My offensive gameplan?
Sep 11, 2014, 5:59 PM | Updated: 5:59 pm
First, I’m going to spread the field. The Cardinals need to bring their weapons to bare and train them on a secondary that was thoroughly confused last week. The Detroit Lions only threw the ball 32 times against the Giants and Stafford still went off. The Giants’ secondary was bad and their pass rush has now become merely average.
Last week, against the Chargers, we saw the Cardinals deploy a true five-wide package, with Jaron Brown as their fifth receiver. This week, I think 10 personnel, 1-back, 0 tight ends and 4 receivers will be prominent — with Big Red running the ball out of this set.
Although the Giants have excellent talent in their secondary with the likes of DRC, Prince Amukamara, Walter Thurmond III and Antrel Rolle, they looked lost last week against Detroit.
The Cards need to make the Giants prove that their communication and coordination is better than what it was in the Lions game. Detroit averaged 10.3 yards per attempt against the Giants and receivers were running wild in the New York’s secondary.
Secondly, take what they give you: Don’t get greedy. As I said, the Giants’ pass rush is not what it once was. The Giants were #29 in sacks per attempt last year and Jason Pierre-Paul, the Giants’ best pass rusher, has not been the same player he was in 2011 when he recorded 16.5 sacks. JPP is nursing a neck injury and will play on Sunday but there are no other proven threats on the edge. I think the Cards will be able to protect Carson Palmer consistently and Carson cannot get greedy.
Lastly, force their DBs to be good tacklers, especially DRC. Giants DC Perry Fewell is a well-respected coordinator and the Giants had a top 10 defense in 2013. They have upgraded their secondary and they have worked on getting away from zone coverage and using more creative blitz packages in attempt to improve their pass rush. But the results last week were not good.
In summation: Spread the field, take what they give you, and force their DBs to be good tacklers. Use a ton of 5 and 4-wide personnel groupings, run the ball out of 4-wide, throw bubble screens, wide-receiver screens and attack the Giants back end.
