Cornerback/Safety

-Andrew DeLoach

Week 10 CB/S grade sheet 

…play #29 says it all. This play will go unnoticed by almost everyone watching, but Tom Coughlin probably can't sleep over it.  It's just a simple inside zone - Blackburn stands up the running back and Boley cleans it up for a gain of 2.  It seems harmless.  But watch the video again and pause it as Leonard is going down. There's a 

handful of Giants standing around, and none of them are trying to get involved or play through the whistle.  Everyone should want to hit the ball carrier. The Giants need to get an attitude. Obviously they shouldn't play dirty, but there has to be some type of "punish" mentality on the defensive side of the ball that simply does not exist right now. Not singling them out but Rolle, Tuck and Webster were the three guilty parties on this particular play. A small part in a game full of issues, but the play highlights a problem that has been hanging over the Giants defense pretty much all season now.   

…with all of the injuries and positional adjustments, the Giants have to get back to basics: get aligned properly, know your assignment, and tackle the ball carrier.  There were too many mistakes on these fundamental tasks, and it showed in the result of the game.  I expect Coughlin to have the assignment and alignment down, but if guys don't do a better job wrapping up and tackling, the Giants will start looking more and more like the Saints in the secondary.

…despite the defensive line troubles, the goal for any defense - but especially this one - should be to force a third and long.  With the depth of pass-rushers in the lineup, and the uncanny play-making ability of Stevie Brown - we've seen the Giants make game changing plays when the opponent has to throw.  However, the Giants have been asleep on 1st and 2nd down, allowing an average of 5.1 and 4.9 yards respectively.  I believe this is a result of poor post-snap reads.  The one or two extra steps it takes to recognize the play can really add up, especially when you are 12 yards deep or outside the hash as the secondary is most often. 

Rich C: Quick bone to pick---on Green's 56-yard TD we can all agree that Green got over the top as a result of Brown getting sucked in to the LOS. At the same time that doesn't give Corey Webster the green light to half ass it for the remainder of the play. It's almost as if Webster didn't chase down Green to steer clear of blame and saying "this one's not on me."  Doesn't matter who was beat by who, that effort flat out SUCKS. Brown made a mistake, Webster quit. I'll take the first of those two options any day. Similar view from Perry Fewell, who was quoted in Jenny Vrentas' game review on NJ.com.  Here it is: "S Stevie Brown was supposed to be over the top and instead bit on the run fake, but defensive coordinator Perry Fewell also explained that veteran CB Corey Webster should have recognized that Brown was not in position and not have let Green go." I have a feeling that is Fewell's PC answer on the subject. 

The Upside:

…Prince has proven he can be very good in coverage.  His size may hinders him against big bodies, but as his hands get more violent as the ball comes in (he really under-utilizes his hands at the moment), he should have tremendous success in coverage. 

…Brown continues to be a bit of a wild card on defense in that you don't really know what you are going to get.  But the kid simply has a nose for the football.  He almost had another 3rd down turnover this week, and I suspect that more are on the way. 

…Rolle continues to play solid, fundamental football.  His injury last week didn't seem to slow him down.

…bye week - Time to get healthy, rest, and clean up the mistakes before the playoff push.

Wide Receiver/Tight End

-Steve Gesuele

Week 10 WR/TE grade sheet

...outside of Nicks, the wide receivers had a quite day (more on Nicks in a bit). Hixon was hurt on the third play of the game and Cruz was a non-factor. On the one play where Cruz got separation he dropped a sure touchdown pass in the fourth quarter. Randle and Barden were decent in the limited snaps they saw but they did nothing much of note.

