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Cowlishaw: Good news, Cowboys! Eli Manning is an interception machine
Tim Cowlishaw
Published: 21 November 2014 08:10 PM
Updated: 21 November 2014 08:10 PM
Vince Lombardi is dead. That’s not exactly breaking news since the coach for whom the Super Bowl trophy is named has been gone for more than 40 years. But his mantra (whether he ever truly said it or not) — “Winning is the only thing” — has been buried as well.
In today’s NFL, the emphasis is less about winning than “not losing.’’ The focus of the last Super Bowl champs was less about scoring than preventing it. And for quarterbacks, a more precious position now than ever given the game’s liberal passing rules, making big plays takes a backseat to avoiding costly mistakes.
That brings us to Sunday night when the Cowboys return to play against the Giants and Eli Manning. No one can take those two Super Bowl rings away from him. They may one day get him to the Pro Football Hall of Fame. But sometimes it seems he made a Faustian bargain in order to achieve them.
Since his second hoisting of the Lombardi Trophy after the 2011 season, Manning leads the NFL in interceptions. He has a fairly considerable margin, in fact.
Manning has thrown 53 interceptions since the start of the 2012 season. That’s one of the major reasons and perhaps the biggest that New York has not returned to the playoffs and won’t this season, either, with a 3-7 record going into Sunday’s game. Cincinnati’s Andy Dalton and Detroit’s Matt Stafford are next closest at 45.
The Cowboys’ Tony Romo isn’t even in the ballpark with 34.
It was such a problem for the Giants last season that the offense Manning guided to two Super Bowl wins over New England was scrapped (along with coordinator Kevin Gilbride). The emphasis was on shorter passes, higher efficiency. Manning’s job was to cut down on his mistakes after leading the NFL with 27 interceptions in 2013.
And he has. Or at least he had until last week.
Manning was picked off five times by San Francisco, raising his season total to 11 interceptions. That’s why this game represents something more than an opportunity for the Cowboys’ secondary. It’s a challenge, really.
Play the Giants and come away with no interceptions? You just might get burned by their young receivers and have a game on your hands. Can we rule out defeat?
Not for a team less than a month removed from a loss to Washington.
When the Cowboys beat the Giants 31-21 at AT&T Stadium in October, it was the visitors’ first game without Victor Cruz, their game-breaking receiver who was lost for the season against Philadelphia. First-round pick Odell Beckham Jr. was just finding his way into the lineup after a long hamstring injury. He caught two short touchdown passes against the Cowboys.
Since facing Dallas, Beckham has become Manning’s favorite target, catching passes for game totals of 156, 108 and 93 yards.
There’s little reason for Dallas to allow Beckham and another former LSU wide receiver, Reuben Randle, to provide hope for a team that remains winless since Cruz left the premises. But it comes down to pressuring Manning and making plays when he forces those almost inevitable mistake passes into coverage.
And that’s where it gets interesting for this defense.
Although the Cowboys’ total of 10 interceptions is respectable, the secondary that will take the field at MetLife Stadium has little to do with it. Linebackers Rolando McClain and Bruce Carter have two each. Injured linebacker Justin Durant has one.
Two cornerbacks that won’t play — Mo Claiborne and Tyler Patmon — have interceptions. In fact, Patmon scored a first-quarter touchdown against Carson Palmer and the Cardinals on his interception, but he is out with a sprained MCL.
That leaves safeties J.J. Wilcox and Barry Church and cornerback Orlando Scandrick with a single interception apiece among defensive backs Manning will face. Brandon Carr may have one of the highest salary-cap figures in the league among cornerbacks, but he doesn’t have a single interception this season.
Given the chances that are likely to present themselves over the next five days between Manning, the king of interceptions, and Mark Sanchez, who has thrown four in 2 1/2 games since replacing Nick Foles, it’s time for this secondary to step up.
They shouldn’t have to go crazy the way the 49ers did, picking off Manning five times simply to secure a six-point win. The Cowboys’ offense is firing on a lot more cylinders than the 49ers’ unit is right now.
But they do have to show up, make plays and move this thing on down the road to a key Thanksgiving date with Philadelphia.
