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Manning, Brunell Will Air Out Differences in Pass-Happy NFC EAST
Authored by Tom Morris - 29th October, 2005 - 3:34 pm
Playoff-bound teams and impersonators alike were able to pad their records at an astounding rate this season against the likes of Detroit, Kansas City, and St. Louis.
Between Lane Kiffin at Tennessee and openings at Clemson, Washington, Syracuse, Mississippi State and Purdue, there are fertile jobs out there.
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I recall it just the way you do: Giants ... Redskins... Cowboys ... Eagles. (Oh yeah, I forgot about the Cardinals). Throughout my younger years those four teams took turns absolutely punishing each other in game after game. Season after season. Through the '80s and '90s. From Parcells and Gibbs, to Jimmy Johnson to Andy Reid, and everything in between, we NFL viewers lay witness to some of the more intense division rivalries of the modern era of football. Etched out in highly memorable games of helmet-crushing excitement. These were for the most part contests won on the ground, in the trenches, and invariably involved huge linemen emerging from pile-ons with large clumps of bloody grass stuck to their foreheads. Yeah, it was like that.
Well, a lot has changed since those days. Gibbs has gone (wait, scratch that...). Parcells has moved on (no, hang on...). Well, take my word: a lot has changed. But one element that to this year seemed to remain a constant in the NFC EAST was the hard-hitting, grind-it-out, so-called "smash-mouth" football. If not every time, then most of the time when one of these teams visited the other there was an extra dose of hatred in their Gatorade, another few gallons of murderous spit and sweat to be spent. They were not always close games. Some were downright blowouts. Still, no matter the year nor the W-L records, these games always made a difference.
Now, believe it or not, with Week 8 underway this weekend, that has changed too. Maybe not the hatred, and the blood and sweat, and those other things I rattled off. But the ground game is harder to find, upstaged in 2005 by a division of high-rated quarterbacks, modest running games, and wide-open offensive schemes that know how to send the ball skyward, and to all parts of the field. Case in point: Sunday's game beween the Giants and the Redskins at The Meadowlands looks to be a battle of arms, not legs, as Mark Brunell and Eli Manning take to the air for 60 minutes.
The Redskins are actually ranked #4 in rushing yards in the entire NFL, so they are not doing too shabbily. The Giants find ballast in their offensive gameplan from the underrated Tiki Barber. Fine. But the heat of each offense emanates this season not from the soles of their half-backs' NIKES, but rather from the zip in their QBs' throws. The team that wins no doubt will be the one that makes the fewest mistakes, least turnovers, and also who controls the clock with a well-managed ground game. Of course. But Brunell and Manning are both having great years, and reflect the strong quarterback passing numbers in the rest of the division.
Brunell has 12 TDs against only 2 ITs so far, can run again, leads the 2nd-best team in third-down conversions, and is surely the pace-setter for NFL Comeback Player of the Year. He has found safety and comfort behind a strengthened offensive line; found choices in a more effective Joe Gibbs play-calling scheme; and found huge yardage in new playmaker Santana Moss. The whole playbook has exploded to all routes, long and short. Brunell has arm strength completely missing last year, and just enough of the scrambling speed he had when with the talented Jaguars team of the late 1990's.
The 'Skins may have a much-more effective and more oft-used Clinton Portis / Ladell Betts running combo to rely on, as well as a smart, aggressive defensive unit. But without a doubt this teams' success depends on the play of its quarterback, whose 93.3 passer rating is tied with Peyton Manning for third in the entire NFL. Now that's a pleasant surprise for us Beltway Bandwagoners, and something Gibbs will look to exploit for as long as it lasts, thank you very much. He and Brunell will look to go to the air early and often against the Giants' 31st-ranked pass defense.
Manning, meanwhile, has shaken off most of the blues he endured in his rookie season last year with the Giants, wasting no time this year showing what he is made of. He likewise has thrown for 12 TDs (in fact, so have Bledsoe and McNabb -- only Carson Palmer and Brett Favre have thrown more). Manning has been mostly effective with his accuracy, and has a wide variety of targets: Shockey and Toomer, to name a couple. He may not have the meteoric stats in yardage or in passer rating, but his impact has been key, his stock rising weekly.
Last week was Eli's first real A+ moment, guiding his Giants to two late-game TD drives, the last one resulting in a catch in the endzone with 5 seconds remaining for the come-from-behind win against a tough Denver defense. He showed a poise and competitive fire only somewhat evident in previous games, and his choices, confidence, and pure ability all continue to improve with each passing Sunday. Whether or not he can take advantage of a Washington secondary which allowed key big-play TDs in both the Denver and KC contests, will be a key factor of the game.
So there's the breakdown. We haven't even talked about Dallas or Philly, the other two NFC EAST squads heavily dependent on their QB's passes for success. With Dallas: Bledsoe gets pass protection, Bledsoe excels. Bledsoe doesn't, Bledsoe acts like he's in Buffalo. Dropped balls, sacks, interceptions abound, all making for a sloppy, unreliable offense that can't ride the coattails of Julius Jones by any strestch of the imagination, especially with the HB sidelined this weekend. The Cowboys have a much-improved defense, to be sure, but their yardstick for offensive success is what happens between Drew's right arm and his receivers' hands.
Philadelphia, however, for a half-decade has defined itself as a team based on running, ball-control, and back-breaking defense. True NFC EAST Vintage stuff. But in the biggest offensive mystery this year, McNabb is suffering through a severely limiting hernia, while Brian Westbrook is hard to find. Where's Duce Staley when you need him? All of a sudden, Andy Reid is calling over 70% passes from his playbook, and McNabb has declared T.O. his bestest, bestest treehouse friend and pal in the whole-wide-world. As The Ball Turns...
At one point last week, Donovan threw 26 consecutive passes. 26! Wow. That's serious. But I suppose he had to. He can't move with any of his normal jaw-dropping swagger. This from the guy who three years ago so many felt was a one-dimensional QB with an unproven arm(Yeah, taht's right, you said that, Rush Limbaugh!). Well, now the arm is his and hs team's saving grace, and his numbers are hitting the roof, while their running game has become abysmal. The fact is, the Eagles may be tied for the lead in the NFC EAST, but they are teetering atop it, a house of cards in a strong Northeasterly wind.
In the meantime they are a pass-happy ballclub trying to find their W's by taking to the air. How long it will work I don't know. But it is certainly par for the course in an NFC EAST division whose running, grind-it-out smash-mouth ground games are all playing handmaiden to 4 top-flight quarterbacks whose arms may or may not push them into the December playoff schedules. As far as the Redskins -- Gants game goes, look for Manning to get his licks in, but an overconfident Washngton offense will move the ball down the field with ease, and hold off the home team, 24 - 20. Heard it here first...
