Is the Giants' Defense Worse Than Expected?

Everybody knew that the Giants defense was going to be less than stellar in the 2007 season. Michael Strahan decided that he just didn't want to attend training camp or play in any preseason games, their linebackers and defensive backs are, well, questionable, and the team seemed to lack any fundamentals last season and continued to do so during much of the preseason. Even a fan such as myself knew that New York's defense was going to give up some big plays.

I never thought they would be this bad, though.

I cannot deny that the Cowboys played an excellent game on Sunday night. With that said, I still refuse to jump on Dallas Cowboys bandwagon just yet. Tony Romo and company put up 45 points on the Giants on Sunday and seemed to do so with ease. They looked good doing it, too. The Cowboys didn't look great, though.

How can an offense score 45 points and still not be overly impressive? Simple; when they're playing against the Giants defensive backs. Not all of Dallas' offensive production was due to horrible play by the Giants defense. Romo's second touchdown pass of the game, a 22-yarder to Terrell Owens, was a perfectly placed ball. Romo put the ball where nobody else could get it and T.O. made a fantastic catch in the end zone for six.

The final two touchdowns of the game, though, are the ones which caused my bar tab to go up that extra ten bucks. After making it a nine-point game early in the fourth quarter the Giants defense allowed Owens to get open down the middle of the field. Romo connected with his star receiver and Owens galloped into the end zone, completing the 47-yard touchdown play. Now I may not know everything there is to know about pass defense in the NFL but I'm fairly confident that T.O. isn't one of those guys that you want to just let fly out into the middle of the field uncovered. By the time anybody even seemed to notice that the best player on the field had nobody near him Romo had let the ball fly. Safety help, anybody?

The nail in the Giants coffin came with three minutes left in regulation. After making it a three-point all the Giants defense had to do was get the Dallas offense off the field and allow their offense enough time for a game-tying or potentially game-winning drive. The Giants got the Cowboys to a third and seven situation on their own 49. Good enough field position for the Giants, right?

It would have been. Instead, the Giants blitzed and Romo connected with wide-out Sam Hurd who somehow got loose in the secondary. Whether it was a missed attempt at the ball or a God-awful tackle is still in question but the fact remains that Hurd sped off into the Dallas night and hopes for any New York comeback went with him.

After the Sam Hurd incident the bar emptied quicker than a theater showing Underdog and I followed the angry crowd of Giants fans out the door. Many people were quick to blame head coach Tom Coughlin for the Hurd incident. Why would you send a blitz on third and seven?

Probably because he didn't think Sam Hurd was going to turn into Randy Moss on the play. The Hurd incident is the perfect analogy for the Giants defense, though. Right now anybody could score on this team (except the Browns). Blown coverage and missed tackling equals an increase in the loss column.

One final thought. Did the Giants just completely forget that Jason Witten still plays professional football? Perhaps Witten had the flu or some other virus that the defense was afraid of catching because there wasn't a guy within three yards of him all night. Witten having a touchdown doesn't bother me but six catches for 116 yards? You have to put at least a linebacker on him.

We'll see if the Giants can improve on their defensive schemes as the season goes on. They'll have to or else it's going be a long year.