Black & Gold X's & O's: Day-After Coaches-Style Review of Win Over Giants

In my preview columns for the game against the Giants, there were a few areas I thought to be very important in order for the Saints to come out victorious on Sunday. In my estimation, they did all of these very well.

1. Eliminate turnovers, because the Giants score off them. The Saints had zero turnovers in Sunday's game. Drew Brees only threw one pass all day that could've been picked, and it was instead caught by Lance Moore on a ricochet.

Defensively, the Saints caused two turnovers. For all you math majors out there, this is good for a +2 turnover differential. Anytime you can do that in a game you have a very good opportunity to win.

2. Get an early lead.   Obviously the Saints did this with another opening-possession touchdown and following that up with touchdowns on the next three possessions for a 20-3 lead. It seems pretty obvious that when playing at home with a lead, the crowd will stay in the game and the defense can play with attitude and swagger, which is so important to playing good defensive football.

3. Establish the run.  Despite Brees' hot start, the Saints remained balanced the entire game as far as run-to-pass ratio.  It was not as effective as I expected it to be from a yardage perspective, but it definitely opened up play-action and kept the Giants defense off balance.

4.  Find a way to pressure Eli Manning.   The Saints did not record as many sacks or have as many interceptions as a result of pressure as they have earlier this season, but remember that the Giants offensive line is probably the best in the game.

Saints defenders were in Eli's face enough to cause errant, hurried throws and their pressure did cause an interception, as well as give them the ball inside the Giants' 10-yard line at the end of the first half because of Scott Shanle's return. Pressure definitely played a role in this game for the Saints defense.

Areas of Concern for the Saints Going Forward

1.  Kickoff coverage.  Domenick Hixon repeatedly gashed our coverage for long returns, despite good hangtime and length from Thomas Moorstead. Most of the time the struggle was in staying in lanes and outside guys not playing perpendicular to the ball-carrier, as they are taught.

Because of this, Hixon was able to get outside the contain man. I'm sure Sean Payton is addressing this in today's film review, and the team will do what it can to clean this up for next week and in the future.

2.  Scott Fujita's injury.  Fujita left the game in the first quarter with an apparent knee injury. As of yet, I have not heard of the severity of the injury. I can only hope the guy who graduated from the same high school as me is okay.

The Saints can handle it if he's out for a few games. But it would be tough to face the Patriots and Falcons, and other playoff teams, without this stud at the strongside linebacker position. His ability to cover down the field and apply pressure when asked is very valuable. Troy Evans is a good backup. Hopefully, he doesn't have to become the starter.

3.  The place-kicker position.  I know John Carney has done a good job so far this season, but he doesn't have the length any longer to make long field goals. Garrett Hartley can.

Plus, Carney has had two kicks blocked. Sure, that's on other parts of the field goal team as well, but perhaps he's a step slow, or is kicking the ball with too low of a trajectory. I love Carney, but it may be time to let him go.

Position-by-Position Breakdown

QB  Drew Brees—A+: Duh!

RB  Pierre Thomas, Mike Bell, Reggie Bush, & Heath Evans—B

I thought Thomas struggled in some situations getting as many yards as he is capable. Bell did a good job on the goal-line and in the open field and provided a nice change of pace.

Bush actually provided some big, explosive runs in this game. He didn't put up tons of yards, but was an important part of the run and passing game. Evans had a key hold on a Mike Bell supposed touchdown, but aside from that, played a decent game.

TE  Jeremy Shockey & David Thomas—B+

Overall, I thought both did a good job blocking. Shockey was exceptional in the passing game, working the middle of the field. Nice game from this position.

WR  Marques Colston, Devery Henderson, Lance Moore, & Robert Meachem—A-

Three of the four had touchdown passes. Surprisingly, it was Henderson who didn't have one, as his biggest contributions came in blocking, which is normally Meachem's job.

Colston, with his big body and superior hands, absolutely destroyed the small Giants corners. Moore looked like the 2008 version of himself, working the seams and short routes.

And Meachem was able to make a few big plays. Slowly but surely his presence is becoming more and more noticeable.

OL  Jermon Bushrod, Carl Nicks, Jonathan Goodwin, Jahri Evans, & Jon Stinchcomb—A-

Obviously, the amount of time Brees had to go through progressions and find receivers is again a testament to the job this unit did against a good pass-rushing defensive line. When the Giants applied extra pressure, they picked it up with help from Brees and tight ends and backs. 

In the running game, though, they struggled in a few situations. On the goal-line, they are still struggling to knock the defense off the ball, which shouldn't have been a problem against this defensive front.

But they wore on those guys as the game went on and still led their backs to 133 yards rushing. As I said in my preview, I didn't expect the Giants front four to be an issue, and they weren't.

DL  Sedrick Ellis, Remi Ayodele, Kendirck Clancy, Will Smith, Charles Grant, & Bobby McCray—B

This group did a better job against the run than they did in getting quarterback pressure. But to be able to hold the Giants to 84 yards rushing isn't too bad. The key part of that was eliminating long runs.

The only time the Giants beat the Saints in the running game was the touchdown run, which was caused more by poor tackling than being blown off the ball, although there was a hole off tackle. This group has had better games, but they weren't horrible by any stretch of the imagination.

LB  Jonathan Vilma, Scott Shanle, Scott Fujita, Troy Evans, & Marvin Mitchell—B+

The majority of the pressure that Manning felt was due to blitzing from this group, or the safeties. They did a nice job in coverage and in filling lanes and tackling in the run game.

Secondary  Jabari Greer, Tracy Porter, Roman Harper, & Darren Sharper—A+

I thought this was the best game the secondary has played all year. Greer and Porter were fast and physical with the Giants' smaller group of receivers. Roman Harper provided constant pressure and L.O.S. presence in the running game.

Sharper was just Sharper, as he's been all year; although he dropped two interceptions, but should've had another pick-six if not for a roughing-the-passer call against Vilma.

To hold Steve Smith to 44 yards, when the Giants' only chance is to throw the ball, is just incredible. No doubt, this secondary has grown up and improved from a season ago. And it's done it in a hurry.

Next up:  The Miami Dolphins and their Wildcat offense. I'll have a preview of it on Wednesday, and then their 3-4 defense on Thursday. Until then, Geaux Saints!