Mark my words: If we rush the ball at least 30 times we will win the Super Bowl

[mosi]

The thing I remember about the earlier Giants game is this:

"...The Giants had much better field position in the first half, starting at their 23, 22, 36, 28, 25 and 49. But all those series ended with punts.

The Patriots began at their 5, 6, 17, 20, 11 and 9. They punted four times and lost one interception before wasting their best scoring opportunity when Gostkowski pulled his 27-yard field goal attempt to the left with 3 seconds remaining...."

The key thing for me is that Brady and the Pats should not change who they are. Brady is trying to get cute in the playoffs and not play his game. Early in the Denver game, he did it but shook it off and went back to being Brady.

How often in the regular season did they try throwing deep to Slater like that? And that loft pass to Edleman?

 

[Wolfpack]

I'll agree we shouldn't be overly infatuated with total rushing numbers. However, at the bottom of my post I also indicate that if 20 of those come before the half we'll be in much better shape. The best way to slow a pass rush frenzy team down is to run the ball against them.

Not sure I agree. If the defense is in a pass rush frenzy then oftentimes a running play does nothing but runs right into the blitz.

IMHO, the best thing to do against a pass rushing frenzy is screen passes or quick slant or out routes. Brady is great at the quick slant and the quick out.

 

[Ivan]

I want at least 25 rushes to back the Giants off, dish out hits, and I want them to win Time of Possession and keep Manning off the field. I see the Patriots playing a really good all around game and winning that way instead of throwing 50-60 times. The run game was big in winning against Baltimore and it will be a big factor if the beat the Giants imo.

 

[supafly]

The thing I remember about the earlier Giants game is this:

"...The Giants had much better field position in the first half, starting at their 23, 22, 36, 28, 25 and 49. But all those series ended with punts.

The Patriots began at their 5, 6, 17, 20, 11 and 9. They punted four times and lost one interception before wasting their best scoring opportunity when Gostkowski pulled his 27-yard field goal attempt to the left with 3 seconds remaining...."

The key thing for me is that Brady and the Pats should not change who they are. Brady is trying to get cute in the playoffs and not play his game. Early in the Denver game, he did it but shook it off and went back to being Brady.

How often in the regular season did they try throwing deep to Slater like that? And that loft pass to Edleman?

I'm not sure that these 2 teams are the same ones that met up in the earlier season, as the Giants didn't have all 3 WR's for that game; nor did they have Bradshaw. This one won't be in Foxborough either.

But you are right that the field position made quite a difference.

One of the good things is that they at least know this team, as they prepared for them already this yr. That may be helpful when developing a gameplan again.

 

[mosi]

I'm not sure that these 2 teams are the same ones that met up in the earlier season, as the Giants didn't have all 3 WR's for that game; nor did they have Bradshaw. This one won't be in Foxborough either.

But you are right that the field position made quite a difference.

One of the good things is that they at least know this team, as they prepared for them already this yr. That may be helpful when developing a gameplan again.

Agree. They are two very different teams. For the Pats, Guyton was still in the middle and Chung went out with an injury.

 

[ALP]

if we have success early on in the game running the ball, then yes this may happen

if we do NOT have success, we will, as usual, abandon the run

 

[MrBigglesWorth]

didn't I hear the same the same thing about Ray Rice?

 

[VrabelJr]

Exactly. For one thing, some of those teams are able and built much better for running the ball--so that makes a big difference.

Also, SF 'almost won' b/c they played tough defense, were at home, and sacked Manning 6 times.

Regardless though, I can appreciate the OP's thoughts, and having ball control would definitely help. The problem I see is that they likely would not run as effectively as most of those other teams.

We have two All-Pro Guards, the best blocking TE in the game right now, and an RB who doesn't fumble. What exactly are we missing? Did you see what we did up the gut to the Ravens yesterday? We stole Haloti Ngata's lunch money and punched Ray Lewis in the mouth.

 

[PatsBoy12]

Essentially you said "If A, then B." Considering "A" is simply not even remotely in the realm of possibility, then the entire statement becomes nothing more than wasted space.

My thoughts exactly, though I was less harsh. The Patriots rushing the ball that many times just isn't going to happen. A perfect example of that would be what they did after the Spikes INT. That would have been a perfect time to bring out the three TE set and try to run the ball down Baltimore's throat to burn out the clock. Heck, BJGE had been running effectively ALL GAME LONG at that point. However, they chose to go for an ill-advised kill shot pass to Slater which, as we all remember, was intercepted and gave Baltimore the chance to win the game.

This team is just not that committed to the run. It's an afterthought for them mostly. They do it at times to "keep the defense honest." That's not this team's identity.

