The Long Ball

[Danny White]

The long ball clearly hurt us in our first meeting with the Giants, and has been one of the few things that has consistently exposed our defense this year.

There is a bright spot, though, heading into this Sunday's game:

Given Eli's recent problems, and Buress' spotty attitude, I'm wondering if the Giants have the confidence to let Eli air out the ball like he did against us last time.

I have a hard time seeing them call a play like the Burress TD this time around for fear of a big interception.

So if the long ball is out as an option, all that remains is to key in on Tiki and Jacobs and make sure we contain them.

 

[CrazyCowboy]

Our better pass rush and coverage by our safteys have vastly improved since Eli seen us last.

 

[Maikeru-sama]

The Long ball is not what hurt us in that game. Turnovers by both Bledsoe and Romo and the pass rush was what killed the Cowboys.

The score was 12-7 at half time and very winnable but Romo was getting his first meaningful action and his multiple turnovers cost us the game.

The Giants will be facing a much better team then they saw the first go around.

- Mike G.

 

[Cowboy4ever]

They will take their shots downfield. The only real threat at WR is Burress. I expect he will see a lot of Newman Sunday with safety help. I think we will still drop Roy in the box a lot. If we can take Tiki away.. they have no shot at beating us. Look for the OLB,, to punish Shocky on release and disrupt his route running. Look for a lot of quick throws and WR screens away from Ware's side.. good chance for a pick 6 in this game for our D. IF we survive the first half in decent shape.. we will win this game in the second half. You can bet the Giants will come out like gang busters like they did against the Bears.. but with the number of injuries, they can't hold up.

 

[Danny White]

The Long ball is not what hurt us in that game. Turnovers by both Bledsoe and Romo and the pass rush was what killed the Cowboys.

The score was 12-7 at half time and very winnable but Romo was getting his first meaningful action and his multiple turnovers cost us the game.

The Giants will be facing a much better team then they saw the first go around.

- Mike G.

I hear what you're saying. It's just that a lot of the TDs we've given up this year have been on long passes... and I just don't see Coughlin allowing Eli to air it out in this game.

 

[joseephuss]

The Long ball is not what hurt us in that game. Turnovers by both Bledsoe and Romo and the pass rush was what killed the Cowboys.

The score was 12-7 at half time and very winnable but Romo was getting his first meaningful action and his multiple turnovers cost us the game.

The Giants will be facing a much better team then they saw the first go around.

- Mike G.

They completed two big plays down field. One where Watkins did not go after the ball while Roy ran into the ref and the other on just a great throw and good catch by Burress while Newman had pretty good coverage. That was about half of Eli's yardage for the game. If Dallas does not give up those plays, then the Giants really don't do much on offense. They did hurt, but they aren't the only things that Dallas did poorly in that game.

 

[Maikeru-sama]

They completed two big plays down field. One where Watkins did not go after the ball while Roy ran into the ref and the other on just a great throw and good catch by Burress while Newman had pretty good coverage. That was about half of Eli's yardage for the game. If Dallas does not give up those plays, then the Giants really don't do much on offense. They did hurt, but they aren't the only things that Dallas did poorly in that game.

The play by Buress would have been broken up by Williams if he hadnt bumped into the Refs and Watkins just froze and didnt do anything.

Again, the Long Ball was not our problem that game. It was the Pass Rush and Interceptions that did us in.

If Bledsoe doesn't throw that horrible interception before hall time we at least go into half time 12-10.

Tony Romo then threw 3 interceptions in that game and cost us the game, which is the only one he has cost us.

The deep ball was not the problem that game. We WIN that game if we knew how to block that night and not throw 4 total interceptions.

- Mike G.

 

[Danny White]

They completed two big plays down field. One where Watkins did not go after the ball while Roy ran into the ref and the other on just a great throw and good catch by Burress while Newman had pretty good coverage. That was about half of Eli's yardage for the game. If Dallas does not give up those plays, then the Giants really don't do much on offense. They did hurt, but they aren't the only things that Dallas did poorly in that game.

BINGO!

