Pats vs Giants Preview

[DaBruinz]

Ok. The Pats are coming off a tough loss against Pittsburgh. The Giants are coming off a win where they barely squeaked by the lowly Dolphins..

The Giants will be without their best RB in Ahmad Bradshaw. They will probably also be without their best WR in Hakeem Nicks. They still have some good WRs in Manningham and Cruz. Jake Ballard is adequate at TE. Without Bradshaw, the Giants also loose a very good receiving threat out of the backfield. The Giants boast one of the worst rushing offenses in the league, relying on Eli to be the man.

The Pats have issues in their secondary. They are back to McCourty and Arrington being the starters. Antwan Molden did a horrible job last week on the outside with Arrington moving to the "STAR" position. Adams was slightly better than Molden. But that's not saying much.

The Giants run defense is horrible. With the Pats having 5 RBS, they should focus on using the RUN to set up the Pass. That will go a long way to beating the Giants and neutralizing their pass rush. A pass rush that has given the Pats issues..

When the Giants are on offense, they have to focus on shutting Manning down. And that will be aided by Nicks being doubtful and Bradshaw already being listed as out. They don't have to really worry about Manning running the ball, so collapsing the pocket and getting pressure on him is the key. Manning has shown he is susceptable to the interception much more so than his big brother and I think the Pats secondary and pass rush can have a big game.. That is, of course, as long as they do their jobs, which includes getting their hands up and blocking throwing lanes.

 

[BradyManny]

Nice breakdown. We really oughta just keep Arrington outside in the nickel - it was one thing to move him in when we had Bodden. I can't believe I'm saying this, but I wish we had Wilhite. Even he was a better nickel than what we have.

Anyway, I don't have much to add - I think you broke it down nicely. The Giants pass rush is relentless, but we could run on them, and that seems to be the way to go.

 

[borg]

This is a Haynesworth game... get interior pressure and dislodge Manning.

 

[PATSNUTme]

First on defense the Patriots have to limit the run. Bradshaw and Jacobs are a couple of good backs. Manning loves play action so limiting the run is important.

Notice I didn't say shut down the run. But you can't let them get 4+ yards per carry or that will spell big trouble.

 

[PATRIOTSFANINPA]

Also notable that Baas..one of the better centers in the league,may be out

Watch out for fumbled snaps sunday

 

[Rob0729]

FWIW, PFT is reporting their sources say that Bradshaw has played before with a broken foot like this and they feel he will play this weekend. Even if he does, who knows how good he will be.

If Bradshaw and Nicks are out, who will be the focus of the Pats' defense. They usually want to take out the best offensive weapon and their two best have a good chance of being out this weekend. I guess I would assume it would be taking out Cruz first and Ballard second.

 

[PATRIOTSFANINPA]

I'm glad Boss is in Oakland after seeing what Miller did last week

Boss was a tough TE to cover in 2007 with a BETTER defense then

 

[Joker]

Bradshaw is out for Sunday.

If Eli takes five and seven step drops as normal, the Pats front should get good pressure on him. Nicks is banged up but they have another burner that could catch a few deep balls'.

If Eli and Coughlin spent this week working on a Pitt style three step drop and TE pitch and catch game using Ballard and Pascoe,I'll have to see it to believe it. I firmly believe Pitt worked on that oiffensive set they showed last week a little bit every previous week in anticipation of that game. The comments in the media,the Pitt players angrily making threats, the whole circus sideshow leads me to believe they focused on that game since preseason., You just don't totally invert your offensive and defensive game plans in one week and play seamless football like Pitt did last week,

Coughlin plays it straight more or less.What you saw last week, you'll see this week..offensively. That is just my opinion of course.The Pats D front is stout versus the run.If the Pats get up on the G-Men, Eli will pass and pass some more. I believe the Pats CAN hurry him, hit him and disrupt his timing if he takes his normal drops.If the Pats can't stop Jacobs and Ware from running amok, then Manning will play action the Pats D back to the Stone Age and we'll lose.Manningham is a matchup nightmare in that scenario.

 

[patsinthesnow]

FWIW, PFT is reporting their sources say that Bradshaw has played before with a broken foot like this and they feel he will play this weekend. Even if he does, who knows how good he will be.

If Bradshaw and Nicks are out, who will be the focus of the Pats' defense. They usually want to take out the best offensive weapon and their two best have a good chance of being out this weekend. I guess I would assume it would be taking out Cruz first and Ballard second.

If Bradshaw and Nicks are out, the Pats better win easily. Jacobs is terrible and Manningham/Cruz shouldn't be that hard to stop.

 

[Sicilian]

If Bradshaw and Nicks are out, the Pats better win easily. Jacobs is terrible and Manningham/Cruz shouldn't be that hard to stop.

So long as the D-Line can keep the holes to a minimum, Jacobs shouldn't be a problem. If the Giants OL can open up a chance for Jacobs to get into our linebackers (or worse our safeties), our tackling problems are going to be compounded. He's still tough to bring down.

