Opening a season with not only a win, but a divisional win, is as good as it gets. There was a lot to be impressed with in the 23-17 victory which was a lot closer than it should have been, or even appeared to be.
First and foremost, the crowd was just awesome. This was my fifth opening day at Giants Stadium (coincidently the third involving the ‘Skins) and, man, was it loud. Not sure if the lower level holds the noise more, but my ears were ringing! For the record, I’m 3-2 in season openers.
Onto the game. Considering the Redskins had one of the better defenses in the league last season, and they will be up there again this year, I was very happy with the play of the wide receivers. Steve Smith played a really nice game, and his 26-yard catch in coverage in the fourth quarter to extend a drive was a thing of beauty. He was tagged the eventual replacement to Toomer and you can see the camaraderie between quarterback and receiver, much like Eli had with Amani. Mario Manningham was touted as big play WR in college and his first pro touchdown, a 30-yard catch and run, was the kind of plays they want from this second year wideout. Hakeem Nicks caught only two balls, but had a few more thrown is way (including a long one) and was getting valuable snaps and experience. In fact, I thought it was interesting that both Manningham and Nicks started the third quarter with the team backed up inside the 20, showing me this coaching staff has confidence in the younglings.
The running game was just okay, with short yardage conversions putting a damper on the final grade. But remember, Washington’s defense is no slouch by any means. The addition of Albert Hanesworth returned immediate results, and sometimes you have to tip your cap to the other team. Ahmad Bradshaw, not Brandon Jacobs, was the most impressive runner on this day.
Defensively, it’s tough to be critical. The Skins scored two touchdowns: one on a fake FG and the other at garbage time (which I’ll have something to say about in a bit). And when you consider that both Aaron Ross and Kevin Dockery were out of the lineup, the secondary acquitted itself quite nicely. I expect the pass rush to get even better as everyone gets their legs under them in game situations.
If there was any area worthy of critique, it was again clock management at the end of the game. Case in point: the Giants just got a 27 yard pass from a scrambling Manning to Kevin Boss, which put the ball on the Redskins’ 13 yard line with just over five minutes left in the game. With a 10 point lead and Washington having just a single timeout left, the goal here should be obvious. Run the ball, work the clock (or force them to use that final TO), and kick a FG. That puts you up 13 with about two minutes left, or a bit more than that if they used their timeout. Instead, and I know how Coughlin thinks, he goes for the kill with a play action pass. The result was a sack, subsequent holding call, and stoppage of the clock. In that situation, I just feel putting the ball in the air is an unnecessary risk. What if a pass was tipped and picked off? What if on the sack, Manning fumbled? The Giants eventually kicked a FG, but gave the ball back to the Skins with three minutes left and still holding their timeout because the Giants elected to throw every time in that series of downs. Two of those throws (sack, incompletion) resulted in clock stoppages. I’m all for being aggressive in the passing game, but there is a time to rein it in.
Finally, the two minutes defense by the Giants was terrible. They allowed the Skins to go down the field and score way too easily. The final two completions, including the touchdown to Cooley were uncontested. Why the Giants allowed Antonio Pierce to cover Randel El in the slot was ridiculous, and Jason Campbell immediately recognized it and hit him with the biggest play on the drive for 16 yards, setting up the score to Cooley.
My overall point: that game didn’t need to come down to the Giants needing to recover an onside kick with 1:30 left on the clock. If they would have run the ball, maybe the Redskins score, but there would have been virtually no time left for anything else.
