Divisional Round Thoughts

[Oswlek]

Just thought I'd post a bunch of stuff about this weekend in one thread.

* This weeked was a win for the "defense wins championships" crowd. Three unstoppable offense led by unflappable quarterbacks with uncoverable receiving weapons, and only one remains. Either GB or NO wouldn't have surprised me, but both going down was definitely unexpected.

* Of the defensive performances, it was SFs that impressed me the most. Other than some sloppy tackling at the very end of the game, they outplayed NO across the board. Their DL dominated NO's impressive running attack to the point that the Saints abandoned it altogether. Without being able to make his stride and a half, Brees wasn't able to make the throws. Even when Brees had time, the coverage was excellent.

Just dominant across the board.

* By comparison, NY's defense, while impressive, was helped out by a lot of dropped passes. GB had their chances, they just flubbed them.

That said - and this is somewhat paradoxical considering what I just wrote - I was impressed with NY's coverage. The majority of GB's pressure were after Rodgers had 3 or more seconds to survey the field. They didn't have nearly the amount of DL-beats-QB-to-the-drop plays like was saw in 2007. Perhaps this was a function of them trying to contain Aaron (which didn't work too well if it was), but the pass rush was only good, not great. I never would have expected NY to win without bitchslapping GB's OL.

* Me at the outset of the season:

I could see a Saint type fall [for the Packers], but something tells me it is going to be more like the 2008 Giants. With boatloads of talent and confidence, they ran roughshod over the league for 11 weeks and crusied down the stretch to the top seed, only to flame out in a home playoff game after winning 4 straight away from home to end the year before.

Me this past week:

1/15 4:30 ET At Green Bay -7.5 NY Giants 52.5

* Despite the Ravens actually winning, the longer yesterday's game went on the less I wanted to see Houston come to Foxboro. They were significantly better than the Ravens on both sides of the LOS and have two better offensive players (Johnson, Foster) than anyone on Baltimore.

* Eli has earned plenty of grief from me, but he bas genuinely been a top tier QB this year. He no longer looks like a frightened turd whenever he sees some pressure.

* Man is that GB defense terrible. They were every bit as bad as NE's was at their worst this year, allowing three or four 3rd and 10+ conversions on just first couple NY drives. And it didn't get much better from there, other than some decent success stopping the run.

I've been sticking up for passing on Clay Matthews for two years now, and I hope his actual play on the field will do most of the talking. Or, perhaps I should say, I hope fans will listen to what his play is saying. He isn't getting any pressure and if he doesn't get past the block right away, he gets shoved aside against the run. Both Carter and Anderson were more impressive this year.

* Watching Ridley run, with all the swinging arms and legs, it finally hit me who he reminds me of.

 

[Oswlek]

One other thing, what was McCarthy thinking with the onside kick? You do that when you feel you need to steal a possession, not when you are the superior squad. I've felt all along that he is a gameday liability and it finally presents itself after his players carried him all season.

 

[HSanders]

Yeah OS that onside was a WTF thing for me too. We talked about it in chat yesterday. I could be wrong but i think McCarthy did it in a regular season game this past year as well...and I think it too failed.

RE: SF I think their D is very well coached too. How else could it be explained the difference in Carlos Rogers in Wash vs him in SF? Amazing.

 

[OSUBuckeye]

Christ, that attachment is huge. Why can't I delete it and replace it with something smaller? ?

Very dangerous wording around here.

 

[Ras]

Here Os!

 

[Oswlek]

Thanks Ras! But I can't delete the first one, anyone know how or know a mod who can?

EDIT: Figured it out. Thanks.

 

[The Hoodie]

I was, and still am confused by that onside kick. The middle of the 2nd quarter after the offense scores a TD--sure, you'd like to have a possession there again, but it really is unnecessary.

 

[midgar8784]

Owslek, do you think the end of the san fran game was missed tackles as much as they were just flat worn out? The niners offense for most of the game did not do a good job of keeping them off the field, they had a lot of drives stall pretty early.

 

[grog]

My biggest question in all the games was who was calling the plays at the end of the Baltimore Houston game for the Texans? They threw deep twice near the end, both resulting in TOs. Why? Especially the one just under 2 minutes. They had plenty of time left and had moved to about midfield already. Why go for it all there? Maybe send 1 or 2 deep but have someone breakoff 20 yards downfield and keep the chains moving? That was no time for a Hail mary type heave, imho.

 

[Oswlek]

Owslek, do you think the end of the san fran game was missed tackles as much as they were just flat worn out? The niners offense for most of the game did not do a good job of keeping them off the field, they had a lot of drives stall pretty early.

On Graham's TD, the safety flies right past, caught somewhere between going for a pick and a big hit. He could easily have tackled Jimmy and kept the clock running with no score.

Sproles' TD looked like a good move against a tired defender.

Davis' long catch was dreadful defense by the safety who took a bad angle and then took himself out of the play even further with his dive. With the DB trailing, he should have tried to keep Davis away from the sideline.

One other thing I just thought of WRT Green Bay. I've never seen worse defense of a hail mary pass in my life. 4 defenders were between the GL and the ten yard line with only 2 covering 3 WRs in the EZ!

WTF?

Hey guys, if they don't catch it in the end zone, it probably doesn't end in points. You might want to have a few more people in that colorful rectangle over there.

