Approach to the Game – New York Giants at Miami Dolphins, December 8, 1996: Last week was one of the few games we have seen where the players did not play hard for Dan Reeves. Was it because of his lame duck status or the fact that they had just come off of an emotional win against the Cowboys? It was probably the latter. Whatever the reason, the Giants did not play with very much emotion or intelligence last week aside from a few players (Bratzke and Armstead immediately come to mind). As OLB Corey Miller so accurately put it this week, the Giants are playing for more than merely pride, but many current Giants will be playing for their jobs over the next three weeks. It will be interesting to see how the Giants respond this week. The flu has ravaged the team and Jimmy Johnson’s Dolphins are in the playoff hunt. In fact, Johnson has guaranteed a win over the Giants on Sunday.
Giants on Offense: To play Kanell or to not play Kanell, that is the question. If and when Dave Brown struggles on Sunday, it will be worth the price of admission just to see if (and how quickly) Kanell is inserted into the line-up. Brown is coming off one of his worst performances ever — in fact, it may be his worst in his three year career with the Giants. He just doesn’t seem to be a comfortable or confident figure on the playing field. “Birddogging,” “happy feet,” and inaccuracy were all negative elements in his play last week. He needs a big turn around this week in order to convince fans, the media, and his fellow players that last week was an aberration of his growth process. To be fair, Dave was hampered by a lack of proper support on offense. He should be helped this week by the likely return of WR Thomas Lewis (hamstring) and H-Back Aaron Pierce (knee). The Giants ran more slant patterns last week than they usually do and Reeves actually had his receivers running some crossing routes against Dallas two weeks ago. Regardless of who the Giants’ next coach will be, these type of plays should be part of the bread-and-butter of the Giants offense next year. Now if the Giants would only run some screens and passes to the backs in the flats! The changing of the guard continues at running back as it looks more and more likely that Rodney Hampton will not gain 1,000 yards this year. Can you believe that Hampton hasn’t scored a TD this year? While Hampton has looked sluggish, Wheatley has really impressed us with his tough running inside — something that he was not known for in college. Perhaps some of Hampton’s style has worn off on Wheatley. Ty has come very close to breaking some big runs and it is only a matter of time before he endears himself to Giant fans everywhere with a long run for a TD. Of course, passing and running the ball effectively is only possible if your offensive line is performing well. The line has been up and down for the last few weeks…they played well against the Panthers…poorly against the Cardinals…well against the Cowboys…poorly against the Eagles. When they have played poorly, it seems like it is one of the tackles struggling — Greg Bishop against the Cardinals…Scott Gragg against the Eagles. This is all part of the painful, but necessary growing process, on the offensive line. If the Giants want to significantly reduce their growing pains next year, they would be well-advised to get Rob Zatechka back into the line-up soon. As for the Dolphins, their defense has a smallish, but highly-active MLB (Zach Thomas) who is well-protected by some large DT’s in front of him (Tim Bowens, Daryl Gardener, and Steve Emtman). Because of this, it can be tough to run on the Dolphins at times. One of the key match-ups will be the run blocking of FB Charles Way versus Thomas. Schreiber (it looks like Williams will be out again) and the guards will also have to get some decent movement on the big tackles. The Giants might be better advised to do a lot of their running this week outside, utilizing Wheatley’s great speed in the process. The Dolphins’ secondary and the pass coverage of their linebackers is not strong, so once again, we recommend passing early on first and second down and involving ALL the Giants weapons in the process — slants, crossing routes, deep passes (and not to Calloway and Dawsey, but to Lewis or Alexander), throwing to the TE (Pierce or Saxton) down the seam, screens, passes to the RB’s, etc. In particular, we would really like to see Way and Saxton more involved in the passing offense on intermediate inside stuff.
Giants on Defense: Good match-up this week…the Giants young, but talented, secondary versus the old master himself, Dan Marino, and two talented WR’s in Fred Barnett and O.J. McDuffie. Marino hasn’t played that well lately, but everyone knows what he is capable of. When the Giants play inspired, emotional, and intelligent defense, they are one of the best units in the league, but when they play without passion and without intelligence (see the Cardinal and Eagle games), they can be very poor. We have been advocating using more blitzes all season since the Bills’ game, but this is one of those games where the Giants might be well advised to play more defensive backs than rushers (as they did against Dallas). Marino has a very quick release and can usually avoid the sack. Of course, generating some pass rush from the front four and sending an occasional blitzer (Armstead or Sehorn) wouldn’t hurt. What the Giants must do is not be so predictable. There were some reports in the press this week that stated that opposing offenses knew when the Giants were going to blitz given where certain personnel were lining up on the playing field. Jimmy Johnson loves to run the football and the front seven must step up to the challenge. Bratzke, who has been playing very well the last few weeks, faces a tough opponent in LT Richmond Webb. Michael Strahan needs to get his butt in gear on the other side. We’ve given up on calling for more playing time for Cedric Jones. The good news is that Corey Miller might be back this week, sending Buckley hopefully back to the bench. What the Giants have to be very careful of this week is passes to the RB’s — Jimmy Johnson loves to throw to the RB’s anyways and he is sure to have seen the Giants’ problems against this versus the Eagles. All the LB’s will be in a tough predicament this week — they must be tough against the run, but they also must be alert and aware in pass coverage. A play-action fake could be deadly. The Dolphins also have an athletic, pass receiving talent in the form of TE Troy Drayton.
Special Teams: Mike Horan is nearing the end. He may punt well this week in Miami due to the warmer weather, but he seems to have lost it. His directional punting isn’t as sharp as it used to be and his punting distance is average at best. Punt and kick coverage are usually solid for most of each game, but the Giants always seem to give up at least one big return per game. Brad Daluiso kicked a couple of long ones two weeks ago and it will be interesting to see how he performs if given a chance this week to kick another long one. Arthur Marshall is not getting it done returning punts, but Conrad Hamilton has come close to breaking a big one.
Outlook: Once again the Giants face an opponent who is playing for something significant, yet the Giants are only playing for pride. The offense stinks, there is a QB-controversy, the head coach is a lameduck, and to top it all off, a dozen players on the team have the flu. However, here is one of those games that nothing seems to make sense — the Giants will win, and Reeves will be hailed as the greatest coach in the league again by the media. Giants 23 – Dolphins 20.