Bleacher Report - Articles by David Rondon

Final Report: The New York Giants' Final Stretch

David Rondon — Sun, 26 Jul 2009 21:44:42 -0400

Many have suggested reasons behind the New York Giants’ poor performance towards the end of last season, from Plaxico Burress’ injury and suspension to the defensive line’s lack of sacks. However, the answers are much more complex.

There were many factors that deserve a closer look and show how this affected the very foundation the team stood on.

One issue that the Giants had last season was offensive injuries. Kareem McKenzie has been dealing with what seems to be chronic back problems for the last couple of seasons, an injury the media mostly neglects.

This season, the effects of the injury continued, making it difficult for McKenzie to consistently perform down the stretch, in addition to restricting his pass blocking ability. This forced him to come out of games for rest.

Dominick Hixon was dealing with an injury in his ankle, keeping him out of a number of practices toward the end of last season. Brandon Jacobs, who is always the target of knee shots, missed a few games, lowering the effectiveness of Derrick Ward and Ahmad Bradshaw.

The two running backs are good on their own, but Brandon Jacobs’ power allows him to wear down the defense, enabling the pair to use their agility and vision to take advantage of the opposition’s fatigue.

Injuries were not just an issue with the offense, but also with the defense. Justin Tuck by the end of his first season as a starter was dealing with a knee problem that hampered his ability on the field.

This was the same for Barry Cofield and Fred Robbins who both sustained similar knee injuries.

Finally, Mathias Kiwanuka stopped recording tackles and/or sacks in games, a consequence, I believe, from the wear and tear of his first full season as a starter. All these events weakened the line to the point where the linebackers were more exposed to the 300 pound linemen on the opposite side of the field.

The Giants’ strong-men were not healthy enough to consistently hold their blocks, allowing the backers behind them to move around freely and make plays. This especially affected the play of middle linebacker Antonio Pierce.

As we saw with other players in his position, Ray Lewis (who lost Sam Adams and Tony Siragusa) or Brian Urlacher (who lost Ted Washington and Keith Taylor), they were more exposed to their opponent’s offensive lines, which prevented them from performing at their best.

This also affects the safeties, because they have to be more wary of the run, leaving them out of position on certain pass plays.

Amani Toomer, as I alluded to in my Steve Smith article, presented another problem.

He continued to regress toward the end of the season, and should have been replaced with Smith sooner. Toomer has regressed with age, losing lateral speed, acceleration, and agility.

It doesn’t help that he’s led the team in dropped passes for the last couple of seasons. This, of course, is an issue of faulty coaching.

Offensive coordinator Kevin Gilbride did not adjust his plan for the offense quickly enough once Plaxico Burress was out of the lineup. Also, the playbook the Giants had before Burress’ departure had been designed around his talents and ability to attract double teams, and sometimes, triple teams.

This would open things up for the other receivers, especially loosening traffic over the middle where Steve Smith operated from the slot.

However, with Plaxico gone, defenses (especially on third downs) began to cover the middle and put more of an emphasis on Steve Smith, who, in my opinion, was and is the Giants’ best overall receiver.

Hixon, who is three inches smaller than Burress—but who can run better routes—did not have a playbook that catered to his skill set. The offense finally made the adjustments needed to suit the skill set of the current group of wide receivers in the playoff game against the Eagles, but the change came too late.

The Giants’ receivers (Smith and Hixon) were getting behind the defensive backs all day, but just like Donovan McNabb had a hard time getting the ball to his receivers, so did Eli, due to inclement weather.

Scheduling was another obstacle the Giants faced. The team’s bye week was in week four. With their bye week having occurred so early, the only options the players had for rest wouldn’t happen until the end of the season, be it with a first or second seed bye or a Super Bowl bye.

In addition, particularly after week seven, starting with the Steelers and onward, the team faced fierce competition, requiring them to bring their best every single week.

Every issue I’ve mentioned above is paramount to the Giants’ slip down the stretch, and are, in my opinion, necessary to understand, so that the team’s recent draft picks are understood.

The Giants do not need to trade away the house for a tall veteran receiver, or younger players, and observing what the Giants did this past off season has led me to believe that they recognize this as well.

By drafting William Beatty in the second round, they are giving McKenzie and his chronic back injury, a break.

With their new offensive strategy in place, the team didn’t need to re-sign Toomer, deciding to move on with the new generation of receivers that they have now.

