NY Giants vs. Seattle Seahawks: Breaking Down New York's Game Plan
Safety Antrel Rolle might not be the most politically correct athlete to ever don a New York Giants uniform, but he is 100 percent, absolutely positively spot on with his observation that his teammates lack a “pulse.”
For those not aware, Rolle, who appears every Tuesday at noon on WFAN radio in New York, unloaded in a rant that defined the very passion he accused many of his teammates of lacking.
"On our sideline, it’s very dead. Throughout the course of the game, it’s dead. We need a pulse. It needs to be shown that you care about this game and you want to take this game by any means necessary. That’s not what we’re seeing right now.
You have to play the game with passion. We have 53 players. You should never have to talk to another grown man about playing this game with passion. … I will never, ever in this world be responsible for another man’s emotions or passion for this game. That’s not what it’s supposed to be about. Every man has to be accountable for his own actions and right now, I’m not seeing every man going out there fighting and scratching and clawing like dogs.
You have to go out and you have to get down and you have to get dirty and you have to get nasty in this game. There’s no room for nice guys in this league.
"
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Word.
Let’s face it. The Giants haven’t shown any swagger, confidence or any passion on the field since Eagles week.
If you recall, that was the week they puffed out their chests and engaged in a trash-talking storm that ultimately led to them having to tuck their tails between their legs and limp home after repeatedly getting punched in the mouth on national television by their hated division foe.
Defensive end Jason Pierre-Paul echoed Rolle’s sentiments on Thursday in his press briefing with reporters:
"Honestly, it is not all about attitude, it is all about heart. You can have the attitude, you can have the swagger, you can talk your way, but it is all about heart. If you don’t have the heart to play this game, then we are going to continue losing.
That is with every guy, every guy has to challenge himself to play more and do more than what he expects, and also to do your job. When it comes down to it, is all about heart. If you don’t have heart, that is something you can’t give a player, you just have to have it.
"
From the outside looking in, it seems that the Giants haven’t recovered from that loss, which was also the game in which the entire team witnessed an injured Victor Cruz, one of the team captains, being carted off the field, his head in his hands, sobbing uncontrollably after tearing a patellar tendon.
“It’s an emotional thing,” head coach Tom Coughlin admitted to reporters. “A lot of people don’t understand how emotionally draining it is when you lose. To get over that, you get moving, and I think we’re getting there.”
Giants fans can only hope that is true, as a win against the defending Super Bowl champion Seattle Seahawks at CenturyLink Field might just be what the doctor ordered to salvage a floundering season.
The Series
This will be the 17th regular-season meeting between the Giants and Seattle. New York leads the series, 9-7, but is just 3-4 in games played at Seattle.
| Quarterback | X | |
| Running Backs | X | |
| Tight Ends | X | |
| Receivers | X | |
| Offensive Line | X | |
| Defensive Line | X | |
| Linebackers | X | |
| Secondary | X | |
| Special Teams | X |
The Game Plan
Giants on Offense
If the Giants want to get their running game going—and let's be frank, it's going to be a challenge against the NFL's fourth-best run defense—it is imperative that Andre Williams, hard as it might be, given the job the offensive line has done with its run blocking, follow his blocks.
Seahawks strong safety Kam Chancellor, listed on the injury report with a groin ailment, is third on the team with 47 tackles.
He has impressive sideline-to-sideline speed, and that was on display on the following play in which he held Washington running back Alfred Morris (red circle) for a three-yard gain.
On the play, Morris spots a crease (red line) that he is confident of hitting, even though a Seahawks defender looks like he’s won his battle against the Washington center.
Believe it or not, that defender doesn’t make the tackle on Morris. Instead, it’s Chancellor (blue circle) who comes halfway across the field to fill the hole Morris that exploited.
In this case, what Morris might have been better off doing is following his blockers on the right side of the line, where left tackle Trent Williams is getting ready to fire out and hit a Seahawks linebacker to drive him out of the gap.
Assuming Williams makes the block, which he did, the chances of Morris coming away with a bigger gain on the play probably would be more favorable.
In the passing game, Giants receivers, who just don’t seem to have much success against press coverage, can probably expect to see more of the same from Seattle, which primarily plays an aggressive man-to-man scheme.
As was the case last week against the Indianapolis Colts, the seam could be there for the taking for tight end Larry Donnell.
Giants on Defense
Last week, the Giants managed to pressure Colts quarterback Andrew Luck but were unable to finish things. In Wilson, they will face another mobile quarterback who can make plays with his legs.
Let’s look at a 22-yard run Wilson had against Washington.
On this play, Washington’s defensive ends and outside linebackers were able to win their battles against the the weak links on the Seattle's offensive line—left tackle Russell Okung and right tackle Justin Britt, who, per Pro Football Focus, have combined to allow 46 quarterback pressures this season, with Britt leading the way with 23, including two sacks.
There are two things the Giants defense needs to do to keep Wilson from hurting them with his legs.
First, their defensive ends—whether it’s Jason Pierre-Paul and Mathias Kiwanuka, Pierre-Paul and Robert Ayers or even Damontre Moore—simply must take advantage Seattle's two struggling tackles.
Both can be overcome with speed, and Moore, Pierre-Paul and Ayers occasionally have demonstrated a burst off the edge. The Giants will likely need their linebackers to drop into coverage and help out the banged-up secondary. If the DEs and outside linebackers can collapse the pocket, that would be a big step in aiding the pass coverage.
