The Giants week 6 win over the Washington Football Team was not the most decisive victory in team history. It was won when Washington’s head coach Ron Rivera (aka “Riverboat Ron”) decided to go for a two-point conversion after scoring a touchdown in the final minutes which made the score 20-19 in favor of the Giants. The two-point conversion failed and the Giants won.
Still there were positives to be taken from this game. And perhaps, in the dismal NFC East, the Giants are still alive in the competition. It appears that the NFC East Division winner will be decided by the outcome of head- to-head games within the division since it is clear that none of the teams can generate a victory outside of the division.
The Giants are playing on Thursday night this week in an important division game against the Philadelphia Eagles. (I am glad we don’t have to call them the “Philadelphia Football Team”; that would just make things too weird). Since we are on a short week, rather than providing a lengthy game analysis from the victory over Washington, here are a few key observations courtesy of our friend and sports aficionado, Gregory Frank:
- Daniel Jones is a legitimate running quarterback, and among the best running quarterbacks in the NFL. Sunday, he ran for 78 yards on only four carries, including one run for 49 yards. And on the 49 yard run, he reached a speed of almost 21 mph. That’s not Derrick Henry speed necessarily, but it was among the highest speeds attained that weekend.
- Jason Garrett’s play calling is too conservative and unimaginative. When the Giants needed to pick up important yards, either to get a first down or to get past midfield, they invariably gave the ball to Devonta Freeman to run up the middle, which usually gained only three yards or less. It seems clear they’re trying to limit the number of times Daniel Jones makes a mistake, but they need to take bigger risks to open up the offense.
- Ryan Lewis appears to be a solid addition to the Giants secondary, playing opposite James Bradberry. True, he was targeted by Dallas quarterback Andy Dalton for the 38 yard play that set up their winning field goal, but he was quite effective for most of the game, and seemed to be a significant upgrade from Corey Ballantine.
Good points, Greg. I like the addition of Lewis as well as it became increasingly frustrating to see Ballantine get beat on every pass thrown in his direction. I also agree with the comments about Jason Garrett. I would say thus far his play calling would be significantly underwhelming.
Tonight’s Giants matchup with the Philadelphia Eagles, although dominated by Philadelphia in recent years, is anyone’s game. The rivalry, which dates back to 1933, is still pretty even at 88-86-2 over the history of the two franchises. Despite the Eagles more recent success (they have won the division twice in recent years), I will always maintain a fair amount of disrespect for this team as I grew up in the Ron Jaworski years.
Jaworski, also known as The Polish Rifle, was terrorized by Lawrence Taylor in the 80’s. I believe he still has nightmares of seeing Taylor lined up near the line of scrimmage. Jaworski was sacked by Taylor 12.5 times in his career beating Joe Theismann’s glowing number of 8 sacks by Taylor.
On a final note, like many, I have joined a fantasy football league in this year of Covid confinement. While amusing at times, this has created no end of mixed loyalties when viewing games this season. Tonight’s matchup is no different. While I will be routing for my GMEN to win the game, I will also be pulling for Philadelphia running back Boston Scott to register some impressive stats.
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