Saturday, January 23, 2010
A play which ended the 2009 Giants season
Prior to this game, Giants linebacker Antonio Pierce said this game is
"the Super Bowl for the New York Giants." Even Coughlin said Sunday's game against the San Diego Chargers was a "one-game season." Yes, Pierce was correct. Coughlin was too.
After this game was over, the Giants lost four games in a row. Their record dropped to 5-4. And for the remainder of the season, they would not put together consecutive wins. As a result of their inconsistent play, the Giants finished a mediocre 8-8. On the other hand, up until their upset loss to the Jets in an AFC Divisional playoff game, the Chargers were on an eleven game winning streak. Clearly, this game sunk one team and sparked the other.
Without question, Vincent Jackson's touchdown catch ended the 2009 Giants season.
Giants cornerback Corey Webster on the game winning and season ending play:
"Receiver and quarterback made a good throw and catch," said Webster, who refused to say if he should have had safety help on the play. "I love to be in that position right there to make it but I have to give credit to the receiver." Webster goes on,
"I understand that the other receiver is good and the quarterback is good, too. I don't want (Jackson) to catch the ball and my job is to stop him. But they are going to make some plays and you got to keep on fighting till the end."
We will keep fighting till the end. Webster's words hung in the air. As the season went on, the Giants stop fighting. What happened?
As the Giants prepare for 2010 season, in the upcoming months, it will be interesting to hear what Coughlin and Reese have to say about the deflating 2009 Giants. Why did the team especially the defense play so poorly? In the last two games, how do you explain the team's blase behavior? Did their strategy of stockpiling defensive linemen backfire? What was the reason behind not adding quality depth to the secondary? On the active roster, how come the Giants carried so many mediocre linebackers? What happened to the Giants running game?
At this point, we have more questions than answers about this team. Stay tuned. It will be an interesting off season.
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1 comments:
Darn good questions... some of which I had been wondering myself. Why carry multiple mediocre LBs, and for that matter WRs, when Secondary talent was so thin? Safety is rapidly becoming a more important position, and teams who lose their star Safety (e.g. Giants, Steelers) have real trouble winning games, especially if they don't have a shut down corner (and very, very few teams do... the Giants certainly don't) the Safeties can count on. JR and Coughlin must sign top Safety and LB talent, and shed slow and relatively unathletic LBs and WRs to make room. No more "good guy" and "non stop motor" and "locker room veteran presence" and "smart" to describe Giant LBs. This isn't about who you'd like to drink beers with! How about "very fast" and "extremely fluid changing direction" and "never out of position" and "intimidates everyone because he always brings the wood" and "can cover most TEs over the middle"? Boley sure would like to look to the middle and other outside and see guys who personify those attributes. Go get em, or reserve your 9-7 record in 2010 now.
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