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Posts Tagged ‘Kevin Gilbride’

The NY Giants season may be over. They shoot themselves in the foot by giving away a football game which was practically won vs. the San Diego Chargers in week 9.

They start the game with a good drive but like in previous weeks mistakes and mental lapses lead New York to a field goal attempt which they fail to convert. It's almost comical but for fans it hurts so much to watch this team just self destruct week after week.

The defense played much better than in past weeks, you could see the front four truly pushing and fighting in the trenches to try and apply pressure on Phillip Rivers.

The game goes into the 4th quarter with the Giants down 14-7. The defense stepped up in a huge way in this quarter, Justin Tuck was a beast and after a field goal and a touchdown Big Blue is up 17-14. It even gets better when Terrell Thomas intercepts a pass from Rivers and runs it back to the 4 yard line. The game at this point seems out of reach if New York scores a touchdown but the question loomed, could the G-Men put this game away or would they lack the killer instinct which has plagued them in the past?

The next set of play calls by Kevin Gilbride were horrendous to say the least. They run Brandon Jacobs who is still running like a ballerina, he rushes to the right and runs into his own offensive linemen who in turn holds the defender in order to open a hole for the big back. The penalty costs New York 10 yards of field position and my head starts spinning knowing that the G-Men may actually find a way to mess this up. The second down play gets us no where. Now it is 3rd down and we are in the red zone. You would think that Gilbride would take a shot at the end zone to put this game out of reach but instead he calls Brandon Jacobs number and the one time bruising back runs and gets stopped short of scoring. This call is absolutely ridiculous even if Phil Simms claims to understand the play call during the CBS broadcast. Why would you not take a shot at the end zone? Why wouldn't you try to do everything possible to win the game? The Giants settle for another field goal in the red zone and now lead 20-14 with 2 minutes to go.

The defense who had played so hard and applied so much pressure ran out of gas and Rivers exploited the secondary with short, crisp passes to his wide receivers. Corey Webster was outmatched all game long by Vincent Jackson and on the last Charger offensive play Rivers throws a ball to the corner of the end zone to a wide open Jackson for the winning touchdown. The San Diego Chargers drove the ball on the Giants defense with one timeout left and only 2 minutes on the clock to break our hearts! This was a MUST WIN game, the players played like it especially in the 4th quarter but the coaching staff did not.

Tom Coughlin and/or Kevin Gilbride displayed zero confidence in Eli Manning on that last 3rd down play where we could have sealed the game. New York is a team that is coming off 3 straight losses and has a chance to win a game by being aggressive instead they call a safe play which results in a field goal which leaves the Giants in a position to lose the game by 1 point. This has to be the most frustrating game I have watched all year.

Every week the NY Giants find a new way to lose a game, this week the players came ready to play and gave it all they had but the coaching staff let us down. The season seems like a lost cause at this point in time, even Tom Coughlin said we had to win this game and play as if it were a playoff game. Great way to show confidence in the players and Eli Manning by calling that "safe" 3rd down play in the red zone. Where is the killer instinct needed to be a Champion?

Carlos Caicedo
GiantsKickoff.com - Copyright 2009

GiantsKickoff.com

Whether you call it the Red Zone or the Green Zone like Tom Coughlin refers to it, the Giants have major issues when it comes to scoring from inside the 20.

Offensive coordinator Kevin Gilbride has expanded the playbook this year when it comes to the passing game but he has yet to address the issues in the zone.

Last year we were ranked twentieth in the NFL when it came to scores within the twenty yard line. This is surprising considering the potent running attack the NY Giants had last year. New York was the number one rushing team overall and had an ability to power run with Brandon Jacobs. They provided a change of pace with Derrick Ward and Ahmad Bradshaw who were great in the open field but seem to bottle down when we hit "The Green Zone".

The first two weeks of this 2009 season are a continuation of 2008 it seems. I watched both games and noticed how we moved the ball with ease especially in the Dallas game where our passing attack could not be stopped. As soon as Big Blue gets within the twenty yard line our offense stalls. The plays called by Gilbride have to be questioned sooner or later. We were one of the best regular season teams last year despite shooting ourselves in the foot (no pun intended to Plaxico, it was the leg) with our red zone deficiencies. Can we get away with these issues this year? We have till now but sooner or later our luck will run out and we will lose a game due to our lack of scoring the easy touchdown. It may even happen at the worst time during a playoff game.

Kevin Gilbride needs to be more creative when it comes to our green zone plays. We are too predictable, run on first down, run on second down and throw on third. The plays being called when we are not within scoring range are more creative and unpredictable, we need more of that when we are close to the end zone.

Brandon Jacobs also has some blame, he runs right into the pile instead of bouncing the run out and then looking for the hole to explode into. He also needs to be more assertive, he dances around as if he was a 185 pound back instead of his 270 pound frame. The G-Men could have had a very easy win this past Sunday vs The Cowboys if they would have scored within the twenty yard line. They made that game harder than it should have been, I cannot stress that enough.

Here is a stat for you, in 2008 the Giants had sixty nine plays within the red zone but only converted thirty five touchdowns. That is unacceptable!

Carlos Caicedo
GiantsKickoff.com - Copyright 2009