The reason the Giants won (Again)

[Historian]

First off, I thought it was a very good game. Seriously.

But I believe there's a reason the 9-7 Giants knocked off the 13-3 Patriots:

It's the same reason we lost to them in SB XXV. The NFC is just plain more physical...especially in the NFC East. And for all of his 'genius', Bill Belichek has become an AFC coach:

-His QB throws for 5000 yards
-Pass first, run second mentality
-31st in the league in defense

The Giants run first, pass second, and play tough, physical defense in the trenches where it counts. The only team in the AFC that does that is Pittsburgh, and their problem is that they've gotten old. Maybe the Ravens are a distant second.

These NFC East teams spend the entire season beating the crap out of each other, and whomever is left standing, meaning whomever has the least amount of injuries at the end of the season, generally has a shot at the title.

Look at the QBs that have won titles out of that division over the last 25 years. Do any of them strike you as world beaters? (Williams, Hostetler, Manning, Rypian, even Aikman) They're good players, but my feeling is that they managed their games, they didn't win them. The physicality of their teams won the games.

Even San Francisco, for as good as they played all season long was exposed in the NFCCG. Why?

Because they don't play anybody all year long, same as the Patriots. They beat up on us, Miami and the Jets, but cannot win the line of scrimmage when it counts against the big boys from the NFC.

I think that as the Bills rebuild, that they need to get out of that AFC mode, and try to rebuild in the image of the NFC East.

[imbondz]

Re: The reason the Giants won (Again)

the thing about the Giants that they seem to always do well in big games is hold onto the ball. time of possession in this game: Giants 37:00 to Patriots 23:00

that's almost a whole quarter more.

[THE END OF ALL DAYS]

Re: The reason the Giants won (Again)

Giants had nearly the worst rushing attack in the nfl this season and barely got 100 yards in this game... Manning threw 40 times... Hardly sounds like a run first attack... But I agree with your overall assessment

[Luisito23]

Re: The reason the Giants won (Again)

Manning had like a million come from behind 4th. quarter victores this season, including last night...

How is he a game manager?

[THE END OF ALL DAYS]

Re: The reason the Giants won (Again)

Plus in terms of the Bills rebuilding in the NFC model: you have to win ur division first... And that means, for us, you have to be able to out score brady... So they keep drafting effin DBs and gadgety offensive guys

[Night Train]

Re: The reason the Giants won (Again)

Good post Historian.

I like Chan but he's also guilty of bailing on the run quickly and becoming pass happy. His excuse may be no confidence in the D... but this coming draft will speak volumes on how much we shore up that side of the ball.

The Giants throw waves of good DE's, OLB's at opponents where we have next to nothing...plus they hit like a ton of bricks. Offense can pound the ball enough to set up the pass.

BTW - Nice ticket stub from a 1-13 season where we lost all our home games. I remember, since I was at 3,4 of them.

[Mad Max]

Re: The reason the Giants won (Again)

I think it was Belicheks hubris over the past several years that cost them this game.

How many times did he trade back in the draft? How much talent did he pass up? The Pasties need a stud Pass Rusher, DB, and Running Back. With all of their 1st round draft picks they could have gotten that talent.

I'm just thankful that at least in that respect (drafting idiocy) the Pasties are almost as bad as us.

[Ickybaluky]

Re: The reason the Giants won (Again)

I think the game boiled down to 3 key areas:

1) Making the key plays - In the end, there were plays to be made in the 4th quarter. Giants made them, Patriots didn't. That is the real story. Pats had a lead and could have put the game away, but they missed a couple plays and gave the Giants a shot. When they got that shot, the Giants made the plays.

2) Giants holding the ball - The Giants were able to hold on to the ball, which limited the Pats to 9 possessions the whole game. The Pats are an offensive team, they need to play at a pace that allows more possessions. The inability to get the Giants off the field was key.

3) Field position - Nobody is going to talk about this, but the Pats average drive start was the 16 yard line. The Pats only started 1 drive beyond the 20 yard line (at the 31), and were forced to drive the length of the field. The Giants average drive start was the 24, and they had 2 drives with very good field position (the 35 and 48). The Giants got field goals both times on the short fields.

In the end, it is hard to be upset with this Pats team. They plays their hearts out all year and probably overachieved. They are a very good offensive team, but their defensive deficiencies left them exposed. They were terrible on 3rd down all year, especially against the pass. If you look at the Steelers game and the Super Bowl, they were limited in possessions because the other team was able to dominate the clock. They will have to resolve that next year.

