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00:05So the Giants just released running back Najee Harris and that actually plays into this week's
00:11Blue Rush Breakdown because I want more from this running backs room. Not just a running backs room,
00:18from this overall Giants run game. I'm not the only one. John Harbaugh wants more. The fan base
00:24once more. I mean, this was a team that was going to or has a run first identity and hasn't
00:30been able
00:31to get anything out of the run game consistently. No big plays, no big runs, just nothing. In fact,
00:39this last Saints game in the loss, a Giants running back was the third leading rusher on the team. I
00:48think first was JJ McCarthy, then Darnell Mooney, who's a wide receiver, and then it was a Giants
00:53running back. Didn't expect for the run game to be struggling like this early in the season,
01:00especially when you brought in Patrick Ricard, you brought in the run game design guru and the Greg
01:05Roman, and you used the 10th overall pick in CeCe Maunoa to kind of shore up the interior of that
01:14offensive line. So let's break down what made the Giants run game so ineffective against the Saints
01:21and this week's Blue Rush Breakdown.
01:28All right, well, first play, we got Najee Harris up here. I know just the news just released that
01:35the Giants were releasing him. So, and then he was already the first play up. So when we watch these,
01:44we got to watch the design. We got to watch the blocking. Then we got to watch the ball carrier,
01:49guys, because all three phases need to be in sync and in tune with each other in order to have
01:56a
01:56successful run game. And you just see at this point of the season, they're just not. This was a game,
02:02a get right game for the Giants rushing offense when you're playing a run defense that was going into
02:07this thing, ranked 30th overall in the NFL. So I don't know why or how the Giants weren't able to
02:15run
02:15up and down the field against these guys. But these three plays right here that I'm showing you
02:21kind of tells the story of what happened throughout the course of the day. So let's watch this first
02:27one. And I'm only going to use the tight, the tight copy on this one. So we can watch the
02:33front seven.
02:35We can watch the trenches. Let's watch and then let's break it down. Motion down. You got Fedoni
02:41right here. You've got Isaiah Likely in the backfield. We've got to sort of run to the right.
02:52Beat negative six. Got no push off the offensive line. And we're able to hold on the double teams
02:58and on some of these reach blocks here. So it's not necessarily all on the running back again.
03:05So in the full operation, it's something that's got to get cleaned up ASAP. So first, let's watch.
03:13We've got... Let's start here. Watch left guard here. He's got to reach because we've got a double team
03:20with the center and the right guard. They'll double. The center wants to wait until the guard
03:27gets, controls his man before he moves up to the next level. Right tackle is going to be one-on
03:33-one
03:34on the edge, trying to kick out, create some sort of gap here in the sea gap or rush laying
03:39in the sea
03:40gap. You've got Fedoni coming back on what we call a bend block. You've got the end man of the
03:46line
03:46of scrimmage. This guard here is going to try and reach and gain control of this D tackle here. And
03:53then Andrew Thomas is coming in to get up to the second level. I know there's a lot going on
03:58there.
03:59So bear with me, but we'll watch here. All right. Here's the reach. The defensive tackle,
04:04just by design, already shaded inside. You know, that was going to be a hard block for this left
04:09guard to try and reach him, get head up and contain him, get head up and possibly cut him off
04:16here to
04:16open up a cutback or some sort of lane here. So that was going to be a hard task because
04:22of the shade
04:24of this defensive tackle right now doesn't look good. We've got the double team going on here
04:30between the center and the right guard right now looks good. Center kind of helps control here
04:39before he passes off, lets him have it and goes up to the top. That's probably about the best
04:47out of, out of the blocks here on the offensive line. Now what, let's watch the right tackle.
04:55Would love to get a little bit more push here to create the lane, but the biggest thing that held
05:00up
05:01or stopped this run play was the shade by this, this note, this defensive tackle right here.
05:09He was not able, he wasn't, he put himself in the position to not get reached, not get reached here.
05:16And because of that, he gets that initial penetration. Not only does he get east-west on
05:21the line of scrimmage, but he also gets north-south as well. He's in the back of this giant's line
05:27of
05:27scrimmage. And because of that, and the power that he uses as well, he pushes this left guard back
05:35into Najee Harris, stops his feet, is not able to cut back. There's not much you can have a back
05:42do
05:42in this situation, unless maybe you're Barry Sanders or one of those type of shifty guys.
