Game Review: Atlanta Falcons at New York Giants, November 21, 2004

Atlanta Falcons 14 – New York Giants 10

Game Overview: Let’s get one thing straight, the Giants are not a good football team. Week after week I read and hear excuses from fans why the Giants have lost. It’s the officials, it’s the play-calling, it’s bad luck, etc. There is a reason why the Giants were 4-12 last season and there is a reason why they have lost to the Lions, Bears, and Cardinals this year: THEY ARE NOT GOOD ENOUGH. Good teams don’t go 2-3 at home. Good teams don’t constantly find a way to lose close football games.

Despite all the media attention on QB Eli Manning and his first game, this was a bad, bad loss for the Giants. They held the Falcons to 14 points, yet lost another important intra-conference game. I don’t believe in moral victories. And the Giants had better pray to God that they have hit a home run with Manning as there are a ton of personnel issues with this team and only four draft picks next offseason.

I hope the Giants have a plan in place. I don’t trust General Manager Ernie Accorsi. Like his team, his performance in personnel acquisition has been too inconsistent (and that’s why his team is inconsistent). The Giants need better players on offense and defense. How will they be acquired? Will the right decisions be made? Will this franchise ever field a team that intimidates opponents who play at Giants Stadium? Will this team ever win a Super Bowl again in my lifetime?

Do I sound angry? I am angry. Losing makes me angry. I am pissed off about wasting the 4-1 start. I’m tired of losing close football games. I’m tired not hearing cheering at Giants Stadium at the end of a football game. This “flagship franchise” has won six world championships, but it really hasn’t fielded a consistent winner since 1990. That’s 15 years ago. Think about that. Where were you 15 years ago? Think how much your life has changed. That’s how long it has been. Before we all realize it, another 15 years will pass. Will be proud of the team by that time or embarrassed?

I hope the Giants have a plan. More accurately, I hope they have a plan that works.

Offense: You are not going to win many football games scoring 10 points. The same problem that has haunted the Giants all season still haunts them – they can’t make plays in the passing game. Both starting wide receivers remain embarrassingly unproductive. The starting tight end is good, but overrated. Pass protection remains a concern and is negatively influencing game plans. If you can’t pass in today’s NFL, you don’t score.

Quarterback: Eli Manning (17-of-37 for 162 yards, 1 touchdown, 2 interceptions) played pretty much as expected for a very high rookie #1 pick playing in his first game. There were glimpses of promise interspersed with rookie mistakes. Manning’s stats would have looked far better his receivers not inexcusably dropped a half dozen passes, but Manning was not terribly accurate either. “They had some drops, but a lot of them were bad throws,” said Manning after the game. “A couple were behind them and off to the side. I have to be more accurate and I think at some point, I was throwing the ball too quickly and not getting my feet set, so as the game went on I got a little better, more comfortable and got a feel for the speed of the game and got in the flow of things a little bit better.”

Manning also threw two bad interceptions. The first one, a late pass thrown into double coverage, could have proved disastrous as Manning was picked off on his first throw of the Giants’ last possession right before halftime with only 16 seconds on the clock. Luckily, Atlanta missed the 46-yard field goal. The second came in the third quarter after the Giants had cut the lead to 14-7 and momentum had switched in their direction. The Falcons ran a zone-blitz and Manning did not see the dropping defensive end who intercepted the pass. “They gave us a zone blitz and they brought the “mike” and the “sam” strong side,” said Manning. “I thought I had the slant and obviously the defensive end dropped back into his lane and I threw it right to him, so I have to know that and that’s something you could call a rookie mistake but I should know that anyway, I shouldn’t throw that ball…I should have thrown into the blitz and find my receiver, I had a guy open, but that’s a part of learning.”

Like Warner, Manning was not able to make any plays down the field – his longest completion of the day was 18 yards. Concern with pass protection by the coaching staff was probably an issue. But Manning also said, “They were playing a lot of two safeties, a lot of cover two, so we were hitting some things underneath and on certain plays we had chances to throw the ball downfield but they would call the right defense and we had a couple of in-routes where if had been on the money with them they could have caught them and ran for some yardage and had some big plays.”

