The play that secured the Giants rousing road victory over the Seahawks on Sunday has a name, but Giants special teams coordinator Michael Ghobrial said he prefers “to keep that within.’’
Whatever the play’s name, it’s the timing and execution of the blocked field goal by Isaiah Simmons that mattered most because it allowed the Giants (2-3) to enter Sunday night’s home game against the Bengals (1-4) with a chance to get to .500 and keep themselves in the thick of the NFC East race.
It was Ghobrial who designed the play based on the tendencies the Seattle field-goal team showed on film.
He presented it to head coach Brian Daboll during the week, and Daboll gave him the green light to use it in the game.
On Thursday, Ghobrial went out of his way to credit the players who executed it to perfection, with Simmons blocking Jason Myers’ 47-yard field-goal attempt to tie the game.
The block was returned by Bryce Ford-Wheaton 60 yards for a touchdown to secure the Giants’ 29-20 victory.
“Fired up to see our players make plays,’’ Ghobrial said. “It was really cool to see Isaiah Simmons, No. 1, understand what his responsibility was on that play. Throughout the week, [he was] just in my ear about like, ‘Hey, I’m going to get this thing if you call it.’ I said, ‘I’m not afraid to call it, man.’ I have faith in him.
“He basically manifested that play in his mind, and he was able to execute. And it was really cool to see the rest of the group carry out their responsibilities because it does take all 11 for you to have success on any play.’’
Ghorbrial said in “studying’’ Simmons before he got to the Giants, he immediately noted he “is an unbelievable athlete, and he has really good size, as well,’’ adding, “You combine the two and you see a guy that can jump out of the gym, a guy that understands defensive fundamentals of getting off the ball. And I was like, ‘OK, this is a perfect opportunity for him.’ ’’
Ghobrial said the play “roots back’’ to his days coaching at UCLA “and I’ve kind of carried something similar every spot I’ve [coached].’’
Now, the question is whether Ghobrial can dial it up again this season, or whether this was a one-hit wonder.
“I don’t think anything is ever off the table,’’ he said. “It doesn’t matter whether it’s ran once, or 10 times and other teams do it. If the opportunity presents itself, we’ll move forward with that.’’
Daboll said he was ready to dial the play up earlier in the game, but that Ghobrial wanted to wait for the perfect moment. That moment came at the end of the game.
“You just want to make certain that you’re ready for it when that time comes,’’ he said, “and it happened to time up very well for our guys to take advantage of that play.’’
They did … with whatever the name of the play is.
