Shutdown Corner - NFL

Shutdown Corner

Sun Oct 25, 2009 1:43 pm EDT

Sunday Spotlight: New York's power running game

By Doug Farrar

As much as the NFL may be morphing more and more into a pass-first league, there's still a primary need for most NFL teams to run the ball at least ONCE in a while. The New York Giants have put their recent success behind a drive-defining running game. But since their Super Bowl championship year of 2007, the G-Men have had more and more of a problem pounding through enemy defenses when it counts. In 2007, New York ranked seventh in runs that achieved a first down on third or fourth down with 2 or fewer yards to go. In 2008, down to 23rd. Through the first six weeks of the 2009 season, they've bottomed out at 29th -- only the Rams, Chargers and 49ers are worse.

You'd think that with the 6-4, 264-pound Brandon Jacobs(notes) in the backfield, and one of the best offensive lines in the business, short-yardage power situations wouldn't be a problem. But Jacobs has had his running style questioned by noted bulk expert Tony Siragusa, though Giants offensive coordinator Kevin Gilbride thinks it's less about "tip-toeing" and more about Jacobs trying to be too fine at the line -- peeking through for gaps instead of simply establishing them. But there's no doubt either way that Jacobs' ability as a first-down machine has decreased. In 2007, 49 of Jacobs' 202 carries brought first downs (24.3 percent). That figure went up to 26 percent in 2008 (57 in 219 carries). In 2009, Jacobs has 107 carries and 16 first downs -- a very disappointing 15 percent. Jacobs is very fast for his size, but his primary role has to be to bash through the middle and make things happen.

He's going to have a very rough time doing that tonight against the Arizona Cardinals. It's a stat that surprises a lot of people, but the Cards have the NFL's best run defense -- they've allowed 59.6 yards per game and 2.8 yards per carry. Arizona has gone away from the blitz-happy schemes of Clancy Pendergast in favor of the gap-control defense of new defensive coordinator Bill Davis, and it's paid off. On the defensive side, Arizona ranks third in runs allowed that achieved a first down on third or fourth down with 2 or fewer yards to go -- the same stat the Giants can't seem to keep together over the last couple of seasons. We'll see who wins this primetime battle at the line.

Related: Arizona Cardinals, New York Giants

digg delicious
more

14 Comments

Post a Comment
  1. kb
    1. Posted by kb Sun Oct 25, 2009 2:00 pm EDT

    Report Abuse

    first
    bj and ahmad were gonna wreck tonight
  2. DustinD
    2. Posted by DustinD Sun Oct 25, 2009 3:34 pm EDT

    Report Abuse

    How can you write one article about the end of smashmouth football, then go to another article with a running back who exemplifies smashmouth football.
  3. joseolmos21@...
    3. Posted by joseolmos21@... Sun Oct 25, 2009 6:09 pm EDT

    Report Abuse

    G-men!!! the lose last week is a motivator! they will win this game! plus the saints dont look so good today! go giants!
  4. mm
    4. Posted by mm Sun Oct 25, 2009 6:09 pm EDT

    Report Abuse

    Go g-men!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
    eli mvp
  5. YGM
    5. Posted by YGM Sun Oct 25, 2009 7:30 pm EDT

    Report Abuse

    start bradshaw stupid g-men. hes on my fantasy team....
  6. Incredibly_Disrespected
    6. Posted by Incredibly_Disrespected Sun Oct 25, 2009 8:18 pm EDT

    Report Abuse

    `
    WoW......
    2 - losses in a row for the G-men..................................
    GO CARDINALS!!!!!!!!!!
    No?
    ..
  7. Paul
    7. Posted by Paul Sun Oct 25, 2009 8:24 pm EDT

    Report Abuse

    New York you would get killed by st.louis
  8. dmface
    8. Posted by dmface Sun Oct 25, 2009 11:50 pm EDT

    Report Abuse

    joseolmos21. the g-men will win next week, they want to use the motivation of losing tonight. you must be aweful to lose to the cards.
  9. Incredibly_Disrespected
    9. Posted by Incredibly_Disrespected Mon Oct 26, 2009 12:43 am EDT

    Report Abuse

    `
    :-)
    ....
  10. karl_lisa@...
    10. Posted by karl_lisa@... Mon Oct 26, 2009 1:42 pm EDT

    Report Abuse

    Hard to believe they have gone to super suck so fast-Eli is horrible ,time to ride the bench!
  11. David
    11. Posted by David Mon Oct 26, 2009 4:05 pm EDT

    Report Abuse

    I am promoting a new online MMORPG game called Illusions of War...The game is 18 days old...The creator of the game is still making changes to the game and making it better..The Game is playable, even though it says it is not, that just means it has not been totally released yet .You can work your stats and train, attack people, and do missions...Below will be a link to the game.Check it out and give it a try, let me know what you think about the game..My game ID is # 2...hope to see you their. If you cant click the link, please copy and paste the whole link to have it work correctly and get you to the registration page. Murph http://www.illusionsofwar.com/register.php?REF=2
  12. urassismine2
    12. Posted by urassismine2 Tue Oct 27, 2009 1:12 am EDT

