We spoke with Wonder about tonight's Eagles Giants game to get a preview for what we need to see for a Giants win.  In short, if the Giants play their game, they should beat the Eagles.

Things the Giants can and must do:

1) Run the ball.  The Eagles run defense is not good. They are not stout. With the exception of Ryans, their LBers are not good.  Do not go wide on the run, run up the middle. 

2) Take advantage of the Eagles' (defensive) aggressiveness.  Draw plays will work because they love to rush the passer.  Ditto for screens to slow down the pass rush.  Flares are better than dumpoffs- why? Because the flare will catch LBers still backpedaling while the dumpoff occurs later in the play when the LBer can be headed back to the line of scrimmage.

2a) Use Bennett as a faux blocker and slip him out of the line for easy 5-8 yard pickups (TE mid screen). "I love Bennett in this game. Eagles Safeties are weak. The Eagles like to blitz so there will be gaps between the LBers and Safeties."

3) Target Asomugha, not DRC.  Asomugha has lost speed/step/reaction time, so he is no longer a Top 20 CB in the league.  He cannot cover Cruz.  

4) Don't turn the ball over to the Eagles. 

Things the Eagles can and must do:

1) Put DRC on Cruz, not Asomugha.

2) RUN McCOY. RUN McCOY. RUN McCOY.  All day, get it?!  You need play action to hold the Giants pass rushers in check.  And that will not work effectively w/o a lot (20-25) of McCoy touches.  Otherwise you are going to kill Vick, because he does not have an OL to protect him.  This all stems from the losses of Jason Peters and Jason Kelce.  Flares and dumpoffs to McCoy are fine as well.

3) Celek needs to be a key part of the offense tonight, more so than Jackson.  The Eagles OL will not be able to protect Vick for long periods of time on 7 step drops (unless run game and hence play action is effective), so do not think about long vertical game as much as guys like Celek and McCoy.

4) Roll out Vick to buy him more time.  

Summary: This is the Giants' game to win or lose.  If the Giants do what they need to do, and the Eagles do what they need to do, the Giants will win.      

Offensive Line

-Rich Conforti

Week 3 grade sheet   (with play-by-play notes)

Week 3 by the numbers

...the first order of business is to make note of Will Beatty's effort as he put on a clinic at the LT position. It was far and away the best game of his career. Although it wasn't the same circumstances as Brown or Barden's situation, Beatty too had a coming out party. Just take note of how many times he stands out in 1v1 pass blocking in my play-by-play notes. Hopefully something clicked. Let's keep this in perspective though as Carolina's front seven turned in a putrid effort rushing the passer (reason for a lot of the 0's in the pass game) and stiffer tests will certainly await Beatty. We also know he has had durability issues so we have plenty more to see out of him with some solid pass rushers awaiting him on the schedule.

...in the game review I touched on Andy's tweet regarding the undermanned Giants formula for success on offense against Carolina. Small ball right out of the gate. That is exactly what they did, coming out with a great balance of runs and short/intermediate passes in the opening period. Don't think the Giants weren't mindful of this when they opened the 2nd quarter hitting Barden on a deep post (a route that would be there all game long) off of play action. The patience with he play calling facilitiated this opportunity. Take a look below.

Eight in the box at the snap.

 O-line fires off to sell the run. All eight in the box are buying.

   And Eli will exploit THIS kind of look all day.

...the Giants’ run blocking was excellent on Thursday in Carolina. As a unit on run plays they scored a 9 overall. Locklear was the recipient of the negative score with one or two very preventable -1's (see notes). At the same time they also left a lot on the table coming one block short on several occasions and this was noted in the comments section. Understand this is meant in a good way--multiple snaps were one block away from an explosive play.  Remember, all it takes is one missed to ruin four great ones. It's a cohesive unit. 

...the lack of in game adjustments by the Carolina defense was surprising. The Giants o-line was able to dominate them at the point of attack. Nearly no sign of a blitz and no solid pressure by the front four in any manner. 

