Sheridan does not come clean

On Thursday, during a Q and A with media, vilified Giants defensive coordinator Bill Sheridan was in denial. Please get honest Bill. I can can see right through you. After his ill-prepared defense got embarrassed by the Saints, here is some of Sheridan's responses to reporters questions. Coincidentally, his answers match his initials BS!)

Q: How stunned, shocked or whatever were you last week?

BS: I don't know if that is the exact word for it, but maybe disappointed as much as anything. Obviously you never anticipate something like that happening. And I didn't think anything like that would have happened going in. We felt good about what was going to happen. But they did a great job and we didn't step up and match it. But I don't know if I would call it stunned. But you could probably use a whole bunch of different kinds of words to describe the unexpected performance, the unexpected result.

You felt good. Did you ask Terrell Thomas? Here is Terrell's take: the defeat was destined before the Giants even boarded a plane to New Orleans. He chalked it up to a disappointing week of preparation, one that he thought lacked enthusiasm, excitement and the Giants’ normally up-tempo rhythm.

All the mistakes they made against the Saints, he said, had cropped up during practice but had gone unresolved.

“You can’t just say, ‘We’re going to correct it,’ and then automatically do it on Sunday,”

Your own player calls you out.

Q: Drew Brees was barely touched last week. Was that them, was that you, what was it?

I live here in the New Orleans area. Apparently, the joke here is Brees did not even break a sweat against the Giants. Needless to say, the equipment guy did not have to wash his uniform.

BS: Some of both. Some of both ?????? They did a good job. Checkmate Payton!! They moved him around in the pocket a little bit and they kept protectors in. They didn't run a whole lot of four or five receivers out, especially in the two-back personnel. They kept guys in to protect. Second of all, we didn't do a great job pressuring the quarterback. There was no pressure!!! And third of all, on my part - should have, would have, could have - we would have, especially at some point in the game, if, as, and when??? figured out what they were doing, that their aim is really to throw the ball on us. Bill, you did not do your job! And we should've just pressured more. Not only more frequently, but send more guys than they could pick up. After the Saints scored two quick touchdowns, what were you thinking? But like I said, they did a good job. They had a bye week and they did a great job of self-scouting. And their run/pass percentage was flip/flop from a different personnel group. So, like I said, we were making run calls, and they were throwing the ball down the field. We are rushing four guys but they are blocking with six or seven so you are not going to have as much pressure on the quarterback. But, yeah, it is a combination of all of those things. And by the same token, you still have to cover. You are not going to pressure every single down in football. We don't. I don't believe in that. But in hindsight, sure, if we had it to do over again, we would pressured much more, more frequently and sent more guys than they could block. Because that was their plan to max it up and throw the ball. Bill, I wish you would have said, "I think my defense was embarrassed by the Saints. I take full responsibilty. It is my fault."

Q: You said definitively you kind of wanted to ramp up the blitz. Just curious, then why in the past few games why did you keep it at the level - just because everything was working and you didn't need to blitz more? Or what is the reason for kind of a change now?

BS: Really, the answer is yes, because we were handling the other people. So we pressured in the previous games but we were up. Our base calls were successful. When you think of the last three games I thought we played well on defense. Things were going well. And we pressured intermittently and we pressured on third down, which everybody does. But our base defense on first and second down was more than adequate -- since the Dallas game we had played well. So to answer you question, yes. Things were going well; we were playing good defense. But obviously they found a way to attack us and like I say, to throw the ball on us on every single down. And so we don't want to let that happen and we will be prepared as we go forward.

Bill, you played crappy teams. Tampa Bay, Kansas City, and Oakland have horrible offenses. I find your answer incredulous. I can only hope you are not another Rod Rust. Remember, in 1992, Rod Rust served as Giants defensive coordinator under Ray Handley. Rust's infamous "Read and React" defense was a disaster. In their season opener in 1992, the Giants got crushed by San Francisco 31-14. From the New York Times,
The Giants' defense made many mistakes on Sunday in a 31-14 loss to the San Francisco 49ers in the teams' season opener. The defense often seemed lost. Receivers ran around uncovered. One Giant would be blocked into another. Does this sound familiar? Receivers running around wide open.

Here is more: "That was mostly off play-action," Handley said. "It concerns me, sure. We had some missed assignments. They do a good job of selling out play-action."

The 49ers have always excelled at play-action -- passes thrown after a fake handoff. Unofficially, the 49ers completed 4 of 7 play-action passes for 65 yards and 2 touchdowns. But it was not so much the play action and finding a running back uncovered as it was the confusion in the Giants' defense. That upset Pepper Johnson, the Giants' outspoken inside linebacker.

"I never saw a Giants defense in a big situation just fold up," he said. "When everything is in disarray, when everybody doesn't know what's happening, it gets a little hard out there." 'A Shock to Your System'

Speaking of shock, I think we can borrow a quote from a former Giant and now Saint, “We got outplayed, and outcoached. Write that down.” Walking around New Orleans this week, I am sure Jeremy Shockey is still snickering.