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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 back's room. Not just a running back's
00:18room, from this overall Giants run game. I'm not their only one. John Harbaugh wants more. The
00:23fan base wants more. I mean this was a team that was going to or has a run first identity
00:29and hasn't been able to get anything out of the run game consistently. No big plays, no big runs,
00:37just nothing. In fact, this last Saints game in the loss, a Giants running back was the third
00:45leading rusher on the team. I think first was J.J. McCarthy, then Darnell Mooney who's a wide receiver
00:52and then it was a Giants running back. Didn't expect for the run game to be struggling like this
00:58early in the season, especially when you brought in Patrick Ricard, you brought in the run game design
01:04guru and Greg Roman and you used the 10th overall pick in CeCe Maunoa to kind of shore up the
01:13interior
01:13of that offensive line. So let's break down what made the Giants run game so ineffective against
01:20the Saints in 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
02:07into this thing, ranked 30th overall in the NFL. So, I don't know why or how the Giants weren't able
02:14to run up and down the field against these guys. But these three plays right here that I'm showing
02:21you kind of tells the story of what happened throughout the course of the day. So, let's
02:27watch this first one. And I'm only going to use the tight, the tight copy on this one. So, we
02:33can
02:33watch the front seven. We can watch the trenches. Let's watch and then let's break it down. Motion
02:40down. You got Fedoni right here. You've got Isaiah Likely in the backfield. We've got to sort of run
02:47to the right. Beat negative six. Got no push off the offensive line. And we're able to hold on the
02:58double teams and on some of these reach blocks here. So, it's not necessarily all on the running
03:04back. Again, it's on the full operation. It's something that's got to get cleaned up ASAP. So,
03:10so let's first, let's watch. We've got the start here. Watch left guard here. It's got to reach
03:19because we've got a double team with the center and the right guard. They'll double. The center wants
03:25to wait until the guard gets, controls his man before he moves up to the next level.
03:32Right tackle is going to be one-on-one on the edge trying to kick out, create some sort of
03:37gap here
03:37in the C gap or rush laying in the C gap. You've got Fedoni coming back on what we call
03:43a bend block.
03:44You've got the end man of the line of scrimmage. This guard here is going to try and reach and
03:50gain
03:50control of this D tackle here. And then Andrew Thomas is coming in to get up to the second level.
03:56I know there's a lot going on there. So, bear with me, but we'll watch here. All right, here's the
04:02reach. The defensive tackle, just by design, already shaded inside. You know that was going to be a hard
04:08block for this left guard to try and reach him, get head up and contain him, get head up and
04:15possibly
04:15cut him off here to open up a cutback or some sort of lane here. So, that was going to
04:21be a hard task
04:22because of the shade of this defensive tackle. Right now, doesn't look good. We've got the double
04:29team going on here between the center and the right guard. Right now, looks good. Center kind of helps
04:38control here before he passes off, lets him have it and goes up to the top. That's probably about the
04:47best out of the blocks here on the offensive line. Now, let's watch the right tackle. Would love to get
04:56a little bit more push here to create the lane, but the biggest thing that held up or stopped this
05:02run
05:03play was the shade by this defensive tackle right here. He put himself in the position to not get
05:13reached. Not get reached here and because of that, he gets that initial penetration. Not only does he
05:20get east-west on the line of scrimmage, but he also gets north-south as well. He's in the back
05:25of this giant's line of scrimmage. And because of that, and the power that he uses as well, he pushes
05:33this left guard back into Najee Harris. Stops his feet. He's not able to cut back. There's not much
05:40you can have a back do in this situation unless maybe you're Barry Sanders or one of those type
05:46of shifty guys. Maybe you make this guy miss, but you know, I'm doing a lot. I'm asking for a
05:52lot
05:52right now. But right now, because of that pressure in the interior, and that pressure not only
05:58to go from one side of the center to the other side and behind on the line of scrimmage, that
06:04causes Najee Harris to stop his feet. There's panic there. And then guys just come off and
06:09make the tackle. And what I mean by that, if it's a little cleaner reach here by this left
06:18tackle, let's say he's not getting all this penetration here to push Najee Harris. If Najee
06:24Harris is able to get this ball, and let's say this guy's had two yards in the backfield,
06:30maybe he's able to get skinny here and get up the field. You've got Andrew Thomas, the left tackle,
06:37reaching up to the second level. Now, I know we see this run blitz right here by 20. So 20
06:43could
06:44come into phase. Maybe you'd want Thomas to get a hand on before climbing up to the second
06:49level. But I believe this ball is meant to either clear here, get right through here,
06:57or have the ability to potentially cut back and get upfield here. But did the rights. This play
07:07didn't have a chance. Now we'll move on to the next one. This was a gain of nothing by Tyrone
07:15Tracy 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 either
07:29miscommunication or missed assignment by the wide receiver out here as well when it came to us
07:35blocking on the perimeter or most dangerous man or MDM push crack. I'll talk to you guys about it
07:41when we get to the wide. But let's watch it here and break down why this play didn't really have
07:47a
07:47chance. Well, I think it had a chance, but it just wasn't executed the way that a Greg Roman or
07:54John Harbaugh would have wanted. So you see him tackled here. All right, let's watch it. We got the
08:00pony, personnel, two backs. You got scat and you got Tyrone Tracy in the game at the same time.