The Giants had six offensive possessions in the first half. On the first drive, Manning threw a poor, low pass in the direction of TE Marcellus Rivers. He was sacked on the next play and the Giants were forced to punt. The next drive ended due to two drops. Shockey dropped a perfectly thrown touch pass between two defenders and HB Tiki Barber could not handle a pass that was thrown slightly behind him on a middle screen that looked poised to pick up the first down. On the third possession, Manning looked like a veteran as he changed the play at the line and hit Rivers for 11-yards off an excellent play-action fake. But then Toomer dropped two passes (one slightly behind him, another high – but both in his hands). Again, the drive ended with these mistakes. It was a shame that Toomer didn’t catch the ball that was thrown high because in all other respects it was an excellent play by Manning and the blockers up front. He read the Atlanta blitz up the middle before the play began, called out the protection, and got rid of the ball quickly with two Atlanta blitzers coming up the gut.

On the fourth drive, Shockey dropped another pass that was slightly thrown behind him, but Manning hit WR Ike Hilliard for 11 yards and a first down on 3rd-and-5. The drive ended when the Giants lost three yards on 3rd-and-1. On the fifth possession, Manning tossed a 15-yarder to FB Jim Finn off a bootleg. Shockey then dropped a well-thrown strike over the intermediate middle of the defense. This would have set the Giants up in field goal range. Manning did a good job of sensing the backside blitzer on the next play, but the attempted screen pass failed because Atlanta had sniffed it out. Same story with the screen pass on the next play. Punt. (I love screen passes, but the Giants run way too many of these…there is no surprise). The last possession was the interception right before halftime. This was a bad decision and throw by Manning. Manning finished the first half of the game 5-of-14 for 46 yards and one interception. But there were also six dropped passes.

Manning was impressive on the Giants’ first drive of the second half. This was a 16-play, 72-yard effort where the Giants converted on FOUR third down situations – all passes by Manning. Manning handled the offense like a veteran, pointing out blitzes, changing plays, looking off coverage, coming off his primary receiver when covered, and getting rid of the ball quickly. The first big play was a 3rd-and-8 conversion. Manning was forced to scramble to his right upon being pressured immediately up the middle. He drew the covering linebacker off Tiki Barber by faking a run and then lofting the ball over said linebacker’s head for a first down. Three plays later, he hit Shockey for another first down on 3rd-and-4. Eli was fortunate there was a false start on the next play as his quick pass intended for Toomer was intercepted and would have been returned for a touchdown (this was more of a great play by the cornerback than a bad play by Manning). On 2nd-and-12, Manning badly overthrew a wide-open Shockey, but on 3rd-and-12, he smartly stepped up into the pocket and delivered a strike to Shockey for 18 yards and a first down. One of Manning’s best throws of the day came three plays later as Manning threw a perfect pass to Toomer for 14 yards and a first down on 3rd-and-8 despite immediate pressure in his face (a great throw under fire). Manning badly missed Hilliard on the next play, but on 2nd-and-goal from the 6-yard line, he fired an absolutely perfect pass to a well-covered Shockey in the end zone for his first pro touchdown pass.

With the momentum in the Giants’ hands, the Giants began to move the ball on their next possession. After a big run by Barber, Manning overthrew Toomer on a deep in-cut. On 2nd-and-10, Manning’s primary receiver to his right was covered, but Eli dumped the ball off to Jim Finn to his left for a 15-yard gain. This was an impressive play as it demonstrated that Manning sees the entire field. But two plays later, he made a rookie mistake by misreading the aforementioned zone blitz…this was a huge momentum-killer in the game.

Manning led the Giants on a 13-play, 65-yard drive that resulted in a field goal on the third possession of the second half. This was mainly a running drive, but Manning hit Barber for 13 yards on a screen pass and tossed a 10-yard pass to Toomer. There were two plays that were not successful where, once again, Manning looked like a veteran. After taking the snap, he was tripped up by one of the offensive lineman and stumbled. Instead of making a bad situation worse, he simply decided to throw the ball away. Smart play. Then on 3rd-and-goal from the 8-yard line, Manning recognized an all-out blitz (the type of blitz where you can’t pick up all the blitzers) and fired the ball immediately to Hilliard to his left. Ike couldn’t make it into the end zone, but it was the proper read and decision by Manning.

