Giants Scouting Report and Saints Game Plan Against Them

When the New York Giants come into the Mercedes Benz Superdome to play the New Orleans Saints next Monday night it will be a matchup of two playoff-caliber football teams.

With that in mind, there are a couple things the film will tell you about each team:

One—they are both very well coached.

Two—the holes in the team's arsenal are not that great.

And three—both have top-10 quarterbacks. 

This brief foreword helps us to understand that the Giants do not have tons of holes on film. Finding a way to attack them is not going to be as simple as it would be with some other teams the Saints have played this year—cough, cough...Indianapolis Colts. 

That being said, there are holes and aspects of their scheme/personnel which can be attacked and hopefully had at next to no cost. And as always, a rowdy Superdome crowd will significantly aid the Saints in their pursuit of execution of this plan. 

Giants Offense

If you watch more than just the Saints as an NFL fan then you probably know a decent amount about Eli Manning and the Giants offense. But the perception of this being a physical pounding offense simply is not true any longer. 

When running the football, the Giants are almost exclusively a zone-blocking team. They will use two backs, two tight ends, or three receivers. Regardless, the idea is the same—get Brandon Jacobs or Ahmad Bradshaw to the line of scrimmage and let them decide where the run will take itself. 

As a result of this style, occasionally Jacobs or Bradshaw will simply lower their shoulders and get as much as possible. But often they try to stay on their feet and cut back against the grain of the defense. 

And in the second half of games, the Giants add a little wrinkle by running from the gun on inside zone plays. Both games they did this they were behind and in pass mode, so they were in three and four-receiver sets most of the time. 

Nonetheless, the Saints need to be aware of this tendency and their use of the shotgun running game at all times. 

Though the Giants are no longer the power running team they once were, they still LOVE playaction passing. They will use it on almost any down and distance. It helps them in protection and creates and open middle of the field, which they love to attack with tight end Jake Ballard and slot receiver Victor Cruz. 

In the dropback passing game, Hakeem Nicks has developed into a receiver who is mostly going to run the sideline routes along with Mario Manningham. Among those routes are comeback routes, out routes and the go routes. In fact, the Giants are almost guaranteed to take at least two deep shots per game to each guy. 

Then in their possession passing game, Victor Cruz loves to work the middle of the field with crossing routes. Manningham will run some stop routes, and Nicks occasionally will run some of each of those types of routes. 

Most importantly in the passing game, Eli Manning has the reputation of being a sitting duck in the pocket. The truth is that when he stays in the pocket he makes poor decisions and inaccurate throws because he takes his eyes off the downfield coverage. 

But if he is able to get outside of the pocket he keep his eyes upfield and makes things happen with good decision-making and accurate throws on the run. He is liable to hit his backs on checkdowns which generally leads to big plays. Plus his receivers are as good at the scramble drill as any group in football.

How the Saints Can Slow Down the Giants Offense

The easy answer of course is to copy the Eagles defensive game plan from Sunday night when they held the Giants to 10 points. 

While there are some elements of the Eagles game plan which the Saints can replicate, the style of defense that Philadelphia plays is much different from the style of the Saints' defense under Gregg Williams. 

The formula for the Saints defense has to be a fairly conservative approach. The Saints need to find a way to get pressure with four guys as much as possible. The main reason this is so important is that the Giants passing game excels against man-to-man coverage and generally eats up the middle of the defense. 

That of course is the level and section of the field which the Saints have so greatly struggled to cover effectively. The main reason is playing man-to-man coverage on the slot receiver or tight end with a linebacker. 

If the Saints can settle into some curl/flat zone coverages with their linebackers and those guys are able to simply bump receivers in the first five yards and get them off their routes, it will immediately aid the coverage and give the Saints' pass rushers a chance to get to Eli Manning. 

But because Gregg Williams' unit struggles to get significant pressure with just the front four, look for Williams to run some zone pressures where linebackers or safeties blitz and other guys are moving all over the field flooding different zone areas. 

This type of scheme should cause Manning to hold onto the football for awhile--which he generally does anyway--and cause the pass rush to get to him. But Williams can't use the zone pressures all day. At some point, the front four has to create a pass rush all on its own. For this reason it will take relentless pursuit of Manning to get him off his game and create stops and turnovers. 

Look for Junior Galette and Jeff Charleston to get a number of snaps in pass rushing situations because of their high motor and ability to stick with it. 

When the Giants are On Defense

Unlike the Saints defense, the Giants' front four is good enough to get consistent pressure on Drew Brees without blitzing. When they simply rush four they stay relatively basic with speed rushes and simple twists and games. 

On the back end they run a lot of man-to-man coverage with two high safeties. They do not blitz a lot, but are generally effective at creating pressure when they do. However, if you can pick it up you're almost guaranteed a big play due to their inability cover man-to-man deep down the field. 

Interestingly they use former Boston College defensive end Matthias Kiwanuka in pass coverage quite often. The Saints can get really good matchups against him with running backs or tight end Jimmy Graham. 

Also a 3x1 formation (three receivers on one side, one on the other) will get linebackers matched up against receivers over the middle of the field--making for perfect crossing routes or seam routes. 

The Giants front four is almost as good against the run as they are creating pressure on the QB. They do a really good job of quickly getting off blocks and clogging running lanes, allowing linebackers to fill and stop the run with just seven guys in the box. 

How to Attack the Giants Defense

Simply from a tempo perspective, I expect the Saints to attempt to play at a high pace, getting in and out of the huddle and try to maximize the number of snaps—unlike what Sean Payton normally wants to do. 

Doing this will keep the Giants base personnel on the field, which is an advantageous group for the Saints passing game to attack. I haven't seen a team go empty against the Giants—I'm guessing out of fear of their pass rush. 

The difference is that Vince Young and Alex Smith are slow decision-makers who possess slow releases. Drew Brees is a quick decision-maker and has an even faster release. 

For that reason I would look to maximize the number of receivers and get as many guys into the route as possible. The Giants can't cover everybody and will likely yield a favorable matchup between Colston in the slot, Graham or Sproles out wide or Lance Moore on a struggling nickel back. 

The more success the Saints have with the short pass, especially out of empty sets, the more the Giants will begin to get into nickel and dime packages which the Saints can then exploit with their trio of talented running backs. 

The running game actually is a good matchup for the Saints as their backs are best at the quick-hitting runs that are more successful against the Giants. Without David Thomas, the Saints are likely going to feature more spread formations anyway which will enable a guy such as Sproles some running lanes on quick traps and zone runs. 

In fact, Sproles' style—as well as Pierre Thomas' straight ahead pounding style—both figure to be successful against this Giants' defense as long as they are straight up-the-middle runs and not stretch plays or cutbacks. 

That's how the Saints will move the ball. But to score it's going to come on playaction and a big play or two with either Robert Meachem or Devery Henderson on a deep go route. 

In the red zone, fades to the backside receiver in a 3x1 set figures to work, though lately Corey Webster and Aaron Ross have actually held up pretty well on such throws. I would also look for a slant by Jimmy Graham if the Saints are able to get him matched up against Kiwanuka. 

Conclusion

Though the Giants defense is probably the best the Saints have faced this season on film, it remains a favorable matchup for the Saints offense, especially given the variations in personnel that Sean Payton can offer this defense. 

And defensively the Saints don't match up perfectly but with the help of their fans should create enough energy and pressure to slow down the Giants. The corners have a heck of a challenge this week, but they are certainly capable of playing well against this group of receivers. 

If they do, the Saints figure to give the Giants their third loss in a row Monday night in front of a national TV audience.