Sun Oct 23, 4:15 pm (CBS) - Denver at Giants
Too much too soon?
The Giants have expected and have gotten a lot from Eli Manning. Ben Roethlisberger was brought along at a much slower pace. Eli Manning has been passing the ball and running the offense at
a high level and they just keep expecting more from him. Eli works at keeping everyone in the game, gets the ball to Plaxico, Shockey, and Toomer, and has surprised opponents with his arm and
quarterback awareness. The thing is, nobody is surprised now, and teams are doing a bit better game planning for young Eli. The Giants need to stop forcing Eli to compete with his more experienced
brother Peyton.
Teams used to game plan for Tiki Barber who was pretty effective despite that, and now they don't even have to bother. Give Eli a break from trying to find the hot receiver on almost every play.
Give the offensive line a chance to get off their heels and plow forward into the opposing defense. Give Manning a chance to hand off the ball and keep his
mind clear. It shouldn't be on him every play. The Giants need to establish a running game and then demoralize opponents with Eli's passing plays.
Tiki Barber wants the ball.
If Tiki Barber wants more touches, he needs to be on a different team. Maybe like a Dallas team who played against the Giants last week, and held the
ball for 40:46. The Cowboys had plenty of time for running plays, and ran 38 of them, exactly twice as many as the Giants with 19. The funny thing is, they were exactly half as effective in
running them. They gained just 2.4 yards a carry compared to the Giants 4.8. If they were running the ball as well as the Giants, maybe they wouldn't have passed it 40 times. If the Giants
had run the ball as many times as their opponent, they would have had over 180 yards on the ground, even more than the 179 net yards passing the Giants produced last week.
Written in stone.
Tom Coughlin won't go against anything that's written down, even if he wrote it himself. Brandon Jacobs, the short-yardage and goal-line back
was penciled in for that eventful play, and that was what Coughlin had him do even if it didn't make the most sense at the time. Tiki had just carried the ball for 9 yards, and it was just
2nd down and 1 at the Cowboys 3 yard line. Even Jacobs said he was surprised that his number was called late in the fourth quarter when he hadn't carried
the ball at all in the game. The rookie fumbled and the Cowboys got it back at their own 1 yard line. Meanwhile, while the very effective Tiki Barber, in
for the entire game, sat it out on the sidelines.
Brandon took the blame on himself, but he shouldn't have been in there in the first place, It was a bad coaching decision. It seems that Coughlin can blow games just like Jim Fassel did, and
both coaches in their own trademark way. Just as Coughlin had said that he would not have changed even one thing he did last year (6-10), there was no way he would go against what he wrote
down in the playbook before the game.
Denver.
The Broncos are coming off a 28-20 win over the New England Patriots to put them at 5-1, and the last five games were
the wins. They are very good at stopping the running game, but that might not work against the Giants, because they don't use one. Seriously, the Broncos are fifth in the NFL in rushing defense,
allowing only 88.3 yards per game. They are also good at putting pressure on opposing quarterbacks. Jake Plummer has been very effective, but even without credentials, quarterbacks usually
enjoy a good day against the Giants defense.
Last week, Denver's Tatum Bell finished with 114 rushing yards to run for over 100 yards for the second straight week. He has almost the same amount of yards (395) as Tiki Barber (397), and
has done it with 30 fewer carries. Mike Anderson is second on the team with 358 yards rushing and two touchdowns.. The Giants rank 32nd in the NFL in third-down defense.
Giants.
The Giants were averaging a league-best 34 points a game, and even after last week, lead the NFL with 29.8 points per game. The Giants defense forced
four turnovers, but they committed 5 turnovers and scored their fewest points of the year. The Giants have major problems defending against the pass, but have been effective against the run.
However, the last time they went up against a team with a really good running game (San Diego) they couldn't stop the run or the pass and lost the game 45-23.
The Giants were lucky to stay close last week considering they converted just one of 11 third downs and made only 11 first downs. They allowed four sacks
and lost three fumbles and an interception. The defense allowed 9 of 16 conversions to the Cowboys. Overall this year, they have allowed 37 of 72 conversions.
The Giants have many weapons but maybe don't know how to use them well. Mixing things up by getting the ball to Tiki Barber would help keep the opposing defense off balance, take a lot of
pressure off Eli Manning, and chew up some game clock.
Notes.
Last matchup was on Sept. 10, 2001 at Mile High Stadium and the Broncos won it 31- 20.
That was a Monday night game on the eve of 9/11.
Denver started the last two seasons with a 5-1 record.
Eli Manning has thrown at least one touchdown pass in each of his last six games.
Giants are 8-8 in the week after the week after the bye.
Tiki Barber has 44 career rushing touchdowns and needs 5 more to tie Rodney Hampton for the club record.
Denver hosts Philadelphia next week.
Next Game.
Oct 30, Washington at Giants 1:00 PM - FOX.
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