PIGSKIN 2021: Week Five

PIGSKIN

FOOTBALL SUNDAY

Week Four

RESULTS

Week One

Week Two

Week Three

Week Four

Scoreboard

Week Four Record: 10-4

Overall record (ATS): 25-28-1

Schmear of the Week: 3-1

Bagels in the Basket: +2

1st and Ten

• London Calling! 9:30 am (EST)
• And then there was one - the Arizona Cardinals are the only undefeated team left.

2nd and Long

• Both the Jets and Giants win for the first time this season, in overtime!  We're so spoiled.
• Too bad: Russell Wilson out 4 to 8 weeks.

No Gain

• Urban Meyer at the bar ... C'mon, man!
• Speaking of which, the Jaguars and Lions are a combined 0-8.
• Someone is gonna break Big Ben.

PUNT!

• John Gruden apologizes for using racial language in a 2011 email.  That was no slip of the tongue either, you really have to want to say something like that.

WEEK FIVE

Friday Line ~ NYP/MGM

COWBOYS -7 Giants

The question is can Daniel Jones, Kenny Golladay, and Kadarius Toney win a shootout against the Cowboys.  If Jason Garrett lets Saquon Barkely run 20 to 25 times, maybe.  I'd love to see it.  The Dallas secondary is indeed terrible.  But the Giants defensive front isn't generating any pressure.  Even when they blitz, they're still not getting near the quarterback.  Even though Ezikiel Elliott and Amari Cooper are banged up, you just can't give Dak Prescott that kind of time.  Blake Martinez and now Jabrill Peppers are out.  The Giants still aren't rushing effectively either, and now (guard) Ben Bredeson is out.

WIN; 44-20 Cowboys

Jets +3 Falcons *LONDON

Why do we constantly export terrible games across the pond?  Atlanta is just aweful.  They had no business defeating the Giants.  Three of four opponents have scored 30 points or more against the Falcons.  You know which team didn't top 30 points against Atlanta?  The Giants.  Stick with the Jets coming off last week's defensive marvel against the Titans.

Loss; 27-20 Falcons

BENGALS +3 Packers

Trap game!  The Packers should win, but will they?  Joe Burrow is hotter than the sun ... something to be said for the up and comers of the league.  Gotta take underdogs if you wanna win (ATS).

Push; 25-22 Packers

Lions +9 VIKINGS

Week Five Toilet Bowl: Just looking for the Lions to cover.  Like last week, Dalvin Cook is playing on an injured ankle, and you saw what happened against the Browns.  Minnesota's win over Seattle was unimpressive.  The Lions are 2-2 against the spread and so are the Vikes.  Heads I win, tails you lose.

WIN; 19-17 Vikings

STEELERS +1 Broncos

The Steelers have one more win in them.  They'll do it for their coach.  Big Ben has a bum hip, but he should be able to bust the Broncos.

WIN; 27-19 Steelers

BUCCANEERS -10 Dolphins

It turns out Miami's week one win against the Patriots was a fluke.  Meanwhile, the world awaits Tom Brady versus Jacoby Brissett.

WIN; 45-17 Bucs

WASHINGTON +2 Saints

Washington has no business winning this game, not with their lack of discipline.  I'm giving Coach Rivera one last vote of confidence to garner some competency from his talent.  They should be able to create all kinds of chaos around Jameis Winston, but will they ...

Loss; 33-22 Saints

PANTHERS -3 Eagles

Panthers are banged up.  But the Eagles are the most undependable team in football.  They're harder to solve than a sudoku puzzle.  Sam, I Can ...

Loss; 21-18 Eagles

Titans -4 1/2 JAGUARS

Urban Meyer missed the team flight back to Florida so he could chill in Ohio and party.  You can take the man out of college but you can't take college out of the man.  I wanna see Jacksonville lose their 20th in a row.  When it rains it pours.

WIN; 37-19 Titans

Patriots -9 TEXANS

This is a lot of points.  Houston's defense can make this game closer than Bill Belichick would like.  A touchdown and a field goal, I'll take my chances.

Loss; 25-22 Patriots

RAIDERS -5 1/2 Bears

Back to the desert, they go ... not a good place for bears.  Chicago's problem is points - they simply do not score.  They average 16-points per game.

Loss; 20-9 Bears

Browns +2 1/2 CHARGERS

It's time the Bolts experience a short circuit.  Chargers are a legit 3-1 team.  But ya can't hold the Browns' competition against them.  Their defense is good, really good.  If Baker Mayfield plays under control, they're in.

