unoriginal
In the Starting Line-Up
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Well, really, what is there to say about this game other than the obvious? Here now is the obvious, in colored ink:
Though every armchair coach and coordinator on this board has been complaining about McDaniels' un-Weisian dislike for the screen game, we still ran screen plays approximately 1 out of every 6 pass plays.
The tight ends stayed in to pass block more than is usual, but no more than Watson and Wesley Britt did the last time the Pats played the Giants.
The Giants pass rush tired out during the 8th drive in the 4th quarter, which I think is the primary reason our offense starting clicking. The offense ran no screens, and no more short plays than was customary on other drives.
Brady spent approximately 4 out of every 5 passing plays in the shotgun.
The Pats usually had Faulk running a route because, like in the 2nd half of Week 17, the linebacker covering him would often convert to a rusher if Faulk stayed in to block. It's not like the Giants were routinely sending overload blitzes anyways.
Neither Kyle Brady, Ben Watson, or Kevin Faulk are included, as they didn't pass block enough to be significant. It is noteworthy how poor Kyle Brady's blocking was on the night, however.
Of the linemen, Logan Mankins in particular had his worst game of the season. Several times he took himself out of position, and when he was in position he was often straight-up beat, usually by Justin Tuck. Overall I'd say he had the worst game of the linemen.
Russ Hochstein may not have been as bad in general, but when he was bad he was very bad. Consider the following:
It wasn't just Tuck doing it to him either:
That's Tuck, incidently, sandwiched in that Mankins-Koppen double team up top. Here's Tuck, again, in the same double team on the play previous:
Tuck defeats Mankins' arms before he can pass him off to Koppen, then splits them both and drags them into the backfield, leaving Faulk to block both Kevin Dockerty and Gibril Wilson on the blitz, an oft-repeated theme on the night. In what I interpret as an act of defiant protest, Faulk proceeds to block neither.
What do you do, as a coach, when you can't even slow a guy down with a double team, or hit blitzers when they're running two-abrest? You can't triple-team everybody.
Here's another play to the above point:
Basically everyone except Stephen Neal straight-up lost to the lineman they were blocking. Every Giants rusher got to the quarterback on this play. All 4. Neal is only spared a demerit because he didn't have anyone to block, just chipped in on double teams.
The first failure is Justin Tuck beating Logan Mankins and bumping Osi Umenyiora off of Matt Light's block. Light recovers and shoves Umenyiora just wide of Tom Brady, but Mankins trails Tuck all the way on this play and Tuck is the first to reach Brady. On the other side, Neal comes off a double team on Jay Alford to help Kaczur with Strahan. Strahan also goes wide of Brady, but Alford quickly powers through Koppen's upfield shoulder and gets to Brady just after Tuck.
Brady's drop is at 8 yards behind the line of scrimmage so its not like he's not giving the interior of the line space to work with. Any farther back and the defensive ends would have a straight shot at him.
Code:
[SIZE="3"]1st Drive[/SIZE]
04:52 1 & 10 4 man rush [COLOR="RoyalBlue"](RB screen)[/COLOR]
[COLOR="DarkOrange"]Brady: knockdown[/COLOR] (Umenyiora)
[COLOR="#ff8c00"]Light: knockdown[/COLOR] (Umenyiora)
[COLOR="#ff8c00"]Mankins: knockdown[/COLOR] (Cofield)
03:30 1 & 10 4 man rush
03:24 2 & 10 4 man rush
02:37 3 & 3 5 man rush (Mitchell blitz)
[COLOR="Orange"]Koppen: pressure[/COLOR] (Tuck)