The Giants only had the ball one final time in the game. Manning had to take the team 74 yards in 1:52 to win the game with only one timeout. The Giants were fortunate on the first play of the drive as Manning was sacked and he fumbled the ball away, but a defensive holding penalty on the Falcons erased the play. This was the only time in the game where Manning didn’t seem to feel the pressure. After a pass to Shockey for 7 yards and a Barber run of 13 yards, the drive ended when Manning had a pass knocked down at the line of scrimmage, Manning hit Hilliard for 7 yards, and LB Keith Brooking of the Falcons made two excellent plays in coverage on Shockey.

Wide Receivers: The starting wide receivers – Amani Toomer and Ike Hilliard – combined for only 6 catches and 52 yards in the game. Toomer and Hilliard are having an absolutely wretched season and the two may be the worst receiving duo in the league. The Giants have played 10 football games and these two don’t have one touchdown reception. Yet many fans want to talk about how talented the Giants are…what?

I think Toomer (2 catches for 24 yards) has ability, but I think he is a moody guy who pouts when things don’t go his way. I will speculate that he – like quite a few other players – quit playing hard during the 8-game losing streak last year and I think he is pouting again this year because this offense is not vertical enough for his tastes. A poster on the site says he has heard that Toomer doesn’t want to be on this team next year and I believe him. Regardless, Toomer dropped two passes on one possession that hit him in the hands, effectively ending the drive. On the running play before these two drops, Toomer missed his block on an outside run by Barber or a bigger run would have resulted. Just a terrible set of downs for Toomer. I will say this. Toomer did play with more passion in the second half than I have seen him do all season. He played angry. I like that. His big reception of the game was a 14-yarder on 3rd-and-8. Toomer also made a good block on Barber’s 16-yard run around left end in the 3rd quarter and another 9-yard gain by Barber around left end in the 4th quarter.

Hilliard (4 catches for 28 yards) had a key reception for 11 yards on 3rd-and-5, but the only way the Giants really seem to use him anymore is on WR screens. I think this is a good play for Hilliard (and if Jason Whittle had not gotten in his way on one early screen, he might have broken a big play out it), but it shouldn’t be the only way the Giants use Hilliard. I wonder if this is Hilliard’s last year with the team. What average speed he had appears to be gone. Hilliard made a good block down the field on Tiki Barber’s 23-yard run on the first offensive play of the game.

Running Backs: Tiki Barber (21 carries for 107 yards, a 5.1 yards-per-carry average) had another productive day. He is now the all-time Giants leader in history for 100-yard games and has topped the 1,000 yard mark for the fourth year in a row. He has a chance to surpass Rodney Hampton this year as the Giants’ all-time rushing leader. And he is neck and neck with Amani Toomer as the Giants’ all-time reception leader. Amazing.

Barber broke off a 23-yard run on the first offensive play of the game. His next eight runs of the first half went for 0, 6, 4, 4, 5, 1, 3, and -3, and he was not helped by some soft blocking by the tight ends on the edges on some of these plays. Barber did drop a pass that was thrown slightly behind him on a well set-up middle screen that looked poised to pick up the first down (and maybe more) on 3rd-and-6. Barber did a great job of engaging two blitzers up the middle on the 3rd-and-6 pass that Toomer dropped.

Barber rushed for 64 yards on 12 carries in the second half despite being dinged early on in the 3rd quarter on the play where Barber caught the 10-yard pass for a first down on 3rd-and-8 to keep the drive alive. After Barber came back into the game, I thought he made a poor decision to cut inside FB Jim Finn’s block instead of outside (as Finn had set him up for a bigger outside run). The play gained two yards, but could have gained much more. On the Giants’ next possession, Tiki broke off a 16-yard run around left end, almost breaking it on the play. I thought Barber was outstanding on the third drive of the second half. He picked up 13 yards on a screen pass, then smartly bounced a run outside to his left for a 9-yard gain (the commentators remarked about how good Tiki’s vision was on this play). On the very next play, Barber cut back to his right, broke a tackle, and stiffed-armed a defender for an 11-yard gain. On the final drive of the game, Barber broke off a 13-yard draw that seemed for a second that might have gone the distance.