 

[Oswlek]

My biggest question in all the games was who was calling the plays at the end of the Baltimore Houston game for the Texans? They threw deep twice near the end, both resulting in TOs. Why? Especially the one just under 2 minutes. They had plenty of time left and had moved to about midfield already. Why go for it all there? Maybe send 1 or 2 deep but have someone breakoff 20 yards downfield and keep the chains moving? That was no time for a Hail mary type heave, imho.

I'd put that on Yates more than anything. The call was probably to Johnson, but Yates has to know that either the ball gets out right away or he looks elsewhere. Had he bothered to glance straight ahead of himself, he'd have seen an uncovered TE running right down the seem 15 yards down the field. Throw it there and you are talking first and goal, perhaps even a TD because Reed had already broken towards Andre.

 

[imapig]

If the Ravens play the same way on Sunday its going to be a 50 point performance by the Patriots...

 

[midgar8784]

On Graham's TD, the safety flies right past, caught somewhere between going for a pick and a big hit. He could easily have tackled Jimmy and kept the clock running with no score.

Sproles' TD looked like a good move against a tired defender.

Davis' long catch was dreadful defense by the safety who took a bad angle and then took himself out of the play even further with his dive. With the DB trailing, he should have tried to keep Davis away from the sideline.

One other thing I just thought of WRT Green Bay. I've never seen worse defense of a hail mary pass in my life. 4 defenders were between the GL and the ten yard line with only 2 covering 3 WRs in the EZ!

WTF?

Hey guys, if they don't catch it in the end zone, it probably doesn't end in points. You might want to have a few more people in that colorful rectangle over there.

Yeah they talked about the hail mary this morning and according to players on GB, they said it was not a hail mary. I think they believed that the giants were trying to run out the clock and did not put a lot of players back for the pass, so it was basically single coverage on the wideouts. In other words, they screwed up.

 

[midgar8784]

I'd put that on Yates more than anything. The call was probably to Johnson, but Yates has to know that either the ball gets out right away or he looks elsewhere. Had he bothered to glance straight ahead of himself, he'd have seen an uncovered TE running right down the seem 15 yards down the field. Throw it there and you are talking first and goal, perhaps even a TD because Reed had already broken towards Andre.

Yates locked in on Johnson hard at the end of the game, he was not even looking any other way. On one of the ints, Reed was able to read his eyes and come all the way across the field away from the other coverage because he knew yates was going there.

 

[The Gr8est]

Yeah they talked about the hail mary this morning and according to players on GB, they said it was not a hail mary. I think they believed that the giants were trying to run out the clock and did not put a lot of players back for the pass, so it was basically single coverage on the wideouts. In other words, they screwed up.

I remember thinking before Nicks even caught the ball that it was going to be a TD. Nicks had prime position and there were no defenders between the pass and him; they were behind him. How the defense could let the receiver be in that position on a half-ending play is beyond belief.

Horrid, indefensible defense by GB.

 

[The Gr8est]

* Watching Ridley run, with all the swinging arms and legs, it finally hit me who he reminds me of.

I haven't had a chance to re-watch the game yet so I haven't had a chance to review Ridley. Is this ball security problem something that is intrinsic in his running style, or can we reasonably hope he can tighten this up fairly quickly?

 

[John Locke]

I haven't had a chance to re-watch the game yet so I haven't had a chance to review Ridley. Is this ball security problem something that is intrinsic in his running style, or can we reasonably hope he can tighten this up fairly quickly?

I think it's correctable. Remember, years ago Faulk was costing us games with fumbles and he turned it around and became one of the most valuable and lived players on the team.

 

[Oswlek]

I haven't had a chance to re-watch the game yet so I haven't had a chance to review Ridley. Is this ball security problem something that is intrinsic in his running style, or can we reasonably hope he can tighten this up fairly quickly?

Definitely correctible, just not necessarily by Sunday.

Depending on the Ravens' defensive gameplan, we might see less of Stevan this week. Not only are the fumbling issues, but I can't imagine he is as good a blocker as Faulk and Benny.

 

[Hawg73]

I remember thinking before Nicks even caught the ball that it was going to be a TD. Nicks had prime position and there were no defenders between the pass and him; they were behind him. How the defense could let the receiver be in that position on a half-ending play is beyond belief.

Horrid, indefensible defense by GB.

It was exactly that.

It occured to me that the Packers have been in so few close games this year that they might not have faced a whole lot of hail marys, but, if so, they should have covered it sufficiently in practice.

Situational football, people. Situational football. That was surely one of the key plays of the game and had so shatter GB's confidence that their D could get it done.

Like you I was focused on Nicks before the ball arrived and couldn't believe there weren't more green jerseys in position. It was huge.

 

[Oswlek]

It was exactly that.

It occured to me that the Packers have been in so few close games this year that they might not have faced a whole lot of hail marys, but, if so, they should have covered it sufficiently in practice.

Situational football, people. Situational football. That was surely one of the key plays of the game and had so shatter GB's confidence that their D could get it done.

Like you I was focused on Nicks before the ball arrived and couldn't believe there weren't more green jerseys in position. It was huge.

More on situational football...

Am I the only one who, while watching opposing 2 minute drills, asks to himself, "can't these guys line up already? Don't they know they only have 48 seconds left?"

The past two weeks I must have watched three or four drives that looked like it hadn't been practiced a single time all season. The difference between NE's efficiency and most of the league is stark.