Giants Daily Blitz Blog » Anatomy of a Play

Anatomy of a Play: Brown’s Second INT

Dan Salomone — Wed, 12 Dec 2012 13:00:19 +0000

Down and Distance: 1st and 20 at NYG 31
Time: 12:07, 4th QTR
Defense: Cover 2
Situation: Giants leading 42-27

The Play: Drew Brees pass deep middle intended for Jimmy Graham INTERCEPTED by Stevie Brown at NYG 8. S.Brown pushed ob at NO 22 for 70 yards (Jermon Bushrod).

What Brown saw: “I have Web [cornerback Corey Webster], who’s the Cover 2 corner. He doesn’t have anything in the flat, so he can stay onto the No. 1 receiver a little bit longer. [Linebacker Michael] Boley is my hook dropper underneath No. 2. So as the Cover 2 safety, I’m reading both these [receivers] and I’m looking and see Brees – it just happened so quick. It happened so quick to talk about it. So whenever I’m back here in Cover 2, you want to make sure you have a good amount of depth so you can be able to break either way because there are two receivers that are going to be your threat, threatening your zone.”

Intended for TE Jimmy Graham: “Since he threw it to Graham — with him being like 6-6 or so, a basketball player, he can jump pretty high – the ball is usually thrown up there for him to get him and only him to get it. So I wanted to be able to make sure I came around him to pick off the ball without colliding into him.”

On the 70-yard return: “They say go to the near sideline, but I had to cut it back because there was more green grass. I see [Justin] Tuck pick up the fullback, Prince [Amukamara] pick up the quarterback, and 74 [Bushrod] is the fastest offensive lineman in the game.”

Outcome: Four plays after Brown’s seventh interception of the season, Lawrence Tynes tacked on a 39-yard field goal, extending the lead to 45-27. The Giants eventually won 52-27.

Anatomy of a Play: LB Chase Blackburn

Dan Salomone — Wed, 28 Nov 2012 20:44:18 +0000

Anatomy of a Play: Manning to Pascoe

Dan Salomone — Mon, 01 Oct 2012 22:16:04 +0000

In this week’s Anatomy of a Play, Giants.com takes a look at Eli Manning’s touchdown pass to Bear Pascoe in the fourth quarter of the Giants’ 19-17 loss to the Philadelphia Eagles. The quotes are from the tight end, who scored his first regular season touchdown on the play.

Down and Distance: 2nd and 6 at PHI 6

Time: 6:49, 4th QTR

Personnel: 2 TE, 2 WR, RB

Situation: Trailing 16-10, two timeouts left

The Play: (Shotgun) Eli Manning pass short middle to Bear Pascoe for 6 yards, TOUCHDOWN.

How it was drawn up: “We were in a bunch formation and it was kind of a switch release between me and Martellus Bennett and kind of all three of us, including Victor Cruz. We were all kind of switching. Marty was going first, I was coming in, Cruz was running an outside route.”

What Pascoe saw lining up: “We thought they were going to play quarters over the front with that box look, but there was the possibility that, like earlier in the game, the Mike linebacker was really flying to the curl, flying to Victor, trying to double him. And so kind of during the week we weren’t really expecting the Mike linebacker to do that. So me and Eli had talked through the week, ‘Hey, if he does fly out of there like that, get your head around quick because I’ll hit you right as you’re passing them.’”

The execution: “I came down with the sense as I started my route I was going to try to get the linebacker’s attention so it would open up Marty over the top or open up Victor. And Eli looked right at me and the ball just flew out of there. As soon as I crossed his path, I tried to get my head around. I knew Eli would see that and the ball would be on the way. I just wanted to make sure I secured the catch and I tripped my way into the end zone.”

The preparation: “We go through that every week – ‘On certain plays, if this happens, this is what we’ll do. If that happens, this is what we’ll do.’ So as soon as the linebacker flew back and I came underneath him, I had my head around looking for it.”

Outcome: Pascoe’s first career regular-season touchdown gave the Giants their first lead of the night, but it wasn’t enough as the Giants fell to the Eagles 19-17. Pascoe’s only other touchdown came last postseason in the NFC Championship against San Francisco and was a similar six-yard catch over the middle.

“It was real similar. I was coming from the other side in San Francisco. Both times I was expecting to get hit. That’s why on this last touchdown, as I caught it, I kind of got low because I was expecting that safety to be coming and laying a hit. He wasn’t there, and I just fell on my face. Hey, I fell on my face in the end zone so it wasn’t too bad.”

Anatomy of a Play: Eli to Bennett

Dan Salomone — Thu, 06 Sep 2012 21:10:13 +0000

Down and Distance: 1st and 9 at DAL 9

Time: 2:42, 4th QTR

Personnel: 3WR, 1TE, 1RB

Situation: Trailing by 14, two timeouts remaining

The Play: (No Huddle, Shotgun) Eli Manning pass short middle in end zone to Martellus Bennett for 9 yards, TOUCHDOWN. Penalty on DAL-Safety Barry Church, Defensive Pass Interference, declined.

What Bennett saw: “It was just a read route. We’ve run it a couple times. During the week, we already knew what the look was going to be, and I knew exactly where the ball was going to be, how he wanted to throw it and what he wanted me to do on the route because of the way we saw it on film, the way we talked about it all week. It’s just one of those things that just happened exactly how you talked about it.

“We knew that they were going to double outside and give me inside one-on-one. Usually I break across, but since he played me with inside leverage, we were just looking for the jump ball. I felt Church and then Gerald Sensabaugh. I couldn’t help but feel Church, he was right on me. I was just fighting to get his hands off me so I could get up and make a play. I was able to get up and get both hands on it. So it was just a great throw, great spot of the ball, couldn’t be any better, and I was just fortunate to make a catch.”

What Manning saw: “They played it earlier in the game down there. So we kind of went on the sideline and said, hey, if we call this play, this is what I’m expecting from you. And Martellus agreed. So that’s always nice when you know what the guy’s going to do, what his reaction is going to be to a defense, and he did a great job of doing the right thing on the same page and making a great catch.”

Bennett’s mindset when he came up in the end zone: “We were down and trying to get back in the game. We were only one touchdown away and there was still two minutes and change on the clock. That’s enough time to tie it up and win a game, so we were very excited for that. We came down, I think it was a 12-play drive, we scored, it took a little longer than we wanted but we got in the end zone. It was an exciting moment. We were still in the game.”

Bennett’s first experience in a fourth-quarter huddle with Manning: “Everybody in the huddle, on this offense, shows a lot of perseverance. So in the huddle nobody ever panicked. Everybody felt like we could make a play, but at the same time, we feel there is no reason for us to get behind the eight ball and we should try to keep ourselves out of that position.”

Outcome: Bennett’s first touchdown in a Giants uniform cut it to a one-possession game, but wasn’t enough as Dallas was able to pick up a first down on the ensuing possession and run out the clock. Giants lost 24-17.