Written by: Tony “The Prophet” Yantosca
RECENT GIANTS’ DEVELOPMENTS
My daughter got married and I had some commitments after that so there was no Pulpit recently, but like Cam Newton “I’m back!” After the sample size got a little bigger, his play regressed to what it has become, a lesser player. Anyway, let me get back to a lesser or lower rung team- Our Giants!
The great news was that the Giants finally got rid of most unimaginative lame play caller in the NFL, “The Clapper”, Jason Garrett was fired on 11/23. It was 11 weeks too late because based on his body of work last year he should have been fired before the season.
His interim replacement, Freddy Kitchens, is no genius of calling plays. He was 6-10 as head coach. He was offensive coordinator in Cleveland the year before he was the head coach. He had the embarrassing t-shirt incident after the Myles Garrett helmet wielding incident. You can Google it.
He was purported to have the quarterbacks push the ball down the field. We were going to see more offense everyone thought. However, the Giants only scored 22 points in the past 2 games. They won the Eagles game, but the defense won it with 4 turnovers with Jalen Hurts imploding. With all that they only mustered 272 yards and 202 passing yards. How pathetic is it to get 4 turnovers and vs the Eagles and only score 13 points?
The next week with Mike Glennon it was a Gano Field Goal Fiesta. Glennon was very bad vs Miami with 187 yards on 44 attempts for a pathetic 4.25 YPA. Like Jones has done his last few games, Glennon cannot get the ball to the wide receivers. The running backs and tight ends caught 16 of the 23 receptions: Barkley 6, Booker 4, Engram 4 and Rudolph 2. The receiversonly caught 7 passes: Golladay 3, Cooper 2 and Slayton 2.
I have called out Joe Judge before. The deeper the sample size, the more you can tell he is in over his head. All we hear is the same broken record after losses. This is wearing thin on the beat writers and the #TogetherBlue Giants Nation. The most respected voice in New York Sports talk radio, Mike Francesa, who had a successful 4-decade career on WFAN, New York, called out Judge in this tweet:
“Giants lose 20-9, can’t find the end zone and Joe Judge is “pleased”. At the podium he looks and sounds like a babbling fool.”
I have said in the past that he is a fraud who is still learning on the job. His time management skills are making the inept Ben McAdoo look like a genius. I thought he would survive this year but if the Giants only win 5-6 games, he may be gone like Shurmur & McAdoo after 2 years.
There are also reports that Dave Gettleman will be done at the end of the year! I would have launched his ass at the end of last year. This could not come too soon. At best the Giants may get to 6 wins again. Gettleman is 19-41, 31.7%. He’s been here 4 years and never fixed the offensive line. This was his number one goal from his opening press conference. He reached for Daniel Jones, who as far as I am concerned is a bottom 10 quarterback and a bust. The number of good draft picks since he’s been here you can count on one hand.
Gettleman has made some horrible free agent decisions. Just look at the signing of Kenny Golladay for $72M of which $40 is guaranteed. Golladay’s problem is that he is always hurt. He missed 11 games last year and this year is no different. He has missed 4 and a half games this year so far. He was supposed to be the Giants stud X Receiver. He has 26 catches for 406 yards and 0 touchdowns! He only averaged 46 receptions in his 4 years in Detroit. To reiterate, I said in this column before the season that he would be a bust and not worth the money. If you extrapolate his catches, he will finish with 34 catches.
GIANTS/CHARGERS GAME ANALYSIS
This game is becoming the game of the walking wounded. COVID-19 has hit the Chargers. Their best receiver probably will not beat the protocol before Sunday. Mike Williams is more probable to play due to close contact. Daniel Jones has a neck injury and will miss his second game in a row. There have been rumors that he may miss the rest of the year. The Giants flew to Arizona this week to practice so they wouldn’t have to travel from Miami to New Jersey and then New Jersey to Los Angeles. Daniel Jones went to a specialist in California at the beginning of the week and he may make another visit just before the game.
The usual suspects will miss this game. It has been very disappointing that Kadarius Toney is going to miss another game. He will miss his 5th game. It took Garrett to week 4 until he figured out to use him. He has only had 2 good games. Shepard has missed 8 games. He is questionable but expected to play. It’s too bad he is signed to big money and the Giants still owe him $31M. He will be asked to be restructured at some point or be gone. He has 32 receptions and 1 touchdown and itsweek 14!
For the Giants to have any chance to win they have to establish the run. The Chargers give up 141 yards a game and are 31st in the NFL. I can see Booker getting yards and being used in the pass game besides then usual production that we hope is there from Barkley. They will need at least those 140 yards to have any chance to win. It will also keep Herbert off the field.
The run game will take some pressure off Glennon who is not mobile. Glennon was sacked 3 times for losses of 28 yards. He was also pressured 16 times and was hit 8 times by the Miami defense. Glennon is lucky he is playing this week. He was in the concussion protocol. If he couldn’t play, the Gmen would have had to roll out, Jake Fromm. The former Georgia quarterback hasn’t played a down on the NFL. The line would have ballooned to 14 or more with him in. The beat goes on this week with a Chargers defense that sacked Joe Burrow last week 6 times! You have Joey Bosa and Nwosu providing the pressure. Glennon will have to get rid of the ball quickly to make itthrough this game with the Giants suspect offensive line.
The Giants pass game has been anemic recently. Glennon like Jones has not been able or had time to throw down the field. Barkley, Booker and Engram should be busy in the pass game. For the Giants to win they will have to get the ball to Golladay, Shepard, and Slayton. Hopefully they can get the run game going so the play action is meaningful. The Giants cannot be in 3rd and long situations against this pass rush.
When the Chargers have the ball, they set up the offense with the all-purpose Austin Eckler. He has 663 rush yards and 8 touchdowns. In the pass game he has 56 receptions for 578 yards and 7 touchdowns. That is 15 total touchdowns. Herbert is also a prolific passer. He is 4th in passing yards at 295.6 yards/game. Herbert is 3rd in touchdowns at 27. He is tied for first with 5 game winning drives in 12 games.
Herbert’s biggest weapon, Keenan Allen is out with Covid-19. That means Mike Williams has to step up along with Jalen Guyton. Herbert will use his tight ends, Jared Cook and Donald Parham. The Giants defense has been playing better. Last week was the first time in 7 weeks that the Giants did not have a turnover.
GAME PREDICTION
The Giants have only scored an average of 14 points the past 4 weeks. The Chargers traditionally have not been a great home favorite especially by double digit points. Nonetheless, the Giants offense has been anemic. They do get some playmakers back but I have no faith that Glennon will have the time to get the ball down the field. He is one good hit from being knocked out of the game. The Chargers are too much for the Gmen as they try to solidify their playoff position. I am calling this one, the Chargers 27 and the Giants 16.
New York Giants Underground 