The NFC East is a tough division. After just one game the Giants were reminded of that fact. Despite penalties and sloppy play, the Dallas Cowboys outplayed the New York Giants to start the 2012 NFL season. What hurts for Giants fans is a play here or a play there, Wilson doesn't fumble or Boley goes all the way on that pick, and the game could have been different. This is quite common when reviewing the outcome of a one possession game. Football is a game of inches.
The Giants defense played very well in the first half. But a big concern going into this season, the Giants secondary, became even bigger after a hamstring injury to Michael Coe. Third stringer Justin Tryon became too much of a mismatch for Cowboys wide receiver Kyle Ogletree and he had a field day. After opening up that passing threat, the Cowboys were able to run the ball with Demarco Murray in the second half. It was tough for the Giants to get off the field, the only thing keeping Big Blue in the game was a remarkable amount of penalties from the Cowboys.
On offense the entire game was just sloppy. Eli was smart with the football as always, but Giants receivers really struggled to get open. And when they did get open, they had a serious case of the dropskies. Seriously it's time to call out Victor Cruz. Sure it's only one game but the Giants are seriously anticipating success from Cruz after last years record breaking season. He's set the bar high for himself. Catch the damn ball. As for the running game it looked exactly like it did last year, a range of mediocre to non-existant. Averaging two yards a carry is not gonna cut it. A lot of it has to do with playcalling, attempting to run when the Cowboys have a clear jailbreak run stop is not the smartest thing to do. Gilbride or Eli have to make sure that doesn't happen throughout the year. But when running the ball should have worked the Oline was simply overpowered. Can't get in on 1st and goal from the 3? Shameful on the big boys up front. Eli's quarterback magic should not be the only thing carrying this team. Time to wake up.
To the fans, there's something special about that kickoff game. To be the defending champs knowing everybody's watching with the beautiful news that football is back, that's enough to give any fan goosebumps. So watching the hated Cowboys dominate on our homefield feels catastrophic. After one game, fans are already going to complain.
So to the fans that dwell on the loss, enough. What's done is done. Starting 0-1 does not mean it's time to panic. It's the emotions that are wired to the hatred of the Cowboys that are talking. The Giants are still getting things together. There's a lot of personnel, and plenty of adjustments to be made. On defense, maybe it's time to consider running more of Antrel Rolle in the nickel so we have more experienced defenders in man to man coverage? On offense, maybe it's time to put more faith in Domenik Hixon after he made a phenominal catch in double coverage.
It's coaching, it's adjusting, it's football.
The Giants will be fine. The good news is we will get a second shot at the Cowboys. For now the only thing on the Giants mind should be the Bucs. The Gmen have a long time to prepare for that one and I'd be shocked if they didn't get a win after responding to this loss. Have faith in Coach Coughlin, the Giants will get back in their groove soon.
But for those of you that don't know, the Giants theme or motto this year has been, "build the bridge." The idea is to never be satisfied and stay hungry after success in recent years. One day when it's all said and done, these current Giants will look back without any regrets knowing they maximized their capabilities through hard work and dedication to the tradition of New York Giants football.
The Giants will build that bridge. Just wait and see. The Gmen will stay resilient and get things going again. After all, as defensive captain Justin Tuck said, "a bridge wasn't built in a day."
Stay true to the team Giants fans, keep believing in Big Blue. In the mean time, enjoy this years first official NFL Sunday. Happy football everyone.
This Blog represents my own personal opinion of everything New York Giants, other opinions are welcome and encouraged to be shared. All blogs are written by aspiring sports analyst and Giants fanatic Anthony Beers.
BELIEVE
it was interesting to see how Garrett adjusted to Romo's panic, after the first quarter. We didn't re-adjust. If he's doing 3-4 step drops, throwing at the weaker corners, slant routes, then you either jam 8 on the line and put more pressure, or pull the DE/LB's back and stand up and get into the passing lanes. Not done.
ReplyDeleteToo many drops, 6 by my count, would have had 24 pts. Still was hopeful with 2 min to go and ELI possibly with the ball, but that 11 yard first down was bad. Tryon was nervous, you need to let up a TD, get interference, knock it down or intercept it, playing off him is really the worst choice. Lastly, Wilson is faster and hits the hole better than Bradshaw, Ahmad stops at the line and Tom put Wilson in the doghouse due to the fumble but honestly think he has to re-assess this typical coaching reaction. Hard for me to say that, but we need the faster guy running. If they go 1-1 after Tampa (let's hope) all is right as reign but they should NOT look past Tampa Bay. Although I don't see a first year coach and Freeman making the same smart adjustments as Jason Garrett.