GIANT BEATDOWN

           Giants Embarass Packers in Blowout

 

 

Will the real New York Giants please step forward? For that matter will the real Green Bay Packers also step forward?

Wow.

After an episodic ass-kicking delivered by the reigning Super Bowl Champs over the previous holder of the title fans in New York, Green Bay and the rest of the NFL are asking the same question. These were the struggling Giants, led by Eli Manning who has been far less than reliable all year against the Packers led by Mr. Consistency Aaron Rodgers. And the Giants dumped the Packers with relative ease 38 - 10.

Manning had gone 4 games since his last TD pass. It has been 100 attempts as well. The Giants were reeling having lost 2 in a row and the Packers were rolling ready to extend their 5 game winning streak. The Giants were fresh off a bye week and the Packers just concluded the soft part of their schedule.

The Packers seemed to have forgotten to pack their ‘A’ game for the Meadowlands Sunday Night. The Giants looked like they found it and honed for 2 straight weeks. Given Head Coach Tom Coughlin’s association with boot-camp like practices it would shock no one if the Giants were working on a plan to dismantle the Pack during the entire bye week. They certainly found the right formula. The G-Men pound relentlessly at the middle of the Packer’s line with their run game piling up 147 yards rushing. And when the Pack managed to fill the gaps Ahmad Bradshaw and Andre Brown bounced it outside. The Giants also used their backs effectively in the passing game. After Manning hooked up with a short pass to Bradshaw in their opening drive the catch and run afterwards for 59 yards put the ball at the 2. When Andre Brown punched it in 2 plays later the Packers were down 7 -0.

Rodgers and crew have faced this situation before. Arod promptly put the Pack onto the scoreboard when he dropped a perfectly thrown bullet into Jordy Nelson’s arms and it was off to the races. The 61 yard jolt made the game look like it was going to a shootout type game. It didn’t quite follow the script. The Pack D held the Giants to a 3-and-out series when New York the drive stalled the Giant 28.

Rodgers drove the Pack right back into scoring position but then lost yards when the Giants front four steamrolled the left side of the Packers Offensive Line and sacked Rodgers for a 2 yard loss, setting up a Mason Crosby 55 yard attempt.

Mike McCarthy wanted to show the support for and confidence in Crosby, and Crosby responded with yet another miss. While a 55 yarder is far from a chip shot the McCarthy is waiting desperately for Thunderfoot to return while he will be all too glad to see Dr. Shankentein leave town. The Giants had relatively good field position and it was a 10 play drive that ended Manning’s shutout streak when he and Reuben Randle hooked up for a 16 yd. TD pass.

It was somewhere about here the Packers ‘A’ was discovered missing and the Giants, the real Giants, the team they thought they would be showed up. And with a vengeance. Rodgers looked more than mortal when he tossed a pick on the first play, a ball that was directed somewhere at Randall Cobb’s knees that was picked off by Corey Webster, who would shadow Cobb all night. So close was Webster to Cobb that when Cobb used the men’s room at halftime Webster was there to hand him the paper. Packer killer Lawrence Tynes hit his long kick and it was as close as Green Bay would be at any point in the game. New York dropped 17 first quarter points on the Pack and simply overwhelmed and outmuscled the Pack much in the same way they manhandled Green Bay in last season’s playoff romp.

Give the Giants and Coughlin credit. They came in with a good game plan and executed it on both sides of the ball. New York already employs some of the most ferocious pass rushers in the game. With players such Osi Umenyiora, Jason Pierre- Paul and Justin Tuck it is hard to understand why the Giants have struggled this year. On this night there would be no such struggle. Knowing the Packers had a depleted line the Giants stormed the left side of the line repeatedly overwhelming Marshall Newhouse and Evan Dietrich-Smith. Rodgers was chased about and sacked 5 times, and that, friends, gives the Packers a dubious record of allowing the most 5+ sack games in the NFL.

