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Short Week, Short Memory, Short Season if We Lose Thursday


kleese

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I'm not happy right now of course, but I'm encouraged. This loss was not a painful one for me. Disappointing finish? Of course. But I expected to lose this game and we looked better than I thought we would.

Many are disagreeing with me in the other thread on Haslett, but I was happy with his plan today. Smart approach. Defense can be good this year. Up against arguably the best O in the league and their QB made huge, clutch plays. And Gruden was great--great plan, patient, confident. Team was ready to play. Played hard nosed and (mostly) smart.

That might not have been a great team we trotted out there today but it was certainly competent and that is a big improvement.

With a new coach, a "new" QB, etc you get a few mulligans and a few moral victories. That's what this was for me today. I mostly liked what I saw today and loved some of it.

But there won't be any moral victories Thursday. It's a must win for us if we realistically want to be relevant in December this year. The Giants are average at best; probably worse. They don't have nearly the scheme or weapons of Philly--and of course, it's a home game.

The physical and emotional nature of our loss today worries me on a short week. Lots of hobbled guys already and the Giants likely feel equally desperate about this game as we do.

A win, and we get an 11 day break and can feel good getting up for Seattle. A loss, and we can probably fairly be labeled a bottom feeder.

Really, really important game Thursday. I just don't see how we can lose it and still make any sort of serious run this year.

Big test for Gruden to rally the guys in short order following a tough defeat.

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Totally agree, Ed.

 

And I agreed with what Haz chose to take away.  McCoy and Sproiles didn't beat us.

 

We got the game to our pass rush/secondary vs the Eagles o-line and Foles and I think before the game everyone would've taken that fight. 

 

EDIT:  Definitely a must-win on Thursday... still not sure if I am coming up or not.  Would've definitely come up if we won today. 

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Great post, I'm so sick of the RG/Cousins debate and reading idiots give there opinion on who's better. (Like it matters, Gruden will decide). So hAppy to see our team with 2 competent Qbs, both who I love to cheer for!!

Really frustrated with ST today, but who wasn't? Another blown game, I felt like for most of that game we were the better team! Great job by D in second half, shutting down McCoy is damn near impossible. Just gotta adjust to Maclin now.

Here's to hoping we heal up quick, I agree with you, big game for us this early in 2014. 2-2 in the first quarter of our season is kinda where I believed we would be, right in the thick of the hunt! Here's to a win on Thursday and 11 days of rest!!!

Httr

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This team is still doing things bad things do.

 

Special teams disaster. The Eagles caught their 4th quarter interception while we dropped it. Their QB, after getting drilled, made plays late while ours went 0-4 with the ball starting at the opponents 41 yard line with a chance to win. 

 

Good teams make plays when it matters. Bad teams make mistakes. 

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The Giants always are a helter skelter team; one week they stink on ice, next week they come out playing like a top team.

 

They made sure McCoy /Sproles wasn't going to beat us, but nothing near the pressure this week than last week, and it looks like the secondary is lacking speed and awareness; couple that with Hall being out, its going to be trying times for the secondary. Discipline is key back there, and someone needs to beat that into them; stop staring into the backfield.

But yes, overall they seemed to play better, it was another wild NFCE battle. Too bad we lost.

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Great post. 

 

I agree completely. If we can match today's intensity and execution we should beat NY. If we lose then this goes from being an exciting season with a new coach to just another first-year learning experience. 

 

It won't be easy, but I think we need to be 3-3 after the Arizona game to have ourselves a season. That almost certainly requires winning a home game vs. the Giants. Things look a little more rosy if we win on Thursday and have a long rest to lick our wounds. Then, we are faced with just needing to split the two games vs. Seattle and at Arizona (which still seems daunting). 

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Great post.

I agree completely. If we can match today's intensity and execution we should beat NY. If we lose then this goes from being an exciting season with a new coach to just another first-year learning experience.

It won't be easy, but I think we need to be 3-3 after the Arizona game to have ourselves a season. That almost certainly requires winning a home game vs. the Giants. Things look a little more rosy if we win on Thursday and have a long rest to lick our wounds. Then, we are faced with just needing to split the two games vs. Seattle and at Arizona (which still seems daunting).