Second, the Giants must not abandon the middle of the field too prematurely, as Washington did on this play.
Note how there is not a Washington player in sight, leaving Wilson to run to daylight.
In this instance, one of the Washington linebackers took his drop much too soon, to the point where by the time he realized that Wilson was planning to keep the ball, there was no chance of holding the quarterback to a minimal gain.
Now let’s talk about running back Marshawn Lynch.
The key to playing against Lynch is to be sound in your tackling techniques. Arm and ankle tackles just aren’t going to get it done against this human bulldozer.
Here is a play in which Lynch gains 17 yards against Washington. Note how the defender (circled in red) has beaten Okung and is now in excellent position to stop Lynch for a loss.
One problem: The defender dove at Lynch’s ankles and the running back, his eye on the hole in front of him simply pushed the defender aside and plowed up field for a 17-yard gain on play that should have been a tackle for a loss had the defender wrapped up the ball-carrier.
Opponent Spotlight on the "Legion of Boom”
It's been a week in which members of the Giants secondary have focused on the topic of communication. One of the things that makes Seattle’s “Legion of Boom” defense so dangerous is that Seahawk defenders are so adept after years of playing together at reading each other’s body language and knowing where each other is going to be as the play unfolds.
Here’s a perfect example from their game against the Dallas Cowboys in which, thanks to the solid communication between cornerback Richard Sherman and his safety, running back DeMarco Murray is held to just a four-yard gain on a pass play.
On the play, Sherman (circled in blue) initially has coverage responsibility for the outside receiver.
Because Murray (yellow) made the first Seahawks defender miss, Sherman passed off his man to the safety (red circle) and came up to stop Murray for just a four-yard gain.
That took trust on Sherman’s part to know where his safety was going to be, especially considering he was behind him on the play.
That also took alertness on the part of Sherman to recognize that the first line of defense against Murray broke down, thus requiring him to come in to stop the running back before he broke free for a big play.
| CB Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie (back/hamstring) | TE Zach Miller (ankle) |
| RB Rashad Jennings (foot) | LB Bobby Wagner (toe) |
| DT Cullen Jenkins (calf) | G James Carpenter (ankle) |
| P Steve Weatherford (ankle/back) | T Russell Okung (calf) |
| DE Mathias Kiwanuka (knee) | WR Doug Baldwin (groin) |
| G Weston Richburg (ankle) | C Stephen Schilling (knee) |
| G Adam Snyder (knee) | C Max Unger (no injury) |
| CB Zack Bowman (abdominal) | S Kam Chancellor (groin) |
| CB Byron Maxwell (calf) | |
| DE O’Brien Schofield (head) | |
| LB Malcolm Smith (groin) | |
| RB Marshawn Lynch (no injury) | |
Key Giants Injury: Cornerback Zack Bowman
Okay, this is really starting to become ridiculous now.
The Giants have already lost three cornerbacks—Prince Amukamara, Walter Thurmond and Trumaine McBride—for the season.
Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie is trying desperately to get every last play out of his ailing body, and on Thursday, the team announced that Zack Bowman was stricken by viral gastroenteritis, a condition serious enough to warrant hospitalization.
Yikes!
Bowman, you see, figured to start in Amukamara’s spot. With his status now iffy for Sunday, The Giants could be looking at Jayron Hosley, who is struggling to man the slot cornerback position, to get the start instead.
As for the slot cornerback spot, figure Mike Harris, who was signed off the Detroit Lions practice squad last week, to get the nod there.
Oh, and what happens if Rodgers-Cromartie can’t make it through the entire game? That’s a real possibility, considering the Giants’ defense has been averaging 68 plays per game, according to Pro Football Focus (subscription required).
Unfortunately the season must go on, and while the lack of experience could result in some ugly football for the Giants, Coughlin is hoping for the best.
“Well, we’ve got to go. They are guys that obviously have been evaluated and they were next up, as you say,” he told reporters.
“They’re here and we’ve got to get them ready to go.”
That might be easier said than done.
Prediction
There’s a lot to be said about the "12th Man," at least where Seattle is concerned.
The Seahawks have won 18 of their last 20 home games (second in the NFL), outscoring opponents 591-295 for a plus-296 point differential that is second in the NFL.
In addition, the Seahawks have forced 49 takeaways for a plus-30 turnover margin, both first in the NFL.
The passionless Giants still haven’t recovered from their 27-0 beatdown by the Eagles, and it hasn’t helped that the injuries are continuing to eat away at their personnel.
The defensive line just can’t seem to will itself to get to the quarterback, the linebackers and DBs continue to get burned for the big play, and the offensive line is still trying to get on the same page communication-wise, despite having played eight games together.
A Giants win would certainly provide the spark that has been missing since that Week 6 meltdown in Philadelphia, but thanks to injuries, there is a legitimate concern that they might not have enough firepower to match up with the Seahawks.
Seahawks 27, Giants 13
2014 win-loss prediction record: 5-3
Advanced statistics courtesy of Pro Football Focus unless otherwise noted.
Patricia Traina covers the Giants for Inside Football and The SportsXchange. All quotes and information obtained firsthand unless otherwise sourced. Follow me on Twitter @Patricia_Traina.
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