dreadful performance against Drew Brees and the New Orleans Saints wasn't much
of an eye opener for a suddenly suspect New York Giants secondary.
The mistakes they made in the 48-27 debacle were obvious.
Saints receivers caught four touchdowns and helped Brees run up 369 yards
through the air because the secondary didn't do the little things — and didn't
look ready for the Saints' explosive attack.
While it all falls under the category of blown coverages,
the errors ranged from simply failing to make a play on a ball when in position
to the more subtle problems of being out of position in zone coverages or
shading the receiver to the wrong side — effectively taking away any help a
player is supposed to have.
What the tape didn't show is what the secondary really
lacked — not enough respect for the Saints (5-0).
"I think this was something that showed up this game,"
said safety C.C. Brown, who was exposed time after time as the Giants (5-1) fell
from the unbeaten ranks. "We pretty much got up on our high horses. We thought
it would be another brush-through game. It was an eye opener for us."
The surprise was how easy Brees made everything look
against a pass defense that was ranked No. 1 in the league. At one point during
the first half, the quarterback hit 15 straight passes in helping New Orleans
score touchdowns on its first four possessions.
"We just made some mistakes that we can't make,
especially when you're playing a team of that caliber," cornerback Corey Webster
said. "So we take the film, we take the whipping that they issued out, and we go
back and start working hard and compete."
Webster might have made the biggest mistake. On the
opening drive, he was in perfect position to intercept a third-down pass to
Lance Moore and the ball went through his hands to Moore for a first down.
Instead of being off the field, New York fell behind 7-0,
then 14-0, and never recovered.
"You can't just roll the helmets to win the game, you
have to do everything right," Webster said.
It wasn't just the secondary that played poorly. The
vaunted defensive line barely touched Brees and the linebackers were no match in
coverage against tight end Jeremy Shockey and running backs going out for
passes.
"It's a wake-up call," said linebacker Danny Clark, who
was beaten by Shockey on the Saints' second score. "It's like pressing the
refresh button on the Internet. It's not a good one, it's definitely a shot over
the chin, but we understand that we have to get better. If this happens, I would
rather lose now than later in the year when it's even more important. Guys are
humbled, we understand where we went wrong."
That was the attitude of the defensive backs, who now
have to get ready to face an Arizona Cardinals air show led by Kurt Warner and
Larry Fitzgerald.
"We were definitely playing the defense that was called,
but it was just things like if you were outside, the receiver was inside,"
cornerback Terrell Thomas said. "It's little fine errors like that. Even when we
were in position to make plays, they came up with the ball. It's one week.
"They are good and they came off a bye and they knew our
weaknesses," Thomas said. "When you play a good team like that you have to be on
point with everything, and we weren't, and it showed."
The frustration also showed. Backup cornerback Kevin
Dockery had a couple of words with Brown after a wide-open Moore caught a
12-yard touchdown pass in the second quarter.
On the play, Dockery was expecting Brown to help deep,
but the safety bit on a play-action fake and was nowhere near the receiver.
Ironically, Dockery made the same mistake in the third
quarter on a touchdown pass to Marques Colston.
"Now that we've had a chance to peel our eyes back and
look at the film, it was a very simple thing, very simple mistakes," Dockery
said. "We had guys who don't execute their assignments and that's what happens
when you play a good team, they expose those types of things."
The one thing the performance didn't do was take away
the confidence in the secondary.
The adage in football for defensive backs is that if you
play the position, there are times you are going to get beat.
For the Giants, it all happened on the same day.
"We still have that swagger like we are the No. 1-ranked
pass defense," Dockery said. "Yesterday we got exposed on a couple of things and
today we talked about it, looked at it and we'll fix it."
Backup defensive lineman Dave Tollefson said it was like
the second game of the season when Dallas rushed for 251 yards in a game the
Giants won.
"We got our butt kicked in the run game and we worked on
that and they didn't run the ball after that," he said. "Now we have to correct
some stuff as far as pass rushing and the back end covering stuff. It's
definitely all related."
Notes
WR Mario Manningham was sidelined in the second
half after hurting the back of his ribs. "I'm a fighter. I'll be all right," he
said. …DT Chris Canty said his injured calf is feeling better, but there is
still no timetable for getting back on the field. He has not played since the
opening game. …OT Kareem McKenzie, who left the game in the second quarter
with a groin injury, is feeling better, coach Tom Coughlin said. His status for
Sunday is uncertain.