One of my favorite and unbiased sport stats sites Pro Football Focus recently posted the Panters @ Giants game with player rankings. Let’s take a look inside and see what it entails:
Clipped from: www.profootballfocus.com (share this clip)
"GIANTSA first-quarter concussion suffered by TE Kevin Boss was not a good thing for the Giants. In his place Sunday (and indefinitely going forward) was Travis Beckum (-3.7), who struggled mightily in run blocking. This guy played very sparingly in 2009 (65 total snaps), and depth is thin enough that tackle William Beatty saw 24 snaps as a second tight end. Bear Pascoe, up from practice squad, will fill that No. 2 TE job this weekend, but the loss of Boss (No. 3 PFF run-blocker in 2009) for any considerable amount of time is a huge blow.Beckum wasn’t the only skill position player to suffer, as Madison Hedgecock (-4.3) got off to a terrible start to the season, much as he did a year ago (three really bad games in the first month). Not only was the fullback ineffective, but his presence in the game might as well have represented a “RUN!” sign on Eli Manning’s helmet. He played 34 snaps, and the Giants ran it on 29 of those snaps."
The thing to think about here is this — with Beatty playing TE as needed now, and with Hedgecock and Pascoe in the mix as the main blockers for the Giants it does telegraph the play call a little bit more than I’m sure the Giants would like. And I discussed this a bit in my article Unpacking the Win earlier this week, the Giants need to figure out how to stay dynamic in their plays calls and continue to deceive using their personnel packages. It’s simply harder to stay deceptive with guys like Hedgecock and Beatty in the picture.
My suggestion is to start showing some different sets, like the Pro Set we saw with Bradshaw and Jacobs in the backfield at the same time. The benefits are numerous:
• Jacobs is built like a fullback, just like the Eagles’ Leonard Weaver. And not only can Jacobs block well, he can catch and run much better than Madison Hedgecock. So he might as well be on the field more often than Hedge.
• Jacobs and Bradshaw can both pick up a blitz with the best of them, that frees up one to get into a quick route, or both if everyone somehow drops back into coverage.
• It also allows Travis Beckum to simply chip and then get into his own open space for Eli’s last chance scan.
• It still allows 2 receivers to make something happen 1-1 outside, a recipe for success if your name is Mario Manningham or Hakeem Nicks.
• It provides baked in deception: hey defense, where is the ball going? Are they running or throwing and what side of the field is it happening on? Your guess is as good as mine.
I want to see this package more often this season, we saw a glimpse in preseason and it came on a busted play, give it its due attention Coach Gilbride.
"The defensive effort was truly a team affair — they made plays at all three levels, and almost everyone on the D made impacts. Finding a way to get DRE Osi Umenyiora (+3.5) and WLB Matthias Kiwanuka (+4.1) on the field at the same time paid big dividends. They combined for 3 sacks and 7 pressures in their combined 59 pass rushes."
Glad the Giants found a way to make the team happy, make them more dangerous and have the best players on the field for the right times. Kudos to Perry Fewell and his defensive coaching staff for the approach.
"ROOKIE REPORTDE Jason Pierre-Paul was the most underwhelming player in the Giants’ regular rotation, getting just a single pressure over 17 rushes (although that owed something to being beaten to the punch)."
Coughlin says JPP is a force, particularly on special teams. For a guy that hasn’t played much, I’m willing to take the limited upside right now and get some reps in when the team is up by 2 scores.
"RANDOM NOTESPanthers C Ryan Kalil only allowed 2 sacks in all of 2009 but matched it by allowing a pair in the openerBarry Cofield picked up a quarterback sack and pressure on consecutive plays but managed nothing else the other 23 times he rushed the passer"
Just goes to show you that the Giants defense was able to get fired up at the call of duty and deliver a much needed win. Surprised Justin Tuck wasn’t mentioned in this article with his pressures and crucial run stops throughout the game. He nearly decapitated Jimmy Clausen in the end zone as well.