Starting with the coaching, the game planning left many scratching their heads as both offensive and defensive game plans appeared ineffective against the Colts’ schemes.
On the offensive side of the ball, the Giants failed to stick with the run and opted for passes on downs when it really didn't make much sense. They also went into the shotgun on short yardage, when the obvious choice should have been to run the ball.
Keep in mind, that Ahmad Bradshaw was running the ball well, averaging 5.2 yards per run. Even with less than 20 touches, he was able to amass 89 yards rushing. Why he wasn’t given more chances is anyone's guess.
The G-Men definitely got away from their usual game plan of running first and seemed more inclined to rely more on the pass. The results spoke for themselves.
Other questionable calls on offense included Giants offensive coordinator Kevin Gilbride’s failure to provide tackles David Diehl and Kareem McKenzie any help in passing situations. Both of them could have used an extra man to chip Colts defensive ends Dwight Freeney and Robert Mathis.
But without any aid, the Colts speedy defensive ends made Diehl and McKenzie appear like human turnstyles.
Freeney especially turned Diehl's night into a nightmare as he blew past him with spin moves and blew him up with bull-rushes.
With the offensive line seemingly overpowered by the Colts defenders, Manning was under duress for the majority of the game and was sacked four times.
Manning summed things up with www.giants.com, saying, "Offensively for us, we couldn't get into a rhythm. We didn't move the ball well—we didn't run the ball especially well, we didn't throw the ball well. They outplayed us."
Where's the D?
Defensively, the Giants were equally outmatched.
In order to prevent Peyton from throwing for 400+ yards, Giants defensive coordinator Perry Fewell had them playing mostly in nickel—would have been smart if Peyton Manning was actually throwing for the majority of the time. But instead, they ran the ball 43 times and gashed the Giants for 160 yards.
This was the same offense that one week ago, amassed only 44 yards on 10 carries versus the Texans.
On passing downs, it was just as ugly as Peyton sliced apart the secondary with surgical precision and finished the game completing 20 of 26 passes for 255 yards and 3 touchdowns.
Indy's offensive line dominated the line of scrimmage and made the Giants defensive line featuring Justin Tuck, Osi Umenyiora, and Chris Canty non-factors for most of the 60 minutes.
Failing to make adjustments, Fewell's defense got almost no pressure on the elder Manning and the linebackers and secondary were slow to cover the Colts receivers, leaving them constantly wide open.
A frustrated Giants LB Michael Boley spoke after the loss, "We just got outplayed. It wasn't about figuring out what they did or what we did. They just played a better game than we did today."
It’s now up to the Giants' coaching staff to come up with a better game plan and figure out why both lines were dominated—and come up with solutions quickly.
A confident Tuck sees his team bouncing back next week at home against the Tennessee Titans, saying, "We have a great challenge next week and we have to put this loss behind us. It's a long season and we have a lot of games left."
If the Giants continue to struggle in the battle of the trenches, it will be a long season.