...you better believe that Philly will apply much more pressure than Carolina did. I counted less than five blitzes out of the Panthers. Maybe because no Nicks/Hixon? Either way they paid the price. You have to think Philly will provide a better test than Carolina did. They gave Eli predictable looks and that is a battle he will always win. Again, you have to think Philly will do more in the way of creating chaos up front.  

Wide Receiver/Tight End

-Steve Gesuele

Week 3 grade sheet (with play-by-play notes)

...remember it was week three of the 2011 season when Victor Cruz had his coming out party against the Eagles and we may have just witnessed the birth of Barden as an effective contributing player. Ramses had big shoes to fill with no Nicks or Hixon in the lineup and he stepped up big time. Not only did he put up gaudy offensive numbers (nine catches for 138 yards, both good enough to lead the team) but he showed tremendous route running skills and down field blocking. The latter two may be what fans should be most excited about.

...Victor Cruz didn't have an eye popping 80-yard TD catch and run versus the Panthers but he had a solid game by any other measure. Cruz is dominant in the short passing game and it was highly evident against Carolina. Even with all the discussion about Carolina rolling the coverage to his side, Cruz was still able to be effective in the short to intermediate passing game. Bet Cruz never expected this one year ago.

...Martellus ​Bennett now has three straight gameswith at least four catches and one touchdown and his yard totals have increased in all three of those contests. The Black Unicorn is becoming more and more comfortable in the offense and it is showing. No head shaking drops for him either. Bennett was solid in the blocking game once again where he graded out to 0 for the second consecutive week. He was also great in this feature by the New York Times' Sam Borden. Great stuff. 

...Pascoe turned in a solid effort against Carolina. The Giants love him in run blocking situations which was showcased when both Brown touchdown runs went to his side of the field. He is about as consistent of a blocker as you can as for from your second string tight end. We also saw a look from the Giants that we have yet to see this season: Bear in the slot.  

Linebacker

-Steve Hardin

Week 3 grade sheet (with play-by-play notes)

...it is not easy preparing for a team that can run the read option in the NFL as well as Carolina. You need to be assignment sound. This is something that college teams spend time on from the day they report to camp because they see it week in and week out. The Giants had three days so hats off to them.

...brings me to my second key to the success of this unit on Thursday…sound tackling. Carolina has a lot of guys who are very good in space. In addition to forcing the Giants to make open field tackles in the run game, they attempted a number of underneath throws to their backs and tight end also putting their tackling to the test.

...it was mentioned in our breakdown of the safeties that guys were dropping to areas but trying to read the quarterback rather than being conscious of receivers moving in and out of zones. I had the same criticism of the linebackers last week and was afraid a more experienced quarterback than we saw in Freeman would be able to pick us apart using his eyes. Cam Newton isn’t a much bigger test than Freeman but they did a better job of this this week and feel a little more comfortable going forward.

...best game I have seen from Williams so far. Twice during the game he made two plays playing aggressively downhill in the run game. Both Boley and Blackburn took too many false steps. They appeared to get caught looking in the backfield on more than one occasion. This is something Blackburn seems to have had issues with in the previous two games, but was a first for Boley who was nearly flawless with his reads in weeks 1 and 2.  

...has a linebacker ever lead the league in picks? There are more athletic linebackers, even on our team, but Boley has quite the nose for the ball in the pass game.

What is the job of the NFL Commissioner? 

Is it to “work for the NFL owners?” 

We keep hearing this nonsense on radio. 

Of course Roger Goodell works for the owners, and the owners sign his check. We all get that. But what is the Commissioner’s charge?  What is he RESPONSIBLE for?

What is his JOB?  

The commissioner represents the owners’ interests in his capacity to promote the advancement of the National Football League. In short, he gets paid to be the steward for the game of professional football.

Time and again, Roger Goodell has failed to execute his charge. He is a weak commissioner who placates his bosses. As a result, ironically he does not stand up for the NFL’s best interests or that of the sport. Examples of how this is manifested have been chronicled on this NY Giants blog many times. 

Among them are---

...not respecting the premium tier customer, the one who attends the game in person.

...allowing a lockout of players to go on for many months and weakening the quality of the 2011 season.

...promoting an 18 game schedule, despite championing "player safety" week in and week out.

