Posts Tagged ‘Michael Strahan’

NY Giants defensive end Osi Umenyiora is back for the 2009 season after missing 2008 due to injury.

Number 72 anchors what some believed to be the best defensive front four in football, a few sports news anchors even went as far as saying this was the best front four in NFL history. I am sure they would like a do over on that statement as the G-Men have been less than stellar this season.

Osi is now in his seventh year and has had some success in the NFL. His best years however came when he played along side Michael Strahan which cannot be overlooked. In 2005 Umenyiora had his best statistical year raking up 70 tackles (48 solo) and an impressive 14.5 sacks. His second best year statistically came in 2007 where he had 52 tackles (40 solo), 13 sacks and helped the New York Giants win their third Superbowl.

When Strahan retired after 2007 most people figured the void would be filled by the talented tandem of  Osi and Justin Tuck. Justin seemed to always play second fiddle when analysts discussed the Giants front four but he proved last season to be an excellent defensive lineman. With the return of  Umenyiora and the added experience gained by Tuck and Mathias Kiwanuka the front four was poised to be unstoppable in the minds of fans and analysts. No one stopped to think how huge a void was left by Michael Strahan who warranted a double team leaving opportunities for the rest of the defensive line. Most just figured Osi would easily take over and they wouldn't miss a beat.

Did he buy into the pre-season hype? Where is the physicality at? Through 7 games Osi has 3 sacks and 14 tackles (9 solo), this isn't what Big Blue fans expected from our talented Defensive End. Mathias Kiwanuka has out played him with 19 tackles (15 solo) and 3 sacks. Umenyiora has been a non factor this season, a game can go on without his name even being mentioned, not even to say he put pressure on the quarterback.

It is surprising to see number 72 being manhandled by opposing linemen in the trenches, maybe he needs some of that 5 hour energy drink he promotes to get him going. What ever he needs I hope he finds cause Tuck cannot do it by himself and Michael Strahan isn't coming back!

Carlos Caicedo
GiantsKickoff.com - Copyright 2009

GiantsKickoff.com

The New Orleans Saints dismantled the New York Giants defense. Defensive coordinator Bill Sheridan was truly clueless during the week 6 game played at the Superdome on 10/18/09 where Big Blue lost 48-27. Michael Strahan does not agree with my criticism, I had an exchange with him through Twitter which I will share with my readers within this article.

It almost seemed as if Brees and his wide receivers were playing catch during a practice session and not involved in an actual NFL game. Sheridan who is in his first year as our defensive guru was less then impressive with his game plan and play calling on Sunday.

Big Blue has yet to have a dominant game versus a good team, sure they can get 6 sacks and 3 fumble recoveries versus the Oakland Raiders but they have not been able to do much when playing tougher opposition. They did not play well versus the Cowboys, they did not record a sack in that game and versus Drew and his high powered offensive attack they were able to get just one sack on the only play where they actually pressured the Saints QB.

The way to beat New Orleans is to apply pressure on their talented quarterback so that he does not have all day to set his feet and pick apart the defense. By doing this you force him to make uncomfortable throws which can result in turnovers or just plain and simple lost of downs to give our offense back the ball. Our defensive coordinator kept a pass rush of only 4 most of the game and it was not working, why would he not go to plan B? Did he even have a secondary plan? Before the season started some people were calling the Giants defensive line one if not the most talented in NFL history! Are the players and their coordinator drinking too much of the Kool Aid and believing the hype?

There is no question that Justin Tuck, Osi Umenyiora and Mathia Kiwanuka are talented but they have not lit it up this year when it counts. They got manhandled by the Saints offensive line and instead of getting some help from Sheridan he just kept the same game plan. Why not blitz more often? I do not believe in having a blitz happy defense but if you cannot put pressure with your front four then you need to alter the plan a bit.

The secondary was picked apart and just toyed with by Drew Brees who went 23/30 for 369 yards and 4 touchdowns. New Orleans receivers were wide opened all game long and Sheridan's defensive squad looked dazed and confused out there. I cannot put a ton of blame on the secondary who is banged up and missing key players in Aaron Ross and Kenny Phillips. When a QB has so much time to throw it is very difficult for a corner to stay with a receiver for a long amount of time.

I was on Twitter (GiantsKickoff is my name on Twitter) and had a great exchange with one of my all time favorite NY Giants player, the great Michael Strahan. He does not agree with my comments on Bill Sheridan and I respect what he has to say being that he would know more than me when it comes to these things. Here is my exchange with Michael Strahan.

I wrote:
@michaelstrahan Where was the New York Giants pressure at on Brees? Horrible job by Sheridan!

He replied:
michaelstrahan @GiantsKickoff can't put it all on Sheridan. Rushers have to win their one on one battles to get to QB!! Didn't do that today

I wrote back:
@michaelstrahan You are 100% right but it wasn't working Michael, shouldn't Sheridan have changed things up a bit?

He replied:
michaelstrahan @GiantsKickoff when your getting your butt whipped man to man there's nothing Bill Sheridan can do. Defense just took a beating today

I agree with Michael Strahan regarding the beating our defense took and respect his point of view. Fans tend to look at losses from a different perspective and I am no different than any other fan. We can all be Monday Morning Quarterbacks and truly know nothing of what we think we know. I guess just maybe we were spoiled when Steve Spagnuolo was the Defensive Coordinator and would create schemes to disrupt the opposing offense in which Strahan was a huge part of. This game was truly frustrating, the inability of the New York front four to put pressure on Brees cost us the game. Bill Sheridan is the architect of the defense so he has to take some of the heat as well.

Carlos Caicedo
GiantsKickoff.com - Copyright 2009