05:47Maybe you make this guy miss, but you know, I'm doing a lot. I'm asking for a lot right now.
05:53Right now, because of that pressure in the interior, and that pressure not only to go from one side of
05:59the center to the other side and behind on the line of scrimmage, that causes Najee Harris to stop
06:05his feet. There's panic there. And then guys just come off and make the tackle. And what I mean by
06:13that, if it's a little cleaner reach here by this left tackle, let's say he's not getting all this
06:21penetration here to push Najee Harris. If Najee Harris is able to get this ball, and let's say
06:27this guy's not two yards in the backfield, maybe he's able to get skinny here and get up the field.
06:34You've got Andrew Thomas, the left tackle, reaching up to the second level. Now, I know we see this run
06:40blitz right here by 20. So 20 could come into phase. Maybe you'd want Thomas to get a hand on
06:47before
06:48climbing up to the second level. But I believe this ball is meant to either clear here, get right
06:56through here, or have the ability to potentially cut back and get upfield here. But dead to rights.
07:06This play didn't have a chance. Now we'll move on to the next one. This was a gain of nothing
07:14by
07:14Tyrone Tracy Jr. I like the play call. I like the play design. Just wasn't executed right. And this time,
07:22I'm not only going to show you the tight copy, I'll show you the wide. Because we had, yeah, we
07:28had
07:28missed either miscommunication or, or missed assignment by the wide receiver out here as well,
07:34when it came to us blocking on the perimeter, or most dangerous man or MDM push crack. I'll talk to
07:41you guys about it when we get to the wide. But let's watch it here and break down why this
07:46play didn't
07:46really have a chance. Well, I think it had a chance, but it just wasn't, wasn't executed the way
07:51that a Greg Roman or a, or a John Harbaugh would have won it. So you see him tackled here.
07:58All right,
07:59let's watch it. We got the pony personnel's two backs. You got scat and you got Tyrone Tracy in the
08:07game at the same time. Looks like it's some sort of RPO type thing. It's a run, it's a run
08:15to the
08:15outside, some sort of stretch run to get to the outside, to get to the perimeter. And let's say
08:20Jameis pulls it. It looks like he's able to hit the shovel pass to Isaiah Likely, or they put that
08:29in there for a lay, just to, to window dress a little bit, to maybe get one of these second
08:34level
08:35defenders to have bad eyes, worry about Likely a little bit too much, what makes them a step or two
08:40a little bit slower from running the alley and stopping, um, uh, Tyrone Tracy Jr. Or they're setting
08:49something up for the future. You want to see what, how they're playing this because you might run that
08:54fake and then this allows Jameis to pitch it in there on the, uh, on the shovel pass. But let's
09:01just,
09:01let's focus on what we're focusing on right now. All right. We've got that stretch run action.
09:08You're going to leave. If you're the, if you're saying, Oh, why is this guy left unblocked? You
09:14intentionally want this guy unblocked because with this run action here, I mean, with the, with,
09:22with the, with the ball, with, with the ball, um, how do I want to break this down with the
09:30run
09:30action here? Because remember a Jackson daughter, JJ McCarthy can pull this off of the read option.
09:37You want this defender to stop his feet enough for the speed of this back to reach the outside.
09:45That's why scat isn't worried about him. Scat's coming to get up to the second level to pin this
09:52guy. So you want Tyrone Tracy Jr. to be able to beat him with speed to the outside. So that's
09:58why
09:58you leave, leave this guy on block where there is speed option, read option, read option with the run.
