Better late than never Giants game Tivo review

By Rich Tandler

I finally got a chance to review the full game on the Tivo today. While several hundred other bloggers have some very fine analysis posted, here a few points about the Redskins 28-14 win over the Giants that I haven’t heard discussed much elsewhere:

--I liked DeAngelo Hall’s tackling. He went up and put a shoulder into Brandon Jacobs on a first-quarter run. And on a swing pass on the second play of the fourth quarter, Hall brings down a tight end in the open field with no problem.

--A key to Grossman’s six-yard touchdown pass to Anthony Armstrong late in the first half was a nice cut block by Trent Williams. He went low on Jason Pierre Paul, knocking him down long enough for Grossman to have a lane to throw.

--There is not much more to say about Ryan Kerrigan’s tip, catch and TD. To me it was amazing how quickly he was able to shift his focus from fighting off the cut block to getting his arms up to tip the pass to looking up to locate it to catch it. That is athletic ability that can’t be taught.

--On the second of back to back sacks after a Fred Davis catch had moved the Redskins into Giants territory in the third quarter, I’m not sure what Jammal Brown was doing. He kind of tentatively stepped towards the rushing Dave Tollefson and he barely even made enough contact to have it qualify as a “look out” block. The Giants did have an all-out blitz but Tollefson clearly was Brown’s responsibility. Trent Williams is taking some well-deserved heat for his play but Brown has a worse game.

--It’s cool that rookie Chris Neild got credit for two sacks and all but the second one should have been split with London Fletcher. Neild had a hold on Manning but it’s not certain that he is going to the ground until Fletcher came in and finished off the play, knocking out the ball in the process.

--At first, it did not look like Santana Moss did much to break up a pass that cornerback Corey Webster almost intercepted just before Grossman’s sack and fumble. But another look showed that Moss restrained Webster’s right arm as he was trying to make the interception. Webster almost made a spectacular, one-handed catch anyway but it’s an easy pick if Moss doesn’t make the subtle grab of the arm.

--The disturbing element of Grossman’s fumble is that the ball was not stripped. You can excuse a blindside sack and strip but on this one the ball just came out when he was tackled.

--One overlooked but important play came a few plays after the fumble. The Giants had third and short just outside of the red zone. They tried to send Ahmad Bradshaw on a sweep to the right. Doughty got in and tripped up Bradshaw, getting him off balance so that Cofield and Fletcher had easy an easy tackle for no gain. The Redskins blocked the ensuing field goal try and then drove for the clinching touchdown.

--On their last possession the Redskins abandoned the zone blocking and went with the line firing out in front of a straight I-formation. They got a first down, burned some time off of the clock, and forced the Giants to use their remaining timeout. It didn’t exactly bring up memories of the Hogs telling Randy White where they were going to run and rolling over him anyway, but it was good to see.

 

Comments

[eric kahn]

I was watching the game in a San Francisco bay area sports bar when the direcTV box on our game's tv set suddenly required a reset. What I missed were two sacks and a Grossman fumble. Got back on just in time to see the 'Skins block a field goal. Which begs the question, "Do I have to watch you Redskins (and expecially Rexskins) every single minute or you get in trouble?" LOL. I missed Rex's worst plays of the game.