I think Ellis Dee linked to this previously. Football Outsiders released the Giants chapter of this year’s annual as a free sample – link (pdf). It should tell you all you want to know about the state of the franchise.
I think the loss of Jimmy Johnson is going to be a massive blow tor the Eagles. In my opinion the Eagles defense has punched above its weight talent-wise for years under Jimmy Johnson.
Not to be a ghoul, but as a Giants fan, his death was one of the best things to happen for the team this off season. It was painful to watch the way his schemes were able to unsettle Eli.
What happened to Reggie Brown? He seemed to be developing consistently until last year (when he was hurt).
Well, three out of four teams in the division put one in the “W” column. Glad the Boys are one of 'em! Despite a shaky start, and costly penalties, it’s Dallas over TB, 34-21!
GO COWBOYS!!!
How will Dallas do without T.O.?
Romo’s highest passing yards ever… that’s how.
Doesn’t tell you anything about their receivers, though. The Buccaneers secondary played its worst game in 15 years; on two of the touchdown passes they simply forgot to cover the receiver.
That move by Miles Austin says plenty. After the catch he beat 2 guys, one with a sweet move. And the breakaway speed by Roy Williams right when he caught the ball also speaks loudly. The Crayton catch they showed on Sportscenter was a blown assignment though.
I will agree that Garrett’s offense is a slow starter. He makes great adjustments, but they start the game like a high-school team who doesn’t know which way is North. (or in Romo’s case, which direction the receiver is running)
Gotta work those out in pre-game.
Frighteningly big game next Sunday night. Early line is Dallas -3 (though, with the vig shaded towards the Giants, it’s more like 2.5). I gotta believe New York is a good bet at those odds.
ETA: Eh, scratch that. Giants are a little banged up (Ware and Nicks out, Aaron Ross nicked up). -3 sounds about right.
I doubt the loss of a third-string tailback who only won the job because Andre Brown is on IR is really significant at this point in the season. Nicks, maybe, but the Giants have about 19 wideouts on the roster who all seem equally talented. They’re looking a bit like the Saints sans Marques Colston.
The Redskins, being unchanged on offense, looked no different on offense.
I would go the other way and say Nicks isn’t that big of a loss (for the reason you gave), but Ware’s being out is consequential. He was probably going to be the backup, not 3rd string (Bradshaw would be more of the 3rd down back), and apparently he was the guy they wanted returning kicks. Ware is very well regarded within the organization, he was in line for a lot of touches.
ETA: And it’s not all a given that Andre Brown would’ve beaten out Ware for the backup job.
I thought the line gave Campbell better protection. But for whatever reason, Moss and JC were not in sync. And JC got a TD pass off to Cooley. It’s early days yet, and I thought they looked pretty lackluster, but I actually think they looked better than they did at the end of last season.
NYG, as much as I hate to say it, should have been the NFC rep in the Superbowl. They’re that good, and the 'Skins were in this game throughout.
Defense, while not really producing the splash one would expect with the Haynesworth-Orakpo addition, did fine for week 1, and shows a lot of promise. As pissed off as I was with the way the game went yesterday, I think they are going to look a lot better in the weeks to come.
Haynesworth did do a pretty good job of shutting down Brandon Jacobs, even if he was ineffective in the passing game.
The hit of the game though was London Fletcher laying the lumber on Jacobs. Ooh-wee!
Not only that, but they are probably going to have to cut someone to bring in another RB until Ware’s arm heals up.
The door can’t hit Sinorice Moss’s ass on the way out fast enough. I have complete faith that Jerry Reese will pull a solid RB off of somebody’s practice squad.
The Giants already have a quality RB on their own practice squad: Allen Patrick.
After watching him last preseason and this one, I would all but guarantee that Ware would have easily beaten out Brown for the #3 spot.
Bradshaw was always the #2 going into this season. The announcers said that the coaching staff expressed concerns over Bradshaw’s pass blocking abilities, which was news to me. But that was why Ware was going to be the third down back. Now with Ware out, Jacobs will be the third down back. So yeah, that’s definitely a hassle.
Anyway, one thing rookie RBs notoriously suck at is pass blocking. The higher the draft pick, the suckier they are at it, so I’m quite confident that Ware would have easily beat out Brown for the #3 spot, and no way was anyone beating out Bradshaw for #2. That guy’s a menace.
And that’s where he’ll stay:
It also says they cut Ptarick from the practice squad. Weird. He looked good to me, but maybe he couldn’t block or was useless on on special teams or something.