10:05You leave these guys as the pitch man or the handoff man, because a lot of the time, if he
10:10crashes down, you'll see the quarterback take it to that outside. If he goes up the field, you'll see
10:16him hand the ball off here. But by design giants won't get this run to the outside. Again, that's why
10:23they're leaving this man unblocked because they feel like our athlete can beat this edge guy or this,
10:32defensive end here. Tyrone Tracy Jr. from the numbers to the sideline has all this room to beat
10:42him with speed and get up field. Now you've got the seal block here by Cam Scataboo to where he
10:49wants
10:49to reach this outside shoulder pad to not allow this guy go over the top to make a play somewhere
10:56over
10:57here. Even if you get the guy to go inside of you, you kind of win because now that makes
11:02him take a
11:02bad angle if Tracy was able to get out and get out into this space in the perimeter and within
11:10that
11:10space. But this defensive DN does a great job with this speed, runs Tracy down, doesn't allow him to get
11:20this yardage to the outside, to hit the sideline. Plus, and I'm going to show you when we hit the
11:26wide, this guy should be blocked up. He shouldn't be here. This wide receiver here should be on this
11:34man in this look, blocking him up and now allowing him to be the free defender to come and get
11:41a shot
11:41in on the running back. I'll break it down. Let's break it down at the wide. So here you see
11:49him
11:49breaking down here. I'll talk about the wide receiver here on the perimeter. Receiver here,
11:54here's what we're taught. But this look, too high safety look, looks like it's covered too. That means
12:00the corner is the force. See, the corner, the club corner, he's the force. So when we talk most
12:09dangerous man, we're taught to push crack, but there's no reason to push nor crack because the
12:15most dangerous man in this look is right here in front of our faces. So we are going, we are
12:24taught
12:24to stay on this man because this safety is not coming down to run the alley. For whatever reason,
12:32again, this could be by design. I don't know, but this is just what usually what we're taught as
12:37wide receivers on RM or RN on the perimeters when it comes to run blocking, these stretch plays and
12:44all when it comes to getting the most dangerous man. We're not running this look off, especially
12:50when it comes to this too high safety look, unless he thought it was some sort of cover two man,
12:55which this corner was going to come with them or some sort of man to man where he was going
13:00to fall
13:00off and go with them. But this corner keeps his eyes in the backfield the entire time, does not
13:06try and hold them up like a regular cover two corner. So we're supposed to stay right here on
13:12the perimeter. Maybe he thought Scat was supposed to come out here and block this guy, but Scat's
13:18thinking go up to the next level and seal this outside backer. So I'm thinking that we, the receivers,
13:27are wrong here. We're supposed to be right here to get most dangerous man because now this corner
13:33has free release. Imagine if we're blocked up here and maybe even like pin, pin this guy to the
13:39inside. Now Tracy has that room on the perimeter to hit the outside, hit the J, use his speed and
13:46beat
13:47this, this, this D end. Again, D end is a great job with the speed, but Tyrone Tracy really can't
13:53stretch it out that much anymore because now he sees the white colored jersey coming in, this force
13:59player coming down to make a play. So again, imagine if this is blocked up here, at least if
14:04we were man on man on man here, Tyrone Tracy could have still that opportunity to go around this
14:11receiver if we're blocking this club corner who's got the force here, but it may be able to still hit
14:17the sideline here and then the man to beat is this safety coming down. But no, he didn't even have
14:25a
14:25shot, didn't even have a shot to hit the outside. So again, you're seeing different things happen
14:30within this Giants offense, this Giants run game, different things breaking down when it comes to the
14:38blocking, the leverage, whatever it is, is breaking down and is not even giving these running backs
14:44a chance to be successful. Last but not least, it wasn't just the running backs. I know JJ McCarthy
14:53was actually the team's leading rusher in this game and he played for one quarter of football,
14:59did some good things with the scramble. I know we talked about the scramble in the fourth quarter.
15:04Well, we got like a quarter and some change because this is the third quarter when the Giants are going
15:10in this way. But JJ McCarthy comes in the game here, you know, he's going to run the football.
15:15And again, it's not just, he's the team's leading rusher. He had two for 28, I believe, and he had
15:21a two for 26 and he had a 28 yard scramble. So that should tell you, he loses yardage on
15:28this other run
15:30or this other rush that he has. So let's watch it here. And again, just breakdowns, breakdowns on blocking.
15:40Lost two on first down. Can't have it. And this is not me getting on these guys. You know, I'm
15:46around
15:46these guys a lot. You'd see me, I'm the emcee at the games. It's not me getting on them. This
15:51is
15:51accountability. This is accountability. This is John Harbaugh preaches accountability. Offensive
15:57coaching staff, that room, the players, they preach accountability because they know they want to take
16:03a step and be a good football team. They want to put good quality product football on tape.