In addition, they’ve acquired two receivers via draft to bring in more talent, and create fiercer competition.

Whoever gets the first team, second team, and third team receiving slots will obtain those roles by earning it through competition and not hand-outs.

They addressed the defensive line issues by signing free agents, allowing the players to rotate, keeping them fresh. But more importantly, they are more likely to be healthy and ready for a post-season push.

This should also help keep bodies off the linebackers, which will allow them to move around and make plays. Based on these changes, I predict the Giants have the ability to make it back to the Superbowl this coming season.

The Emergence of Steve Smith of the Giants: Cutting Through the Noise

David Rondon — Mon, 08 Jun 2009 00:57:27 -0400

Matt Mosley of The Beast, ESPN’s NFC East blog, recently wrote an interesting synopsis on the Giants' wide receivers:

"I'm not sure it's breaking news that the Giants have some speed. [Mario] Manningham, [Sinorice] Moss and [Domenik] Hixon were all on the roster last year. I wouldn't put Steve Smith in the "speed" category. He's able to get open because of his route-running and he certainly has good hands. But no matter what he says, he doesn't have the speed to play wideout at this level."

I strongly disagree with his logic concerning Steve Smith, and here’s why. One reason is because he plays the slot, and in the Giants' offense, as well as other offenses around the league, that position doesn’t allow for many opportunities to go downfield.

The position asks for the particular receiver to play in the same way that a tight end is supposed to play, which is to be a safety valve, work the middle, and get third downs.

The slot receiver, just like his tight end counterparts, also takes a lot of punishment going over the middle because he is always surrounded by linebackers and safeties. In Mike Garafolo’s analysis of Steve Smith after an interview in November 2008, he says:

"For now, Smith is content to run routes over the middle and take the punishment from defenders. And even though [Atari] Bigby's hit taught him to get down after making a catch with his back to the defense, he plans on getting up after every shot."

The second reason is because neither starting wideout on the depth chart from last year had the ability to play inside like Steve Smith can. Plaxico Burress, for all the attention he gets, was neither quick nor a good route runner.

Amani Toomer’s speed and quickness regressed, and even though he had some big catches last year and the year before that during the Super Bowl run, he also had many dropped passes. He actually led all Giant receivers with the most drops (I believe it was around 30 or so).

The problem the Giants had with moving Smith outside was not if he could play outside, but who was capable of replacing him in the slot.

Even though I don’t put a lot emphasis on 40 times, I will make an exception for the purpose of this article. Steve Smith ran an official 40 time of 4.44, which, from my understanding, is fast.

Let’s look at another receiver that I think is comparable to what Smith can become: Torry Holt. I believe looking at a seasoned veteran like Holt will show why Smith is going to become such an important player for the Giants this season.

Torry Holt is 6'0", 190 pounds and also ran an official 40 time of 4.44 coming out of the combine. Holt is an inch taller and seven pounds lighter than Smith.

Since then, No. 81 has amassed a total of 869 catches, 12,660 yards, 14.6 avg., 80.1 Yds/G, and 74 TD. He has many plays over 20 yards and a few over 40 in his career thus far.

What made Holt so dangerous down the field wasn’t that he burned DBs every time he ran a go route, but that he ran precise deep in/out routes, deep slants/posts, flag, seam, and any other routes that he was assigned to run.

Cornerbacks couldn’t stay committed to a route after 10-plus yards because he could turn a go route into an in/out route, slant/post, stop and go, or a five-yard slant into a go route.

This last year for him was a bad year because he was playing with a banged-up quarterback and offense. From what I remember hearing at one time from the so-called experts, Torry wasn’t fast, but he could run crisp routes and get open.

It seems to be that the only way a receiver can be classified as being fast is if that receiver were only known for catching passes on go routes, but if that same receiver ran good routes, they’re more likely to be known as good route runners then fast.

I believe that speed and good route running can coexist, and this is what Smith brings to the table. I also find it very positive that last offseason he spent time working out with Jerry Rice.

Jerry Rice told Mike Garafolo in the same article that he believes Steve Smith has not yet shown his full potential:

"Said Rice, 'You're starting to see only a little of what this guy is capable of. He has the ability to work outside. I've seen his route running outside, so I know he's capable of it.'"

I think that says a lot, coming from a Hall of Famer, about what the Giants have and what is to come of this gem that they possess.