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Blognosticator - Miles Monroe
Howdy folks. As I sit here suckin up the FL sunshine, and watching my team take devastating blows each game, it's not tough to figure out this upcoming game after such a loss to the Saints. We had them by the short hairs, and a third and one call for an off tackle run cost us the game. Gruden showed lots of balls with a couple of plays, so why off tackle instead a keeper or just straight up the gut has me baffled? Fourth and 6, and you go for it, but throw them exactly what they expect on third and one? Somebody mentioned we didn't have to worry about Brees passing this week, and boy did he have a field day. This season has been the story of loss, and the effect it's had overall on the team is pretty obvious. The addition of Niles Paul is welcome, but the loss of Thompson is what some might call a death blow. Coming into a game that is as prime time as it gets, on a short week, and against an arch rival never seems to spell success for the Redskins. The good thing here is, the Giants are a bit beat up too, and without their biggest weapon on offense, OBJ. By game three of the season, the Skins seemed to have found a new personality, with a fairly stout and aggressive D under Manusky, and an actual dedication to the run game, allowing some breathing room for Cousins to get the timing down with the new additions. The line was opening holes, and we were able to keep defenses honest. Fast forward , and as the Bee Gee's would say, “here we are, in a room full of strangers.†Every team has injuries, but to the extent we have, it's changed the dynamic of the team. We're almost pulling fans from the stands at this point just to fill out the roster, and if you blasted “clean up isle 6†over the PA, you might see a player or two running for the mop.
While this has hurt us, we've been in close contention in the majority of the games we've lost, and blown leads late in the game. What's killed the Giants the most in my opinion is coaching. Who knows what McAdoo has been thinking, but his play calling and general offensive scheme has killed Eli. Even with the last couple of games having Sullivan calling plays, it hasn't really gotten the Giants on track, which is good for the Skins. I thought McAdoo has lost the team to be honest, but after the showing against the Chiefs, I'm not too sure. Catching the Chief's coming out flat after the week off didn't hurt, and if you look at the Giants, there really not much different than the Skins. We've had a few more things to go our way. Granted, Eli is on the down side of his career, but he'd be more productive if they didn't try to change his game so drastically. Even missing their top receivers, Eli has capable targets. Yes, the Giants have many issues, yet at this point our defenses are neck and neck in points allowed. I expect the Giants to focus on stopping our running game, and tee off on Cousins as we've seen teams do in the past few weeks. They can hurt us in the run game no doubt. Both teams have very similar stats for rushing, with the Skins running a bit more, but netting less then the Giants, so it's kind of a wash from where I sit looking at numbers. I think with the return of Paul, we'll see Perine have another career day…. 115 one rushing touchdown.
Where we do have a statistical advantage is clearly in the passing game. Save the few bone head throws, and taking sacks when he could have thrown away the ball, Cousins has done a good job in the passing game despite losing a good number of key players in protection. Unfortunately, we have the “X†factor. It's Redskins VS Giants, and these game more often than not come down to the wire. For fans, it's not easy to overcome the stigma of past games where the Giants are having a bad season, and come in and “get healthy†against the Redskins. The you have the curse of “Prime Time†as I like to call it, where we seem to lay eggs more often in these nationally televised games, and the Giants are coming off an emotional win in OT against one of the better teams in the league. Their record doesn't reflect how they have played, they just got the shorter end of the stick so far, but I could see them finishing with the same or better record then the Skins. Hell, you could pull my blog post from last year, and find so much of the same….. These games are defined by two or three plays almost every time we match up against the Giants, and we can't play that game.
Gruden needs to get a game plan a bit more creative for the Giants, they know us so well. I know some will say you need the talent or you're just spinning your wheels, but we've seen the skins move the ball well almost all season despite who is playing. He just needs some new wrinkles, and not over think 3 and 1 all the dam time. We also need to get Harris on the field. Many have been yelling for him since training camp, myself included. His season début should have been enough to earn him much more playing time. Gruden's seemed inability to change his plan is killing us. He needs to not try to fit players into his scheme, but come up with plans each week to suit the strengths of the available players. Cousins has to be on his game, and not make the bone head throws, as the Giants secondary isn't all the bad as we saw against the Chiefs. Playing at home, we need to come out of the gate hard and fast to set a tone, and that falls on Manusky. We can't allow the Giants to establish a running game, and have to force Eli to throw of timing, getting in his face early and often. Man, I sound like a broken record on how to beat the Giants, but we actually did pretty good getting pressure on Brees with a 4 man rush for the most part, and Eli is a more stationary target and not as crafty as Brees. It's just a matter of getting pressure, or we're in trouble. Eli is still very dangerous throwing the ball when he has time, and will find the soft spots in zone coverage ever time.
The key for the Giants to win. Run the hurry up all game…. A blind moron can see that we can't stop anybody in their two minute drill.
So, my prediction for Thursday night. Keep a bottle of Tums handy, and the faint of heart out of the room. I expect it to get pretty chippy on the field. This is a very winnable game…. For both teams. Win or lose, remember to enjoy the company of friends and family which is the most important part of a Thanks Giving game.
Walk right in from a Radio Shack, five minutes later you're our running back
You can play any place you want, at the Red Skins Rest aurant …….