Ron Dayne (4 carries for 13 yard) played pretty well for the second game in a row in limited action. On his first two carries of the game, he was not helped by poor blocking at the periphery of each play. But he had two quality carries on the Giants’ field goal drive, demonstrating a good burst on an outside run that picked up five yards and good power on an inside run the picked up 4 yards.

Jim Finn has been blocking pretty darn well this season, much better than last year. He helped to spring Tiki Barber on some nice gains, including the 23-yarder to start the game. He also made a very good block on a run by Ron Dayne for 5 yards. Finn had a couple of key 15-yard receptions.

Tight Ends: Unfortunately, Alge Crumpler out-played Jeremy Shockey. And Marcellus Rivers proved to be a worse blocker than Visanthe Shiancoe.

Shockey played like horse manure both as a receiver and a blocker in the first half. Not only did he drop three passes, but he didn’t block particularly well either. What makes me really mad is that there are those (including in the media) who say Shockey isn’t being used right. I don’t see it. He is being sent out on pass patterns, including being lined up outside in space. He has five touchdown receptions through 10 games and almost had 2-3 others where he was stopped at the one-yard line (he had two in 2002 and two in 2003). He is also the leading receiver on the team. THE GIANTS ARE THROWING TO HIM.

My biggest problem with Shockey is that he doesn’t seem focused. Where is the fire? Where is the passion? Where is the leadership? He’s getting the ball so he doesn’t have a reason to pout. Shockey made a very good block on the edge on Barber’s 23-yard run to start the game. This is how Shockey was blocking in games 1-8 of the season. However, the rest of the first half, he was not good. He was too soft on his blocks. On the Giants’ fourth possession, he didn’t sustain his block on a 3-yard gain by Barber that could have picked up more yardage. On the very next play, on 3rd-and-1, he whiffed on a block at the point-of-attack and Barber was tackled for a 3-yard loss, effectively ending the drive. Earlier on this possession, he dropped a pass. Then, when lined up outside in space and sent deep, he lined up incorrectly and was flagged with an illegal formation penalty. This was a huge penalty because Shockey was interfered with deep down the sideline and the penalties offset each other. On the second possession of the game, Shockey dropped a perfectly-thrown touch pass from Manning when smacked by a defender after the ball arrived. His also dropped a well-thrown intermediate pass over the middle on the fifth drive that would have put the Giants in field goal range.

Shockey obviously played better in the second half as his blocking improved and he caught 5 passes for 45 yards, including a touchdown. He had big receptions for 9 yards on 3rd-and-4, 18 yards on 3rd-and-12, and 6 yards for a touchdown on 2nd-and-goal. Shockey made a couple of good run blocks, but he also gave up a pass pressure on a 2nd-and-goal play where Manning threw incomplete (the Giants had to settle for a field goal two plays later). Manning tried to hit Shockey twice on the attempted game-winning drive, but he was well-covered by LB Keith Brookings. If Shockey truly wants to be considered an ELITE tight end, he has to be more CONSISTENT. Great players play great most of the time; they are not up-and-down from play-to-play.

Marcellus Rivers has replaced Visanthe Shiancoe as the second tight end and this is a mistake. Rivers simply lacks the natural bulk and strength to be an effective blocker at the point-of-attack. Like Shockey, he was too soft at the point-of-attack on running plays, such as a running play that picked up only 1-yard on the fourth drive of the game when Rivers was pushed back into the backfield, disrupting the entire play (including knocking the pulling guard off balance). He made two poor run blocks on the Giants’ touchdown drive, but he did make a good block on Barber’s 16-yard run late in the 3rd quarter and on his 9-yard run in the 4th quarter.

