New York Giants vs Chicago Bears Game Thoughts

Unfortunately, I didn’t get home for the start of the New York Giants and Chicago Bears game, but I did have it recorded.

I’ll try to focus on the young players as I have done throughout the preseason. Right now as I type this up at 9:20 at night (and in the football game I’m about a minute into the second quarter), I’ve realized the Chicago Bears don’t have many young players playing prominent roles, or it’s also likely that my bias has seeped into my game-watching and I’ve noticed and focused more on the Giants young players. Looking over the Bears roster to make sure, I just think the Bears are a much more veteran team than the Giants.

Chicago Bears

Major Wright-Just lost his jock strap on a move by Brandon Jacobs the resulted in a touchdown run.

J’Marcus Webb

Webb is winning the battle between he and Jason Pierre Paul of the New York Giants early in the game.

Gabe Carimi

Carimi has the unenviable task of facing up against Justin Tuck and so far has held his own. Tuck is a monster and will create pressure in the run game and on pass plays so far Carimi has kept him from taking over the game, which is a good thing. He looks pretty good. I’ve been impressed with the young Bears offensive tackles tonight.

False start on Carimi right there when he was lined up across from Justin Tuck.

Stephen Paea

I’ve been waiting for him to make an appearance, but I don’t think he’s been in the game yet (3:08 left in second quarter). Haven’t found any news on him being hurt.

Brian Iwuh

Got the start at the linebacker spot and he’s not a young player, but he’s been involved in a lot of plays, I haven’t been watching him closely to see if he’s been in great position on runs or not thoughI think he’s playing well.

J.T. Thomas

Makes an appearance on the stat sheet with a tackle.

Dane Sanzenbacher

Makes a catch in the two minute drill, but doesn’t step out of bounds to preserve a time out (rookie mistake).

Story of the game in the first half for the Bears has to be how much better their offensive line looks this week than it did last week.

Also, if he starts making a lot of plays I’ll feel sorry for Bears beat reporters. Tough name to spell.

Bears must see something in him from training camp, I think he’s had four or five targets tonight.

And now has four catches, he also has a punt return.

Caleb Hanie

Firs few plays a few hands offs and a couple of short passes. The Bears took a lot of deep shots down the field with Cutler, be interesting to see if they let Hanie do that.

and no, they are not going to let him do that, he’s completing a lot of short passes and is averaging 5.3 yards per pass right now, even with a decent completion percentage.

Chris Conte

Been waiting for the athletic safety to get into the game as well. Makes a tackle on Victor Cruz.

Chris Adams

The rookie out of UTEP just had a drop (3:41 left in the third quarter) on a Caleb Hanie pass.

Kyle Adams

Gets on the board with a catch. Jaws says he had a star next to his name because of talks he had with coaches. Looks the part.

New York Giants

Will Beatty

Beatty has held his own this year and his athleticism is on display, but he did half a false start early in the game which might have stalled a drive.

around 9 minutes left in the second quarter

Eli Manning is running for his life, someone’s leaking pressure, I’ll have to watch this again to see where it’s coming from.

Jason Pierre Paul

Last weeks sensation has been quiet tonight, surprisingly. After putting on a showcase vs Pro Bowl caliber LT Jordan Gross he’s been handled by the Bears offensive line all night. and right after I write that Jason Pierre Paul chases Cutler around before he’s tackled by Jonathan Goff.

1:50 seconds left in the second quarter. Pressure on Jay Cutler hits him as he’s passing.

A near sack in the two minute drill for the Chicago Bears.

Linval Joseph

I haven’t been watching him closely enough yet, but seems to be anchoring the middle of the defensive line on run plays, hasn’t pressured much on pass plays. I’ll watch him more closely.

Devin Thomas

The former Washington Redskins second round pick has been explosive on kick returns, an area that was a desperate need for the Giants last season. Another good positive kick off return. The Giants have a log jam at the WR position, Thomas is making a nice case for himself today.

Jerrel Jernigan

Jernigan on the other hand has been abysmal on punt returns tonight. He doesn’t look explosive on the field yet, that will come in time as he adjusts to the speed of the N.F.L, but early int the preseason it looks like his potential impact will not be until later this year.