Sorry Arlo…
Redskins 27, Giants 14
Howdy folks. As I sit here suckin up the FL sunshine, and watching my team take devastating blows each game, it's not tough to figure out this upcoming game after such a loss to the Saints. We had them by the short hairs, and a third and one call for an off tackle run cost us the game. Gruden showed lots of balls with a couple of plays, so why off tackle instead a keeper or just straight up the gut has me baffled? Fourth and 6, and you go for it, but throw them exactly what they expect on third and one? Somebody mentioned we didn't have to worry about Brees passing this week, and boy did he have a field day. This season has been the story of loss, and the effect it's had overall on the team is pretty obvious. The addition of Niles Paul is welcome, but the loss of Thompson is what some might call a death blow. Coming into a game that is as prime time as it gets, on a short week, and against an arch rival never seems to spell success for the Redskins. The good thing here is, the Giants are a bit beat up too, and without their biggest weapon on offense, OBJ. By game three of the season, the Skins seemed to have found a new personality, with a fairly stout and aggressive D under Manusky, and an actual dedication to the run game, allowing some breathing room for Cousins to get the timing down with the new additions. The line was opening holes, and we were able to keep defenses honest. Fast forward , and as the Bee Gee's would say, “here we are, in a room full of strangers.†Every team has injuries, but to the extent we have, it's changed the dynamic of the team. We're almost pulling fans from the stands at this point just to fill out the roster, and if you blasted “clean up isle 6†over the PA, you might see a player or two running for the mop.
While this has hurt us, we've been in close contention in the majority of the games we've lost, and blown leads late in the game. What's killed the Giants the most in my opinion is coaching. Who knows what McAdoo has been thinking, but his play calling and general offensive scheme has killed Eli. Even with the last couple of games having Sullivan calling plays, it hasn't really gotten the Giants on track, which is good for the Skins. I thought McAdoo has lost the team to be honest, but after the showing against the Chiefs, I'm not too sure. Catching the Chief's coming out flat after the week off didn't hurt, and if you look at the Giants, there really not much different than the Skins. We've had a few more things to go our way. Granted, Eli is on the down side of his career, but he'd be more productive if they didn't try to change his game so drastically. Even missing their top receivers, Eli has capable targets. Yes, the Giants have many issues, yet at this point our defenses are neck and neck in points allowed. I expect the Giants to focus on stopping our running game, and tee off on Cousins as we've seen teams do in the past few weeks. They can hurt us in the run game no doubt. Both teams have very similar stats for rushing, with the Skins running a bit more, but netting less then the Giants, so it's kind of a wash from where I sit looking at numbers. I think with the return of Paul, we'll see Perine have another career day…. 115 one rushing touchdown.
Where we do have a statistical advantage is clearly in the passing game. Save the few bone head throws, and taking sacks when he could have thrown away the ball, Cousins has done a good job in the passing game despite losing a good number of key players in protection. Unfortunately, we have the “X†factor. It's Redskins VS Giants, and these game more often than not come down to the wire. For fans, it's not easy to overcome the stigma of past games where the Giants are having a bad season, and come in and “get healthy†against the Redskins. The you have the curse of “Prime Time†as I like to call it, where we seem to lay eggs more often in these nationally televised games, and the Giants are coming off an emotional win in OT against one of the better teams in the league. Their record doesn't reflect how they have played, they just got the shorter end of the stick so far, but I could see them finishing with the same or better record then the Skins. Hell, you could pull my blog post from last year, and find so much of the same….. These games are defined by two or three plays almost every time we match up against the Giants, and we can't play that game.
Gruden needs to get a game plan a bit more creative for the Giants, they know us so well. I know some will say you need the talent or you're just spinning your wheels, but we've seen the skins move the ball well almost all season despite who is playing. He just needs some new wrinkles, and not over think 3 and 1 all the dam time. We also need to get Harris on the field. Many have been yelling for him since training camp, myself included. His season début should have been enough to earn him much more playing time. Gruden's seemed inability to change his plan is killing us. He needs to not try to fit players into his scheme, but come up with plans each week to suit the strengths of the available players. Cousins has to be on his game, and not make the bone head throws, as the Giants secondary isn't all the bad as we saw against the Chiefs. Playing at home, we need to come out of the gate hard and fast to set a tone, and that falls on Manusky. We can't allow the Giants to establish a running game, and have to force Eli to throw of timing, getting in his face early and often. Man, I sound like a broken record on how to beat the Giants, but we actually did pretty good getting pressure on Brees with a 4 man rush for the most part, and Eli is a more stationary target and not as crafty as Brees. It's just a matter of getting pressure, or we're in trouble. Eli is still very dangerous throwing the ball when he has time, and will find the soft spots in zone coverage ever time.
The key for the Giants to win. Run the hurry up all game…. A blind moron can see that we can't stop anybody in their two minute drill.
So, my prediction for Thursday night. Keep a bottle of Tums handy, and the faint of heart out of the room. I expect it to get pretty chippy on the field. This is a very winnable game…. For both teams. Win or lose, remember to enjoy the company of friends and family which is the most important part of a Thanks Giving game.
Walk right in from a Radio Shack, five minutes later you're our running back
You can play any place you want, at the Red Skins Rest aurant …….
Sorry Arlo…
Redskins 27, Giants 14