The mediots, and a certain high profile four letter network love to give the Giants an excuse for their poor defensive play early on in the season. They tell you about the new scheme, the new coordinator learning his players, and last but not least we hear about Strahan not being in game shape from missing preseason. What happened the first 2 weeks of the season? Dallas and Green Bay dropped 80 on them. Then Washington, NYJ, Philadelphia (without Thomas at LT), Atlanta, S.F. None of these teams are a threat to score a ton of points. No wonder why their defensive ratings have climbed so much. The Jets, 49ers, and Falcons are terrible. Atlanta had issues before the season started, the Jets are a mess, SF had their backup QB in, Philly sacrificed Winston Justice at LT, Redskins gave them a game, then Eli passed for a whopping 58 yards barely beating Miami in a sloppy London.
Are they really as good as everyone really thinks they are?
The giants strength on D is their D-Line, and they are good don’t get me wrong. However, their DT’s are average at best and will be nullified by RG Bigg Leonard Davis and pro bowl C Andre Gurode. The Dallas o-line is the quiet strength on this team. They have been playing superb, and have not gotten much mention…. just ask Philadelphia, they threw everything but the kitchen sink at the Dallas line and they couldn’t lay a finger on Romo.
The Giants Defense is basically a mirror of Philly, scheme-wise that is. They brought over the Eagles linebacker coach Steve Spagnuolo in the offseason as their new defensive coordinator. They love to stunt their lineman and bring everything. They tried to do it the first week of the season, and will surely try it on Sunday. Will they have success with it? They didn’t the first week, Philly couldn’t do it at home, can NY? I don’t think so. The only way they will is if Dallas beats themselves with penalties. And the refs love to flag dallas when they play the Giants. They played a pretty good game penalty wise @ philly.
Osi U. was knocked out of the game early in the last matchup. His stats are inflated because of Winston Justice subbing for William Thomas. This time he will have his hands full with a legit LT Flozell Adams, who stonewalled the Eagles sack leader Trent Cole last Sunday. On the other side we have Strahan (who is ageing but always a threat) vs. Marc Columbo. These guys know each other and it will be a good matchup to watch. Colombo played well against Javon Kearse, and has had good games vs. Strahan.
But beyond the D-line is where they Giants problems are. They still have a safety issue opposite of Gibril Wilson. And do they plan on putting CB Ross on Owens? Now, I liked Aaron Ross coming out of Texas and Ross has played well this season as a rook, but they blitz him a ton. They probably do that to limit his coverage liabilities. Nobody on this team can cover Owens…..NOBODY! Not Madison, not McQuarters.
And in the past nobody has been able to cover Witten. If they can isolate Kiwanuka on Witten, or any of their LB’s or safties for that matter, they they will have a hard time with him. Especially with the tight window’s Romo can put it through. Remember last season Giants fans? When the giants wore blood red and with 1 minute left 1st and 10 at DAL 32(1:00) (Shotgun) T.Romo pass deep left to J.Witten to NYG 26 for 42 yards, they were able to get Piece covering Witten.
On the other hand, Dallas’ defense is “suspect” because of what New York and New England did to them. It is funny how all the sudden New England being “the best team of all time” doesn’t factor into their assessment of the Dallas defense.
The media doesn’t mention that Dallas has a new defensive system and coordinator. The talking heads ignore the fact that the Phillips and Stewart are learning how to use their players as well. Never mind that they have been doing it with Ellis, Newman and Henry missing major time and Reeves and Jones getting thrown in the fire, and playing pretty well actually. Just like Osi U. Dallas DT Jason Ferguson was lost in the first quarter of game one also. Jay Ratliff has done an amazing job, but does anyone outside of Dallas care, no.
This week we will have a healthy Dallas defense with a new face and have also quietly climbed in defensive rankings also. They are ranking 8<sup>th</sup> in terms of YPG behind the Giants at 7. For the second time this season the cowboys top 2 corners will also be on the field together, and Plaxico will have a tougher time getting open this week. And Plaxiglass is always a threat, in my opinion he is the biggest mismatch in the NFL. Dallas deep coverage was good against the secondary, aside from the 46 yard pass to Reggie Brown where the eagles were able to burn the cowboys on a 6 man rush. Dallas has been giving up the underneath stuff, and holding up pretty good in the secondary and should only improve when Newman moves over to his left corner spot and Henry @ right corner.
And guess what?..…the TANK gets to make his debut.
That should help in keeping a fresher D-line rotation.