...Nicks had his best game since he went off against Tampa Bay. He was great in the short passing game,  especially over the middle. On the drives where the Giants did move the ball Nicks was instrumental. He and Eli were on the same page for the first time since Nicks came back from injury and it is no surprise that he recorded a 6, his highest total of the season. One thing we'd like to see, in addition to him and Eli working the post and dig 

routes once again is for the Giants to take advantage of off coverage on Nicks with a quick throw to him at the LOS. We saw it on two occasions in this one and hopefully is something the Giants will begin to take advantage of as his health progresses. A screen grab of the play is on the right. Nicks in space vs a CB---three yards a pop, at least. A healthy Nicks is an essential part of any Giants playoff run this season. An encouraging performance in a game with very few of them.

...the Giants were horrible in the red zone once again and this was a driving factor in the loss. Field goal, field goal, fumble. That is absolutely inexcusable. On two of those drives sacks hurt the Giants (although this could also be on the WRs) but the Giants playmakers need to step up when they have a chance to put points on the board..

...the tight end play was mediocre at best. All three players that saw time at the position were only average in blocking situations and failed to have a big impact on the passing game. They are a crucial part of the running game and their struggles have been highlighted both in this section and in the OL section on several occasions.  When the Giants were playing well earlier this year the tight ends were a part of it. They need to do so again for the G-Men to get back on track

Offensive Line

-Rich Conforti

Week 10 OL grade sheet

…an uninspiring performance for this unit and clearly their worst collective effort of the season, as the unit failed to record a player with an overall + grade. Somehow David Baas recorded a 0 but be sure to not misinterpret this. Here’s why—Baas was (for the most part) spared the task of dealing with Geno Atkins up front. Atkins is a terror and is far and away the best interior lineman (at least when it comes to penetrating) and showed it as he often was lined up in a 3 technique across from Boothe or Snee. The two guards were not as fortunate as Baas as they recorded grades of -2 and -5 respectively. Consider Baas spared from the wrath of Atkins in this one. 

…while Boothe struggled in pass pro against the Bengals he continued to show signs of being a very valuable asset in the run game, particularly blocking on the move and in space. This is something that I have been harping on now for a few weeks now—well here is some video evidence. Boothe needs to be the guy pulling, lead blocking, getting out in front on screens. Snee is the far superior drive blocker (assuming he can get back to full health) but does not stack up to Boothe in this regard. Need to play to their strengths. Sorry to have to use Bradshaw’s fumble as the example but just before he coughed it up, Boothe delivered a crushing, athletic pull block on Malaluga and just cleans his clock. The play had me out of my seat and before I could finish applauding Boothe, the Bengals had possession. Worth a look.

…David Diehl, who somehow has become the hot button issue for Giants fans, regressed a bit from last week (along with everyone else in this unit) and once again was responsible for several sacks. He graded out at a -4. As I mentioned last week (and as some commenters have pointed out) Diehl is and grades out much better in run blocking than Locklear. I have no worries that the passing game will rebound after the bye week. As for the running game... well we are going on nearly two seasons now of these struggles. While priority one is and always is protecting Eli, they need to get the run game fixed. The RT debate will be one of the things we look at as we start to filter, sort and present some of our Ultimate22 data next week so stay tuned. One thing to keep in mind about this game though---the majority of the pressure in this one (sacks not withstanding) from right up the middle.

...Chris Snee once again received the low grade for the offensive line coming in at a -5, which to me is no surprise considering how bad Snee's injury has looked on film for two games. Not to mention that he was matched up with Atkins for a good portion of this one. The back-to-back poor grades are really the only blemishes on what was an all-pro campaign through the first eight games. Snee is a true drive blocker and normally is able to stand in there and battle at the LOS with ANYONE. Clearly the injury has stripped him of that for the time being. The bye week couldn't come at a more opportune moment for Snee (not that he'd ever look for an excuse) and the Giants need his ankle back at full health for the ENTIRE offensive line, and in turn the offense, to suceeed. 

...obviously not responsible for grading the RBs but I wanted to show a screenshot of David Wilson's one carry in this game. Why? To show just how small the difference is between "struggling rookie who has yet to pick up the  

offense" vs "big play threat who can take it to the house on any play." On the play in the photo, a cutback run, Wilson does a great job of pressing the run to the front side and bending it back to the left, where there ideally would be plenty of open field. This should be an easy block for Will Beatty with his only job to wash away the DL deep into the backfield. Instead, both he and Pascoe fail to hold their blocks and a would be exlposive play became a one-yard gain.

