Shockey May Be Right: The Coaching Deserves Blame

When a player complains about the coaching, it’s probably just the player complaining about the coaching. When a second player complains about the coaching, you probably have a problem with the coaching — especially when, to be honest, it’s looks from the outside like there’s been a problem with the coaching for a long time.Jeremy Shockey’s rant about the Giants’ faulty preparation in their humiliating 42–30 loss at Seattle (“They [the Seahawks] didn’t run the defenses our coaches said they’d run”) is being taken by much of the local press — and, judging by the Monday morning talk shows, the fans — with a “Well, that’s just typical Shockey” attitude. But, Shockey wasn’t alone, Tiki Barber made similar complaints after the Giants’ last great humiliation, a 23–0 loss to Carolina in last season’s playoffs.The press is pretty much taking Tom Coughlin’s side on this one, most of them giving some variant of the old “The players will just have to suck it up and play better” routine. It might be time to consider that Barber and Shockey’s attitudes are supported by the evidence. Let’s sift through the wreckage of the three games.1. In three games, the Giants have been outscored by 11 points. And the way they have been outscored is really, really strange. They were outscored 68–17 in the first half this season; in the second half, they outmatched their opponents 64–24. Yes, I know, there’s a way you’re supposed to play the game in the first half and a way you’re supposed to play it in the second, and the way you play in the second half usually depends on whether you’re ahead or behind. But you have the same players and the same coaches in both the first and second half, and if you can outscore three opponents by 40 points in the second half, you could, with some adjustments and a different game plan, have outscored them by 40 points in the first half.2. The Giants defense has recorded just two sacks on opposing quarterbacks this season in 12 quarters of football. They have allowed nine sacks on Eli Manning. Forget everything else and think about that. That stat alone would be enough to indicate a losing team even if everything else was going right. And everything else is not going right.3. For the 16th time in their last 19 games, the Giants drew more penalties than their opponents, eight flags to the Seahawks’ four, and this time they had three times as much yardage walked off, 63 to 22. The bad news, as always, is that most of these penalties, six of eight, were called against the offense. The good news is that the Giants drew only three false start penalties Sunday, down from the 11 they were flagged for last season in the game against the Seahawks. Some of the players blamed the false start calls on the decibel level in what is regarded as the league’s noisiest stadium. What then would account for the four false start calls last week at Philadelphia and the four at the Meadowlands the week before? It’s becoming apparent that the Giants don’t need hostile fans to make them jump offsides.Is Eli’s Mississippi drawl too thick for the offense to understand? Does he have a problem with stuttering? Can’t the Giants find him a speech therapist?All of this isn’t an Eli Manning problem, and the fans and press better start recognizing that before they turn it into one. Manning did throw two inexcusable interceptions in the first half against Seattle, but his third was a pass Plaxico Burress should have caught. On the whole, Manning’s performance so far has been superb — much better than that of the rest of the team. He’s completed 66.4% of his passes, an upgrade of nearly 14% from last year, and he’s averaging a superb 8.0 yards a throw, a healthy 1.25 yard increase — this despite having an offensive line that has allowed him to be sacked nine times, seven times more than the Giants have downed the opposing passers.Let’s be clear on this: Right now Eli Manning is about the only thing on this team going right. Just imagine what he might do with a game plan that allowed him to open up in the first half instead of waiting until he was down by a couple of scores going into the third quarter. The Giants do not have the kind of defense that can hold the other team on the carpet while they play ball control in the first half. What they do have is an explosive if sometimes inconsistent passing attack, capable of giving them that elusive first half lead — if they don’t wait until the third quarter to unleash it.On October 8, the Giants play the Redskins in what could be a season-ender for either team. This weekend is a bye, but I bet they still get flagged for at least four false starts.Mr. Barra is the author of “The Last Coach: A Life of Paul ‘Bear’ Bryant.”

Shockey May Be Right: The Coaching Deserves Blame

Shockey May Be Right: The Coaching Deserves Blame

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