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Tale of the Tape
1:52 PM Tue, Jan 08, 2008 | Permalink
Albert Breer E-mail News tips
Here’s what I caught from the Giants-Buccaneers tape from Sunday:
 If there’s one thing that really worrisome about the Giants passing game, it seems to be the ability of the receivers to make sight adjustments and find holes in zones. Early on Sunday, the Buccaneers were dropping a safety into the box and, without a whole lot of help over the top, playing their corners 8 and 9 yards off the ball. And the Giants picked them apart for it. The Giants receivers would hook up at 4 or 5 yards, and Eli Manning would quickly get them the ball. It was absolutely prevalent in the second quarter, when Manning piloted touchdown drives of eight and seven plays. The Bucs tried to disguise at times, lining corners up close to the line, then having them bail before the snap. But none of it worked. The Giants receivers consistently adjusted on the fly. The Cowboys generally player their corners off the ball, so this is a concern, because it negates the pass rush (with the ball gone so quick) and moves the chains. This is a matter of Manning being patient and taking what the defense gave him, something he hasn’t always done. The other thing you see is how Manning relies on Amani Toomer to shuffle and sit down in holes in the zone, something that the receiver is very, very good at, and something that a zone-heavy team like Dallas should be concerned with.
 Another thing Manning did well, that he hasn’t always done well in the past, is deal with the blitz. He consistently identified where the extra man was coming from, and got the ball there quick enough to prevent the defense from covering the hole in the coverage. How do the Cowboys deal with these things? Well, for one thing, they’ll have to find a way to mix coverages, and they’ll probably have to play their corners tighter to the line, since Manning is suddenly content to work the ball down the field slowly. Otherwise, as Manning showed Sunday, he’ll be able to nickel and dime the Cowboys to death. On the upside, the Buccaneers’ blitz packages tend to be more vanilla – four linemen and one extra rusher – than the Cowboys’ rush schemes. As such, the Bucs rush is much easier for a quarterback to decipher with, and make quick decisions against. Against Tampa, in a lot of cases, it’s a matter of winning one-on-ones, and the Giants did that up front, even with a backup center making the start. They left their linemen with five blocking five and six blocking six in some cases, and Eli barely got hit all afternoon.
 In regards to the above, an enormous key for the Cowboys will be tackling in the secondary. The Giants boast big, strong receivers who turn upfield quickly, break tackles and make defenders miss, sort of like the typical playmakers in a classic West Coast offense would. The Bucs’ tackling in the secondary, and even by the linebackers in the passing game, was abysmal. If you take bad angles and can’t get a good shot on these guys, they won’t go down.
 All that said, the Giants running game wasn’t overly impressive. Part of that was the Bucs’ insistence on stopping it. Part of it was the loss of starting center Shaun O’Hara, whom would probably key any effort to get things going through the heart of the Bucs defense, instead of going laterally, which didn’t work against a swift Tampa front. But by the end of the game, those long, grinding drives took their toll on the Bucs. And to me, by game’s end, Ahmad Bradshaw looked like a better back than Brandon Jacobs. The rookie seems to have to better vision, and runs with more patience and decisiveness (no, those things aren’t mutually exclusive) than the big guy. Plus, the zone runs that the New York line blocked well seemed more tuned in with Bradshaw’s slashing style. Those have been problematic for a Cowboys defense that’s been caught in overpursuit of late.
 Michael Strahan gets a ton of attention for his acumen as a pass rusher. But the guy is much more than that. He’s a tenacious run player that’s capable of closing off the strong-side of an offense, and he absolutely manhandled Bucs right tackle Jeremy Trueblood in this game. Proof? Alright, go to Tampa’s first touchdown drive. Justin Tuck came in for Strahan for that series, and played the first six plays at left end. Earnest Graham went for 20 yards on three carries. The rest of the game, he had 43 yards on 15 carries. And then, you have the smarts he plays with. Like how he snuffed out a screen in the second quarter, by recognizing and back blocking him alone, and peeling off to cover him. Or how he ran down Joey Galloway on a first-quarter end-around. At 36, this guy’s playing like a Hall of Famer, and that’s not just on third down, like some pass rushers.
 I would think the Cowboys should be able to exploit the Giants base defense, where they have Barry Cofield on the nose. Cofield settled down and played fine later in the game, but early on – against an offensive line that’s not that good – he was blocked out of some running plays, and ran his way out of others. Tampa was able to chew out tough yards in the middle as a result. The other spot Tampa caught the Giants was by sending backs over the middle, and getting them matched up on the linebackers. New York seems to leave their base 4-3 personnel in longer than most, waiting in some cases until third down, and that cost them some.
 The Giants’ pass rush only had one sack. But it’s hard to question it’s effectiveness, and the job Steve Spagnuolo did in pulling the strings. In some ways, the defense looks like a cousin of the Steelers, working on deception to make a quarterback believe more rushers are coming than really are. Spagnuolo was unafraid to drop his ends off into back-side flat coverage, and overload the rush to one side or another, and as I said in the rush analysis, this forced quick throws with defenders zoned in close proximity to make the tackle.
 And why was it effective? Because the Giants were comfortable enough with their defensive backs, a group that will likely get Sam Madison back this week, to mix coverages. And what will force them to play differently? Terrell Owens, that’s what. The Giants turned it up once Joey Galloway was hobbled, and the Bucs had no chance. So getting T.O. back could well be the difference between winning and losing this week.
