Skins versus Giants

Is is too soon to start this thread? What a big matchup coming for the Skins. Here are my concerns:

Who matches up with a big, tall Plaxico Burress?
Who matches up with Shockey?
Can the Skins get to and rattle the little Manning?
Can Portis continue to run well and score on the ground?
Can the Skins keep Brunell upright?

These are all questions that Gibbs and company will come in and start to think about today.

Spring on Plaxico with Taylor providing the stick to hit him with. Arrington or Washington on Shocky. How many yards did Gonzalez havea again?

I think our defense will be hurting on this. I think we're going to have to commit springs/Taylor to Burress, Harris to Toomer, and Marcus Washington will be pretty much solo on Shockey. I think we definitely need to use everyone else on our roster (and occassionally those guys) to hit Manning. I wouldn't be suprised for the Giants to really try to crank up the run game seeing as how our run defense has been abused all year.

I also think that our offense can drive the ball on them and dominate TOP. We however, can't get too conservative and try the deep ball ever now and then. Some of the throws Brunell has been making have just been amazing. I don't know where he found his spark again and I really don't care as long as he keeps it up.

Eli looks legit, and he has the offense running on all cylinders, but Tiki still likes to fumble and Plaxico is one hard hit away from becoming the bust that he was in Pitt. They are scoring a lot of points however, so they're going to give the defense some trouble.

The Skins offense should have another big number day, because the Giants have one of the worst defenses in the league. Portis and Brunell should both have very good days. It'll be interesting to see how this game turns out.

Is is too soon to start this thread? What a big matchup coming for the Skins. Here are my concerns:

Who matches up with a big, tall Plaxico Burress?
Who matches up with Shockey?
Can the Skins get to and rattle the little Manning?
Can Portis continue to run well and score on the ground?
Can the Skins keep Brunell upright?

These are all questions that Gibbs and company will come in and start to think about today.
It is never too early!

-I think Springs can cover Plaxico pretty good. Plax is big but not exactly a fast type guy. He is really a poor mans TO. He'll get some catches but we need to keep him outta the endzone.
-Shockey will get bracket covered all day. Chipped off the line by a LB and dumped into the secondary to be covered by Taylor. He is the biggest threat in this game.
-Blitzing him like crazy worked well last year. But I think he'd handle it much better now. I am wondering what sitting back and making him think a little would do to him?
-Giants have played pretty weak D this year. I'd think we'd commit to running the ball and keeping their offense off the field. That's the way to win this game.
-They haven't gotten too much pressure on the QB this year but they do have Strahan so I would think we'd max protect initially and loosen up as the game moves on then go back max protect if we have a lead late.

I think Springs will be fine on Burress with maybe some occassional safety help.

Taylor matches up well with Shockey.

Our pass rush is a concern, but if Harris and Springs are 100% I'd look for an aggressive blitz scheme like we saw against the 49ers. Having Harris and Springs healthy is the key to this D. That opens up the entire blitz package, and of course having LaVar back in there will help.

Our offense should have minimal problems moving the ball on their D. I expect another big day from the offense, they're really settling in to a serious groove. Since the last few minutes of the Dallas game, we've moved the ball at will and against some pretty good defenses too.

As long as we can stay on the positive side of the turnover battle, I really see this as a very winnable game for the Skins. Manning has come back down to earth lately, and Williams should have some tricks up his sleeve for this one.

I also think that our offense can drive the ball on them and dominate TOP. We however, can't get too conservative and try the deep ball ever now and then. Some of the throws Brunell has been making have just been amazing. I don't know where he found his spark again and I really don't care as long as he keeps it up.
I think TOP is key to this game. Keep their weak D on the field and their strong O off the field. I'll take a 9-6 win. A win is a win. Big time game this weekend. I am already stoked!

arrington also matches up well with shockey

It's odd. In just one year, the things that most concern us are on defense. And I'm not that concerned about those. Shockey=Gonzalez;we can contain him, and we will contain him. I don't see us tasking one person to the TE. By doing that you weaken the run def. Because you would typically take someone like Taylor or Marcus Washington on him. That's a waste of talent. Im sure that Gregg has faced above average TE before. Did you honestly ask if we are going to keep Mark upright? ? ? ? What Giants defense are you talking about? Two weeks in a row we face the worst two defenses in the NFL. We will score more than 30 against NY. But over 50 might be a touch optimistic(if downright homerish).

So the question does become: Can our defense stop their offense? Well over the last two weeks, NY has fizzled a bit. And we have just gotten stronger, and stronger.


P.S. If we had to, either Marcus Washington, or Sean Taylor could completely smother Shockey. Marcus is as fast. Sean is faster. Shockey has what, 2 inches on Sean? And Marcus is probably 150% the football player that Shockey is. But for fun, let him catch one approximately 5 yards in front of a Taylor running a 4.3 40 yd dash. At that speed, he closes the distance at just over .5 seconds. And he weighs 230 lbs. You try to imagine the sound your bones make when a truck going that fast spears you.

I am not real concerned with Burress, Springs did a real nice job on TO last year. Harris can handle Toomer pretty well also.

I noticed Griffin had a groin issue yesterday and was held out of the game. I'm hoping it wasn't serious, it could be that they pulled him because the game was pretty much over at that point. We'd miss him though.

Shockey doesn't scare me. This offense is good, it has multiple weapons. Seattle was like that, and we handled them pretty well.

What does concern me is Antonio Pierce. The guy is one of the smartest LBs in the game, and he's going to understand what Gibbs is trying to do. He might be a key for the Giants in positioning his boys. That's what is so tough about Pierce, you can physically block him, but it's hard to fool him. He recognizes things.