• Bill Polian and Chris Polian were both fired in Indy. Caldwell is “safe” for now.
• Raheem Morris was fired by Tampa. He went 17-31 in three years.
• Steve Spagnuolo was canned by the Rams. He went 10-38 in three years.

You better watch out

You surely will cry

Better to pout

I’m telling you why

Kevin Gilbrides’ coming to town

He’s calling a play

On 3rd down and 3 

Gonna be a draw play thats not successful, you see

Kevin Gilbrides’ coming to town

He dreams of screen passes when he’s sleeping

He knows a 1st down he wont make

 He knows that he’s been bad not good

So fire him for goodness sake!

 Oh! You better watch out!

 You surely will cry

 Better to pout

 I’m telling you why

Kevin Gilbrides’ coming to town!

Merry Christmas Kevin!

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On Friday I wrote my post about what to look for in the game Sunday when the Giants met the Redskins in New Jersey. I stated that the Redskins would pull out all the tricks and gadgets and try to mis-direction the Giants all day. I was shocked when the very first play was a flea-flicker (into the wind)that was intercepted by Corey Webster. The Giants D had passed their first test. However, after three straight incompletions by Eli, and his drop happy receivers, back on the field came the defense. Washington continued their tries at trickery until they seemed to realize, there was no need. The Giants couldn’t stop the straight ahead run, and to complete short passes against the Giants theses days is child’s play. A myriad of third and one, third and two, or three were converted with ease. The players continue to implore the crowd on every third down to get up and cheer, but the stops just seem to never come anymore. The fan in front of me finally yelled “Stop asking us to make the play.. Make a stop!”. (more…)

It appears that last week’s game against the Packers proved to be the moral victory that the Giants needed if they’re to avoid another late-season collapse and make the playoffs.

This game was a must-win for the Giants, and they rose to the occasion. It wasn’t a pretty victory, but you don’t get any style points in the NFL. A win is a win, and this was a particularly thrilling and satisfying one. Their 37-34 win (another fourth quarter comeback!) over the Cowboys gave them a half  game lead over Dallas in the NFC East.

Looks like the Giants-Cowboys showdown in the final week of the season is going to be a very significant one.

Observations from the game:

-There was, of course, lots of buzz about the fact that Ahmad Bradshaw didn’t start or play in the entire first half for disciplinary reasons. It sounded like he was late to curfew. I didn’t think it was as big a deal as so many people were making it out to be. Nothing wrong with Tom Coughlin sticking to his guns. And honestly, Brandon Jacobs played so well throughout the entire game- averaging close to six yards per carry- that the Giants didn’t really miss him too much.

The running game has looked much better in the past two weeks, which is an encouraging sign for a team that has struggled with running the ball all year, and needs to win big down the stretch.

-I wish Kevin Gilbride knew that he’s allowed to call a play in the red zone that’s not a fade in the back corner of the endzone. We all know that it’s coming at this point. Variety is the spice of life, so mix it up a little please.

-That’s not the only bone to pick with Gilbride’s play calling either. Towards both the end of the second quarter and a little more than halfway through the fourth, the Giants had a third and short around midfield and both times, Gilbride had Eli Manning take a shot downfield. Why would you not focus on getting the first down there? There’s the “they were trying to catch the defense off-guard” argument, but Dallas didn’t look fooled on either play to me. (more…)

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.

The game, although sloppy, was extremely entertaining in both the defense and offense side of the ball. Eli Manning had a pair of picks, but also had some spectacular throws that proved his elite status thus more. Alex Smith, the former 1st overall pick, did his best to shush the critics on his way to his 8th win of the season.

After the 27-20 loss many names started to get thrown around as to who was at fault. Manningham could have had a spectacular grab in the end zone had he laid out more. Manning had a costly interception on the drive before that set up the game winning drive. Diehl was not successful in covering Justin Smith that led to the turnover on downs, and the game ending.

These 3 man do take a share of blame for the loss, but the man that should be looked at more than anyone is Kevin Gilbride. His lack of creativity on the offensive side of the ball, and his need to run on almost every 2nd down is a great cause of concern. If a draw play was an actual person, I am pretty sure Kevin Gilbride would be married to it.