1:52 PM Tue, Jan 08, 2008 | Permalink
Albert Breer E-mail News tips
Here’s what I caught from the Giants-Buccaneers tape from Sunday:
 If there’s one thing that really worrisome about the Giants passing game, it seems to be the ability of the receivers to make sight adjustments and find holes in zones. Early on Sunday, the Buccaneers were dropping a safety into the box and, without a whole lot of help over the top, playing their corners 8 and 9 yards off the ball. And the Giants picked them apart for it. The Giants receivers would hook up at 4 or 5 yards, and Eli Manning would quickly get them the ball. It was absolutely prevalent in the second quarter, when Manning piloted touchdown drives of eight and seven plays. The Bucs tried to disguise at times, lining corners up close to the line, then having them bail before the snap. But none of it worked. The Giants receivers consistently adjusted on the fly. The Cowboys generally player their corners off the ball, so this is a concern, because it negates the pass rush (with the ball gone so quick) and moves the chains. This is a matter of Manning being patient and taking what the defense gave him, something he hasn’t always done. The other thing you see is how Manning relies on Amani Toomer to shuffle and sit down in holes in the zone, something that the receiver is very, very good at, and something that a zone-heavy team like Dallas should be concerned with.
 Another thing Manning did well, that he hasn’t always done well in the past, is deal with the blitz. He consistently identified where the extra man was coming from, and got the ball there quick enough to prevent the defense from covering the hole in the coverage. How do the Cowboys deal with these things? Well, for one thing, they’ll have to find a way to mix coverages, and they’ll probably have to play their corners tighter to the line, since Manning is suddenly content to work the ball down the field slowly. Otherwise, as Manning showed Sunday, he’ll be able to nickel and dime the Cowboys to death. On the upside, the Buccaneers’ blitz packages tend to be more vanilla – four linemen and one extra rusher – than the Cowboys’ rush schemes. As such, the Bucs rush is much easier for a quarterback to decipher with, and make quick decisions against. Against Tampa, in a lot of cases, it’s a matter of winning one-on-ones, and the Giants did that up front, even with a backup center making the start. They left their linemen with five blocking five and six blocking six in some cases, and Eli barely got hit all afternoon.
 In regards to the above, an enormous key for the Cowboys will be tackling in the secondary. The Giants boast big, strong receivers who turn upfield quickly, break tackles and make defenders miss, sort of like the typical playmakers in a classic West Coast offense would. The Bucs’ tackling in the secondary, and even by the linebackers in the passing game, was abysmal. If you take bad angles and can’t get a good shot on these guys, they won’t go down.
 All that said, the Giants running game wasn’t overly impressive. Part of that was the Bucs’ insistence on stopping it. Part of it was the loss of starting center Shaun O’Hara, whom would probably key any effort to get things going through the heart of the Bucs defense, instead of going laterally, which didn’t work against a swift Tampa front. But by the end of the game, those long, grinding drives took their toll on the Bucs. And to me, by game’s end, Ahmad Bradshaw looked like a better back than Brandon Jacobs. The rookie seems to have to better vision, and runs with more patience and decisiveness (no, those things aren’t mutually exclusive) than the big guy. Plus, the zone runs that the New York line blocked well seemed more tuned in with Bradshaw’s slashing style. Those have been problematic for a Cowboys defense that’s been caught in overpursuit of late.
 Michael Strahan gets a ton of attention for his acumen as a pass rusher. But the guy is much more than that. He’s a tenacious run player that’s capable of closing off the strong-side of an offense, and he absolutely manhandled Bucs right tackle Jeremy Trueblood in this game. Proof? Alright, go to Tampa’s first touchdown drive. Justin Tuck came in for Strahan for that series, and played the first six plays at left end. Earnest Graham went for 20 yards on three carries. The rest of the game, he had 43 yards on 15 carries. And then, you have the smarts he plays with. Like how he snuffed out a screen in the second quarter, by recognizing and back blocking him alone, and peeling off to cover him. Or how he ran down Joey Galloway on a first-quarter end-around. At 36, this guy’s playing like a Hall of Famer, and that’s not just on third down, like some pass rushers.
 I would think the Cowboys should be able to exploit the Giants base defense, where they have Barry Cofield on the nose. Cofield settled down and played fine later in the game, but early on – against an offensive line that’s not that good – he was blocked out of some running plays, and ran his way out of others. Tampa was able to chew out tough yards in the middle as a result. The other spot Tampa caught the Giants was by sending backs over the middle, and getting them matched up on the linebackers. New York seems to leave their base 4-3 personnel in longer than most, waiting in some cases until third down, and that cost them some.
 The Giants’ pass rush only had one sack. But it’s hard to question it’s effectiveness, and the job Steve Spagnuolo did in pulling the strings. In some ways, the defense looks like a cousin of the Steelers, working on deception to make a quarterback believe more rushers are coming than really are. Spagnuolo was unafraid to drop his ends off into back-side flat coverage, and overload the rush to one side or another, and as I said in the rush analysis, this forced quick throws with defenders zoned in close proximity to make the tackle.
 And why was it effective? Because the Giants were comfortable enough with their defensive backs, a group that will likely get Sam Madison back this week, to mix coverages. And what will force them to play differently? Terrell Owens, that’s what. The Giants turned it up once Joey Galloway was hobbled, and the Bucs had no chance. So getting T.O. back could well be the difference between winning and losing this week.