...come back for Pt. 2 tomorrow with more Ultimate22 grades and analysis.

...and be sure to be here next week when we use each day to break down all of the Ultimate22 grades through the first 10 games. We will look at all of the hot-button issues for NYG and provide the relevant filtered data for them. If there's anything you'd like us to breakdown, put it in the comments.

31-13.  And this loss wasn't even that close.  The lone Giants TD came in garbage time.  So what happened?  The Giants did not come out with energy, and lacked crispness/focus/execution all game.  Dropped balls, Eli turnovers, Bradshaw turnover, 75 yard special teams swing on a penalty, special teams returners bumping into one another when both tried to catch the ball, more red zone failures (0-2 when it mattered), 0 sacks by the DL, yada yada.

Antrel Rolle: "It doesn't seem like we came ready to play ball today, for whatever reason."

Coughlin to his players: "We certainly got into this mess together and we are going to have find a way out of it together."

Coughlin: "It starts with me.  I am not pleased with the way that I prepared them and certainly with the way that they played.... I am concerned with the way we played.. particularly the last couple of weeks, and that is going to have to change if we're going to have any chance."

Jimmy Johnson and Howie Long called the Giants lethargic.  Terry Bradshaw inferred that there was too much talent for this to happen.

EVERY YEAR WE HAVE THIS DISCUSSION.  Isn't it proof that there is more than enough talent that the Giants can play with the best when it counts?  You don't win 2 Super Bowls without the requisite talent.  So why is it then that the Giants during the last number of regular seasons seem to have these ugly lapses?  And do these lapses matter?  Last year, if not for both the Eagles AND the Cowboys shooting themselves in the foot, the lapses vs teams like the Seahawks and Redskins surely would have mattered.  And the prior year, when a 31-10 lead vs the Eagles was blown, the lapses certainly mattered.

Energy.  People are looking at the Giants being tired, limping into the bye.  Where have we heard this "November tired" thing before? Oh, ya, Tiki Barber, way back in 2006. "Coach Coughlin is very hard-nosed, and I didn't get a lot of time off, couldn't sit down and rest myself, and so it was a constant grind - a physical grind on me that started to take its toll," said Barber.  "There'd be days where I couldn't move on Tuesday or Wednesday at practice, and he'd get mad at me for going half-speed. And I told him, 'Coach, I can't do it. I'm gonna be out here, I'm never gonna miss a practice, but I can't give you what you want all the time.'  Every year the Giants get off to these nice starts, then they hit the midseason wall and start dropping games. 

Everybody knows the numbers.  I am frankly tired of tracking the tired Giants.  When I watch other teams like the Steelers, I never see them flat.  You have to have the pulse of your team and see when they need a break so that they are fresh/ready for Sunday.  The Giants simply were flat and lacked energy.  When you lack energy, you make mistakes and do not execute well.  I tweeted that the only player on Offense who looked good was Andre Brown.  Well, that fits, because Brown has not gotten a lot of carries this year.  So his legs were fresh and he was ready to go.

If Coughlin gets the team to the playoffs, none of this will matter.  Yes, the bye is finally here, and we would all like to think that the Giants will get the bounce in their step to play well in their last 6 games so that they are peaking for the playoffs.  But even Coughlin himself acknowledges that a lot needs to get done to get (back) to that level.  Hasn't Tom learned that players are not machines and that they can use a break in the dog days of November when you are playing your 10th straight?  We know now that the Leadership Council back in 2007 told him that players needed more rest, that Coughlin gave them that rest, and that the players responded by rewarding that trust with "Super" effort.  It is not who you play but when you play them.  The Bengals had lost 4 straight, played a tired team and got an easy win.  This loss is on the head coach of the Giants for not having his team ready to play.  His words, not mine.       

