Team Grades: Who Is To Blame? Giants Lay An Egg in Philadelphia
By Curt Macysyn
The New York Giants (3-3) felt good coming into an important NFC East contest against the Philadelphia Eagles (5-1) on Sunday Night Football, as the G-men were riding a three-game winning streak. But New York's momentum was stopped dead in its tracks as the host Eagles thoroughly confounded and confused the visitors into a 27-0 manhandling at Lincoln Financial Field.
If Giant fans want to point fingers, then they have plenty of choices after this game. New York's defense could not stop Philadelphia's offense, and the Giants' offense could not block the Eagles' defense. If that was not enough, Big Blue's special teams gave up a long run back, and Steve Weatherford had a punt deflected as his protection broke down in the first half.
OFFENSE: F
Quarterback Eli Manning thought his protection issues were part of the past, but he was sadly mistaken. Manning was sacked three times in the first quarter alone, as the offense line could not handle anything that the Eagles threw at them. The result was eight sacks in the game. To understand how inept the Giants offense was, understand that Steve Weatherford punted six times in the first half alone.
Hello New York Giants, the 1980s wants its offense back. No doubt that rookie Andre Williams looks like a powerful runner, but he bulls through tacklers and rarely makes them miss. Ditto for Peyton Hillis. Unless both of them can get a head of steam, they are largely ineffective. With the rest of the NFL focusing on speed, the Giants player acquisition still may think that Bill Parcells is in charge.
The biggest story coming out of this game was the complete ineffectiveness of the offensive line. Justin Pugh suffered through his worst game as a professional and was schooled consistently by Trent Cole and Connor Barwin. Rookie Weston Richburg committed a stupid unnecessary roughness penalty in the second quarter that put the Giants in a hole as they were trying desperately to get traction. Will Beatty's holding call nullified a Larry Donnell touchdown in the third quarter. Guard John Jerry added to the futility with a couple of false start penalties.
Moving forward the Giants will have to go without Victor Cruz, who reportedly tore his patella tendon in his knee in the third quarter, and according to reports, he spent the night in a Philadelphia hospital. Outside of five catches by Rueben Randle, the passing game was ineffective as well when the game was in reach, which was not very long.
Why Manning was still in the game with four minutes left is anyone's guess.
DEFENSE: D
A team is only as good as its weakest link, and the New York Giants are suffering from not hitting on all cylinders in the defensive secondary. Safety Stevie Brown was benched in favor of Quintin Demps, who has been porous in coverage thus far. Demps blew a coverage that resulted in a James Casey 26-yard touchdown catch in the second quarter.
Slumping LeSean McCoy came into the game averaging 2.9 yards per carry, but he got well in a hurry as he shredded the Giants for 149 yards on the ground and 6.8 yards per carry. New York could never set the edge, and McCoy seemed like he made the first tackler miss all night. The result was an inability to stop the Eagles rushing attack to the tune of 203 total rushing yards and a 5.6 yards per carry average, which was actually lowered by the Eagles running out the clock.
Quarterback Nick Foles made a couple of mistakes that will likely get swept under the rug because of the lopsided score. Foles threw two ill-advised interceptions, one right before the half that took the Birds out of a scoring chance. Zack Bowman, subbing for an injured Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie and stepped in front of a Foles' pass.
Give defensive coordinator Perry Fewell some credit, he switched Jason Pierre-Paul to the left side for a more favorable match-up against Lane Johnson, but it simply was not enough. The pass rush could never get going, and perhaps Jason Pierre-Paul will never reach his 2011 statistics again. The Giants never replaced Osi Umenyiora two years ago and have not replaced Justin Tuck after last season.
SPECIAL TEAMS: C
Thankfully punter Steve Weatherford is a workout buff, because he was put to the test by hammering ten punts. Weatherford had a punt defected in the second quarter as the protection broke down. The unit also gave up a 43-yard punt return by Darren Sproles in the first half. Perhaps Weatherford should ask for overtime pay, as he averaged a stout 47.7 yards per punt.
In his only appearance, kicker Josh Brown booted a kickoff out of the end zone for a touchback.
For more Giants news and updates, visit Giants Central.
Curt Macysyn has been covering the New York Football Giants for the past two seasons for Examiner.com. Born and raised in northern New Jersey, Curt has followed and covered the New York Metropolitan sports scene for 35 years. He attended Seton Hall Prep School in South Orange, NJ and is a graduate of Rutgers University, New Brunswick. His work can be found on aExaminer.com.
