Last year before the very first game of the season, the rumor was the Washington Redskins were planning on stacking the box against the Giants and it had everyone, including yours truly, worried.
Then Eli Manning had an interview and gave every single one of us hope that the Giants offense was on its way to being an execution machine, even though it didn’t have a single veteran receiver to speak of. The key, as Manning explained — was going to be utilizing short passes and hitting receivers in motion to create big plays. He succinctly said last year in the days before the Giants very first outing:
"I think we have receivers who can make plays. Guys who can get down the field, guys who can break tackles and we are going to see what the defense is doing and make our adjustments. If I can get us in and out of good plays, I think we have the guys out wide who can be explosive and get down the field and do some great things. It’s not like to hit big plays you have to throw it fifty yards down the field, you just have to hit guys on the move and guys have got to break tackles and you have to be effective blocking up front and throwing the ball. It is a combination, we are going to have a great mix of run and pass, but we have to be able to do both well.”"
How right he was. One year later, we can still look back on the beginnings of a great young offense and recognize the potential. The Giants offense last year was as tight a unit as we could have imagined — Steve Smith, Hakeem Nicks, Domenik Hixon, and Mario Manningham all emerged as significant weapons for the Giants and proved they were not the questionable unit they were billed to be that preceding offseason.
Now heading into week 5 of the 2010 season, and without Hixon in the lineup, although that same sense of potential is there…. things haven’t been exactly clicking on the same level for Eli Manning the Giants WR core.
First, Eli Manning is not hitting his short passes they way he was last year… and I have to wonder why he doesn’t look at the film and take his own advice. Move the chains, establish your rhythm moving the ball, then take your shots when they come. I can appreciate wanting to create big 50 yard gash plays off play action like the very first Giants play from scrimmage Sunday night, but you’ve not established that you can move the ball 5 yards through the air consistently. Get back to your game Eli, and you’ll get back to last years successful record on offense.
Hakeem Nicks has great numbers, but several dropped passes and tipped balls in the first 3 weeks have not only left opportunities on the field for the offense, they were detrimental to the defense with a few going for INTs and gave the opposition great field position with a strong likelihood they would score. For the first time all season, this past Sunday Nicks finally appeared to turn the corner and register 110 yards on 8 catches without a single drop. Is this a sign the troubles are over, or merely a very positive but isolated incident?
Mario Manningham, same drill. Tipped passes and sure catches that were dropped instead of converted for first downs. However, Manningham has shown that he has worked on his sideline awareness by creating separation, getting open deep down field and hauling in some crucial catches right along the boundary line. He still needs to show he can catch the ball in more status quo opportunities to move the chains.
And Steve Smith has not had quite as many targeted throws as you would think, coming off an incredible 100+ catch season and making the pro bowl. And not only that, he is still being sent on long routes to the outside on third downs — probably more than anything what’s keeping the Giants from converting first downs consistently. Eli worked him in more against the Titans with quick throws, but against the Bears those quick throws were non existent even though the middle of the field was often wide open.
Speaking of quick throws over the middle of the field — tight ends Kevin Boss and Travis Beckum have shown they can be a significant part of the offense in terms of the passing game. But after petitioning Kevin Gilbride to call the TEs numbers more often, it was a bad week to come down with a case of the dropsies #89.
And the other aspect of the quick throw offense that moves the chains — screen passes and dump off passes to RBs Ahmad Bradshaw and Brandon Jacobs need to be utilized more. There were several instances where the check down throw to Bradshaw would have yielded a first down, they weren’t capitalized on and the Giants were forced to punt. The failure to see these opportunities out of the backfield is troubling because they are consistently there, yet the Giants continue to sputter.
That brings me to my next thought — play calls. As a reminder of all the ways the Giants have shown they can mix it up against a heavy pass rush — here are the things I was looking for on offense last week that I never saw… these are plays they might want to put back into the playbook when they head on the road to face the Texans next week.
1) Hakeem Nicks and the bubble screen. A short pass well executed with a lot of moving parts is often a thing of beauty, and this play is no exception. On this particular play you can utilize your blocking by a fullback or lineman, a tight end, and two other receivers to open up a lane for the receiver to catch and run for a first down, and then some. I love this play call, and it wasn’t brought out against the Bears even though the Giants struggled to get anything going on offense well into the third quarter. But the Giants offensive unit executes it perfectly with all the Giants’ major strengths put to work…. blocking and ultimately relying on running the football. I have a feeling with the pressure on Eli Manning in Texas, we’ll need to see this play called next week.
