Grades: Week 9 @ Giants

[Superman]

 

 

Week 8 grades

 

Defense, B-: 75 plays, 438 yards, 22 first downs (17 passing, 5 rushing, 0 from penalty (that's a first in a while, isn't it?)), 4/16 on third down, 1/2 on fourth down, 3/3 in the red zone, 1 turnovers, 24 points; that's more like it, aside from the mini-meltdown in the 4th quarter

 
Defensive front: The Giants had a couple of drives where they were able to be productive on the ground, with some Peyton Hillis carries reminding me of the Browns game in 2011 when he pretty much single-handedly beat us. For the most part, though, we shut down the run. Eli had their longest run, believe it or not. Andre Williams was completely ineffective. They don't have any really good backs, but our play up front was strong. The tackling got sloppy for a stretch, with Freeman missing one on the goalline. Pass rush was decent, not really impressive though. Newsome is really good, but most of our pressures and the few QB hits we did get were late in the play. Not a lot of immediate pressure. It seemed to me that they committed some extra attention to Werner, which is encouraging, but they weren't flat out doubling him with any regularity. Push up the middle was more consistent this week. B-, once Jones gets going, this will be our best defensive line in a loooong time

 
Pass defense: There it is. Cancel the search, we found our pass defense. Or did we??? The fourth quarter was a mess, with Beckham continuing to get open. And the big play he made was just poor finish work. Too many guys had a chance to tackle him, and didn't. We have to end plays, otherwise good coverage is pointless. We got our hands on some passes, including Vontae's near pick in the end zone. That's how you defend a fade route. The receiver had no chance at the ball, and we're talking about a receiver who has 4 inches on the DB. Give Vontae his credit, people. They targeted him 11 times, like dummies, and he wouldn't budge. Toler was mostly good, too, aside from the one long play. Sergio had some nice plays also. Linebackers looked a lot better in coverage. Werner looks better and better in space. Gordy and Purifoy didn't do a good job at the end of the game. B, the Giants wound up with a lot of yards, but while the game was actually in doubt, it was mostly "E. Manning, pass incomplete"

 

Offense, B-: 71 plays, 443 yards, 22 first downs (15 passing, 5 rushing, 2 from penalty), 5/15 on third down, 2/2 in the red zone, 0 turnovers, 40 points; sloppy for a big part of the first half, but clearly in control, and once it clicked there was nothing the Giants could do about it

QB: Luck himself said this wasn't his best game. I agree, and that's ironic, given the numbers and the impact he had on this game. He had some misses that make you shake your head, and of course, he waits too long to bail when he has a chance to run (except for the one carry for a first down). A miscommunication with Fleener on what should have been a TD; Fleener takes an outside release with no help over the top, Luck throws the ball to the inside, Fleener never really even sees it. Even the TD to Hilton wasn't a good throw; thankfully Hilton made the play. And then the wild toss that no one should ever try, and everyone knows it. We bang on Dalton for trying to pass the ball waaaaay past the line of scrimmage, but really, Luck's play was just as bad. However, he was getting a ton of pressure for the second week in a row, and he stood in there and continued to find receivers. The TD pass to Reggie exemplifies why you put up with the bad that's scattered here and there. Luck ceiling is virtually unknown, mostly because of his ability to make plays under pressure, and he did that over and over again. Someone asked whether Luck is actually a good QB; the answer is a resounding YES. B, I assume the bye will be spent cleaning up some of the miscues

Backs / receivers / tight ends, B+:
Running game: When we used it, it worked well. Just didn't use it very much. Bradshaw had some nice rips, including a couple of plays where he broke tackles in the backfield and turned them into big gains. Richardson was pretty steady also. Herron couldn't do anything at the end of the game, but the Giants were selling out to get stops. Backs averaged 4.2 yards/carry, which is acceptable. B

Passing game: Our receivers were mostly uncoverable. I thought someone was open pretty much every play. Luck missed some throws, and failed to see some open receivers, including some dumpoffs. And the pressure caused some plays to break down, but their corners were a MASH unit, and their backers couldn't cover our TEs on their best day. It's weird to look at 350 yards and 4 TDs and talk about how much more there could have been, if only... But none of that is on the receivers; they were getting open. Nicks had the drop on the slant, which is annoying, but it was thrown really hard and slightly off topic; he should still catch that, though. I'd like to see more Moncrief after the bye. Fleener also failed to bring in another TD between double coverage, but he had defenders pulling him down. B+