And now the latest black eye for the NFL---

...standing idly by while the owners blow yet another labor battle. Everyone in America was in horror as yet another poor referee’s call determined the outcome of a Monday night contest. Before the season we warned everyone that the (via Bill Walsh) 20% of football that is luck was going to be 25% thanks to the madness. Tell that to the Packers.

So here we watch as the skill and preparation of the game become secondary to the madness of the lingerie officials. 

Are replacement referees in the best interests of the owners? Can the money that the owners are saving by taking a hard line in this negotiation really worth the abandonment of the integrity of the competition between players? Sadly, it may be the death of the NFL by a thousand cuts. And Roger Goodell, the weak commissioner, watches as the owners save a few bucks and once again undermine their own product.

Steve Young and Trent Dilfer have echoed similar sentiments for the past two weeks:

-Andrew DeLoach is responsible for the evalutation of the Giants' safeties for the Ultimate22 project. Below are links to his complete grade sheets for the first three weeks (which include notes) as well as observations from last Thursday's game against Carolina on the play of the Giants' safeties. 

Week 1 grade sheet 9/5 vs Dal 

Week 2 grade sheet 9/16 vs TB

Week 3 grade sheet 9/20 @ Car

Week 3 notes

...certainly the best defensive output thus far, but still some things that need to get worked on from a secondary standpoint. Here's a few notes from the game:

...when the Giants put a safety in the box, they either play Cover 1 Lock, or Cover 3.  Either way, showing it early makes them highly susceptible to 1-high beaters.  Unless Rolle is coming on the [pass] blitz there is no reason to give away the coverage so early. Phillips has plenty of time to get to deep middle starting from 12 yards deep and Rolle can cover enough ground without being in the box pre-snap. Veteran QB's are going to be able to read this, check the play, and really do damage unless the Giants mask the coverage better.

...the Giants still have a tendency to be a little robotic in their drops. Rather than running to a spot, guys need to have their head on a swivel and know who the threats are in their zone, and align themselves better to take that threat away. They did, though, do a much better job of this than in weeks 1 and 2.

...it was nice to see Hill and Brown get some quality reps in. Their ability to make a play here and there bodes well for the Giants down the road. Rolle and Phillips have taken nearly every rep through 3-weeks, but if Fewell can trust those guys for a few reps every once in awhile, it could keep more fresh bodies on the field.

...the Panthers added up a decent amount of yards once the game was well out of reach. I like that the Giants kept everything in front of them and took away deep routes, then rallied to the make tackles once Newton checked down. The only problem is that Rolle and Phillips sometimes sit back waiting for ball carriers to get to them. Better breaks could save some yards, and more importantly first downs, later on in the season.

...solid effort all around by the defense. 

The Giants have been using a rotation of 3 Defensive Ends for Weeks 1-3.  Osi Umenyiora, Jason Pierre-Paul and Justin Tuck are all seeing a lot of snaps.  In fact, the number of snaps each has been seeing has been fairly consistent in each game this far. 

Obviously player performance has been a little lop-sided.

Jason Pierre-Paul is a monster.  And you do not need to be grading him out to know this.  Still, it is informative to see how the numbers bear out his playmaking.  He is simply winning his battles vs the opponent who is assigned to him while Tuck and Osi are not.  Our grader asks aloud if Tuck is playing hurt once again because it certainly looks like it to him.  And he would know, having watched film of every single one of the 118 plays he has seen since the start of the season.  Re Osi, he is seeing more action on passing downs than not.  That has meant a lot of the "Nascar Package" where the Giants use all 3 DEs (Tuck, Osi, JPP) to get pressure on the QB.   

The bottom line is that Tuck and Osi are not playing at the Pro Bowl level that Giants fans have grown accustomed to seeing over the years.  Osi's return from injury late in the 2011 season and Tuck's ability to battle through injury to play at a higher level, were part of the reason why the Giants were able to make a Super Bowl run.  If these two players are able to attain that higher level of play that we know they are capable of, the sky is the limit. We are still cautious about Tuck, despite his +3 grade last week, because he still looked physically limited.  When Tuck is healthy and 100%, we won't be seeing 0, -3 and +3.