Giants Offense vs. Eagles Defense: The Second Time Around
In Week 16, the New York Giants scored 25 points against the Philadelphia Eagles, but the offense was shut down for most of the game. Where did things go wrong for the Giants, and what can they do differently this time?
What Happened the First Time
The Giants simply couldn't muster up an even respectable offense against the Eagles in Week 16. Of the 25 points scored, eight came on an Adoree' Jackson pick-six and two-point conversion, and seven more came from two Eagles players colliding on the kick return, causing a forced fumble and giving the Giants starting field position in the red zone.
Offensively, the Giants couldn't do much, but in their defense here, it was only the second game for Matt Patricia to call plays for the Eagles defense, and it was the first game in which he had a week to prepare. Now, the Eagles have put out more film, including how they plan to defend the Giants.
Patricia tried throwing everything he could at Tommy DeVito and Tyrod Taylor. Not in the sense of blitzing frequently, but the Eagles spent a lot of time crowding the line of scrimmage and only rushing four defenders, but consistently rotating which four defenders were used as rushers.
One way that Patricia has changed the Eagles defense versus what Sean Desai ran is that Patricia is more akin to using zone coverage on obvious passing situations like second or third and long. In contrast, Desai would play more man coverage or a zone coverage with man principles.
The Giants had an acceptable game plan going into the first matchup, but execution was horrid in some key parts, namely the run game, which put the team in impossible situations far too often.
What Should Change
Schematically, there's only so much that an offense can do when the defense is significantly better than them talent-wise. As the Eagles shift more toward zone coverage, the Giants should continue to look to throwing screens to their wide receivers.
When a defense plays zone coverage, attacking with screens is a generally sound concept, but the Giants insist on throwing those screens to running backs more than anything else. By far, that's the worst way for the Giants to utilize screens. When running a running back screen, defensive linemen are more likely to carry the back out of the backfield, but when throwing to receivers, you're more protected from defensive linemen blowing the play up.
The Giants should look to what the Cardinals did last week against the Eagles and try replicating some of that plan. Use a gap-based rushing attack that gets your ball carriers in space on edge; the Giants have used pin-pull sweeps effectively before, as well as running counter; those have to be a part of the game plan if the Giants want to move the ball more effectively.
The Cardinals also attacked the area between the hash marks and numbers in the passing game. Whether it was curls, drags, slants, or outs from the tight end, the catch and run opportunities were there for Cardinals receivers.
- Follow and like us on Facebook
- Submit your questions for our mailbag
- Check out the Giants Country YouTube Channel.
- Subscribe and like the LockedOn Giants YouTube Channel
