Offense: Okay, I know I've broken format a few times with my game previews in recent weeks, but this has always been a loose and free-flowing deal anyway, so I don't feel bad about doing it again.
This week's offensive key will be the non-verbal communication between WR Hakeem Nicks and QB Eli Manning. It's not anything you'll be able to tangibly see but it's there and I can prove it, courtesy of a nugget that won't make my Sunday story but one I don't want to let go to waste.
Remember the 24-yard pass from Manning to Nicks on the game-winning drive against Dallas? You know, the one where Manning rolled right because he had pressure in his face and delivered a ball to Nicks, who caught it above his head and quickly got both feet in bounds?
Well, that was a designed in cut. I'll let Nicks tell the rest of the story.
"We have a rule where we bang the in cut out if we can’t win the in cut," Nicks said. "I felt 'E' rolling out. I thought automatically he couldn’t throw an in cut across his body, so I broke it out to the sideline and we were on the same page."
Let's back up a second. He "felt" Manning rolling out?
"Yeah," Nicks said.
Because he saw the defenders react? Because he heard the crowd buzz in anticipation of a sack? Because he looked up to the monster video board and saw it with his own eyes?
"No," Nicks said. "I just felt it."
You hear these stories from quarterbacks and receivers that have a lot of success together for a long period of time. It seems Nicks and Manning have begun developing such non-verbal, ESP-type communication.