Offensive Line: The offensive line played a good game against a very good defense. The biggest negative was the one and only sack given up on the first possession of the game on 3rd-and-10. On this play, RG Chris Snee failed to pick up the stunting Patrick Kerney. Aside from that play, pass protection in the first half was solid. And Barber rushed for 43 yards on 9 carries despite some shoddy run blocking from the tight ends. My only other negative of the half was that LG Jason Whittle inadvertently got in the way of Hilliard on a screen pass where a big play may have resulted (Snee made an excellent block on this play by the way).

Ironically, despite the comeback, the pass protection was not quiet as strong in the second half (though still good, considering the opponent). Snee gave up a pressure on the play where Manning was to forced roll out and hit Barber for a first down on 3rd-and-8. Later in the drive, OC Wayne Lucier gave up a couple of pressures on back-to-back plays (one being a stunt). Lucier was also flagged with a holding penalty (that was declined) on the 3rd-and-goal play in the 4th quarter. And Diehl, who had played a wonderful game against a top pass rusher, gave up a few pressures on the Giants’ last drive of the game, including failing to pick up a blitzer on the play where Manning was sacked and the ball was fumbled (this play was erased due to a penalty). For some reason, Diehl has gotten into a nasty habit of screwing up late in the game. But this possession should not overshadow the fact that both tackles played an exceptional game in pass protection, as did the line as a whole.

The Giants rushed for 77 yards in the second half as most of the line did a good job of wearing down the Atlanta defense. Petitgout did fail to make one block on a Dayne run that only picked up one yard.

The only enforced penalty was a false start on Petitgout. Overall, this was the best game of the season for the offensive line.

Defense: If the Giants are ever going to seriously contend for a world championship again, they need to put together a dominating defense with a lot better players. There are some guys to build around here, but there is not enough talent, speed, and leadership. You can only scheme so much in the NFL and that’s what the Giants have been doing for much of the season. The defense allowed only 14 points this week, but there were key breakdowns in the first half that allowed the Falcons to score all the points they needed to win the game as well as dominate the time of possession in the first half of the game. On each of these two drives, Atlanta converted three 3rd-down situations (for a total of six). The defense also had a chance to set up the offense in great shape right before halftime had they done their job on a drive that started at the Falcon 1-yard line, but Atlanta was able to move the ball out to the 42-yard line and leave the Giants with only 16 seconds on the clock. Vick rushed for 91 yards and completed 10-of-13 passes in the first half, including two touchdown throws. Strangely, the Giants did not seem to put a spy on Vick on many plays. And the Giants had problems covering TE Alge Crumpler.

However, Atlanta managed only 65 total yards (and an unbelievable 12 yards passing) in the second half. Where the defense really got screwed was the terrible roughing the passer penalty called on Carlos Emmons. Instead of forcing the Falcons to punt out of their endzone and getting the ball back near midfield with about 5 minutes to play, Atlanta was able to run 3 more minutes off the clock and move the ball out past midfield (a 25-yard run by HB Warrick Dunn proving to be a real killer).

Unfortunately, the Giants’ defense has stopped forcing turnovers again. For the second week in a row, there were none. The Giants had a chance on a play early in the 4th quarter when Vick was sacked and the ball was fumbled with about five Giants around the ball, but someone the center came out of the pile with the ball. Vick also threw some really bad passes that were closer to Giant defenders than the intended receiver.

Defensive Line: Don’t judge the defensive line in terms of their pass rush this week (although they did total two sacks). The reason is that it is hard to rush the passer when you are told to maintain disciplined rush lanes in order to avoid big scrambles from Vick (many of Vicks “scrambles” are also designed running plays). The problem for the Giants in the first half, when Vick rushed for 91 yards, was that the ends and tackles often lost their containment responsibilities. I really think the guys up front were surprised with how fast and quick Vick really is. On Atlanta’s first offensive possession, which resulted in a touchdown, DE Osi Umenyiora (5 tackles, 0.5 sacks) lost containment on a 7-yard gain by Vick as did Lance Legree (4 tackles, 0.5 sacks) on a 20-yard gain. Then Vick was able to pick up 24 yards straight up the gut between DT Norman Hand (1 tackle) and DT Fred Robbins (2 tackles, 0.5 sacks, 1 forced fumble) – with Robbins really getting out of his lane.