Tim Cowlishaw
Published: 21 November 2014 08:10 PM
Updated: 21 November 2014 08:10 PM
Vince Lombardi is dead. That’s not exactly breaking news since the coach for whom the Super Bowl trophy is named has been gone for more than 40 years. But his mantra (whether he ever truly said it or not) — “Winning is the only thing” — has been buried as well.
In today’s NFL, the emphasis is less about winning than “not losing.’’ The focus of the last Super Bowl champs was less about scoring than preventing it. And for quarterbacks, a more precious position now than ever given the game’s liberal passing rules, making big plays takes a backseat to avoiding costly mistakes.
That brings us to Sunday night when the Cowboys return to play against the Giants and Eli Manning. No one can take those two Super Bowl rings away from him. They may one day get him to the Pro Football Hall of Fame. But sometimes it seems he made a Faustian bargain in order to achieve them.
Since his second hoisting of the Lombardi Trophy after the 2011 season, Manning leads the NFL in interceptions. He has a fairly considerable margin, in fact.
Manning has thrown 53 interceptions since the start of the 2012 season. That’s one of the major reasons and perhaps the biggest that New York has not returned to the playoffs and won’t this season, either, with a 3-7 record going into Sunday’s game. Cincinnati’s Andy Dalton and Detroit’s Matt Stafford are next closest at 45.
The Cowboys’ Tony Romo isn’t even in the ballpark with 34.
It was such a problem for the Giants last season that the offense Manning guided to two Super Bowl wins over New England was scrapped (along with coordinator Kevin Gilbride). The emphasis was on shorter passes, higher efficiency. Manning’s job was to cut down on his mistakes after leading the NFL with 27 interceptions in 2013.
And he has. Or at least he had until last week.
Manning was picked off five times by San Francisco, raising his season total to 11 interceptions. That’s why this game represents something more than an opportunity for the Cowboys’ secondary. It’s a challenge, really.
Play the Giants and come away with no interceptions? You just might get burned by their young receivers and have a game on your hands. Can we rule out defeat?
Not for a team less than a month removed from a loss to Washington.
When the Cowboys beat the Giants 31-21 at AT&T Stadium in October, it was the visitors’ first game without Victor Cruz, their game-breaking receiver who was lost for the season against Philadelphia. First-round pick Odell Beckham Jr. was just finding his way into the lineup after a long hamstring injury. He caught two short touchdown passes against the Cowboys.
Since facing Dallas, Beckham has become Manning’s favorite target, catching passes for game totals of 156, 108 and 93 yards.
There’s little reason for Dallas to allow Beckham and another former LSU wide receiver, Reuben Randle, to provide hope for a team that remains winless since Cruz left the premises. But it comes down to pressuring Manning and making plays when he forces those almost inevitable mistake passes into coverage.
And that’s where it gets interesting for this defense.
Although the Cowboys’ total of 10 interceptions is respectable, the secondary that will take the field at MetLife Stadium has little to do with it. Linebackers Rolando McClain and Bruce Carter have two each. Injured linebacker Justin Durant has one.
Two cornerbacks that won’t play — Mo Claiborne and Tyler Patmon — have interceptions. In fact, Patmon scored a first-quarter touchdown against Carson Palmer and the Cardinals on his interception, but he is out with a sprained MCL.
That leaves safeties J.J. Wilcox and Barry Church and cornerback Orlando Scandrick with a single interception apiece among defensive backs Manning will face. Brandon Carr may have one of the highest salary-cap figures in the league among cornerbacks, but he doesn’t have a single interception this season.
Given the chances that are likely to present themselves over the next five days between Manning, the king of interceptions, and Mark Sanchez, who has thrown four in 2 1/2 games since replacing Nick Foles, it’s time for this secondary to step up.
They shouldn’t have to go crazy the way the 49ers did, picking off Manning five times simply to secure a six-point win. The Cowboys’ offense is firing on a lot more cylinders than the 49ers’ unit is right now.
But they do have to show up, make plays and move this thing on down the road to a key Thanksgiving date with Philadelphia.
