Would we have beaten the Giants?

**akashicrecorder** · 01-28-2012, 12:55 PM

A painful (and perhaps even irrelevant) hypothetical, but I'm wondering you guys' thoughts?

Personally I see the Giants as a bad matchup for us. I saw the game a few years ago when (rookie?) Flacco and our whole team just got abused by them. We got ran on, thrown on, just embarrassed at their place.

We have matured a lot since then, but I still think our secondary would have had trouble covering all their weapons, our front guys would have had trouble stopping Jacobs and Bradshaw, and Flacco would have trouble against a team he hasn't seen much.

Maybe we could have pulled it out, since if Lee holds on to the ball, we actually beat a much more offensively dangerous team. Just wondering what you all thought.

**Terpsfan82** · 01-28-2012, 01:12 PM

Originally Posted by akashicrecorder

A painful (and perhaps even irrelevant) hypothetical, but I'm wondering you guys' thoughts?

Personally I see the Giants as a bad matchup for us. I saw the game a few years ago when (rookie?) Flacco and our whole team just got abused by them. We got ran on, thrown on, just embarrassed at their place.

We have matured a lot since then, but I still think our secondary would have had trouble covering all their weapons, our front guys would have had trouble stopping Jacobs and Bradshaw, and Flacco would have trouble against a team he hasn't seen much.

Maybe we could have pulled it out, since if Lee holds on to the ball, we actually beat a much more offensively dangerous team. Just wondering what you all thought.

Actually, the secondary is the one area on the team where I feel we would have held an advantage. The pass rush, and running game, judging by the disappearance of Suggs and Ngata would have had problems with them. And our offensive line would have gotten abused by their front four.

**seraph** · 01-28-2012, 01:16 PM

JPP against Oher would be brutal.

**The Fanatic** · 01-28-2012, 01:23 PM

Two teams I really didn't want to face in the Superbowl if we got there.

Saints- too many offensive weapons and the ability to pretty much score at will from a wide variety of ways. Almost two completely different teams when playing inside a dome or indoor facility.
Not to mention their defense wasn't all that bad either, and we aren't exactly built to go play in shoot outs.

Giants- Watching that defensive front over the past few weeks and our offensive line didn't particularly scream out as a good match-up for us.
Also bring a potent running game with the ability to stretch the field with very good receivers that actually catch the ball.

**NOLARavenFAN** · 01-28-2012, 01:57 PM

Originally Posted by The Fanatic

Two teams I really didn't want to face in the Superbowl if we got there.

Saints- too many offensive weapons and the ability to pretty much score at will from a wide variety of ways. Almost two completely different teams when playing inside a dome or indoor facility.
Not to mention their defense wasn't all that bad either, and we aren't exactly built to go play in shoot outs.

Giants- Watching that defensive front over the past few weeks and our offensive line didn't particularly scream out as a good match-up for us.
Also bring a potent running game with the ability to stretch the field with very good receivers that actually catch the ball.

I agree, it would have been a bad match-up for us.....

**akashicrecorder** · 01-28-2012, 02:12 PM

I agree with everyone's point about the Giants' pass rushers against our OL. That was actually by far the biggest reason I've thought we wouldn't have won.

Our offense would have looked like dog shit for probably 1.75 quarters, Flacco getting sacked four times, Rice running into rushers, etc. Then Cam would have made adjustments too little, too late, for the game to still be a loss, but not as humiliating.

**pslholder96** · 01-28-2012, 02:45 PM

Originally Posted by akashicrecorder

A painful (and perhaps even irrelevant) hypothetical, but I'm wondering you guys' thoughts?

Personally I see the Giants as a bad matchup for us. I saw the game a few years ago when (rookie?) Flacco and our whole team just got abused by them. We got ran on, thrown on, just embarrassed at their place.

We have matured a lot since then, but I still think our secondary would have had trouble covering all their weapons, our front guys would have had trouble stopping Jacobs and Bradshaw, and Flacco would have trouble against a team he hasn't seen much.

Maybe we could have pulled it out, since if Lee holds on to the ball, we actually beat a much more offensively dangerous team. Just wondering what you all thought.

