To Fake or not to Fake? Giants’ Attempt to Slow Broncos’ Offense Won’t Work

Peyton Manning calls a play at the line of scrimmage during the second half against the Baltimore Ravens at Sports Authority Field at Mile High. (Chris Humphreys-USA TODAY Sports)

The Broncos offense ran 68 plays against the Ravens in week one. It was no where close to the Ravens’ 87 plays because they were simply so efficient that they didn’t need the ball for that long.

The Broncos longest scoring drive was two and a half minutes, and that was capped off by a Peyton Manning touchdown pass to Andre Caldwell. The team’s shortest scoring drive took all of five seconds when Manning connected with Julius Thomas for the game’s first score.

In fact, the Broncos’ time of possession was 26:12 compared to the Ravens’ 33:48, and they still won by more than three touchdowns.

Leading into the contest against the Giants, I bring time of possession up because Cowboys owner Jerry Jones accused the Giants of faking injuries to slow down their hurry-up offense.

Two Giants players went down with injuries on back-to-back plays in the second quarter of Sunday night’s game.

“It was so obvious it was funny,” Jones said in the Fort Worth Star-Telegram. “It wasn’t humorous because we really wanted the advantage and knew we could get it if we could get the ball snapped.”

Of course, the Giants denied the claims just like they did in 2011 against the Rams when two defenders went down within seconds after the last play had ended.

When asked Monday if he was worried that the Giants would try the same thing this week, Broncos head coach John Fox said that it was something that could come up.

“It could crop up,” Fox said. “I’d go all the way back to the late ‘80s with [former Bengals Head Coach] Sam Wyche in Cincinatti—that’s been going on a long time in this league. I just think it’s hard to officiate, in my personal opinion, because it’s hard to determine whether a guy is really injured or not. We’ll just leave it at that. What other people are doing, I can’t speak to. But there is a possibility.”

If the Broncos come close to playing the way they did in week one, then there’s no need to worry about the Giants trying to slow them in this capacity. Forty-nine points says so.

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