Even when Rodgers had open receivers he had little time to get the ball out cleanly. Jermichael Finley complained loudly once again about not getting the ball. He made his case in the media laying blame at Rodgers doorstep for not trusting him anymore. The problem, clearly, is Rodgers, and given his own way Finley would just throw the ball to himself. Rodgers found his mercurial tight end open and fired a strike right between the numbers, splitting the 8’s on Finley’s jersey. And when Finley got the ball – he dropped it. Maybe Finley’s complaints were heard. He was targeted 3 more times, all passes he caught.

Even Cobb got into the dropsies act. The litany of Packer errors began piling up with more fumbles and penalties. Whatever Manning was doing he corrected for this game as he hit for 3 TD’s and reduced the Packers defense to looking like last year’s chase and miss version of the Keystone Kops. Rookie Casey Hayward in particular was targeted and he missed a golden opportunity early when a potential pick slid through his hands.

So complete was the Giants domination of the Packers that McCarthy yanked Rodgers, not necessarily for his play but more likely for his health, in the 4^th and sent Graham Harrell in to mop up. The Giants came in with a plan that they executed to a ‘T’. Justin Tuck had stated earlier the Giants wanted to pressure Rodgers…check. Manning needed to rebound and get back into the form that led New York to its’ Super Bowl victory last year…check. Coughlin was dedicated to the run and establishing an inside presence…check. And by opening with 17 first quarter points New York forced Green Bay into a one dimensional form of passing to catch up, much like Green Bay did to the NFL last year.

When Green Bay defeated Pittsburgh in Super Bowl XLV afterwards Steeler coach Mike Tomlin was gracious when asked what went wrong. “This (game) wasn’t about us (Pittsburgh) not making plays. It was about them (Green Bay) making plays.” And so it was on this one as well. Give the defending champs their due. They made the plays the Packers couldn’t. Even when the Packers could make plays – Rodgers bomb to Nelson looked for all the world like the high octane attack was back for the Pack – they couldn’t sustain it.

There is an old adage in sports that goes “You’re not as good as you think you are when you blow someone out and you’re not as bad as you think you are when you get blown out.” Even the best of teams will lose a few along the way. Last year New York lost to Green Bay in the regular season and hardly looked Super Bowl ready, yet somehow they managed to regroup. That is what professionals do. McCarthy, to his credit, shouldered much of the blame afterwards. But McCarthy can only protect his troops so much. He is correct in his assessment that for every man in green and gold it is gut-check time.

In reviewing the tape from this game McCarthy may just decide altogether to scrap this one and start pointing out to the Pack what they did that was right. But he must face one inevitable truth – the Giants exposed the Packers Achilles heel – the left side of their offensive line. Newhouse had an awful day and on one sack he was reduced to guessing, lunging and missing as Rodgers was walloped and hit hard as he was driven into the turf. The loss of RT Bryan Bulaga is greater than originally feared. LG T.J. Lang has slid over to Bulaga’s spot and has not performed as well as the Bull. Dietrich- Smith has assumed Lang’s spot and he has not performed as well as Lang. The defense also took Giant steps backwards in surrendering the big plays they have managed to limit thus far. Correcting that is at the top of DC Dom Capers list this week and there isn’t a player who won’t hear about it this week.

As the Packers close out the last 5 games of the season and now face their NFC North foes 4 times time is of the essence. Getting some healthy bodies back won’t hurt either. Clay Matthews and Greg Jennings should rejoin the mix while Cedric Benson and Charles Woodson are a few weeks away yet. A decision on LT Derrick Sherrod is coming this week. Will the reinforcements help? The grip on the NFC North title has been given back to the hated Bears but the Packers have a solid stake in a Wild Card slot.

As the Packers prepare for Minnesota this week from McCarthy on down the team must find itself within itself. The weak teams fold under such scrutiny and after an embarrassing loss. The good ones fix the problems. The great ones use it as kindling to light the fire. Are the real Green Bay Packers around still, the team that was the pre-season favorite of almost everyone? Time will tell.

Which team the Packers truly are this year will make itself apparent over the next 5 weeks.