We won't find out in a week but we will find out next year when they come to our us as possible defending champs

**JustaslowZ06** · 01-28-2012, 02:49 PM

Flacco would've been sacked at least 4 times just from their front four. Our OL scheme is pathetic and needs to be changed next year, along with dumping some old weight. Advantage Giants

However that said Eli got sacked 5 less times, and hit 8 less times than Flacco, But of the games I saw of the Giants opposing teams were also getting pressure with just their front 3 or 4. Advantage Ravens

WR's: Ravens
Running game: Ravens
ST: Giants

Anyways I think it would've been a good game, probably low scoring, not as low as a Niners-Ravens SB but still. We prob wouldve won on a fg or a last minute drive(sound familiar?).

That said, I think the Giants absolutely destroy the Pats. The Giants offense isn't held back and inept like ours and going against the 31st ranked D. Manning will abuse their secondary, and Jacobs isn't going to get stuffed by Wilfork like Rice did. Thats a big boy hitting that hole.And Brady with no Gronk, thanks to us, he is severly limited. Put your best corner on Welker and it's lights out. Their pass rush will cause Brady fits.

**DarthCorvax** · 01-28-2012, 03:14 PM

As it's been said, this would have been an awful matchup for us. While everyone else has made great points about the Giants' defense vs. our offense, I wish we could have seen their offense vs. our defense.

Webb vs. Nicks, I think Nicks has a tough day. He'll make catches, but won't be a game changer like in the Falcons game. Webb is playing at too high a level right now.

Smith vs. Manningham, Manningham has a tough day, though less tough than Nicks. Fortunately, Manningham isn't as good as Nicks. And in a few games where Nicks or Cruz had good games, Manningham didn't have any numbers. I can forsee that as Smith is getting better.

They throw to their tight ends, but not as often and they're not dominant, so I'm not so sure we have to play nickel the entire game like you do vs. Gronk and Hernandez. They'll make some catches but neither Ballard or Beckum will break a game wide open as often as the Pats TEs

Bradshaw is their better rusher right now, but he's not Arian Foster, though he is a factor in their passing game. I don't think he or Jacobs gives our run defense fits like Foster, though they would have some success running the ball and catching the ball out of the backfield. Bradshaw had a huge catch late vs. the Niners after sneaking out of the backfield.

Then, there's Cruz. The easy answer is to put Reed on Cruz and take away the deep ball; yet something about that doesn't really make me feel good. Reed could cover him, but I like having Reed out there doing what he does and sniffing out the ball. The Giants do alot of intermediate and long passes and at least once per game when the opposing pass rush gets to Eli, he'll throw it up in the direction of Cruz or Nicks (generally) and give them the chance to make a play. That's the point in the game where I'd prefer to have Reed out there ready to make his play. Such cases are taylor-made for Reed.

Plus having Reed back there on patrol moves the game underneath. The Giants will certainly pass underneath with slants and screens, but if the Ravens are wrapping up and finishing defensive plays that day, it puts the Ravens in a better position. If they're not, forget it. Nicks and Cruz can change a game on a missed tackle.

In the end, I can see the Giants putting up 21-24 just like the Pats, which would mean we wouldn't be out of it, though our OL would have to play the game of their careers to keep the Giants' pass rush off Flacco as much as possible.

Giants are weaker in the middle than a lot of teams, so Pitta and Dickson would have to show up ready and this would be the game to put Boldin in the middle and get Rice involved in the passing game not as a checkdown, but on swings and other such --quickly developing-- passes out of the backfield.

**Paintballguy** · 01-28-2012, 04:16 PM

their front 4 is scary good right now. i think they would rape the ravens' oline.

**leachisabeast** · 01-28-2012, 04:21 PM

We could have beaten anyone in the SB, as we proved through out the season. I think Jacobs and Bradshaw are overrated, but their pass rush is scary and our offensive line looked so bad towards the end of the season. Our secondary could hold up, as we did against the Patriots, and if Suggs and Ngata stepped up, we could have forced Eli into making some huge mistakes as he has been prone to do before.

**Terpsfan82** · 01-28-2012, 04:24 PM

Originally Posted by leachisabeast

We could have beaten anyone in the SB, as we proved through out the season. I think Jacobs and Bradshaw are overrated, but their pass rush is scary and our offensive line looked so bad towards the end of the season. Our secondary could hold up, as we did against the Patriots, and if Suggs and Ngata stepped up, we could have forced Eli into making some huge mistakes as he has been prone to do before.

Why should we believe that after weeks of not showing up, that Suggs and Ngata would have magically stepped up in the SB?