16:10So this is accountability to get this stuff cleaned up because JJ McCarthy is going to play. I don't
16:17know how much he's going to play throughout the course of the rest of the year, but he's going to
16:20play because he adds another dynamic to this run game in this Giants offense. And that's the use of
16:26his legs and his mobility. So here, again, off the read option. Corner, if he, if I mean that corner,
16:37if this edge rusher, DN crashes down, sets his feet, you're taking it, you're pulling and you've
16:45got Patrick Ricard as your lead block. If he stays up and plays the run, then you hand it off.
16:53So that's Chase Young there. Crashes down here. You see the two steps that he takes down.
16:59JJ McCarthy does a great job of pulling it. Gets him to stop his feet. Now you're one-on-one
17:05with
17:05Chase Young, Chase Young with this DN. You got all this space here. Same thing that Cam, with Cam
17:13Scadaboo, that last play with Tyrone Tracy Jr. You want to reach this guy's outside shoulder. Pin him in
17:20if you have to. That's the guy we're looking at because as of right now, he's the most dangerous
17:25man being on that second level. Patrick Ricard's looking at him. He's eyeing at the right guy.
17:33Looks to, but takes too wide of an angle. And now this guy being an athlete, not one in that
17:39smoke
17:40with 6'3", 300-pound fullback, puts his foot into the ground, and shoots the gap. Now he could get
17:52in
17:52trouble if Ricard was able to pin him. Imagine if this was the block right here. Now he has what
17:58Tyrone Tracy Jr. wanted on that last stretch run. You've got all this space because this guy's peeled.
18:05You've outran that end defender, that edge defender. And now you're one-on-one or supposed
18:11to be one-on-one with the safety up top. So this guy is actually wrong with how he played
18:18this. I
18:19mean, he makes a play here, but you're supposed to go to the outside and box this, attack that outside
18:25shoulder of Ricard to not let J.J. McCarthy get to the outside. You want him to cut it up
18:33because
18:33that's where all your help is flowing from. But he does a hell of a job beating Ricard to
18:40the inside. And you can see Ricard kind of, he's taking the right steps. Then bad two steps
18:49right here. This guy puts that foot into the ground, beats him. Ricard, all he can do is
18:53open up the gate. You're hoping J.J. McCarthy can make him miss in this situation, but he
18:59can't. Lost two yards right there on first down. Again, you're going into Houston against
19:05a good Houston Texans team that's getting their stuff together. They got to clean this
19:09run game up on all three levels, from design to the execution of the offensive line. And
19:17then when they do get some space or a window, running backs got to do what they do and make
19:22it all right. Create the big play because they're going to need it for the rest of this season.
19:29Looking back at that tape, I can't just point a single finger at one of the running backs
19:35and be like, hey, I need more. You got to be better. It's a collective thing. It starts
19:40from the offensive line, maybe the design of the run, and of course the running back as well.
19:47But we got to get more. This Giants offense was built and designed to get more out of
19:53the running game, and they've gotten nothing and don't need to throw around stats or, oh,
19:58the rank this or rankings and all that. None of that matters. Right now, the wins and the
20:03losses matter. And I guess you could throw a tie in there. The wins, the losses, and the
20:07tie matter. And this is a team that's built or has been built around this run game, getting
20:15them wins. You win by the run. You die by the run. You tie by the run as well. So
20:23Najee Harris
20:24out. I expect Motor Singletary to get more carries because he's been one of the more consistent
20:30running backs in that room. But this run game has to get better, specifically this week going
20:37against the Houston Texans defense and run defense that's starting to get their stuff together.
20:43And then you head into a bye week, and then you go down to Philly to play the Eagles. But
20:48right now, this Giants run game, you saw it collectively, has to come together and show
20:56that they are what this true identity is of this rush offense or this offense as a whole.
21:05So, let's go.
21:06Let's go.
21:08Let's go.
21:08Let's go.
21:09Let's go.
21:09Let's go.
21:10Let's go.
21:10Let's go.
21:10Let's go.
21:10Let's go.