Loss; 47-42 Chargers

CARDINALS -5 49ers

No Jimmy G ... I picked the Cardinals last week against the Rams.  The Cardinals can seize the NFC West by the neck, and they know it.

WIN; 17-10 Cardinals

Bills +3 CHIEFS

If there was ever a game the Chiefs should plow forward behind the run, this is it.  Run, run, run, chew up yardage behind that big offensive line, and keep Josh Allen and the Bills off the field.  Problem is, Buffalo's defense is among the NFL's best.

WIN; 38-20 Bills

Schmear of the Week (3-1)

Bucs -10

WIN

Good luck, and have a great Football Sunday!

POST-GAME

Week Five Record: 7-6-1

Overall Record (ATS): 32-34-2

Schmear of the Week: 4-1

Bagels in the Basket: +5

N.Y. Giants: Line of Scrimmage Still in the Dark

From the desk: DO IT FOR THE DUKE

WEEK THREE

Falcons

vs.

GIANTS

If The Hog Mollies Can't Push Around The Atlanta Falcons, Then Who Can They Push?

Some intelligent guy from Greece once said: man is the measure of all things.  If we apply this to football, the Atlanta Falcons will measure the Giants' offensive line.  Because, as I say: once is an event, twice is a coincidence, and three times is a trend.  

Thus, into Game Three, we go.

Another intelligent person on Twitter said that if the Giants get more first downs, the defense spends less time on the field.

Indeed!

1. Week One, the Broncos achieved 24 first downs, 17 passing, four running, and three on penalties. 
2. Week Two, Washington completed 25 first downs, 13 passing, eight running, and four on penalties.

• Through two weeks, opponents have achieved 49 first downs, 30 passing, twelve running, and seven on penalties.

1. Against the Broncos, the Giants earned 19 first downs, 13 passing, three running, and three on penalties.
2. Against Washington, they completed 21 first downs, ten passing, seven running, and four on penalties.

• All told, the Giants have achieved 40 first downs, 23 passing, ten running, and seven on penalties.

Said another way, the Giants are getting outplayed.  But do with these numbers as you will.  Just know they're being polluted by Daniel Jones.  The Giant quarterback leads the team through two games with 122 yards running on 15 romps, with two touchdowns, one fumble, and no trip-ups ... yet.

The backfield of Saquon Barkley and Devontae Booker together has rushed 29 times for 99 yards.  If you take away Barkley's 41-yard run against Washington, Saquon finishes that game with twelve rushes for 16 yards.  With his 41-yard romp, Barkley has now rushed 23 times for 83 total yards, averaging 3.6 yards per run.  He carried ten times against the Broncos and 13 times against Washington.  Is he being eased back into action coming off last year's injury?  Indeed he is.

However, the numbers still speak for themselves.  In light of Saquon's soft return, there are two, actually three, big reasons why Devontae Booker is not helping bring the rushes per game up from 14 and 15 to upwards of twenty-plus per game.  

Sometimes stuff like this needs to be revisited ...

ONE  -  The days of the highly skilled blocking fullback (Maurice Carthon) have gone the way of the Dodo Bird - flightless, grounded, extinct.  Phil Simms and the Giants do not win Super Bowl XXI without Joe Morris; Jeff Hostetler and company do not win XXV without Otis Anderson.  Heck, Kerry Collins, and Jim Fassel do not get to XXXV without Tiki Barber.  What these three teams had in common was a formidable offensive line.  After the 2000 season, Ernie Accorsi further supplemented it, and that offensive line set a record for consecutive games played together.  They all waited for Eli Manning to grow up, and when he did, the Giants won two more Super Bowls.  But, of course, that doesn't happen without Brandon Jacobs and Ahmad Bradshaw.  What did the 1986/1990 Giants have in common with 2007/2011 Giants, you ask?  Both teams featured Pro Bowl-caliber centers in Bart Oates and Shaun O'Hara.

TWO. -  Bill Parcell's Giants were straight out smash mouth.  Simms was tasked with being a field manager.  That's why he glistened in Super Bowl XXI because entering that game, the Giants had already stamped the NFL with their running game.  Nor did 2007 and 2011 happen without offensive coordinator Kevin Gilbride, who, despite pass-happy Tom Coughlin, called a balanced game; after all, the Giants featured a formidable running game.  The point being, offensive coordinator Jason Garrett is the one calling plays.  His style often works contrary to the available talent pool; his sense of pass/run balance is nonexistent.  Everything in between is rightly within questioning.

