The Good, the Bad, and the Fugly: Giants 44, Seahawks 6

Well, that's about as bad as you can get your ass kicked in a football game.

Where to start?

The Good

Hasselbeck was on; in fact, he's been on all year with a receiving corps that probably doesn't deserve the label "professional". Contrary to some people's opinions, the lines both actually played pretty well; Brandon Mebane may only have had one tackle, but he played most of the game in the Giants backfield, and on the offensive side 'Beck was only sacked once (Wallace got the other) and wasn't hit very much. Julius Jones continues to impress me as a 'Hawk in ways that he never did as a Cowboy; the running game kept the 'Hawks in manageable third downs all day. The Giants didn't make any hay on Trufant's side of the field; they went his way maybe 2-3 times and he made his tackles after short gains and spiked away a long pass intended for Moss.

The Bad

Tatupu may have had his worst game as a Seahawk. He spent most of the game lunging and generally looked out of sorts; his 4 measely tackles came downfield and there was one play where he was in position and just watched Jacobs run right by him as if expecting Jacobs to intentionally run into him. Other defensive stalwarts also played poorly.

First drive of the game for the Giants, Jacobs busts a 44-yard run in which Deon Grant was in position to take on a blocker and turn Jacobs inside about 2 yards down field. Instead, Grant does this bullfighter move to the inside that effectively takes himself out of the play as well as blocking Leroy Hill (who could've made the play if Grant had taken on the blocker). Grant had inside help: Hill, as well as Tatupu and Julian Petersen were sliding that way. Grant's olay opened a gaping hole for Jacobs to run through.

Giants first possession of the third quarter - Giants leading 27-6 - 2nd and 10 on their own 32-yard line, Jacobs busts a 38-yard run. While the Giants blocked it well - something they did well all day - Leroy Hill is in position to fill and tackle Jacobs for short gain but inexplicably dips inside to take on a grasping blocker, taking himself out of the play. On Jacobs 3-yard TD run, Hill got blown practically out of the endzone, but he did have company in Grant and Patrick Kerney on the play. Kerney spent most running plays getting blown off the ball.

Julian Petersen was a non-factor rushing the passer (something he was brought here to do) and missed as many tackles as he made in the game, completing a trifecta of bad play by the strength of our defense. When this happens it's going to be a bad day.

The entire receiving corp played staggeringly mediocre or below, failing to help an accurate and, for the most part, upright Hasselbeck. Engram missed a tough deep ball, Branch dropped a sure touchdown that hit him right in the face, McMullen failed to properly come back to the ball on two short, 3rd down, drive-killing drops. Colbert had a shot at a third down reception on a ball that was tipped, but it still hit him right on the shoulderpad. For some reason the 'Hawks never threw to TE John Carlson.

The Fugly

Kelly Jennings played about as bad as you can play the corner position in the game of football. Before getting punched out of the game (for what I think was a concussion inflicted by teammate Leroy Hill) Jennings got burned all the way down the field as the Giants opened a 14-3 lead. For starters, Jennings plays about seven yards off his man all the time (this is a team-wide philosophy that I adamantly oppose) which I think makes him more susceptible to play action. He also routinely falls for high school grade double moves. He plays with no confidence (regularly getting flagged for holding and interference). Versus the run, he's light in the ass at 180 pounds and plays that way. On Jacobs 44-yard run early in the game he 'contained' by retreating to the outside until the blocker fell down, but by that point he was so far out of the play that it didn't matter.

His understudy, the equally ineffective Josh Wilson, led the team with 11 tackles on Sunday as Giant receivers caught pass after pass after pass after pass in front of him and his 5-10 yard cushion 10-15 yards down field. Specifically, with the 'Hawks trailing 24-3 with 3:37 left in the first half, the Giants had a 3rd and 9 at their own 26. The 'Hawks play man under, Wilson's got Hixon, Grant has Toomer (who tore up Seattle despite being a corpse). The receivers cross, and I can only think that Wilson thought he and Grant were supposed to switch off (take each other's man) because he's 10 yards off, letting Hixon catch an easy first down. Wilson then compounds his mistake by jumping on a prone Hixon, smacking heads and hurting Hixon - I believe unintentionally - which likely will warrant a fine should the Giants pursue such action with the league.

Both Jennings and Wilson were assisted by piss-poor safety play behind them in the form of Brian Russell. Russell, who has lost a step that he didn't have the luxury of losing, is trying to make up for his lack of speed with quick reaction time, making him a prime sucker for play-action and pump-fakes. Basically he guesses and when he's wrong he doesn't have the speed to get back into position before the opposistion gets huge chunks of yards. Specifically on Moss' 23-yard TD pass to open the 3rd quarter that removed any question of Seattle making the game competitive, Russell bit hard on a pump-fake allowing Moss a big, fat seam in which to score his first ever NFL TD.

Punting sucked again. While the game was still competitive, they couldn't open up any decent field position. Without any significant returns, first half punt nets were 39, 29, 33, and 25. Aye Carumba.

Holmgren. The offensive playcalling was largely fine. However, there were 3 situations in which the Seahawks should've gone for it on fourth down, instead they did not attempt a single 4th down conversion.

13:57 left in the first half, 4th and 1 on their own 40-yard line, Seahawks trailing 17-3. At this point, the Giants had not punted and had faced 3rd down only once. Their three possessions were: 4 plays, 91 yards, TD; 6 plays, 75 yards, TD; 5 plays, 48 yards, FG. Holmgren elected to punt and it was shanked out of bounds for 33 yards. The Giants ensuing drive: 11 plays, 73 yards, TD.

5:11 left in the first half, 4th and 6 at midfield, Seahawks trailing 24-3. Holmgren elected to punt again. Short kick, 15-yard return for a 25-yard net punt. The Giants ensuing drive: 10 plays, 60 yards, FG.

0:07 left in the first half, 1st and 10 on the Giants 11-yard line, 'Hawks trailing 27-3. Holmgren meekly decides to kick a chip-shot field goal to make it 27-6. Take that, Giants! Yeah, you just think about that reduced 21-point lead!

10:33 left in the third quarter, 4th and 3 on their own 37-yard line, Seahawks now trailing 34-6. Ryan saves his best punt for now (way to come through in the clutch) - 63 yards - only that means it's a touchback and nets a mere 43.

I know that several of these are risky in the course of a normal game, and under most circumstances I would advise punting on the second and the fourth situation and kicking the field goal on the third (I'd almost always go for it in the first situation given that the 'Hawks have run the ball well all year), but this was not a normal game. This is my biggest criticism of Holmgren watching him here in Seattle. He does not seem to 'feel' the game.

I mean, in the first situation I listed, Holmgren is expecting his defense to step up, and he fears that his offense won't get the first and give the Giants the ball on the 'Hawks 40. I felt the exact opposite. I expected the running game to pick up the one yard (Holmgren has never heard of a QB sneak BTW) and feared the defense giving up another score, a fear that was ultimately proven to be valid.

Down by as much as they were with their defense playing as bad as it was, I felt that the 'Hawks had to roll the dice in at least some of these situations and hope that it could spark something magical - which was the only chance of them getting back into this game. The 'Hawks defense didn't even slow the Giants down until the Giants no longer cared to move the ball, what with a 37-6 lead late in the 3rd quarter.