2014 NFL Regular Season, Week 9

[ColtCrazy]

I watch the Colts D tonight and how they did against the Bengals and Ravens and just think…WTF happened against the Steelers?

As for the Manning/Brady debate…it'll go on forever. I would pick Manning, but I can see why someone would pick Brady. It's all funny considering just a month ago we were putting Brady out to pasture and now everyone is down on Manning. Just enjoy these guys while they are still playing. Love them or hate them, the league won't be the same in 3-4 years.

WOW…..How the hell did TY get that? He is something else. TY has a knack of electric plays.

[miami_fan]

Given the differences between the Steelers, Ravens and Giants offenses that we have seen over the last 24 hours, I would say the Steelers offense are just better than the other two right now.

[Bigsmooth]

No doubt in my mind the Giants will come out to Seattle next weekend and look good. This league cray.

[Logan]

Originally Posted by Sun Tzu

Whatever. Greg Roman needs to turn play-calling duties over to Harbaugh in the Red Zone.

Psh.

It's been an issue for 3.5 years already. I'm guessing they're on the same page.

edit with Red Zone TD Percentage:

2011: 30th (40%)
2012: 15th (55%)
2013: 15th (53%)
2014: 32nd (40%)

[SteveMax58]

I guess this will be my running list of "things the Giants don't know, yet everybody else does".

1. You need taller WRs than what you have.

Yes, Beckham looks good and Cruz is no giant either (no pun intended), but the goal of talent acquisition for a QB like Eli (i.e. generally puts the ball where it needs to be, just a hair off many times) should not be to find short, quick, with average hands WRs (boy it would be great if they actually had average hands). It should be to find guys that are tall(ish) and have great hands...at the expense of speed/quickness if thats what you have to do. Naturally everybody wants Megatron but thats called tradeoffs, and we've gone the opposite direction from where we should be...for our QB.


2. Stubbornly running right into the middle of the D-line, when EVERY D-line overpowers our G/C/G trio, is not "establishing the run". It is foolish and a waste of a down.


3. You have to play the better performing players...and sit those who are NOT performing.

Doesn't matter who they are, where they were picked, or how long they've played for the team. Any team that doesn't do this will inevitably have games just like last night...the players that need to get better "don't get the message" and those who are playing hard start to mail it in towards the end as they keep seeing the same problems not get addressed.

-- Robert Ayers once again proved he belongs in front of Kiwanuka and yes, JPP on that depth chart. Yet again he's the only guy playing like he wants to get to the QB.

-- JPP has proven to be incapable of sustained play at a high level and should be a situational run defender at most. His passrush ability is completely gone. A good example of this was the FF Robert Ayers created. If JPP was getting even a pedestrian level of pressure, he would have been in position to fall on that ball (true for the 2 DTs as well). Of course, JPP was doing what he does most often these days...stood up & getting dominated by an average LT, and thus was nowhere near the ball on the ground.

-- And if Justin Pugh doesnt get his act together soon, acknowledge you took a 5th rd talent in the 1st rd and relegate him to a filler role. He lacks the strength to be dominant at RT, and lacks the quickness/hands to be dominant at LT. Thats not what you draft in the 1st rd...no matter what school he went to.

-- Put Richburg (when healthy again) as your C and let the vets move elsewhere. Richburg was a great find in the 2nd rd and you should be grooming him to anchor your O-line at C for the next 10 years. Let Walton move to G as he'll be gone soon enough and likely has enough experience to make that move anyway.


4. Stop targeting your most lopsided (favoring the other team) WR/CB matchup.

Reuben Randle vs Vontae Davis??? Really, this is where we want to target deep (or at all)? You mean not Beckham vs Yoman Jones on the other side? Not Donnell vs a LB or SS? Who keeps calling these plays with these bad routes anyway?? And why do they never have anybody over the middle or deep getting open or 1-on-1? If you have the right mix of routes...you should be getting good looks in 1 of those areas assuming enough time (and Eli had that last night at least).


5. Coughlin doesn't have the answers.

Coughlin is too rigid. He wants player X to do Y action. Doesn't matter that player X isn't tall enough, strong enough, or fast enough. Doesn't matter that player X is actually quite capable of doing something else very well. Ideally his coordinators would better address how to use the talent we have most effectively. He doesn't have that happening, so either he doesn't recognize the problem, or doesn't step in to correct it. My bet is on the former but does it really matter why?