THREE  -  Forget the history lesson; the Hog Mollies are simply not performing at a contending level, never have.  After 2011, Jerry Reese then Dave Gettleman have never satisfactorily rebuilt the offensive line.  Instead, they effectively ruined the latter part of Eli Manning's career.  But I digress.  The offensive line is not creating enough daylight.  Open a lane, and I can push a mailbox through for positive yardage.  Otherwise, the line of scrimmage remains dark.  Whether by design or taking what is given, yardage gained by Daniel Jones is strictly opportunistic football.  It's the complete antithesis of what we Giant fans know works because it's been proven: clock-control smash-mouth football.

The season-ending injury to Shane Lemieux, and presently to Nick Gates (IR) further compound matters.  The Giants will be moving forward with Andrew Thomas, Ben Bredeson, Billy Price at the center, Will Hernandez, and Nate Solder, with Matt Peart and recently signed (C) Jonothan Harrison on call.  

Newly inserted center Billy Price did not at all have a good game against Washington.  Andrew Thomas was better from week one to the next.  Nate Solder and Will Hernandez remain pedestrian, and Ben Bredeson performed under par. 

What more can I say, other than there's a reason teams like the Steelers and others make such huge investments into their (center) offensive lines.  

First downs or bust ...

I will go to my grave believing Atlanta lost the Super Bowl to New England because (their then) All-Pro quality center Alex Mack broke his leg just before halftime.  Afterwhich, the Falcons running game completely collapsed like a cheap poker table.  Atlanta's inability to achieve first downs compromised their entire second half.  They instantly became one-dimensional; Bill Belichick and Tom Brady and took care of the rest.

The Denver Broncos have a good defense, and Washington features better security.  But the same cannot be said of the Atlanta Falcons.  We shall see if these Hog Mollies are trending or not.

ICYMI

• All Eyes On Daniel Jones, and the Man Who Drafted Him
• Stumblin' and Fumblin' in Week One Loss to Broncos
• Still In Search of the Elusive Hog Mollies
• Week Two Marred By More Mistakes and Another Fourth Quarter Meltdown
• The Pressure is On For Some, Off For Others

N.Y. Giants: Week Two Marred by More Mistakes and Another Fourth Quarter Meltdown

From the desk: DO IT FOR THE DUKE

WEEK TWO

Giants   29

D.C.       30

FINAL

Week Two Presents Joe Judge With More Problems Than a Math Book

This was supposed to be the game in which the offense carried the defense.

The Giants held the ball for 31:44 minutes, scored 29 points, and should have finished with considerably more if not for a cacophony of penalties that ultimately lost them the game.  

They defeated themselves due to numerous off-sides penalties on offense and another very costly defensive offsides penalty on what should have been a missed field goal to preserve the victory.  One of the cardinal sins in football is giving a kicker a second chance.

Lest we forget, Daniel Jones' touchdown run in the second quarter also got called back because of a holding call against C.J. Board, and of course, there was that big dropped pass by Darius Slayton.

But, as in Week One, the fourth quarter presented the Giants with numerous scoring opportunities but too many mistakes down the stretch trump the narrative.

An already beleaguered offensive line sustained a big blow in the first quarter when Nick Gates was carted off the field with a broken leg.  Gates was moved over to guard after Shane LeMieux earlier in the week was placed on injured reserve.  Ben Bredeson relieved Gates, and preseason acquisition Billy Price started at center.  Hence, the variables leading to so many pressure-laden late-game penalties are in place.

Daniel Jones threw well, going 22/32 for 249 yards and a touchdown.  If Darius Slayton catches the fourth-quarter pass, Daniel's numbers look far more impressive.  Insofar as protection, Jones was sacked four times (seven QB hits), costing 21 yards.  

But Daniel Jones stood firm, just not in the opinion of Kenny Golladay and rookie Kadarius Toney.  But, whereas the veteran Kenny Golladay took his beef straight to Jones and Jason Garrett, the latter took his issues to social media.  Is this a harbinger of things to come?

Meanwhile, in the eternal search for daylight, the backfield (not including Daniel Jones, CJ. Board, and Sterling Shepard) rushed 16 times for 72 yards.  Saquon Barkley was limited to 13 rushes for 57 yards.  But if you subtract his first quarter romp of 41 yards, then Barkley gained only 16 yards on twelve other carries.

Daniel Jones galloped downfield nine times for 95 yards.  If the yardage presents itself, you take it; no qualms there.  My issue is with Jones continually leading the Giants in rushing, which cycles back to Saquon Barkley and an increasingly problematic offensive line.

The defense does not escape me.  That's coming up next ...