NY Giants 20 SD Chargers 21 Week 9 Post Game

After yesterdays loss to the San Diego Chargers the New York Giants are getting closer and closer to the end of the 2009 season. Now that the Giants are 5-4 heading in to their bye week, they better have a good plan heading into the final seven games of the season. They will have to win at least five of the last seven games to get into the playoffs.

Here is my post game breakdown of yesterdays 21-20 loss to the Chargers.

Good

• Eli Manning truly stepped up and played a great game. He had one delay of game penalty whcich would be nice if he could totally negate those. Other then that his numbers were very strong. ( 25-33 215 yards and 2 TD's )
• Brandon Jacobs once again came out and ran the ball very well. He had well over five yards a carry. Unfortunately the Giants didn't stick with him the way they did on their first drive. He ended the day with 11 carries for 67 yards.
• The defense as a whole played with fire and inspiration for 58 minutes of the game by recording 5 sacks within that time.
• Eli Manning and his receivers got back in their groove of hitting on third and long situations throughout the game.
• The Giant defense was able to shutdown the Chargers run game to 37 yards total.

Bad

• The botched field goal. Not matter whose fault it is, it is a bad play that in the end was part of the reason the Giants lost.
• Corey Webster's coverage on Vincent Jackson was really bad. It seemed like Jackson had no problem shaking Webster when ever he wanted to.
• Why is Danny Clark covering Antonio Gates?
• Why is Justin Tuck covering Antonio Gates?
• The two questions above lead me to believe that Bill Sheridan has been trying to be a little to cute with the defense. Keep Michael Boley covering the tight end. And before Gerris Wilkinson got hurt, why couldn't he cover Gates? Or better yet, Clint Sintim has the speed and ability to be in space as well.
• Also Mr. Sheridan, why were the Giants in a cover 2 when Jackson scored the game winning touchdown? The defense should have been playing the end zone since the Chargers needed a touchdown with less then a minute in the game and only one time out.
• Kevin Gilbride played it conservative on the Giants last drive and settling with a field goal. The Giants had the oppurtunity with the Terrell Thomas interception to put the game away. Nevermind the Chris Snee holding, the offense could have taken some shots at the end zone to put the nail in the coffin.
• The main reason the Giants lost this game is because of penalties. You can't win a game when you are not worried about letting your teammates down. The Giants racked up 9 penalties for 104 yards.

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