Patriots Weaknesses Exposed By Eli and Giants

Added on Feb 06, 2012 by Scott in

NFL

While the smoke clears in the aftermath of Super Bowl XLVI and the Giants celebrate another Big Game victory, the Patriots are once again left scratching their heads and wondering what could’ve been. Bill Belichick did his genius best to conceal the team’s obvious weaknesses, but it wasn’t enough to stop Eli Manning and the Giants defense from taking advantage.

The Patriots won 15 games using a pass heavy offense and a bend-don’t-break defense. This strategy worked against most opponents, but not in two games versus the Giants. Going back to Super Bowl XLII, Tom Coughlin has been able to effectively counter Belichick’s adjustments and expose holes that couldn’t be filled.

Tom Brady wasn’t terrible in either game this season. He did account for four turnovers, but he wasn’t the sole reason New England lost. However, the lack of a speedy downfield threat proved costly in both meetings. A vastly improved Giants secondary didn’t allow a pass play longer than 21 yards in last night’s win and blanketed a hobbled Rob Gronkowski. Although, a handful of dropped passes helped their cause.

Not having a healthy Gronkowski limited what the Patriots could do on offense. He clearly favored his injured ankle throughout the game and wasn’t even on the field for most of the fourth quarter. Knowing he wasn’t playing at full strength, the Giants were able to focus on containing Wes Welker and previous Super Bowl MVP Deion Branch, who combined to catch 10 balls for 105 yards.

The task faced by a maligned Pats secondary was a tall one: stop the Giants deadly trio of wide receivers. Belichick successfully schemed to take away Eli’s security blanket, Victor Cruz, holding the breakout receiver to four grabs for 25 yards and a short touchdown. However, Hakeem Nicks and Mario Manningham picked up the slack and netted 15 catches for 182 yards, including Manningham’s crucial 38-yarder on the game-winning drive.

For the most part, the Patriots defended the Giants pass attack, but were unable to prevent Manning from converting accurate throws in critical situations. In a throw-first league, offenses must hit big plays and defenses must stop them. The Patriots didn’t do either well enough to win.