The Giants laid the blueprint... (1 Viewer)

[Brad01]

It's why the Saints were good last year and struggled this year defensively. Both DTs missed significant time this year while Smith and Grant each were hurt. That DLine was consistantly good last year, not this year.

But as mentioned many times already... the giants weren't the ones that laid the blueprint.

Almost every team that goes to the Super Bowl has dominant play at the DLine position. The only ones that maybe don't have incredible play at the DLine position almost always are the teams with record setting offenses that had homefield advantage in the playoffs.

Also, Corey Webster played well for the Giants in the playoffs. But that's just it.... the playoffs, where fewer defensive holding/illegal contact/pass interference penalties are thrown. He was great at LSU because he bumps WRs down the field. He got called a lot for that until the playoffs. Fans of whoever signs him will think he's turned the corner as a great player when most likely he'll just bring them a lot of penalties in the regular season.

 

[Doobsdemons]

Of course it does help if your "star" cb isn't 20 yards away from his assigned receiver.

 

[syracuse saint]

I think the Giants DB's are underated. It is true that the Giants brought pressure, but they are very good in man to man and are always there to know the ball away on good passes. Jason David was rarely in the same zip code as the receiver he is covering. Any of their CB's would be an upgrade.

 

[birdog]

Actually there was no blue print for what the Giants did. This was a unique situation when 3 DEs started on the line.... Justin Tuck was a DE, and they transformed him into an unstoppable DT. I know all this, cause Strahan talked about it in one of his interviews after the game. They did something very unique with Tuck, and that might be a blue print for us, in having C Grant a slow DE, who could do miracles as a DT, just as Justin Tuck did. And the play of J Tuck was the difference in the game, when the Pats had no answer for him.

 

[Utah Saints]

I saw this superbowl as a re-affirmation of tried and true NFL wisdom. No matter how complex, good, fancy your offense is, it can still be smashed to bits with a big enough sledgehammer (pass rush).

I suppose that goes in reverse as well, if your O line is monster.

 

[SaintsRays]

Actually there was no blue print for what the Giants did. This was a unique situation when 3 DEs started on the line.... Justin Tuck was a DE, and they transformed him into an unstoppable DT. I know all this, cause Strahan talked about it in one of his interviews after the game. They did something very unique with Tuck, and that might be a blue print for us, in having C Grant a slow DE, who could do miracles as a DT, just as Justin Tuck did. And the play of J Tuck was the difference in the game, when the Pats had no answer for him.

We did that a lot with Darren Howard and Tony Bryant when we finished the 2004 season 4-0... Playing them at DT with Will and Charles on the outside... Pressured the QB like crazy...

 

[MLU]

Actually there was no blue print for what the Giants did. This was a unique situation when 3 DEs started on the line.... Justin Tuck was a DE, and they transformed him into an unstoppable DT. I know all this, cause Strahan talked about it in one of his interviews after the game. They did something very unique with Tuck, and that might be a blue print for us, in having C Grant a slow DE, who could do miracles as a DT, just as Justin Tuck did. And the play of J Tuck was the difference in the game, when the Pats had no answer for him.

You don't watch much football if you think the Giants are bringing this to the NFL. The Saints did this quite a bit under Haslett with Darren Howard, Will Smith and Charles Grant. This is big-time old stuff.

 

['79 Saints]

Oh lord, here we go...

Look guys, if Manning fails on that last drive, the Patriots enter "Perfectville" with a 14-10 victory.

It takes a complete package to win a championship... despite all that pressure, Brady does manage several good drives, it's just that for a change, teams didn't just let Brady sit back there and pick them apart (see the Jags and the Chargers playoff losses)... the Giants decided that they were going to tee off on Brady no matter what the down/distance was, and assume that pressure would not give him time to throw the deep ball.

The otehr thing that was HUGE was Manning's ability to convert 3rd downs and keep the Patriots off the field. The Patriots had, what? Three possessions in the 1st half? That was equally huge, and kept the scoring down. The Giants, ironically, used a similar game plan to how they won Super Bowl XXV -keep the game close, control the TOP and don't give up the big play.

Brady's offensive line -depsite having three Pro Bowlers on it- had one of their worst games all season. Yes, it had a lot to do with the pressure from the Giants, but the Giants were not the first to do this to them. It's just in this case, they never did get on track.

And to the person who asked about the Steelers in the 70s... they had all-pros/HOFers all over that defense.

The Steel Curtain has now been attributed to their entire defense, but it originally was their defensive line: L.C. Greenwood, Mean Joe Green, Ernie Holmes and Dwight White.

However, in 1976, the Steelers had their greatest defense, but were unable to make it to the Super Bowl (losing to the Raiders in the AFC Championship game) because for most of the season, injuries plagued their offense. They went on a tear shutting opponents out, just to help their offense win.

Mel Blount's play from that season alone had a lot to do with the rule changes the league instituted in 1978 to open up the passing game.

 

[SaintsJunkie]

Draft lots of DL that can rush the passer, so when we yell LET THE DOGS OUT, we got more than a few poodles to pressure the qb.

 

[Cultadelic]