Giants Week 1 PC

[Duke Raoul]

Duke Raoul enters the Giant's Public Relations room and begins to speak....

"Well, turnovers and 3rd downs were our downfall today. We found ourselves trailing the defending champs going into the second half and it seemed like our game plan went out the window at that point. Eli managed to throw for 318 yards, but he also tossed 3 interceptions which proved to be too much of an obstacle to overcome. His 57 pass attempts feel just short of cracking the league's all time top 5 pass attempts list."

"I thought our defense played very well today. Shaun Alexander, who is one of the league's best offensive players, managed to beat our D for 174 yards today, but I actually thought we contained him very well for the most part. Nick Greisen seemed to have his number for the majority of the game, but Shaun broke some tackles and had some long runs including a back-breaking TD run which came late in the game."

"We did a good job of keeping their receivers in check but I don't feel as though we put enough pressure on McNair and that is something I'll be addressing before our next game. We were also unable to force many turnovers. I said before the season that generating turnovers is HUGE in this league and we wanted to keep our offense from committing turnovers whether it be in the form of fumbles or interceptions. I thought Eli did a decent job of moving the ball downfield, but we will have to work with him again to cut down on the picks he throws."

"Another area that needs improvement is converting our third downs. We found ourselves in alot of 3rd and short situations but were unable to keep the chains moving because of our failure to get short yardage. Walter Reyes showed signs of becoming a solid running back, but his failure to convert on short and third has resulted in more questions than answers. We need someone who can convert on 3rd and short and hope that Reyes, Tiki Barber or Heath Evans can help us in that department moving forward."

"All things considered, hanging with the defending champs late into the game may provide our guys with a spark for week 2's game against the da Bears. We know that we didn't play our best football today and we hope to improve on alot of small areas which should result in winning some games."

"I don't plan on answering any questions about Eli, but I'd be happy to answer any other questions anybody has for me."

[Short]

Tiki had no touches against the Titans, will we see him get at least a few carries against the Bears?

Walter Reyes only had 13 carries, and Manning tossed it up 57 times, completing less than 50% of his passes and throwing 3 ints and averaged less than 6 yards per pass attempt. Given Mannings ineffectivness, will the running game see more carries?

[ItalianStallion]

Can you enlighten us with a bit of logic as to why Tiki Barber has suddenly become a fullback?

[holyjabroni73]

Do you think that Tiki can be effective as a FB? Your team really struggled without him being part of the gameplan. Do you think that you will possibly put him in as your number one back in some formations next week?

[Duke Raoul]

Originally Posted by Short

Tiki had no touches against the Titans, will we see him get at least a few carries against the Bears?

Yes, our fans should expect Tiki to see more action next week. We wanted to give Walter Reyes a chance to prove that he was ready to be our starting back. He only ran the ball 13 times today and was not as productive as we had hoped. He is younger and faster than Tiki, but the end result is moving the chains and putting up points. If Reyes is unable to help us with these, than Tiki will get the chance to be the #1 man again.

It is also possible that fans could see Barber lined up as a receiver next week. Tiki is a special player that is able to contribute in many ways. We are able to line him up as a FB, HB or receiver. We don't want to give away our game plan for next week....but YES....fans can expect Barber to contribute more next week.
--------------- Madden 2007 Next Gen football ---------

Originally Posted by Yoda

Walter Reyes only had 13 carries, and Manning tossed it up 57 times, completing less than 50% of his passes and throwing 3 ints and averaged less than 6 yards per pass attempt. Given Mannings ineffectivness, will the running game see more carries?

Like I mentioned, our gameplan seemed to go out the window when we found ourselves behind heading into the second half. We didn't intend to pass as often as we did and 3 picks is not earth shattering considering that Eli made 57 pass attempts.

The short answer to your question is YES, we do intend on running the ball alot more than we did today.
--------------- Madden 2007 Next Gen football ---------

Originally Posted by ItalianStallion

Can you enlighten us with a bit of logic as to why Tiki Barber has suddenly become a fullback?

No, I don't like how your question was word so please get the hell out.
--------------- Madden 2007 Next Gen football ---------

Originally Posted by holyjabroni73

Do you think that Tiki can be effective as a FB? Your team really struggled without him being part of the gameplan. Do you think that you will possibly put him in as your number one back in some formations next week?

Tiki is not a good run blocking FB and everyone knows that. At the same time, we don't want him to play FB unless he is going to get some carries and screen passes which make him more of a weapon. He didn't see much action today (only one catch), so we didn't get a chance to see what he could do.

If you look at last year's stats, Barber and Reyes had similar numbers. The "plan" was to use Reyes as our primary back this season and use Tiki at another position. It's early in the season and we are trying to find the best way to get the most out of everyone. We do have the option of splitting the carries between Tiki and Walter. We also have the option of moving Barber to WR, but we currently have 3 very capable receivers in Toomer, Hiliard and Murphy (as well as Shockey).

I would not rule out the possibility of seeing Tiki as our #1 back again (or seeing him split runnning duties), but at the same time we are not saying that Reyes will be given the hook.

[SilentTom]

What changes do you plan on enforcing to cut down the number of turnovers? And you seem content with your defense considering the number of yards they gave up, do you plan on making changes for the upcoming game vs. the Bears?

[Duke Raoul]

Originally Posted by SilentTom

What changes do you plan on enforcing to cut down the number of turnovers? And you seem content with your defense considering the number of yards they gave up, do you plan on making changes for the upcoming game vs. the Bears?

Well, we would like to cut back on the number of pass attempts Eli has to make. Our coaching staff feels that the best way to cut down on our turnovers is to establish a better running game and really take control of games by wearing down our opponents defence with the run. I brought in some heavyweights in Jeremy Newberry and Larry Allen and we expect them to open some holes for Walter Reyes, Tiki Barber and Heath Evans.

We did make a couple of defensive changes for our upcoming game against the Bears. I don't want to give away too much of our strategy, but I can tell you that Giants fans can expect to see more of Reggie Torbor next week. They can also expect to see more intensity from our D as we really need to force more turnovers which will help establish good field position for our offense.