On the last drive of the game, Manningmanaged to convert 2 out of 3 desperation 4th down conversions. Pretty impressive if you ask me.

Just say No to Gilbride

While in striking distance of the redzone and what seemed to be another Eli Manning 4th quarter comeback, Gilbride did the opposite of his gameplan — He called a passing play on 2nd down. The ball went through Manningham’s hands, and Gilbrides attempt to look like a hero failed. The Giants were only 2 yards away from securing a 1st down, so wouldnt that be the perfect time to run it? Gilbride defies logic, goes for it, and fails. Then to make matters worse he runs it up the gut with DJ Ware instead of Brandon Jacobs on 3rd down and he comes up with no gain.

Incomplete pass, Turnover on Downs, Game over.

Now do not get me wrong, the whole team is at fault for the loss. A loss is the culmination of things not going right. But if you were watching the game or any game for that matter  involving the Giants, then you would see that Gilbride needs to be canned. Plain and simple.

 I don’t blame Buddy Ryan for punching him on the sideline in the Houston Oilers days. Lord knows I would.

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In his postgame interview, New York Giants’ LT David Diehl said,

“It’s a determination. We knew in order to win this football game, you can’t settle for field goals down there. So, we had that determination – “Hey we get it down there, we’re putting touchdowns up” and that was the case today. It was an awesome win.”

There is bittersweet irony in that statement. The obvious, the Giants were forced into kicking 3 FGs yesterday against a solid Buffalo Bills defense, one of which was blocked from 50 yards out. The not so obvious, the Gmen are dead LAST in the FG department throughout the league. That might sound jarring, if it were any other category. But our Boys In Blue have been very successful down in the red zone thus far in the season and have been registering more touchdowns this year than those, quite often, disappointing 3 pointers. Is this the secret to their overwhelming, under the radar success? Read on my friends.
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What I noticed through my scattered chit-chat and banter was one thing every Giants fan agreed on – Kevin Gilbride needs to go.

You can call him Captain Draw Play, Mr. Screen Pass, or “The Drive Killer”. All of these nicknames are suitable for the Giants offensive coordinator.  

He might be the most predictable coordinator in all of the NFL.

Trickery? Dream on. Utilizing Bradshaw and Jacobs properly? Not since the Super Bowl run. Stunting Eli’s growth? Yep, he does that just fine.

"Ok, Eli we are going to send Jacobs up the gut." "Coach, its 3rd and 12"

The 3 biggest boo’s I heard out of Mondays game were for Eli Manning, Kevin Gilbride, and Aaron Ross. All are warranted. But I do believe that the reason Eli has looked the way he has the last 2 years comes down to Gilbride’s play calling. He stripped the confidence Eli had after the Super Bowl win (along with a Plax gun shot), and has made him look like a turnover machine.

Every time the Giants get a 3rd down, I cringe. Will Brandon Jacobs get stopped again? Will the screen pass to Bradshaw actually work? Is Eli going to through the ball into the chest… of the opposing team? The fact that I think of these scenarios all the time is because they always happen. Gilbride is a plain jane coordinator who has turned Eli into a plain jane quarterback.

If the Giants plan to go anywhere this year, and the future,then they need to fire Gilbride. Jerry Reese rarely listens to the fans and rightly so, but this is a no-brainer.

If Gilbride goes, so does the offense. And by going, I mean in the right direction. Do us all a favor Jerry, pull out the pink slip.

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I’ll give you fine GMEN HQ readers a quote and you have to tell me who said it. Your options are:

• A)  Offensive Coordinator Kevin Gilbride
• B)   A disgruntled New York Giants fan

All right, are you ready for this? I sure hope so…

Quote #1: “The powers above me made that decision [that] we needed to add this additional receiver.”

Quote #2: “We had wanted all along Steve Smith back, and that was the objective, that was the hope and the expectation…”

Quote #3: “…But when that didn’t happen, then we have two young guys [Cruz and Jernigan] that we think can do it.”

Quote #4: “I think [Stokley] will bring something to the table that we are looking forward to having and what we were really in need of since Steve Smith’s injury.”

Okay, ring the bell, the game is over. Now let’s get to the scorecard.

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