I actually have a bit of a longer view. I think we need to be AT LEAST 4-5 at the BYE to have a chance to make any sort of run in the second half. 5-4 or better would be great, but if we are 4-5 and competitive/competent in losses, I can live with that. Tennessee, Dallas, and Minnesota are the last three before the bye--- very manageable. But it would be nice to be able to lose one of those games and not have it be crushing.

So technically I guess if we start 1-5 and then win those three I'd be happy at the bye, but that seems far-fetched. Gotta win at least one of our next three-- and the Giants clearly seem like the most realistic, not to mention its a division game.

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I actually have a bit of a longer view. I think we need to be AT LEAST 4-5 at the BYE to have a chance to make any sort of run in the second half. 5-4 or better would be great, but if we are 4-5 and competitive/competent in losses, I can live with that. Tennessee, Dallas, and Minnesota are the last three before the bye--- very manageable. But it would be nice to be able to lose one of those games and not have it be crushing.

So technically I guess if we start 1-5 and then win those three I'd be happy at the bye, but that seems far-fetched. Gotta win at least one of our next three-- and the Giants clearly seem like the most realistic, not to mention its a division game.

 

I do have to admit that I didn't check our schedule past Arizona. Given those 3 opponents before the bye, I suppose you're right that 2-4 isn't devastating. 

 

It's funny...let's say that we get to 4-5 at the bye (somehow), this year will feel similar to Shanahan's first. Ugly low-scoring opener (loss vs. win). Then a shootout where our QB looks great in a losing cause. Couple those things with treading water through the first 9-10 games and it would be pretty similar. I just hope it doesn't crater like that season did. 

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Good to have a short week following a tough loss. Would have been a lot more excited for this game had we won today though. It's amazing how quick this team gets into "gotta win next week to make the rest of the season meaningful" mode. Anyone who's watched this team in the last 20 years had to know they would do this to us today - come oh so close to getting a huge win and fueling high hopes for 2014, only to snatch defeat from the claws of victory. When will it ever be different than this?

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I just cannot get behind the notion out there that somehow the defense was good (or not that bad) because we didn't let their running backs beat us. The defense gave up 30 points. 30 POINTS!!! The defense had ZERO sacks against an o-line missing a couple starters at the beginning of the game and lost a couple more during the game. It would be one thing if the d-line kept knocking down passes, but I can't think of any.

 

Has the bar for this team really been set so low that a unit giving up 30 points is now alright with some?

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Eh, San Fran doesn't look to hot at the moment, their defense is missing a few key pieces and their offense is kind of stuck in neutral because Kap is beginning to be exposed. I think SF can pull out a big win at home, but I am not as confident in their D stopping the Eagles O as I was before the season began.

 

As far as Thursday goes,  Kleese I am right there with ya and was actually going to start a similar thread until I saw this one....(mind the rules, everyone ;) )

 

The Giants aren't Jacksonville-bad, but they are mediocre. They should be a team we can beat at home, with both teams coming off a short break.

 

On the flipside, our franchise has developed a nasty habit of playing up and down to their competition.  Our offense has looked really good for two weeks in a row, once against an awful team and again against a team not with a great defense but at least okay. I don't think the NYG's defense is much better than what we have faced today, and I certainly know their offense is not the #1 in the league.

 

However this early in the season numbers are often times meaningless.  To me this is another game like Jacksonville where if we want to show any ability to be playing meaningful games later on in the season, we need to take care of business against the lower-tier teams.  I am not talking about a 16-13 dog fight.  

 

Everything that felt so good about today's game, even in a losing effort, becomes meaningless if the team sucks against the NYG.  We know who the NYG are, they are not a good team right now, so we need to go out there and show the world they are not a good team.

 

#HTTR

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I just cannot get behind the notion out there that somehow the defense was good (or not that bad) because we didn't let their running backs beat us. The defense gave up 30 points. 30 POINTS!!! The defense had ZERO sacks against an o-line missing a couple starters at the beginning of the game and lost a couple more during the game. It would be one thing if the d-line kept knocking down passes, but I can't think of any.

 

Has the bar for this team really been set so low that a unit giving up 30 points is now alright with some?

I agree 100% Just like years gone by, run D plays well but pass D loses the game, or Pass D plays well but run D loses the game. Constant variable? we lose the game! With everyone knowing we still have a suspect secondary, I for one am not sure we win but 1 or 2 games before the bye

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