Umenyiora had an up-and-down game. There were times when he played well at the point-of-attack, and other times when he did not (or was caught rushing too far up field on running plays, such as T.J. Duckett’s 12-yard run in the first half and Dunn’s 25-yard run late in the game). Umenyiora did a nice job of staying at home and destroying an end around. Osi really flashed on two pass rushes that did not result in sacks, but where he exploded off the line of scrimmage. He’s going to be a real tough pass rusher very soon.

Legree had some problems in containment, including on the play where Vick was able to pick up 8 yards on 2nd-and-goal from the 10 (Legree was stunting on the play).

Robbins also had some issues with his containment responsibilities as he often tried to be too aggressive in getting to Vick. However, Robbins is a stout run defender and the Falcons had problems blocking him at the point-of-attack. Robbins’ half-sack and hit on Vick forced a fumble that could have been the turning point of the game had the Giants recovered.

Norman Hand (1 tackle) drove the left guard back into the face of Vick and really caused the sack that Umenyiora and Legree were credited with sharing.

DT William Joseph seems to be regressing again. He played a lot, but his run defense was awful…I mean just awful. Joseph was being pushed around not only on double-teams, but in one-on-one situations. I probably spotted him getting blown off the ball 6-8 times, none more damaging than the 25-yarder by Dunn late in the game. Joseph was also flagged with an offsides penalty. The only positive play from him that I saw was his hustle on the shuffle pass by the Falcons that failed to pick up a first down.

I was impressed with DE Lorenzo Bromell’s (2 tackles) hustle on one play where he tracked down Vick on the far side of the field after an amazing scramble that only picked up two yards. But Bromell’s run defense continues to be atrocious. Chuck Wiley (3 tackles, 0.5 sacks) lost contain on one Vick run right before halftime that picked up 15 yards. But he also got a good pass pressure in the 4th quarter on a play where he almost caused an interception that would have been returned for a touchdown. Wiley was in on the sack where Vick fumbled the ball, making the initial contact.

Linebackers: For the most part I thought the linebackers played pretty well as a group, but there were some coverage problems with the tight end in the first half. There was also one play in the first half where Dunn was left wide open in the flat despite the fact that he was one of the Falcons’ primary pass targets.

I felt this was one of MLB Kevin Lewis’ (7 tackles) better games. He was very active, including making a few aggressive tackles at the point-of-attack in the hole. Lewis’ pressure on Vick also forced the quarterback to throw the ball away on 1st-and-goal on Atlanta’s first scoring drive. Lewis’ blitz up the gut also caused an illegal chop block to be called on the Falcons (yet Lewis still hit Vick on the play too).

WLB Nick Greisen (10 tackles) was also very stout at the point-of-attack as both Greisen and Lewis combined on a few tackles together. I was really impressed with Nick’s hustle on the play where he blitzed up the gut as Vick scrambled to his right en route to a 20-yard gain – Nick was in on the tackle down the field. However, Greisen got beat badly by TE Alge Crumpler for a 21-yard gain on the Falcons’ second scoring drive and I think he was the guy who was supposed to cover Crumper on the latter’s 2-yard touchdown reception on 3rd-and-goal. Greisen bit badly on the play-action pass on this play. Greisen also missed a tackle on Dunn earlier on this drive. (Incidentally, I agree wholeheartedly with Troy Aikman when he questioned the wisdom of not having SLB Carlos Emmons cover Crumpler all game – that’s the strength of Emmons’ game). Greisen lost containment on Vick a couple of times.

Emmons (9 tackles) was active. I saw one play where he got effectively blocked at the point-of-attack for a 9-yard gain in the first quarter. But he did a great job of tackling on the blocks at the point-of-attack and making the tackle on a designed Vick run on 3rd-and-4 that was stuffed for a 1-yard loss. Two plays earlier, he had combined with Kevin Lewis to fill the hole on Dunn run where William Joseph got blasted. Emmons might have been the hero of the game had he been able to adjust to Vick’s terrible pass in his direction near the start of the 4th quarter as he had nothing but green field in front of him. The roughing the passer penalty called on him was ludicrous and possibly a game-deciding penalty.

