There aren’t a lot of questions in this week’s Big Blue View

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ailbag. Part of that , I’m sure is because this is a holiday weekend. The other part, to be honest, is that it’s pointless for me to answer the same questions week after week.Anyway, here are this week’s questions.Ed says: No, not in my view. I honestly hadn’t really thought about this aspect with Carr, but I found this tweet to be thought provoking:Point is, the way Carr has played the last two seasons it’s fair to wonder how good he really is. He might be really good. He might be an overpaid middle of the road quarterback. Kind of like Kirk Cousins, in my view. The other reality is this. The Giants are building. Yes, they need a long-term answer at quarterback. They need their top draft picks, too. They aren’t in any position, in my view, to go surrendering first-round picks for a guy like Carr.For me, this is a hard no.Bruce Frazer asks: What has happened to the Giant’s defense since the start of the season. 500 yards to Tampa Bay, what is going on? The lack of pass rush is obviously a big factor, but has the departure of Harrison really stifled the run defense? Is James Bettcher trying to do too much with too little? What is your take on the defense and it’s needs?Ed says: Nothing necessarily “happened” to the Giants’ defense. We entered the season thinking there was a possibility the Giants’ defense might not be very good. All the first 10 games have done, for the most part , is confirm that. Defensive coordinator James Bettcher is doing what he can with what he has. Problem is, he doesn’t have enough.The Giants have one established pass rusher, and Olivier Vernon has one sack in five games. They have one Pro Bowl caliber play-maker in the back end of their defense, and Landon Collins hasn’t made very many plays this season. They have a few developing young players like Dalvin Tomlinson, B.J. Hill and Lorenzo Carter who haven’t reached their full potential yet. Other than that, in my view, they for the most part have a collection of guys out there playing because the Giants don’t have anyone better to run out there.This defense needs at least one more dynamic pass rusher, maybe two. It needs at least one three-down inside linebacker. It needs a free safety who can actually tackle in the back end of the defense. It needs multiple cornerbacks.In other words, it needs a lot.Ed says: Seth, believe it or not that is kind of a difficult question for me to answer. Mostly that’s because, to be honest, not much has surprised me about this season — with the exception of the Giants starting 1-7. I figured they would be a little better than that, a three- or four-win team at the halfway point.I haven’t been surprised by the offensive line woes, which is the primary reason the Giants struggled on offense the first part of the season. All along I said the question was whether the offensive line would be better than it was a year ago or if it would just be different. Until Spencer Pulley settled in at center and Jamon Brown took over at right guard the answer was “different.” Defensively, we knew that lack of pass rush, lack of quality depth at cornerback , free safety and the lack of three-down inside linebackers could all be issues. Well, no surprise that they have all been issues.Ed says: Highlander, I’m going to give you the benefit of the doubt here that AutoCorrect messed with you and you actually know the name of the backup quarterback is Alex Tanney, not Andy Someone. Anyway, this is simple. Alex Tanney has played in only one NFL game. He has, however, been in the league since 2012. The Giants, I think correctly, believe that because he has been in the league for so long and understands what it is to be the backup quarterback is better equipped to come into a game mid-stream should something happen to Eli Manning.When it comes to Kyle Lauletta, look for the Giants to activate him for the last two to four games. As far as playing, when the Giants are officially out of the playoff race is when you will probably see the rookie. Not until then. In Week 6, the Giants offense put up 13 points against the Philadelphia Eagles defense during a 34-13 loss. Given the status of the Eagles’ defense heading into the Week 12 game, the Giants should be able to have 13 points after their second drive. There are a few things they’ll have to do for that to happen on Sunday.Numbers that matterForget the runAgainst the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, a team with a secondary that has turned opposing offenses into the equivalent of the Los Angeles Rams’ passing attack by Adjusted Net Yards per Attempt, the Giants entered with a run-heavy game plan. Saquon Barkley ran 27 times and Eli Manning threw 18 passes. That worked against Tampa Bay — though the lack of an aggressive kill shot early did leave an opening for the Buccaneers to creep back into the game — but it’s not the way the Giants should attack the Eagles, a team that features a secondary so banged up we can argue whether it actually features a secondary.There’s a chance the Eagles are without their top five (5) cornerbacks on Sunday. To put that in some perspective , the Giants have five cornerbacks currently on their active roster. If the Giants aren’t throwing deep and often, the process of game planning throughout the week needs to be questioned.This was a problem even in the first matchup of the season, even when the Eagles were healthy at cornerback, but susceptible to big plays. Jalen Mills had been picked on all season, but it took the Giants until late in the third quarter when the game was already out of hand for the Giants to go deep against him.Philadelphia is 32nd in big play rate and that’s one of the places the Giants have excelled on offense — they’re fifth. Testing this secondary should lead to a lot of yards and a lot of points, way more than if the Giants try to get Barkley going on the ground.Foregoing the run doesn’t have to exclude Barkley from the game plan, part of what makes Barkley a special player. The Eagles are 24th against running backs in the passing game, which is exactly the type of mismatch the Giants should try to exploit. Over the past few weeks, the Giants have slowly unleashed Barkley on routes that should have been a part of the offense in Week 1. There was the angle route late in the game against the 49ers and the wheel route last week against the Buccaneers, which was wide open but resulted in the only incompletion of the day. These are the types of routes that should be worked into the offense early in the game along with more shots to the wide receivers.The Giants took a deep shot to Odell Beckham on the fourth play from scrimmage that resulted in a 41-yard gain, but they didn’t go back downfield until the third quarter.On Beckham’s four targets, he was worth 6.84 Expected Points Added, per nflscrapR. On Barkley’s 27 rushing attempts, he was worth 5.53.Keep Eli cleanAll of this can be possible by making throws easier with a clean pocket. Eli Manning was sacked four times on 22 drop backs, which comes out to an 18 percent sack rate. That’s obviously not great, but one was from Manning falling down on his own and when he wasn’t sacked , he wasn’t under pressure often. The Giants are still 27th in adjusted sack rate on offense, per Football Outsiders, but on a play-to-play basis, the offensive line has improved over the past few weeks with the addition of Jamon Brown.The Eagles pass rush also hasn’t been as dangerous as it was last season. While they still have a deep rotation of edge rushers, Philadelphia is justed 20th in adjusted sack rate, though they’re 11th in defensive pressure rate.Figure out third downThe Giants have one of the strangest third down splits I’ve ever seen. Let’s take in this graph, then follow along together for an attempted explanation:The best way to convert on third down is to not face one at all. In that part, the Giants have apparently down very well. They have the fifth-highest rate of their first downs that come on first or second down. Typically that’s the sign of a good offense and while that’s partly true here, it’s also partly because if the Giants do have to face a third down, they can’t convert — just 26th in third down success rate.Also, if they face a third down, it’s probably a long one. The Giants are 31st in average third down distance, face the seventh-highest rate of third and longs, and the third lowest rates of third and shorts.This is another reason to avoid runs and passes behind the line of scrimmage early in the game. It decreases the chances of converting a first down on early downs and basically eliminates the chance of a third down conversion going by the Giants’ rates this season.

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