01:24 2 & 8 4 man rush [COLOR="RoyalBlue"](RB bubble screen)[/COLOR]
00:37 1 & 10 4 man rush
00:32 2 & 10 4 man rush
[COLOR="Orange"]Mankins: pressure[/COLOR] (Tuck)
00:29 3 & 10 4 man rush
[COLOR="DarkOrange"]Kaczur: knockdown[/COLOR] (Strahan)
[SIZE="3"]2nd Drive[/SIZE]
11:53 1 & 10 [COLOR="RoyalBlue"](RB screen) (Brady + Kaczur)[/COLOR]
[SIZE="3"]3rd Drive[/SIZE]
07:55 2 & 9 5 man rush (Ross + Mitchell blitz, Umenyiora drops)
[COLOR="Red"]Mankins: sack[/COLOR] (Mitchell)
[COLOR="red"]Kaczur: sack[/COLOR] (Strahan)
07:19 3 & 17 4 man rush
[COLOR="Orange"]Light: pressure[/COLOR] (Umenyiora)
[COLOR="Red"]Mankins: sack[/COLOR] (Tuck)
[COLOR="red"]Koppen: sack[/COLOR] (Alford)
[COLOR="orange"]Kaczur: pressure[/COLOR] (Strahan)
[COLOR="Magenta"]*Neal injured on play[/COLOR]
[SIZE="3"]4th Drive[/SIZE]
01:47 1 & 10 5 man rush (Wilson + Dockerty blitz, Umenyiora drops)
[COLOR="DarkOrange"]Hochstein: knockdown[/COLOR] (Wilson)
01:35 3 & 13 4 man rush [COLOR="RoyalBlue"](WR screen)[/COLOR]
01:11 1 & 10 4 man rush
[COLOR="#ff8c00"]Mankins: knockdown[/COLOR] (Tuck)
[COLOR="#ff8c00"]Light: knockdown[/COLOR] (Umenyiora)
00:59 2 & 13 5 man rush [COLOR="RoyalBlue"](WR screen)[/COLOR]
00:35 3 & 4 4 man rush
[COLOR="Orange"]Light: pressure[/COLOR] (Umenyiora)
00:28 1 & 10 5 man rush
[COLOR="orange"]Kaczur: pressure[/COLOR] (Strahan)
00:22 1 & 10 4 man rush
[COLOR="Red"]Mankins: sack[/COLOR] (Tuck)
[SIZE="3"]5th Drive[/SIZE]
14:53 1 & 10 5 man rush (Pierce + Wilson, Umenyiora zone blitz)
[COLOR="DarkOrange"]Hochstein: knockdown[/COLOR] (Strahan)
13:41 2 & 3 4 man rush [COLOR="#4169e1"](RB screen)[/COLOR]
[COLOR="Orange"]Kaczur: tipped pass[/COLOR] (Strahan)
13:36 3 & 3 3 man rush
[COLOR="DarkOrange"]Light: knockdown[/COLOR] (Umenyiora)
12:18 2 & 12 4 man rush
[COLOR="Orange"]Hochstein: pressure[/COLOR] (Tuck)
11:38 3 & 5 5 man rush [COLOR="#4169e1"](Kaczur + Watson)[/COLOR] (Wilson + Dockerty blitz, Strahan drops)
[COLOR="orange"]Pressure, overload left[/COLOR] (Wilson)
11:00 1 & 10 4 man rush [COLOR="#4169e1"](RB screen)[/COLOR]
[COLOR="Orange"]Light: pressure[/COLOR] (Umenyiora)
10:08 2 & 11 4 man rush [COLOR="RoyalBlue"](WR screen)[/COLOR]
09:26 3 & 13 4 man rush
[COLOR="orange"]Kaczur: pressure[/COLOR] (Strahan)
08:10 2 & 10 4 man rush
07:23 3 & 7 4 man rush
[COLOR="Red"]Kaczur: sack[/COLOR] (Strahan)
06:49 4 & 13 4 man rush
[SIZE="3"]6th Drive[/SIZE]
03:04 1 & 15 6 man rush (Mitchell + Pierce blitz)
[COLOR="DarkOrange"]Koppen: knockdown[/COLOR] (Mitchell)
[COLOR="Orange"]Mankins: pressure[/COLOR] (Tuck)
03:01 2 & 15 4 man rush
01:03 1 & 10 4 man rush
[COLOR="orange"]Mankins: pressure[/COLOR] (Cofield)
[COLOR="orange"]Koppen: pressure[/COLOR] (Cofield)
00:17 1 & 10 5 man rush (Tuck drops, Pierce and Butler blitz)
00:14 2 & 15 4 man rush [COLOR="#4169e1"](play action)[/COLOR]
[COLOR="DarkOrange"]Kaczur: knockdown[/COLOR] (Tuck)
00:06 3 & 15 6 man rush [COLOR="RoyalBlue"](WR screen)[/COLOR]
[SIZE="3"]7th Drive[/SIZE]
10:59 1 & 10 4 man rush [COLOR="#4169e1"](play action)[/COLOR]
10:26 1 & 10 5 man rush (Pierce blitz) [COLOR="#4169e1"](WR screen)[/COLOR]
09:41 2 & 7 4 man rush (Tuck drops, Dockerty blitzes) [COLOR="#4169e1"](Kaczur + Watson)[/COLOR]
[COLOR="Orange"]Light: pressure[/COLOR] (Umenyiora)
09:36 3 & 7 4 man rush
[COLOR="orange"]Light: pressure[/COLOR] (Umenyiora)
[COLOR="orange"]Koppen: pressure [/COLOR](Tuck)
[SIZE="3"]8th Drive[/SIZE]
07:54 1 & 10 5 man rush (Umenyiora drops, Ross + Pierce blitz)
07:19 2 & 5 4 man rush
06:14 2 & 1 4 man rush
05:27 1 & 10 4 man rush
05:01 2 & 6 4 man rush
[COLOR="orange"]Mankins: pressure[/COLOR] (Tuck)
04:15 1 & 10 4 man rush
04:12 2 & 10 4 man rush [COLOR="RoyalBlue"](play action)[/COLOR]
03:31 1 & 10 4 man rush
02:55 1 & 6 4 man rush [COLOR="#4169e1"](double play action)[/COLOR]