OL / blocking: Pass protection wasn't good. I thought it started out pretty good, and Luck was holding the ball too long. But as we continued to drop back, the protection continued to get worse. Too many pressures, too many blown protections. Ayers was eating up our linemen, Louis in particular, who was only in the game because Thornton decided to enjoy NYC a little too much the night before the game. Harrison also made a lot of mistakes. I can't know for certain who the snap count problem was with, but it appeared that Harrison was the only interior lineman who thought it was a double count. Even Luck's movement looked like he was expecting the ball. Cherilus was way better this week, though he did give up a couple of pressures. The run blocking was better, despite some mistakes, and I think that we should have relied on it more. Didn't bring the game home late in the 4th, which is disappointing. (Side note: Even in a game where Thornton is benched for disciplinary reasons, Holmes -- who Grigson says is working at guard -- can't get a game jersey. Weird...) C+, failures in pass pro had me thinking of Satele and McGlynn

 

Special teams: We let them have one somewhat interesting kick return, but nothing else. Beckham was -3 on his one punt return. We still don't return well, and Whalen is looking more and more overmatched each week. He's sure-handed most of the time, but his return efforts are pretty terrible. He had a decent kickoff return and a decent punt return, but he also had some bad ones. McAfee was excellent, dropping 3 punts inside the 20, and AV was 4/4, including a 48 yarder. Best special teams we've ever had. Don't let us get a return game to go with this offense... A-

Coaching / playcalling / game management, B:
I don't know what to say about the pass:run ratio in the first half. I understand picking on their banged up secondary and throwing against heavy fronts, but we should still work the run in there more than we did. The play calling did get receivers open, but it also invited relentless pass rush. Good job getting a play in to Luck so quickly before Coughlin could challenge, and not just a dive play, but a TD pass. Nice. And we came out in the second half ready to go, with 3 TDs and a FG on our first four possessions. B-

The defense got back to what we have been doing so well with this season, mostly scrapping the zone coverage from last week, and blitzing more effectively. Anything the Giants got was off of pure effort, or lack of effort from our defense. The players were deployed very effectively. B+

I'm torn on the end of game situation. I understand the desire to get the backups some time, but they didn't handle it well. And we really only pulled the corners, not the trench players who were getting nicked up all game long and who are more at risk. Also, we're going into the bye. One more possession with the starting corners would have clinched it, I think, but I mostly put the blame on the players who, IMO, weren't playing as hard as they should have been. Clock management was good, and the challenge was a no-brainer. B

 

Game ball: Andrew Luck, pretty much did what he wanted, despite the mistakes and the pressure, and it was obvious the whole time that he was going to bring it home

Next up, bye week, then a Sunday Night game hosting the Pats. Good opportunity for a "Shut em up" game. Let's bring it home.

GO COLTS!!! 

[Yoshinator]

This was a game which the Stats were better than the actual performance in Luck's case, however, I'll take that every time. We need to get the ball a lot more to Moncrief as Nicks is an absolute joke and the fact that he probably got the majority of the snaps over Moncrief because we were facing the Giants is an absolute joke. Start the guy who will probably end up being our no2 receiver next year off of what was a 113 yard game the week before. You are absolutely right about Ayers, and he made Luck's life miserable out there. We have to double team players like that more or something, that was bad last week. Kerr and Newsome were awesome for the most part, especially Newsome. Looking forward to what they do the rest of the year. 

 

I think the decision to put Gordy and Purifoy in, now that I've thought about it more, was definitely on purpose to test them as Pagano probably knew Eli would continually throw their way. He wanted to see if they could defend the pass, and prove that they can handle being the starters in case of injuries. Just didn't work out too well throwing them both in the fire for that drive. Good analysis Superman, always enjoy these and look forward to your next one after a win (hopefully) against the Pats!

[braveheartcolt]

If we can put up 40 points in a tad over 3 quarters, on the road, it can only be an A for offense. I understand the mistakes etc, and we (the coaches) should not work on them, but the scoreboard does not lie.

Great breakdown as usual though, Supes.

[ColtsLegacy]

Bump.

Great write up as usual, though, my game ball goes to Vontae. He was velcroed to his man all game long and Eli had no business testing him 11 times.

[Superman]

Bump.

Great write up as usual, though, my game ball goes to Vontae. He was velcroed to his man all game long and Eli had no business testing him 11 times.

 

That would have been a good game ball.