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Blitz Blitz Blitz

by David Jacks on October 28th, 2009 at 2:59 pm

Matt Mosley, who runs the ESPN NFC East blog, takes a look at how the East’s Quarterbacks rank against the blitz. Heres how they stack up.

Tony Romo 10th in the league with a 98.9 passer rating.

Eli Manning 19th in the league with a 85.1 passer rating.

Jason Campbell 23rd in the league with a 77.9 passer rating

Donovan McNabb 30th in the league with a 39.6 passer rating

As Mosely points out if it weren’t for Derek Anderson and Jake Delhomme, McNabb would be dead last. Still, a 39.6 rating is putrid and should give defensive coordinator all he needs to know for this week, blitz and blitz often. Sheridan promised to ramp up the pressure last week against the Cardinals, and while the Giants had only two sacks they held Warner to 231 yards passing and a mere 72.8 passer rating. The Giants are doing there best to protect a depleted secondary but after watching the Saints and Cardinals game it seems the only way to cover for the unit is by sticking to the Giant philosophy of getting home. While it leaves the secondary in precarious situations it is clear adding extra db’s, dropping linebackers into coverage and running zones is not the answer.

Another interesting note in Mosley’s article is the fact that Eli has been blitzed more then any other Quarterback in the league, 96 times, except for Tom Brady (98 times). Manning has thrown more TD’s against the blitz then any Quarterback  in the league with 7, although without the numbers in front of me I do not know the percentages, so the stat may be meaningless. Two things strike me about Brady and Eli being blitzed more then any Qb’s in the league: 1) The Giants gave the league a blueprint for trying to stop the Patriots in 07  and the copycat league has responded. 2) The Eagles gave the copycat league a blueprint for beating the Giants, 8 in the box and stuff the run, send safeties up as much as possible. The Giants have lost 2 in a row, but still sit both the Pats and the Giants are 5-2, so the blueprint hasn’t been all that effective. This week the Giants host the makers of their defensive blueprint, you can bet they will be prepared for the blitz.
  • BigRB

    I love blitz’s blitz’s and more blitz’s, on the other hand I’m all set with CC “can’t cover” Brown and at this point I’d rather have CC Sabathia playing safety. Kidding of course but seriously we are stuck between a rock and a hard place. We need to blitz a lot because our linebackers just don’t cover that well, and without Kenny Phillips opponents are going right at Brown, and beating him. Rock and a hard place.

    On the other side of the ball….. Gilbride must come with a game plan with more 4 and 5 wide. We have to make teams respect our passing down field. Throw on first down as well, and please no more sweeps or off tackles with Jacobs when its 3rd and 2 or 3rd and 3.

    As disappointing as the last 2 weeks have been, I still have the utmost confidence in this team to turn it around.

    And isn’t it about time for everyone to start doubting this team again? I love it, lets get back to the underdog mentality.

    • meshuggah

      Heck yeah, bring on the doubters. We always play best with the underdog mentality shadowing over us :D.

  • David Jacks

    BigRB – clearly the phillips injury is hurting the d, but he is not coming back. What should help a lot is when Boley gets back. He provides the speed to cover a good TE and may take a lot of pressure off of the safeties. Strange as it is to admit this I miss James butler. While he wasn’t a star athlete and could be burned by speed (moss showed us this) he was rarely out of position, something CC has yet to show.

    As far as the offense goes it seems like Coughlin may tighten the reigns a bit on Eli’s audibles. If they are a power run team (are they?) they have to be willing to run, even when 8 are in the box, forget checking out of the play. I think one major issue the giants are having is pressing the deep ball. There have been too many times when Eli is throwing up 40 yarders on 3rd and 2. I get that may not be his first read, but they need to start looking to the intermediate routes and quit worrying about the deep ball. Personally I think the deep ball will only be there once the bigger Hakeem Nicks gets the chance to run those routes.

    One of the only 3rd and shorts that worked was a pitch to Bradshaw on the outside, and while you dont like seeing Jacobs get that toss he was very effective running it against the Cards. In fact thats how he got his 25 yard run.

    • BigRB

      I like the idea of Coughlin “tightening the reigns”. Even though my rant may seem like I don’t like what the giants are doing, I feel they are very good at executing any kind of offense(power running/ spreading the field/ west coast offense). They just didnt have the right plays at the right time. Maybe I’m putting to much of it on Gilbride ’cause Eli does change up alot.

      I understand every play won’t work every time, but the back to back to back 3 and outs are deflating.

      All in all I’m being too picky ’cause it was a disappointing loss. But like always, I’ll be back talking shit to every other football fan all week.

      G-MEN!!