02:49 2 & 6 7 man rush
02:45 3 & 6 3 man rush (Tuck drops)
[SIZE="3"]9th Drive[/SIZE]
00:29 1 & 10 6 man rush (Dockerty + Wilson blitz)
[COLOR="Orange"]Mankins: pressure[/COLOR] (Tuck)
[COLOR="orange"]Koppen: pressure[/COLOR] (Tuck)
[COLOR="orange"]Faulk: pressure[/COLOR] (Dockerty + Wilson)
00:25 2 & 10 4 man rush
[COLOR="Red"]Hochstein: sack[/COLOR] (Alford)
00:19 3 & 20 4 man rush [COLOR="RoyalBlue"](Watson + Kaczur)[/COLOR]
00:10 4 & 20 4 man rush
Though every armchair coach and coordinator on this board has been complaining about McDaniels' un-Weisian dislike for the screen game, we still ran screen plays approximately 1 out of every 6 pass plays.
The tight ends stayed in to pass block more than is usual, but no more than Watson and Wesley Britt did the last time the Pats played the Giants.
The Giants pass rush tired out during the 8th drive in the 4th quarter, which I think is the primary reason our offense starting clicking. The offense ran no screens, and no more short plays than was customary on other drives.
Brady spent approximately 4 out of every 5 passing plays in the shotgun.
The Pats usually had Faulk running a route because, like in the 2nd half of Week 17, the linebacker covering him would often convert to a rusher if Faulk stayed in to block. It's not like the Giants were routinely sending overload blitzes anyways.
Code:
Name Sack Knock Press Tip False
Light 0 3 5 0 2
Mankins 3 2 5 0 0
Koppen 1 1 4 0 0
Hochstein 1 2 1 0 0
Neal 0 0 0 0 0
Kaczur 2 2 3 1 0
Neither Kyle Brady, Ben Watson, or Kevin Faulk are included, as they didn't pass block enough to be significant. It is noteworthy how poor Kyle Brady's blocking was on the night, however.
Of the linemen, Logan Mankins in particular had his worst game of the season. Several times he took himself out of position, and when he was in position he was often straight-up beat, usually by Justin Tuck. Overall I'd say he had the worst game of the linemen.
Russ Hochstein may not have been as bad in general, but when he was bad he was very bad. Consider the following:
It wasn't just Tuck doing it to him either:
That's Tuck, incidently, sandwiched in that Mankins-Koppen double team up top. Here's Tuck, again, in the same double team on the play previous:
Tuck defeats Mankins' arms before he can pass him off to Koppen, then splits them both and drags them into the backfield, leaving Faulk to block both Kevin Dockerty and Gibril Wilson on the blitz, an oft-repeated theme on the night. In what I interpret as an act of defiant protest, Faulk proceeds to block neither.
What do you do, as a coach, when you can't even slow a guy down with a double team, or hit blitzers when they're running two-abrest? You can't triple-team everybody.
Here's another play to the above point:
Basically everyone except Stephen Neal straight-up lost to the lineman they were blocking. Every Giants rusher got to the quarterback on this play. All 4. Neal is only spared a demerit because he didn't have anyone to block, just chipped in on double teams.
The first failure is Justin Tuck beating Logan Mankins and bumping Osi Umenyiora off of Matt Light's block. Light recovers and shoves Umenyiora just wide of Tom Brady, but Mankins trails Tuck all the way on this play and Tuck is the first to reach Brady. On the other side, Neal comes off a double team on Jay Alford to help Kaczur with Strahan. Strahan also goes wide of Brady, but Alford quickly powers through Koppen's upfield shoulder and gets to Brady just after Tuck.
Brady's drop is at 8 yards behind the line of scrimmage so its not like he's not giving the interior of the line space to work with. Any farther back and the defensive ends would have a straight shot at him.
Last edited: