Some observations from Monday night win over the Brownies:
- Domenik Hixon was obviously the star of the game with three TD’s (two receiving, one return). With all the injuries to the regulars, we’ve heard Hixon is having a great camp working with the starters. It translated to the field on Monday evening. With this guy as your fourth or fifth wideout, the Giant are demonstrating outstanding depth.
- Eli Manning. Composed and relaxed. Looked good with some subtle movement in the pocket. Only play he would want back was a miss to, who else, Hixon on a long out pass. His second TD pass down the middle to Hixon was a thing of beauty.
- David Carr took the lead in the race for the backup position. Anthony Wright made some errors in recognizing blitz situations, and it cost him. Carr did nothing exceptional, but stayed away from errors.
- Danny Ware is making a case for being the fourth running back on this team. Had a nice KO return (ironically, his main competition Droughns made a key block) and really ran well in the fourth quarter. The thing to keep in mind is he was up against guys who are marginal NFL players for most of his 90 rushing yards. Again, do the Giants go with youth or experience in the form of Droughns? The staff would be wise to get him some runs in the first half next week against the Jets.
- Speaking of running backs, Derrick Ward ran exceptionally hard on his first half carries. He looked good.
- Kickoff coverage teams were simply atrocious. Cleveland continually hit big plays. They are obviously working with different combinations on coverage, but this is something to watch for.
- Rookies Bryan Kehl and Kenny Phillips weren’t nearly as prominent in the second game. Everyone was fired up, particularly over Phillips’ play. You have to remember these guys are rookies and still learning. I heard a radio interview with Phillips, and he talked about how the NFL game wasn’t as fast as he anticipated. C’mon Kenny, it’s never that easy.
- Second team defense, as a whole, didn’t look that good. Again, it’s some new guys and the staff working different combinations but you’d like to see more from that unit. Conversely, with a 30-3 lead there’s a tendency to back off defensively.