08:08Looks like it's some sort of RPO type thing. It's a run to the outside, some sort of stretch run
08:17to
08:17get to the outside, to get to the perimeter. And let's say Jameis pulls it. It looks like he's able
08:22to hit the shovel pass to Isaiah Likely or they put that in there just to window dress a little
08:33bit
08:33to maybe get one of these second level defenders to have bad eyes, worry about Likely a little bit
08:39too much, what makes them a step or two a little bit slower from running the alley and stopping
08:44Tyrone Tracy Jr. Or they're setting something up for the future. You want to see how they're playing this
08:52because you might run that fake and then this allows Jameis to pitch it in there on the on the
08:59shovel pass. But let's just let's focus on what we're focusing on right now. All right, we've got
09:06that stretch run action. You're going to leave. If you're if you're saying, oh, why is this guy left
09:13unblocked? You intentionally want this guy unblocked because with this run action here, I mean with the
09:22with with the with the ball with the ball. How do I want to break this down? With the run
09:30action here
09:31because remember a Jackson daughter or JJ McCarthy can pull this off of the read option. You want this
09:39defender to stop his feet enough for the speed of this back to reach the outside. That's why scat isn't
09:47worried about him. Scat's coming to get up to the second level to pin this guy. So you want Tyrone
09:54Tracy Jr. to be able to beat him with speed to the outside. So that's why you leave leave this
10:00guy
10:00on block where there is speed option, read option, read option with the run. You leave these guys as the
10:07pitch man or the handoff man because a lot of the time if he crashes down, you'll see the quarterback
10:12take it to that outside. If he goes up the field, you'll see him hand the ball off here. But
10:18by design,
10:19Giants won't get this run to the outside. Again, that's why they're leaving this man unblocked because
10:26they feel like our athlete can beat this edge guy or this defensive in here. Tyrone Tracy Jr.
10:37from the numbers to the sideline has all this room to beat him with speed and get upfield. Now you've
10:45got the seal block here by Cam Scataboo to where he wants to reach this outside shoulder pad to not
10:53allow this guy go over the top to make a play somewhere over here. Even if you get the guy
10:59to
10:59go inside of you, you kind of win because now that makes him take a bad angle if Tracy was
11:04able to get
11:05out and get out into this space on in the perimeter and on within that space. But this defensive DN
11:13does
11:14a great job with this speed runs Tracy down doesn't allow him to get this yardage to the outs to
11:21hit the
11:22outside to hit the sideline. Plus, and I'm going to show you when we hit the wide, this guy should
11:28be
11:28blocked up. He shouldn't be here. This wide receiver here should be on this man in this look
11:36blocking him up and now allowing him to be the free defender to come and get a shot in on
11:42the
11:42running back. I'll break it down. Let's break it down at the wide. So here you see him breaking down
11:49here. I'll talk about the wide receiver here on the perimeter receiver here. Here's what we're taught
11:55with this look. Too high safety look. Looks like it's covered too. That means the corner is the force.
12:03See, the corner, the club corner, he's the force. So when we talk most dangerous man, we're taught to
12:11push crack. But there's no reason to push nor crack because the most dangerous man in this look
12:18is right here in front of our faces. So we are going, we are taught to stay on this man
12:27because
12:27this safety is not coming down to run the alley. For whatever reason, again, this could be by design.
12:34I don't know. This is just what usually what we're taught as wide receivers on RM or RN on the
12:40perimeters when it comes to run blocking these stretch plays and all when it comes to getting
12:46the most dangerous man. We're not running this look off, especially when it comes to this too high
12:51safety look, unless he thought it was some sort of cover two man, which this corner was going to come
12:57with them or some sort of man to man where he was going to fall off and go with them.