 

[Yakuza Rich]

What's odd is outside of the Eagles game and the deep ball to Burress in the first Giants game, Watkins hasn't had any issues in pass coverage in games. I'm a bit concerned about Keith Davis. He is better than last season, but not by much. In the Indy game it was pretty clear to me that he was told not to bite on the run, in fear of getting killed on Peyton's play action, at all costs.



YAKUZA

 

[CarlJohnson]

I agree that turnovers cost us the first game. And dont forget 2 of those were in the red zone. That 6 - 14 points we lost right there. But most important we are a different team this time around, performance wise, and confidence wise. I think it will be close for a while but we will pull away in the second half. I dont think their defense is good enough to keep us from putting points on the board. IMO we have one of the best offenses in the league.

 

[SmashFactorGolf]

The Long ball is not what hurt us in that game. Turnovers by both Bledsoe and Romo and the pass rush was what killed the Cowboys.

The score was 12-7 at half time and very winnable but Romo was getting his first meaningful action and his multiple turnovers cost us the game.

The Giants will be facing a much better team then they saw the first go around.

- Mike G.

correct, one of key killers was the TO drop on a 4th down which wouldve kept a drive alive after Romo had been in awhile........it was on a 8 yd out to left side. That was a game killer........seemed to deflate everyone, after that it went downhill fast

 

[Maikeru-sama]

I agree that turnovers cost us the first game. And dont forget 2 of those were in the red zone. That 6 - 14 points we lost right there. But most important we are a different team this time around, performance wise, and confidence wise. I think it will be close for a while but we will pull away in the second half. I dont think their defense is good enough to keep us from putting points on the board. IMO we have one of the best offenses in the league.

4 Ints, what 4-5 Sacks, and a horrendus Safety....

Romo has energized this entire team.

The offense is on the field longer and putting up points.

The defense is not on the field as long and not under so much pressure because the offense can score (even though we were scoring with Bledsoe).

The only thing Romo didnt seem to fix was the kicking game .

- Mike G.

 

[Maikeru-sama]

correct, one of key killers was the TO drop on a 4th down which wouldve kept a drive alive after Romo had been in awhile........it was on a 8 yd out to left side. That was a game killer........seemed to deflate everyone, after that it went downhill fast

True.

T.O. deserved to be blasted for that but there was no gurantee we would have scored.

But you are correct, that was an ugly drop...I just forgot about it because the one he had in the Commanders was 100xs more horrible.

Bottom line, you throw 4 ints, allow something like 5 sacks, and can't pick up basic blocking assignments then even the Arizona Cardinals are going to beat you.

- Mike G.

 

[Chocolate Lab]

I was thinking the same thing, Danny... Eli is so shell-shocked right now, I wonder if they'd call long passes that have a greater likelihood of being intercepted. You'd think they'd call more short and intermediate passes to build his confidence, at least early.

But one other big thing to consider is that they don't have the same left tackle they had when they played us the first time. If I were them, I wouldn't call too many deep passes with a creaky old Bob Whitfield out there trying to block Demarcus Ware.

 

[chinch]

the "chuck it up" ball absolutely hurt us early. it also set the tone that we're going to play badly in every aspect if tge gane,

then bone-head bledsoe at the half we would have had the lead which was not deserved (we got badly outplayed in the first half but should have been winning). i'd suspect a heavy dose of tiki with a few safe throws from midfield (INT like a punt inside our own 20) early on from the giants. shockey was wrong... it's dallas that won't lose if they play their game. the gints can play a great game and still lose this by 10 points.

 

[superpunk]

I was thinking the same thing, Danny... Eli is so shell-shocked right now, I wonder if they'd call long passes that have a greater likelihood of being intercepted. You'd think they'd call more short and intermediate passes to build his confidence, at least early.

But one other big thing to consider is that they don't have the same left tackle they had when they played us the first time. If I were them, I wouldn't call too many deep passes with a creaky old Bob Whitfield out there trying to block Demarcus Ware.

Or Kevin Burnett. We'll be seeing DeMarcus Ware all over, I think this weekend. Probably on the right side alot.