Note: Ahmad Bradshaw runs a similar route, and we’ve seen it a couple times this season… each time with great success. But I worry that sending Bradshaw out wide like that can show your hand to the defense and blow the opportunity to show that play in a more deceptive light… ie) run it with a quick and elusive receiver instead like Nicks, Manningham, or give Victor Cruz a shot here.
2) Ahmad Bradshaw’s dump-off pass. When you hear the term safety valve in football, the dump-off pass is typically the type of thing brought to mind. However, this short pass to a back in the open field can be deadly when timed correctly, and Bradshaws’s vision and elusive abilities in the open field cannot be overstated. But let me be clear, this short pass need not only be the last option in a play designed to bring the ball elsewhere. Teams like the Bears and Eagles for example love to utilize their backs as receivers to that end. If you remember, the play that got the Eagles through to the Giants in the playoffs two years ago was a simple dump-off to Brian Westbrook, a designed play with ample blockers out front, the pressure on McNabb drew Minnesota’s line in and away from protection… a short flip pass over the line from McNabb and it was Westbrook was off to the races. These are the types of plays that will break your opponents back, because they are virtually unstoppable when the defense is all about the pass rush. But it seems like ever since Tiki Barber left, the Giants have largely gotten away from this bread-and-butter threat that plays right into what the Giants do well, block and run. Derrick Ward is gone now, so with Jacobs catching more passes this year, and with the explosive Ahmad Bradshaw waiting in the wings — I would love to see more of these types of short passes utilized in Kevin Gilbride’s offense. Like I said earlier, Eli had myriad opportunities with Bradshaw in space against the Bears and simply didn’t look for it.
3) Kevin Boss or Travis Beckum with a crossing route. These guys can usually catch a football, that much needs no elaboration. Second, they can run extremely well after the catch. Boss though is the better TE because he can block. And even though one particular play does not need to be highlighted here because we’ve seen it over and over from Boss, but just to be consistent he most recently turned a routine 20 yard pass on a crossing route into a 50 yard catch and run, putting the Giants immediately into scoring position. I don’t think crossing routes are actually short passes mind you, and they aren’t bombs down the field either. But where Manning talks about hitting guys on the move, these are the types of plays that can have a major impact in terms of getting the ball down field in a hurry. Kevin Boss has practically perfected the art of the crossing pattern, and he needs to have more catches this year, period. I say it every year — but Boss has yet to be truly utilized in this offense. The time is NOW!
4) Steve Smith and the slant. Again, no specific play needs to be mentioned here because all last year and the year before, on 3rd down Eli was gunning for Smith typically on a slant… and the damage done. The beauty of this quick short pass is that an offense timed down in rhythm using these quick slants to move the ball cannot be stopped, they are deadly plain and simple. Steve Smith does extremely well in the slot, and although the Giants have toyed around with bringing him out wide, they really ought to keep him there this year and leave Manningham and Nicks out wide where they belong. Smith also can run that slant in the endzone, which becomes a timing pattern but it’s extremely deadly when Eli and Smith are in sync. Aaron Rogers is using the exact same play every game in the redzone, it works because it’s a 3 step drop that delivers a bullet in between the seams in the defense… timed right there’s really nothing that can be done about it. Eli is more than capable of throwing that ball — whether it be to Smith, Nicks or whoever. In the Superbowl against the Patriots he delivered to Tyree… it’s not made of magic like the helmet catch though. Being such a pedestrian call, I have yet to see it this year in the red zone for the Giants. LETS SEE IT!
5) The wideout screen. While used sparingly to keep defenses honest (as it should be) the wideout screen has not seen a ton of action this season. It’s not a rare gimmick, Plaxico Burress was often tossed a quick screen on a blitz and asked to make something happen. Hakeem Nicks and Mario Manningham both saw tons of it last year. And while this play is 50/50 at best in terms of effectiveness, I think if you only pick up a few yards per screen attempt its just as good as a closed down rushing attempt. The problem with it is, the Giants need those stubborn runs up the gut to set up the play action pass. In the end though, a first down is a first down and a touchdown is even better. If you’re bread and butter ain’t working for you that day, pull out the screen and try it on for size.