We complain about all the misdeeds. Let’s celebrate a much-needed win.
Did you see that pocket that Daniel Jones had today? He could have sat back there and had a ham sandwich. It’s shocking what a difference a QB looks like when he gets protection. Shocking! Repeat after me: the game is won and lost at the line of scrimmage. Jones is slinging the ball all over the place. He only threw for 402 yards. I want you to remember that Shepard and Slayton, two of their starting WRs, are out with injuries. But that didn’t matter. Yes, Toney. We’ll get to him in a moment. What would you rather have- mediocre weapons and a good OL or a mediocre OL and good weapons? With a good QB, he just needs time. Eli Manning had a complete garbage OL and would have been able to pick apart Defenses with adequate time. Not only did the Saints get zero sacks, they barely pressured Jones at all. It did not matter that Jones didn’t have Shepard and Slayton. With fantastic protection, Ross, a rookie, your RB out of the backfield and Golladay vs Lattimore are more than enough.
On the bomb in Q2 to John Ross, you can’t throw deep without the time to take a 7 step drop. Jones had time. He wasn’t touched. https://twitter.com/giants/status/1444723180954955780?s=21 Jones threw a good ball (not great, Ross had to slow down for it), Ross made a catch, but it’s not happening without great protection.
Jones threw from a clean pocket. This is something that hasn’t been consistently available to a Giants QB in nearly a decade. Today, Jones had a clean pocket for 4 quarters. And the Giants cashed in with a win.
Another shocking development occurred which aided the effort. It took nearly 4 full games, but Garrett lined up Barkley wide, in space (shocking), with a 54 yard TD. https://twitter.com/i/events/1392658317160321025?s=21
Toney time. We call Toney Tyreek Hill-lite. He is a 21st Century WR. It’s almost embarrassing how it took 4 games, and an injury to both Slayton and Shepard, to get this guy involved in the offense. Rookie? Of course. But as we saw with Shockey in 2002, keep the decisions simple and let him make plays.
Cold water paragraph. Just a reminder not to get too excited. We still have an ignoramus playcalling to Engram wide on 2nd and goal at the 2 behind the line of scrimmage. Tight Ends are for throwing the ball ABOVE the line of scrimmage in the red zone. Aim. Point. Throw. Catch. Fall down. TD. Instead it’s a loss of 3 and the Giants are fortunate 4 pts didn’t cost them. Engram dropped another ball today on a separate play. I try to blot these moments out of my memory but they can’t be unseen.
I do not want to take anything away from this win. As we know, from the bleeders to Washington and Atlanta, a Win is a win and a Loss is a loss. What Sean Payton did at 9:00 left in Q4, up 21-10 with the ball, was a travesty. If that was my coach, I’d be ripping him a new one. That was disgraceful Prevent Offense to a tee. It let the Giants back in the game. The Giants took advantage and made the most of the opportunity. Payton played not to lose. He lost. Great for the Giants making him pay. The only thing the Prevent prevents you from doing is winning the game.
Whodda thunk that OL protection plus Barkley in space could translate into winning football? I’m glad this is just a hobby 😉
UltimateNYG 