 

[Le Numéro Douze]

The thing I remember about the earlier Giants game is this:

"...The Giants had much better field position in the first half, starting at their 23, 22, 36, 28, 25 and 49. But all those series ended with punts.

The Patriots began at their 5, 6, 17, 20, 11 and 9. They punted four times and lost one interception before wasting their best scoring opportunity when Gostkowski pulled his 27-yard field goal attempt to the left with 3 seconds remaining...."

The key thing for me is that Brady and the Pats should not change who they are. Brady is trying to get cute in the playoffs and not play his game. Early in the Denver game, he did it but shook it off and went back to being Brady.

How often in the regular season did they try throwing deep to Slater like that? And that loft pass to Edleman?

Brady trying to win it by himself is also something that scares me a little.

 

[Jangles]

If we score more points than the Giants we will win the Superbowl.

Interesting strategy

 

[PatsSox363804]

I know that the Saints put up 200 yards on the ground against them and 49 points. That's the game I'm looking at if I'm the coaches.

 

[Wolfpack]

didn't I hear the same the same thing about Ray Rice?

Yes you did. You also probably heard that if the Ravens scored more than 17 points, they would win the game.

 

[SoonerPatriot]

Will Ridley play? Or has he taken his last snap this year?

 

[Ring 6]

It's as simple as that. So far in the playoffs against the Giants Atlanta, Green Bay, and San Francisco ran the ball against them 21, 23, and 28 times respectively. SF almost managed to beat them.

Lets look at the Giants 7 losses during the regular season:
Washington - 26 rushes
Seattle - 29 rushes
San Francisco - 20 rushes
Philadelphia - 33 rushes
New Orleans - 30 rushes
Green Bay - 28 rushes
Washington #2 - 40 rushes

While not every single game they lost supports my argument you can certainly see a trend. Everyone knew going into the season that the Giants vulnerability was the run game due to injuries and lack of experience at the LB positions. All of a sudden teams decided to stop attacking this.

We have two All-Pro Guards, two great TEs that can block, a Center who has really surprised a lot of us, an RB that knows how to run hard and another RB that is small and elusive. If we don't run the ball that just lets Umenyiora, Tuck, and Pierre-Paul pin their ears back. By running the ball 30+ times we can make them pay for over-pursuing and also set up our passing game. This will also wear out their defense for later in the game and at which point we can really start throwing the ball.

It's time to go old-school in this one, folks. Beat the Giants with the type of game that they used to win championships back in the day. I'm setting the number at 20 rushes. If we have 20 rushes by half time we can do whatever we want to their defense in the second half.

If we win, we will probably rush the ball 30 times.
You have cause and effect backwrds.

 

[Ring 6]

Will Ridley play? Or has he taken his last snap this year?

I think he will. I think yestarday was a clear case of punishment.
Faulk barely played, and it wasn't Ridley or another RB it was Ridley or Jones, Koutividis, Brace, etc, etc, the 45th guy, and that 45th wasnt as valuable as Ridley would have been even if he only spelled BJGE for 5-6 snaps.

 

[Ring 6]

Not sure I agree. If the defense is in a pass rush frenzy then oftentimes a running play does nothing but runs right into the blitz.

IMHO, the best thing to do against a pass rushing frenzy is screen passes or quick slant or out routes. Brady is great at the quick slant and the quick out.

Spread them out, make them declare, hit the hot read.
But the Giants don't figure to blitz, they expect to rush 4 and get pressure that way.
This is where the Pats are 100 times better prepare to attack them than in 2007. In 2007 the passing game, and the deep ball had become so dominant that the offense revolved around slow developing pass plays. Even Welker woud run all the way across the formation to catch a lot of his passes.
This offense is built to put pressure on the defense with the quick developing pass, that is, the one that NEGATES A PASS RUSH.
When have we really struggled to keep a pass rush out long enough for the plays to develop this year? About the only time it happens is on 3rd and long when we need the deeper patterns.

 

[Ring 6]

Oh, and in the Giants 9 regular season wins teams only rushed the ball more than 30 times twice.

Thats because they were losing

 

[The Scrizz]

All I know is that I was begging the Pats to run Law Firm out of the shotgun because they never do it. And last night they finally did it but they'd do it 2 times, absolutely gashing them and then I'd see Woodhead coming trotting onto the field while Green-Ellis would sprint full speed to the sideline (he even does that full speed).

I don't get it; Ben-Jarvis makes the run game a legit threat when he's out there. The Ravens couldn't play both and the Giants won't be able to either if we keep Benny in the game!

I don't care if he gets 30 carries, I want him on the field, in the hurry-up, running out of the shotgun formation.

 

[stcjones]

If we score more points than the Giants we will win the Superbowl.

Is that like the saying in golf that "100% of putts that are left short don't go in the hole?"