Victor Cruz

Ran a nice wheel route and made an excellent grab over the Bears defender. Cruz has excellent ball skills for a WR. Cruz has also been present on the Giants special teams making one tackle and getting an assist on another (at least that’s how I’d score it, I didn’t check the official stat sheet).

Victor Cruz is getting involved heavily here in the second half.

Travis Beckum

Where is he? Is he going to show up tonight? All week leading up to the game he was a big story, but he hasn’t been involved in much yet.

Matt Dodge

The much maligned New York Giants punter had a beautiful 63 yard punt with good hang time that allowed the Giants coverage team to get down and make a stop. He looks much more comfortable than last year.

The second punt for Dodge is also a beauty. Great height, should have been a net return of zero yards, but someone wasn’t able to wrap up the tackle.

Spencer Paysinger

What’s he done (5:40 second left in the second quarter)? Nothing yet, but he is the first non starting linebacker on the football field. This team has a lot of young linebackers (Greg Jones, Mark Herzlich, former 2nd round pick Clint Sintim) and this is the guy who gets on the field first. He also had snaps with the starters in training camp. The Giants obviously see something in Paysinger. I think he made a special teams tackle as well. And now a second one.

Paysinger has been involved a lot tonight. He looks very fast on the field. He must have 7 or 8 tackles tonight.

Greg Jones

Makes a big special teams play with a blocked punt. Then on next Giants kickoff following the Domenik Hixon touchdown, Greg Jones makes another special teams tackle.

Mark Herzlich

Everyones favorite undrafted free agent makes a special teams tackle.

Herzlich, known for his instincts snatches a Cale Hanie pass. The Crowd goes wild.

Justin Trattou

A defensive end out of Florida nearly sacks Caleb Hanie, but while the camera focuses on Trattou, the analysts say nothing. It was a funny moment; mus thave been looking for their name.

Makes a special teams tackle.

Marvin Austin

Has an assist on a tackle.He’s still got a ways to get back into game shape, but his natural, raw talent is excellent.

Da’Rel Scott

I’m waiting to see him in the game. I would like him to win the third RB spot for the Giants. He’s a player who just narrowly missed out top 100 players to be drafted heading into the draft (one of the last five cuts), but so far he seems buried way on the depth chart behind Ware and Andre Brown. He has dynamic speed and can catch the football out of the backfield. We’ll see what he can do if he can get into the game.

Whoo, there he goes. Almost falls to the ground, maintains his balance and then flies down the field for a 96 yard touchdown run.

Game thoughts

Last year the Bears offensive line got dominated by the Bears offensive line, this game so far has been respectable.

Brandon Jacobs looks really good here early, but the Giants pass offense does not.

The Bears had two very nice big plays on their first scoring drive.

Aaron Ross is playing much, much better than he did last week, which is good because speculation is mounting about whether or not the Giants would actually consider cutting the former first round pick (a bit extreme), but it is possible he gets buried on the depth chart.

Well, Terrell Thomas might miss the season with a torn A.C.L. (will most likely miss the season)

Dumb play by Ross to watch a guy catch the football and fall to the ground, but he wasn’t touched. Ross didn’t touch him, could have been bad.

9:13 minutes left in the second quarter -The Giants seem to finally be clicking a bit in their passing offense. The talent of the WR position for the Giants is unquestioned.

Rocky Bernad seems to have made more plays tonight than he did all of last season (exaggeration obviously).

-Man it’s had to pay attention to ALL of the young players that play in pre-season.

Giants special teams was atrocious last season it looks good tonight.

Tom Coughlin might be the best “challenger” in the N.F.L. I think that’s a fact. He has to be high up in percentages of calls reversed by head coaches.

There is quite a competition brewing for the Giants backup quarterback spot. Eli Manning hasn’t missed a start in his career (from the first game he started), but David Carr has looked excellent tonight. Sage Rosenfels looked good in last weeks’ game. If David Carr wins the backup job and Darius Reynaud doesn’t make the team, the Giants will have nothing to show from last year’s Rosenfels/Reynaud for a 5th round pick trade.

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