, it is overall more effective.

-I bet Mike Smith wished that he’d kicked those two field goals instead of going for it on fourth and short, especially the first one when the game was still 0-0. He would’ve had less of a deficit to overcome in the fourth quarter.

-Speaking of fourth and short, do the Giants have the best fourth down, short yardage defense in the NFL? They stuffed the Cowboys on fourth and short last week and managed to contain the Falcons both times they went for it. Atlanta was in Giants territory both times too, so they could’ve easily could’ve come away with six points instead of turning the ball over on downs.

-The defense choose the right time in the season to get hot. They pitched a shutout today, since Atlanta’s only points came off a safety. Not too shabby considering they were facing a team that can boast Turner, Julio Jones, Roddy White and Matt Ryan. Kudos to them for holding the fort while the offense was trying to find their rhythm.

-It’s nice to have two quality receivers, isn’t it? The Falcons focused on shutting down Victor Cruz, allowing Hakeem Nicks to run wild and get two touchdowns.

-Congratulations to Eli Manning and Tom Coughlin for their first home playoff victory! Remember, the Giants won four straight road games in their playoff/Super Bowl run in 2008 since they’d gotten into the postseason as a wild card team. It was also Manning’s first career playoff win outside of their Super Bowl winning season.

-Overall, it was another complete team victory for the Giants. Their play definitely got better as the game went on and once they were settled in, they dominated the Falcons. If they play like this, next week’s game against the Packers should be another close game.

2012 started off on the right foot for the New York Giants and their fans as they defeated the Dallas Cowboys for the second time this season by a 31-14 margin to clinch the NFC East title, guaranteeing at least one more week of New York Giants football in perhaps the sweetest fashion possible. The Giants will face the Atlanta Falcons in New York next Sunday in the first round of the playoffs.

Thoughts from the game-

-Surprise, surprise- Victor Cruz came up big once again. What else is there left to say about him that hasn’t already been said?

-Hakeem Nicks get a lot of attention for his receiving talents (and rightly so). But he also deserves to get some props for the job that he does when it comes to blocking downfield for his teammates. If he doesn’t make the blocks that he did on Cruz’s touchdown catch and Ahmad Bradshaw’s first tally, those guys might not have scored.

-Travis Beckham really needs to work on his blocking. He struggled last week against the Jets and again tonight against Dallas. The Giants are definitely missing Jake Ballard in that regard.

-My fondness for Henry Hynoski continues to grow. It’s nice to have a fullback with hands, isn’t it?

-Eli Manning’s touchdown to Nicks was his fifteenth of the season in the fourth quarter- a new NFL record.

-Speaking of Eli Manning, it was mentioned tonight that his pocket awareness and movement has been so much better this year than in previous seasons, and that has a lot to do with his success this year. I could not agree more.

-It’s amazing how much better the entire Giants defense plays when the defensive line dominates. And it wasn’t just Jason Pierre-Paul getting pressure tonight. Justin Tuck, Osi Umenyiora, Mathias Kiwanuka, and Chris Canty all contributed. New York managed six sacks tonight and Tony Romo never really got much of a chance to get comfortable.

-The Giants did manage to get a few breaks tonight, managing to recover one fumble and then DeMarcus Ware being flagged for jumping offsides when the Cowboys recovered another Giants fumble.

-The offensive line has consistently played well as a whole in the past week or two. Jay Ratliff and Ware hardly got a sniff at Manning all night. The Giants running game still isn’t a strong as I’d like but they’re definitely better off running the ball to Kevin Boothe’s side when he’s in at guard.

-It was, once again, an overall team effort, with both the offense and defense playing well. The defense managed to contain the Cowboys well and the offense was able to score when needed. The Giants are on a bit of a hot streak right now and if they play like they did tonight, they can beat just about any team they’re up against.

The Giants are now 6-5 on the season and two games out of the NFC East lead. Still, the season still has potential to be salvaged with two huge games against the Cowboys looming after undefeated Green Bay comes into town next week.

Some observations from the game:

-I don’t know if Kevin Boothe and Stacy Andrews really make that much of a difference but the offensive line looked much better overall against the Saints. Unlike last week against the Eagles, Eli Manning had enough time to throw and the whole offense looked better as a result. The running game still didn’t look very strong but at least they gave Jacobs some holes to work with this week. It’s also worth noting that the o-line did not commit any costly holding penalties for what felt like the first time this year. Those have hindered the Giants all season. Need I remind everyone of the one that killed a New York drive in the San Francisco game?

-Hakeem Nicks looked like his old self for the first time in weeks. Look at the screen pass he caught on the Giants’ last drive of the first half, where he shook two defenders in order to get a first down. It would appear as if he is finally 100% healthy. So of course he sustained a bruised rib

-I cannot for the life of understand why Kevin Gilbride thinks it’s a good idea to try and get Brandon Jacobs to run wide. He may not be the Jacobs of 2008 but he’s still somewhat effective when he’s putting his shoulder down, plowing people over and getting going downhill, as he did on the touchdown run.

-The Giants’ struggles in most aspects have been pretty well-documented but one area where they’ve been weak but hasn’t been talked about much is punt and kick returns. They haven’t had much success in gaining a lot of positive yardage after the catch, no matter who is returning punts and kicks. But it looks as if Da’Rell Scott has changed that. Several times he was one broken tackle away from breaking loose.

-After last week’s game against the Eagles, Giants fans were understandably nervous about the linebackers defending passes up the middle. Well that concern wound up taking the back seat. Big plays absolutely killed the Giants all night. It felt like that gave up more big plays in this game alone than the rest of the season combined.

-Where oh where has the Giants pass rush gone? They’ve led the league in sacks for a good part of the year but for the second week in a row, they’ve gotten minimal pressure on the opposing quarterback. And when the defensive front isn’t applying pressure, it really exposes the weakness in New York’s secondary, which leads to them giving up the aforementioned big plays.

-For the first time in 23 games, New York did not have a defensive takeaway.

-Giants fans have many reasons to be grateful for Victor Cruz and this game showed why. He (along with Manning) continued to play hard, even when it was clear that the game was out of the Giants’ hands. Those are the kind of guys you want on your team. He also showed good awareness by not doing his famous salsa dance celebration after either of his two touchdown catches. Both of those two little things demonstrated that he’s a character guy and I’ll take that any day of the week. He’s only 43 yards away from crossing the 1000 yards receiving mark. Not bad for a guy who wasn’t drafted, huh?

He still needs to work on his dropped passes though.

-I’m sorry but the Da’Rel Scott fumble was bogus. His elbow and forearm were clearly down before the ball came loose. I don’t know what they refs were looking at on that review. It should’ve been overturned. I have no other complaints about the officiating in the game otherwise but the Giants losing that challenge stung.

Source: Sean Kerr

Memorial Day weekend started early for Giants fans this year and on a very positive note to boot. With weather forecasters predicting rain over the holiday, and on a seemingly overcast night, the left tackle for the New York Giants brought a heaping portion of sunshine for all to enjoy, as well as a few friends.

David Diehl hosted the Big Blue Moon Charity Event on Thursday, May 26, 2011 at The Garden @ Studio Square in Queens, NY. Diehl is 6′ 5″, 319 lbs but with the passion and motivation that he has for his charity, it is safe to say that his heart is twice the size.
(more…)