    Report Abuse

    I told you..that all i got to say...Here come philly...Heck no, I ain't finished.. Listen, the fellas better get it right because now they know what rooster is coming home to roost...The wide reciever corp... They couldn't run free, because they can't create space. Teams now know all they have to do is 8 man the box, and blitz "ELI"..he can't get it out unless the pass is blind....where the heck is 'barden", IN THE RED ZONE! The giants rank 28th in the NFL, in the red zone! put the link in there down in the zone. thats what he does! He catches fade routes. He goes and gets it! Ahmad,..you did good. Brandon,..NOW your starting to be the beast that you are. Will,..beasley,.. stop being so doggone spooky on the line. Your lack of confidence is causing everyone else to over compensate. Act like you know what your doing. Eli, you got problems and the pressure is upon you...Philly is waiting for you, and they just don't care about you. You need some "hardening up pills" for this weekend....Ohhh yeah, #24..your playing like your still in college, making silly containment mistakes. CC(can't cover), you had a better game, but your butt was saved on that wildcat bomb that they threw on you. You were lucky fitz bobbled it. Justin,..They need to pay you more money! Kiwanuka, they need to pay you more money! Eumenyora, they need to pay you more money. Pierce, everybody knows that you have lost, a step and a half. mcCoy is a youngster, but he's making his bones on foot dragging slow middle linebackers who get ran away from. Remember last year, with westbrooks? Now their new an improved at that position. You and Eli, got problems coming. Coach put sinorice on the field. Is it because he's shorter than the other recievers. he doesn't drop passes like Boss,..which reminds me. Its okay to be tough, but slow has no place in the NFL. Boss is sloooooow, an can't juke nooooobody! You've got a rookie tight end that is a clone of the cardinals boldin(you know it). The kicking game is shakey. Who the heck was punting, again? the defense got no quarter because of field position, all game long. The offense, at the qb spot had no confidence, and the line was in shambles with 7 year vets making rookie mistakes. It was like everybody was at the club the night before. yeaaaaah, I saw all of you there! Corey had adecent game. Where is the invisible man? I know he sees me. He's got to be here somewhere....ohhhhh, there he is mr. Smith! you ate filet mignon on the charlie chump, andy gump teams but the last two weeks when the All-American pushed up on you, the prime time player took a dive. Sit the rookie, because we ain't believing the marketing and put hixon back in his spot. Him and smith give Eli a fighting chance to hit some passes that have a chance of being caught. Sinorice, smith, and hixon..thats the combo for Eli! You go deep with sinoric, across with smith, an out, an up with hixon. keep ahmad on the field between the 30's and we can do anything we want. when we get down in the green zone, run barden, hicks, and smith,..with brandon. Thats whats up!..ohh yeah, bring the mobil rookie in the game in the green zone. This ain't complicated!...beat philly..
  13. urassismine2
    13. Posted by urassismine2 Tue Oct 27, 2009 1:46 am EDT

    Report Abuse

    The mobile rookie tight end! They can get it done just like in "Pop Warner". Catching a football, is catching a football, if thats what you do,...right Barden? Who the heck is feeding "ELI"? He's skinny as a rail. No wonder he can't take a hit without fumbling. I swear, as we watch games,..you all got us praying that nobody hits that man. imagine if he was thick like Carson palmer, or donavan, or pennington, or brady, or.."ut oh", all of those guys got thumped. I know that the quarterback position is a scary position to play in the NFL. Those linemen get paid to break something, every game. I get that. I played quarterback, so i know what a blindsided, breath taking hit feels like! Eli, be careful this week,..all jokes aside. Philly ain't playing! They'd like nothing better to play for the money, during the playoffs. The thick of the NFC schedule is coming hard up the middle. Your listening to all of this Carr? Fred, you da man! on that line thumpin, all day long! ooooh yeah,..you da man! Lewis, if you can't do it, just tell the coach, an he'll understand. he'll sit you down with a glass of milk an some "ginger snaps", an talk it out with you. then put his foot in your butt, an tell you why we gave up a winning touchdown on your watch last week! That two bad weeks in a row. Your starting to look like...regular burnt toast, nowwww....c'mon man YOU CAN DO THIS! Dockery,..you still hurt? Cause ya playing like it! There ain'tno such thing as second string in the NFL. Can't do, Can't stay! you get paid too much money to screw up so many individuals Monday mornings!
  14. BLACKHEART
    14. Posted by BLACKHEART Sun Nov 01, 2009 9:25 pm EST

    Report Abuse

    hay josaph!! once again what happened to the all mighty g men. i said that they were overrated and told you to look at player stats. eli is just as overrated as his team is. no way you and your g men will make play offs. you are a dumb s##t!!!!!!!!

Shutdown Corner

Add to My Yahoo! RSS

MJD

Shutdown Corner is an NFL blog edited by Matthew J. Darnell. Email him, and follow him on Twitter.

Contributors:
Chris Chase, Doug Farrar, Blair Johnson, Kevin Sullivan, Kerry Rhodes,

Teams

Customize to follow news and rumors on your favorite teams. [ Sign in ]

Related Photo Gallery

More NFL Photos »

Y! Sports Blogs

Shutdown Corner Recent Readers

(provided by MyBlogLog)