By Matthew Frank
The New York Giants were thoroughly beaten by the Indianapolis Colts 38-14 in their first prime time game of the year. The Colts had their way with the Giants running, passing, and generally blowing right by them.
The coaching and game plan was horrendous from the start. The Giants started off in a dime package and Peyton Manning took full advantage of it. The Colts steamrolled through the defense racking up most of their initial yardage through the ground. Apparently the Giants only dressed two defensive tackles which lead to the line wearing down. However the linebackers were absolutely terrible. I can’t think of a single time that I saw a linebacker get through the line and make a big play.
Of course, the entire stadium knew it was only a matter of time until the play-action pass was coming. And when it did, safety Michael Johnson was halfway to the line when Dallas Clark blew by him for an easy touchdown.
The offense was just as terrible choosing to man-to-man block both Freeney and Mathis for most of the game. David Dehl looked horrendous the entire game. He simply could not get out of his stance fast enough or line drive the entire game. Kareem McKenzie was just as bad getting equally abused. Eli Manning has to do a better job of holding on to the ball, but most plays he was getting harassed as he was making his drops.
You would still hope that a running team, like the Giants, would be able to put up some yardage, but the line play was just terrible. They looked old and slow, and, well, just finished. They could never get rolling at all and were absolutely terrible.
This team really got pushed around. Sure, the Colts are an elite team and this was their home opener, but while a loss is not surprising, the complete manhandling of the Giants was. They really need to get their act together if they hope to be competitive for the rest of the season.
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