Updated at 11:45 AM w/QB grades

Linebacker

-Steve Hardin

Week 9 LB grades

...a lot of people seemed to want to blame Herzlich seeing that Redman’s big game matched up with Blackburn’s injury. He was actually very good with his reads and fits in the run game.  In fact, he was much quicker reacting than Blackburn and much less reckless against play action, although we did not see a ton of it.  As a result, he put himself in position to make some plays, some of which he did not convert.  When we have the opportunity to make plays, we have to make them, but not a terrible job for a guy who has not seen a ton of snaps.

...Kiwi did not get a ton of plays at linebacker but did a decent job of setting the edge when playing in the 7 technique.

...We were pretty good in coverage.  We did not play a ton of man or Tampa two that would require Herzlich to cover receivers in space or down the seam, which may or may not have been for personnel reasons, or just a response to the dink and dunk offense Haley has brought to Pittsburgh this year.  He did get beat on the Sanders touchdown.  

...the Steelers beat us up primarily with man block schemes (iso, wrap, power, etc).  While, zone plays require offensive linemen to cover up bodies and allow the back to pick a hole teams who line up and run man schemes are relying on their guys to be physical and get push in the run game.  The fact that they came into this game expecting to physically dominate up front and went on to run the ball the way they did was frustrating, especially because I did not really see us getting overpowered. What I did see, however, was us getting beat schematically.  The Steelers rarely if ever ran the ball to the weak side, and because we played with two linebackers for much of the game with only six in the box, they were able to use guard wrap plays and motions in the backfield to create extra gaps we could not fill.  There is an example of this below…

1. We already are at a disadvantage with 7 gaps and a 6 man box, something we saw a lot of Sunday. This means on run to the strong side, Herzlich must fill the C gap and Boley must stack behind the defensive tackle in the weakside A gap and be able to play strongside A or the cutback into backside B.  This is not uncommon and when they block it straight up like this, it is not a huge problem.  The left guard should not be able to get to Boley on run right.

2. What the Steelers did quite a bit is bring an extra blocker to the strong side, primarily a fullback or in the case, a pulling guard to pick up the playside backer.  The play side guard and tackle then double team on the first level and one will come off the block to pick up Boley.  This is a much better angle than trying to block Boley straight up with the left guard.

3. This now creates an extra gap to the strong side.  With the center and left tackle picking up the defensive tackle and end to the weakside, we are left with five gaps and only four defensive players, including Boley scraping over the top.  We now have Herzlich taking on a pulling guard and can either play this with his inside should, forcing the play to the inside, or his outside shoulder, forcing the play to bounce.  I have seen it coached both ways, but with the double team coming for Boley, it doesn’t matter here.  Redman will be patient and break his run off of the guard’s block.

...this is something we got again and again.  I understand we have some injuries at the linebacker position, but we continuously tried to play this either straight up with a 6 man box, or by having a safety screw down into a Cover 3 look to fit into the uncovered gap.  In this case, we saw one of two things, either we gave away the coverage too early, or we tried to disguise the Cover 3 look and had a safety trying to make plays in the run game from 12 yards deep.  Last week with a healthy Rivers was the most I have seen us use our base personnel instead of these two linebacker nickel packages.  Then he got hurt again and it just seems like we don’t have enough guys healthy who we trust on the field to play these looks properly at this point.

Offensive Line

-Rich Conforti

Week 9 OL grade sheet

..we know Snee got hurt in this one. It looks like it happened real early in the game and it got worse as the game went on. I am not making excuses for his poor play but I am making excuses as to why he stood up and didn’t move every play. This is not Chris Snee. I am very surprised the Giants training staff/coaches didn’t get him out of this game. Both for his own health, the prospects of the team in this game and the prospects of the team going forward. If you have the game DVR’ed I strongly encourage you to watch any chunk of the game, especially in the second half and focus in on Snee and how badly he is hurt. He got a -6 in this one and he is certainly not a -6 player.