[Cleve]

Re: The reason the Giants won (Again)

I like Chan but he's also guilty of bailing on the run quickly and becoming pass happy.

Which makes ZERO sense when you consider he has one of the best rushing attacks in the league, and a QB whose stats are decidedly in the bottom 1/3rd of NFL QBs.

That's another reason why I think Gailey really isn't that good of a HC. There's a reason he was unemployed as a coach for so many years. The rest of the league saw it, but our 'geniuses' like Wilson and Dumbdon, with their colossal egos, think they're smarter somehow than the rest of the NFL and can just do things 'differently'.

[Ickybaluky]

Re: The reason the Giants won (Again)

How many times did he trade back in the draft? How much talent did he pass up? The Pasties need a stud Pass Rusher, DB, and Running Back.

Pats need a S worse than anything. They could use another CB as well. In terms of pass rush they were OK this year, but they had injuries to some of their better rushers (Andre Carter, Mike Wright, Myron Pryor). Still they had 40 sacks on the season and their lack of ability to cover hurt them more than pass rush.

The other big need is RB, where they are actually in good shape moving forward. They already addressed that and have young guys in the pipeline. However their big need is an outside-the-numbers WR that can win one-on-one battles. The Pats offense owns the middle of the field with Welker, Gronkowski and Hernandez, but Deion Branch and Chad Ochocinco do not threaten teams enough. They need a good outiside WR, not unlike Stevie Johnson.

Those are their big needs, S, CB, WR.

The idea that trading down hurt them is silly. It isn't like they traded out of the top-10, they were picking at the bottom of the 1st round each year. Some of their best young players were acquired by trading down, like Gronkowski and Chung. They are in good shape overall.

[OpIv37]

Re: The reason the Giants won (Again)

Manning had like a million come from behind 4th. quarter victores this season, including last night...

How is he a game manager?

are you really asking this?

Just go back to the Bills under Jauron to see how clock mismanagement in the last 2 minutes of the half/game can take points directly off the board and lead to losses.

[Ickybaluky]

Re: The reason the Giants won (Again)

The Giants run first, pass second, and play tough, physical defense in the trenches where it counts.

I agree the Giants are a physical front defensively, but you think they are physical, run-first team? They threw for almost 5,000 yards. They had the 6th most pass attempts in the NFL this year and conversely had the 22nd most rush attempts. Their OL struggled all year, and they won because Eli played great and they have some very good receivers.

The Giants were a throwing team, and that is how they beat the Patriots. They did run better in the postseason, but still were 6th-best rushing team in yards-per-game and average in the playoffs (the Pats were 7th). In the Super Bowl they 18 first downs passing to only 7 rushing. They controlled the ball through the air.

[Ickybaluky]

Re: The reason the Giants won (Again)

Manning had like a million come from behind 4th. quarter victores this season, including last night...

How is he a game manager?

He is anything but. Eli had a great year. The Giants have a great passing game because of him. He has some really good receivers, and his ability to keep plays alive helped make up for some troubles the OL had protecting all season. Eli deserves all the accolades, he has become a great QB.

[Historian]

Re: The reason the Giants won (Again)

2) Giants holding the ball - The Giants were able to hold on to the ball, which limited the Pats to 9 possessions the whole game. The Pats are an offensive team, they need to play at a pace that allows more possessions. The inability to get the Giants off the field was key.

This is the one thing I meant to touch on but forgot to.

The Giants had the ball almost the entire first quarter.

How do you beat Brady? You don't let him on the field. (Even the Bills proved that this year)

When you can make the game three quarters essentially, you're playing power football.

It's how the Giants beat us in SB XXV.

[DraftBoy]

Re: The reason the Giants won (Again)

I think one of the things that has gone unmentioned has been the job Perry Fewell has done this year with that Giants D. If you think about their secondary how many of us could actually name all four starters before last night? How about all three LB's?

They do such a great job keeping things fresh and employing different looks with their front four that they can drop a big number back into coverage. We saw Justin Tuck get one or two sacks from the DT position, JPP was giving the Patriots pressure off the edge, and it was a line that would not be blocked. In the 2nd half that became even more apparent when it seemed like every time Brady dropped back he either took a hit or had to bail out.

Perry Fewell deserves a lot of credit for that win last night.