We might see a similar scheme against Manningham/Cruz that we saw against the Steelers. Back off, safe zone... what needs to happen is the LB's and S's need to play better over the middle, especially on 3rd down.

 

[DaBruinz]

First on defense the Patriots have to limit the run. Bradshaw and Jacobs are a couple of good backs. Manning loves play action so limiting the run is important.

Notice I didn't say shut down the run. But you can't let them get 4+ yards per carry or that will spell big trouble.

Bradshaw is out. Jacobs is decent. The Giants aren't that good in the run game..

 

[PATSNUTme]

Bradshaw is out. Jacobs is decent. The Giants aren't that good in the run game..

If Bradshaw is out that is good for the Patriots. I didn't know he was ruled out this week, seems a little early in the week for that. But they still have to stop the run, and that takes away the play action.

On the other side, our OL better be physical against their front 7. Teams have run against the Giants, so Benny and Ridley could have an Oakland type day.

 

[alvinnf]

With Bradshaw out they should pass, pass, pass, not that they weren't going to anyway. We'll see what we have after this weekend. There has been allot of public scrutiny about this defense and they are not deaf. This is an opportunity for them to show up or get torched. Either way I think we'll know what we got come 4ish on Sunday.

 

[Triumph]

The Giants arent running the ball like old and are ranked 19th in rushing. Conversely, NE is ranked 4th in rushing which is pretty amazing considering they hardly ran last week.FOOTBALL OUTSIDERS: Innovative Statistics, Intelligent Analysis | 2011 OFFENSIVE EFFICIENCY RATINGS

One thing I noticed perusing the stats is that Pitts run defense sucks. Pitt was not only trying to keep Brady on the bench, but wanted NE to pass and not run as to protect their weakness which is run defense.

The Giants pass defense is only ranked 15th in the NFL FOOTBALL OUTSIDERS: Innovative Statistics, Intelligent Analysis | 2011 DEFENSIVE EFFICIENCY RATINGS
and theyve played some real scrubs. NY has faced only 1 top 10 passing offense and that was Buffalo who they beat 27 - 24. The Pats will be able to pass on this Giants defense.

The Giants Special Teams are ranked 25th in the NFL. Id look for some plays there to be had. FOOTBALL OUTSIDERS: Innovative Statistics, Intelligent Analysis | 2011 TEAM EFFICIENCY RATINGS

The Pats will win this game. Manning will try to pull a Ben but wont be able to sustain drives like he did.

 

[everlong]

Since everybody is focused on the defense........

Protect Brady is number one. He's been getting smack around way too much. This cannot be a repeat of the game that shall not be named.

Have a good pass to run ratio. It should be more than 3:2

If the Giants have to honor the run play action should be available especially to Gronkowski up the seam. Their safeties will bit. Gronk is going to be huge in both the running and passing game.

 

[Patspsycho]

Bradshaw is out. Jacobs is decent. The Giants aren't that good in the run game..

Bradshaw is not out. He reportedly will play with that broken foot.

 

[Joker]

you got that from ESPN...the Newark Star Ledger reported today at 12:30 he WAS out. So, something is amiss...

NFL dot com reports he is going to see a specialist, no date mentioned.He has a stress fracture, plus he has screws in his foot, one of which caused him severe pain in the last game and removed him from the game. He missed today's practice. IF he plays I don't see him being used much, with the major share of the carries going to Jacobs.

 

[denverpatsfan]

Great positive posts here!

Run the darn ball Sunday!!!

Go Pats!

 

[supafly]

Bradshaw is not out. He reportedly will play with that broken foot.

you got that from ESPN...the Newark Star Ledger reported today at 12:30 he WAS out. So, something is amiss...

NFL dot com reports he is going to see a specialist, no date mentioned.He has a stress fracture, plus he has screws in his foot, one of which caused him severe pain in the last game and removed him from the game. He missed today's practice. IF he plays I don't see him being used much, with the major share of the carries going to Jacobs.

Add PFT to the mediot group who says he'll play Sunday, as surgery is not an option.

We'll certainly know more come tomorrow's injury report one way or another.

 

[Patspsycho]

you got that from ESPN...the Newark Star Ledger reported today at 12:30 he WAS out. So, something is amiss...

NFL dot com reports he is going to see a specialist, no date mentioned.He has a stress fracture, plus he has screws in his foot, one of which caused him severe pain in the last game and removed him from the game. He missed today's practice. IF he plays I don't see him being used much, with the major share of the carries going to Jacobs.

I got it from a few tweets, but looks like your source is the updated version. They've since determined it to be a stress fracture, as you say, and so he is going to be out for a few weeks "according to team sources." BTW, this fracture is next to the toe that has the prior fracture from 2009 and that one has a screw in it.

This guy is going to have a hell of an arthritic foot when he gets older.