…Beatty came out of the gate looking like an all-pro, recording “1” worthy play after another. What a start by him and it all points back to his impressive footwork both in the pass and run game. It has always helped him in pass pro but he is showing how good he can be run blocking when he gets his feet moving. Beatty received a 1 on 3 of the first seven snaps. 

...and on that note so did the entire Giants offensive line throughout the whole first half. That includes David Diehl, who we have all been very critical of since this one. He was very solid in the run game, much better than Locklear and that is something that benefits the Giants a bit more right now.  First half grades Beatty: 4, Boothe: 2, Baas: 0, Snee: -2 (injury), Diehl: 2 (+3 in run blocking).

...I am not responsible for grading him but I do get to watch Martellus Bennett on every play and he has become a hindrance in run blocking. As pleasant of a surprise that he has been as a receiver, his blocking has left that much more to be desired. He has shown he has the ability so hopefully he will pull his head out of his ass any day now. 

...many of us felt last season that David Baas performed below expectations, expectations from the high praise of him by the Giants and also the sizable contract that they gave him before last season. Since we started the Ultimate22 this season it has been more of the same. Starting from Week 4, Baas has posted five out of six negative grades including a -5 in Week 7 followed by a -7 in Week 8 against the Cowboys. Over this time he is another guy (much like Bennett) who has been a hinderance on a running game that seems on the verge of "showing signs." Baas improved a bit this week with a -1 but will be tested against Bengals DL Geno Atkins, a player that some who do similar work feel is the best in the league at the position. 

...as we have mentioned several times this season the offensive line does an outstanding job of blocking together in pass protection. This means trusting the communication from the other linemen as they pass along blitzers and stunters. You can say a Dick LeBeau defense is the ultimate test in this regard and the Giants offensive line passed it going away.

...not directly related to the offensive line but, this was an interesting thing to read. Something to keep an eye out for this Sunday.

Wide Receiver/Tight End

-Steve Gesuele

Week 9 WR/TE grade sheet

...as much as the play calling has been coming under criticism over the last few weeks it seems to me that the bigger issue is the execution over that time frame. The Giants are best when they use their “small ball” approach and attack the middle of the field with short, quick routes and then expose the defense for a big play or two down the field. The Giants have been trying to do this but just simply haven’t been successful. Of Eli’s  28 drop backs there where 19 short, underneath routes over the middle. That doesn’t include the short out routes that the Giants love to run as well. The gamelan to attack with the short passing game as an extension of the run game is there, it just is not being executed as well in recent weeks. TOTAL SHORT UNDERNEATH ROUTES: CRUZ-8, BENNETT-7, NICKS-3, RANDLE-1, HIXON-0.

...the Giants wide receivers didn’t have as awful a game as their numbers would suggest. Although Cruz was the only wide out to put together a decent stat line the Giants’ receivers did an OK job getting open. Although “OK” is not what Big Blue strives for each week it was some what of an accomplishment considering how physical Pittsburgh’s secondary was and that the Giants were unable to get into a rhythm offensively for the second consecutive week. A dropped pass here and an overthrown ball there that go the other way and the offense could have had a much better day.

...although Beckum played OK in the limited snaps he saw it was clear that Pascoe was missed, especially around the goal line. The Giants are much more comfortable running to Pascoe’s side in short yardage situations and he was missed, especially when the Giants failed to convert for a TD while inside the five in the second half.

Quarterback

-Rich Conforti

Week 9 QB grades

...Charge Eli with the error on the Q1 interception. He is so great at getting rid of the ball this season (always under the 3 second mark on the stop watch and verified by his league low sack rate) but this one was onto the four-second and the result should be no surprise.

...normally one of the league's best downfield passers, Eli missed on the game's first play on a deep post to Nicks who had gotten over the top on the defense. Later in the game on O-play 23 Eli underthrew Hixon on a great route that got Hixon a few yards over the defense. Eli threw it way short and was bailed out by Hixon coming back for the ball and drawing the interference. 