Reggie Torbor did a good job of reading the shuffle pass, playing off a block, and getting in on a tackle – forcing a punt.

Defensive Backs: Before I start, there are two important items to note. Starting last week, it appears that Curtis Deloatch has now moved ahead of Frank Walker as the third corner on the team when the Giants go into their nickel and dime packages. Also, with Gibril Wilson not playing this week, undersized corner Terry Cousin started at strong safety…that’s how hard hit the Giants have been at the safety position (Wilson, Shaun Williams, Omar Stoutmire, and Jack Brewer). Reserve safety Curry Burns also saw his first action in some of the pass defense packages.

Vick only threw for 115 yards all game (and only 12 yards in the second half), but there were some key completions that hurt. Both CB Will Peterson and CB Will Allen shut down the Atlanta wide receivers. But Allen was beat for a 6-yard touchdown pass by TE Alge Crumpler on 3rd-and-goal in the first quarter. And Peterson got beat by Crumpler for a 16-yard gain when Atlanta was backed up on their 1-yard line right before halftime. This was big play in the game.

Peterson had good deep coverage on WR Peerless Price on one deep pass in the first half. On the very next play, on 3rd-and-1, Peterson made a fantastic play when he aggressively tackled Price short of the first down marker on a quick toss. On the following possession, Allen combined with Umenyiora to blow up an end around to Dez White that lost 2 yards. Allen was also used a few times as an effective blitzer in the second half of the game, including on the incomplete pass where Emmons was flagged for roughing the passer.

Atlanta’s biggest completion to a wide receiver – a 16-yarder to Dez White – came when White got all alone in the Giants’ zone on 3rd-and-6 on the second touchdown drive. I do not know who was at fault here as there were three Giant defenders in the area.

CB Curtis Deloatch got beat for an 11-yard gain on 3rd-and-1 on Atlanta’s first possession and scoring drive.

FS Brent Alexander (6 tackles) got faked out badly by the fullback on a play where Alexander could have stopped the back short of the first down marker on 3rd-and-6. Three plays later, Atlanta scored their second touchdown. In the 3rd quarter, Crumpler had a couple of steps on Alexander down the seam, but Vick’s pass was overthrown. Alexander made a big hit and almost caused a fumble on a called QB draw on 3rd-and-17 late in the game.

Burns missed a tackle on a run by Dunn that picked up 5 yards.

Special Teams: The coverage teams did well, the return teams did not.

Punt returner Mark Jones returned four kicks for a cumulative total of one yard…that’s a 0.3 yards-per-return average! He also muffed one of these punts. Frank Walker was flagged with a questionable holding penalty on one return (on the same play Reggie Torbor was flagged with a personal foul/late hit penalty). Torbor was flagged with an illegal block on the very next return.

Willie Ponder was active this week, but only managed to gain 19 and 17 yards on his two returns.

Jeff Feagles punted 5 times for a 42.2 yards-per-punt average and down three of his five punts inside the 20-yard line. All of Feagles’ punts came in the first half. The Giants kept the dangerous Allen Rossum under control as he only managed 11 yards on three returns. Feagles’ punts went 38 yards (out of bounds at the 16 yard line), 53 yards (return of 8 yards, Derrick Ward on the tackle), 37 yards (return of 3 yards, Derrick Ward on the tackle), 43 yards (10 yard return erased due to a holding penalty on the Falcons), and 40 yards (down at the 1-yard line by David Tyree). Tyree was flagged with an illegal touching penalty, forcing a re-kick, but he drew a holding penalty on the following punt.

PK Steve Christie kicked off three times, with the football being fielded at the 4 (return of 25 yards, tackle by Curry Burns and Reggie Torbor), 6 (return of 18 yards, tackle by Derrick Ward), and 11 (return of 18 yards called back due to a holding penalty on Atlanta, Nick Greisen on the tackle). Kudos to Derrick Ward who was in on three special teams tackles on the day, before leaving the game with a concussion.

Too many penalties on special teams this week.

(Box Score – Atlanta Falcons at New York Giants, November 21, 2004)