13:02But this corner
13:02keeps his eyes in the backfield the entire time. This is not trying to hold him up like a regular
13:09cover
13:09two corner. So we're supposed to stay right here on the perimeter. Maybe he thought Scat was supposed
13:15to come out here and block this guy. But Scat's thinking go up to the next level and seal this
13:22outside backer. So I'm thinking that we the receivers are wrong here. We're supposed to be right here
13:30to get most dangerous man because now this corner has free release. Imagine if we're blocked up here and
13:36maybe even like pin, pin this guy to the inside. Now Tracy has that room on the perimeter to hit
13:43the
13:43outside, hit the J, use his speed and beat this DN. Again, DN does a great job with the speed,
13:51but Tyrone
13:51Tracy really can't stretch it out that much anymore because now he sees the white colored jersey coming
13:58in. This force player coming down to make a play. So again, imagine if this is blocked up here, at
14:04least
14:04if we 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
14:18the
14:18sideline here and then the man to beat is this safety coming down. But no, he didn't even have a
14:25shot.
14:25Didn't even have a shot to hit the outside. So again, you're seeing different things happen within
14:30this Giants offense of this Giants run game, different things breaking down when it comes to
14:38the blocking, the leverage, whatever it is, is breaking down and is not even giving these running
14:43backs a 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.
15:05Well, 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. And
15:16again,
15:16it's not just, he's the team's leading rusher. He had two for 28, I believe. And he had a two
15:23for 26
15:23and he had a 28 yard scramble. So that should tell you, he loses yardage on this, on this other
15:29run
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
16:27his legs and his mobility. So here again, off the read option corner. If he, if I'm not corner,
16:37if this edge rusher DN crashes down, sets his feet, you're taking it, you're pulling and you've got
16:45Patrick Ricard as your lead block. If he stays up and plays the run, then you hand it off. So
16:54that's
16:55Chase Young there. Crashes down here. You see the two steps that he takes down. JJ McCarthy does a
17:00great job of pulling it. Gets him to stop his feet. Now you're one-on-one with Chase Young,
17:06Chase Young with this DN. You got all this space here. Same thing that Cam, with Cam Scadaboo,
17:14that last play with Tyrone Tracy Jr. You want to reach this guy's outside shoulder. Pin him in if you
17:21have to. That's the guy we're looking at because as of right now, he's the most dangerous man being
17:26on that second level. Patrick Ricard's looking at him. He's eyeing at the right guy. Looks to,
17:34but takes too wide of an angle. And now this guy being an athlete, not one in that smoke with
17:406'3",
17:42300 pound fullback. Puts his foot into the ground and shoots the gap. Now he could get in trouble if
17:53Ricard was able to pin him. Imagine if this was the block right here. Now he has what Tyrone Tracy
17:59Jr. wanted on that last stretch run. You've got all this space because this guy's peeled. You've outran
18:07that end defender, that edge defender. And now you're one-on-one or supposed to be one-on-one
18:12with the safety up top. So this guy is actually wrong with how he played this. I mean, he makes
18:20a play here, but you're supposed to go to the outside and box this. Attack that outside shoulder
18:26of Ricard to not let J.J. McCarthy get to the outside. You want him to cut it up because
18:33that's
18:34where all your help is flowing from. But he does a hell of a job beating Ricard to the inside.
18:42And you can see Ricard kind of, he's taking the right steps. Then bad, bad two steps right here.
18:50This guy puts that foot into the ground, beats him. Ricard, all he can do is open up the gate.
18:55You're hoping J.J. McCarthy can make him miss in this situation, but he can't.
19:00Loss of two yards right there on first down. Again, you're going into Houston against a good
19:05Houston Texans team that's getting this stuff together. They got to clean this run game up
19:10on all three levels, from design to the execution of the offensive line. And then when they do get
19:18some space or a window, running backs got to do what they do and make it all right.
19:23Create 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 the
19:53running game. And they've gotten nothing and don't need to throw around stats or, oh, the rank this or
19:59rankings and all that. None of that matters. Right now, the wins and the losses matter. And I guess
20:05you could throw a tie in there. The wins, the losses, and the tie matter. And this is a team
20:10that's built
20:11or has been built around this run game, getting them wins. You win by the run, you die by the
20:19run,
20:20you tie by the run as well. So Najee Harris out. I expect Motor Singletary to get more carries because
20:28he's been one of the more consistent running backs in that room. But this run game has to get better,
20:35specifically this week going against the Houston Texans defense and run defense that's starting to get
20:42their stuff together. And then you head into a bye week and then you go down to Philly to play
20:47the
20:47Eagles. But right 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.
21:06And then you go down to Philly to play the game.