...Eli graded out at a -1 for the game (which on the surface doesn't seem that bad) but it should be noted that he graded out at a -2 on the near-Ike Taylor interception in the end zone in the first quarter. Eli put it right in the basket for Taylor and that is unacceptable from him on a broken 3rd down play inside the 5. Can't happen. 

Defensive Tackle

Week 9 DT grades

I finally got a chance to watch the game vs Pittsburgh.  The inconsistency of this team is probably the single biggest factor when I think about macro issues.  The Giants simply have not played 4 quarters of football since the SF game.  Did the team put a flag in the ground, declare victory at the Stick, and think they could coast thereafter?  The Redskin game needed a miracle 77 yard bomb to Cruz to get a Win.  The Dallas game needed a lucky Dez Bryant digit (plus many other gifts) to hold on to a victory.  And this Pittsburgh game needed more luck to get the Win.  This time the luck ran out.  This is what happens when you play with fire.  You get burned.

1) Gilbride called a terrible game again.  I saw zero screens.  I saw zero slants.  I saw ONE flare to Hynoski which was very successful and moved the sticks for a first down conversion.  Where was the small ball?  It was almost non-existant.  From my rough calculations, there were as many 11-20 yard pass plays as small ball.  And there were also as many 20+ pass plays as there were small ball.  Not surprisingly, Eli and the offense lacked rhythm.  In Q4, they had 3 3-and-outs.  Here is an example of a SUCCESSFUL play which is evidence of the PROBLEM.  It is 3rd and 1 early in the game and Gilbride goes for a 16 yard completion.  Yes, it worked, but it was a low percentage play and was a perfect example of what was wrong with the playcalling.  Do not misunderstand what was happening.  Yes, you want to stretch the field and keep a defense honest about the deep pass.  And it is FINE to go for a pass for 15 yards every so often on 3rd and 1 to keep defenses off balance.  But in this game, where Eli needed rhythm and more time, more short passes were critical. Eli got sacked in this game, but I will defend the OL to a larger degree overall in saying that Gilbride's playcalling enabled the Steelers pass rush to tee off on him.  There was such a lack of mix that the job of the Steelers DL was to either stop the run or rush vs the long pass. 

2) The Special Teams fiasco was a rollback to 2010.  Aaarggh!  The Gmen deserved to lose just on all of the transgressions from this one unit.

3) Some critical penalties, including Jayron Hosley lined up in the neutral zone to turn a 4th down FG into a 3rd down conversion for a 1st and Goal, leading to a TD.  Ugly.

4) The Giants interior run defense was sickly.  Worse, tackling was terrible all day.

5) To watch the Giants with 1 minute remaining in H1 turn a FG opportunity into 0 pts and then watch Pitt get their own in the same minute, was a complete capitulation of effort.  That 6 point swing was disgusting.  None of us should be surprised that those 6 points would be a significant part of why the team lost.

6) The red zone failures were once again epic.  Where is the TE? Where is the slant? Where is the imagination?  To watch a great Webster INT set up the Giants at the 34 with only a FG to show for it is a lost opportunity amidst a sea of lost opportunities.

The Giants can beat anyone in the NFL if they play 60 minutes.  Gilbride and Quinn need to learn how to make in-game adjustments.

Among the many, many things and people that Sandy has affected, somewhere WAYYYY down the list, well after the far more important issues, is the completion of our weekly Utlimate22 grades and conclusions. 

As our team of Ultimate22 evaluators deals with those things, we will put our content on hold for the week (minus something like a game preview on Saturday) as many of you are probably without power (and in turn, internet access) like many of us are.

We will be back next week with grades from both Week 8 and 9 as well as (what we planned on offering this week) our first look at some trends, both good and bad, at the halfway point of the season.

Hope everyone has a SAFE and SMART recovery as we all are forced to deal with the aftermath of Sandy in one way or another.