New York Jets 27 – New York Giants 17
Overview: With summer training camp now officially over and three preseason games completed, it is time to take stock of where the Giants are in terms of both their strengths and weaknesses heading into the 1997 season. What does seem clear is that the 1997 Giants will be able to move the ball on offense with Dave Brown as the starting quarterback. Over the previous few seasons, Brown has struggled with his accuracy, his receivers have been unable to get open with any consistency, and his offensive line has been unable to pass block at a competent level. With added experience as well as Jim Fassel’s new system and additional weapons to work with, the Giants finally now field a respectable passing attack. On the downside, while the first team defense has improved its run defense in the last two preseason games, the pass rush is still insufficient and this has caused problems for the secondary which is now learning a new system itself. The deciding factors for the season now appear to be the ability of Defensive Coordinator John Fox to get his defensive unit to play well as well as Jim Fassel’s ability to get his young team to believe in itself. With success comes confidence — and yet more success. Failure (i.e., losses) will only generate doubt. Does this team believe in itself? Do the defenders believe in the new system? Can a pass rush be generated with the players currently on hand? Will the offensive line continue to improve? Can Dave Brown maintain his present momentum and continue to play well when the games count? The answers to these questions will shortly be found.
Quarterbacks: Any quarterback controversy is now officially dead. While Dave Brown played yet another very good game, Danny Kanell had his worst outing in a Giants’ uniform — but more on that in a moment. As for Brown, he took another step forward against the Jets on Saturday night. This is the third game in a row where Brown has clearly demonstrated much improved accuracy. He seems to be picking up the new offense quickly and each time out, he is making more and more plays. Indeed, if it weren’t for six costly dropped passes on Saturday, the Giants might have blown this game open early on. Most impressive has been Dave’s poise on third down in the last two games. In tough situations, he is now making more clutch throws to keep drives alive. Dave also seems to be developing a better touch on his deep throws. In the first quarter, Brown threw deep down the middle of the field and hit Thomas Lewis, who had a step on two defenders, right in the hands, but Lewis dropped it. Later in the quarter, Brown beautifully faked a short out and then threw deep on a pump-and-go. The ball was again wonderfully thrown — a soft arching ball to a wide open Lewis for what would have been a score — yet Lewis dropped the ball once again. Brown did miss a wide open Tiki Barber on one third down play in the first half, but for the most part his passes were right on target. Again, what kept the Giants from putting more points on the board were all the dropped passes. Early in the third quarter, the Giants recovered a fumble on the Jets’ own four-yard line. On first down, a play-action pass to Charles Way was completed in the flat, but Pepper Johnson made a nice play and tackled Way for a short gain. On second and goal, Tiki was nailed in the backfield. At this point, we said to ourselves, “Here we go again — the Giants start a drive on the four yard line and they have to settle for yet another field goal!” Well on third and goal, Brown (given a lot of time by his offensive line) fired an excellent pass to a well-covered Chris Calloway for a TD at the back of the end zone. Success in the red zone against the Jets’ first team defense! A clutch throw in a difficult situation! More progress and more confidence for Dave! Brown was a little more shaky in the third quarter and some of his passes were a little off — but overall, his performance was clearly a strong one. Dave completed 12-of-24 passes for 130 yards and one touchdown, but should have been 18-for-24 (for a 75% completion rate!) and had another touchdown pass. Moreover, many of his passes were the intermediate-to-deep variety — not the dink and dunk type.
At the other end of the spectrum was the play of Danny Kanell. Kanell had his worst performance of the preseason. Indeed, Danny was truly terrible and most of his passes were ugly ducks. Until the game was all but decided, Kanell had problems even getting the second unit to pick up a first down. Danny looked confused and shaken and his poor play (along with the poor play of the second team defense) let a tied game get quickly out-of-hand. On one play, Kanell dropped back, couldn’t spot anyone open, and then rolled to his right. He then threw a very poor, wobbly pass right to a Jets’ defender. Danny wasn’t under heavy pressure on the play and we wondered what Kanell was looking as he never seemed to see the defender. We hope this game against the Jets was an aberration for Danny because he is obviously the #1 back-up on the team and the Giants will undoubtably need him at some point in 1997. Kanell completed 7-of-13 passes for 54 yards — but most of these completions came against the prevent in the waning moments of the game.
Wide Receivers: A very poor game for this unit. First the good news. Despite this game, this is clearly the strongest wide receiving group the Giants have had in recent memory. Their overall athletic ability, combined with a state-of-the-art passing offense, does allow the individual performers to get open with regularity — something that was real problem last year. Indeed, in many instances, one sees the Giants’ receivers wide open in the middle of the defense. The problem on Saturday were all the drops. We counted six drops on six VERY catchable balls: two by Thomas Lewis (both right in his hands and perfectly thrown — one for what should have been a TD), two by Chris Calloway (both right in his hands and perfectly thrown), and two by Ike Hilliard (one of which was slightly thrown behind him, but catchable). Lapses of focus and concentration are common place in the preseason and we’re not overly worried about Hilliard (2 catches for 8 yards) or Calloway (5 catches for 68 yards). However, Thomas Lewis (1 catch for 13 yards) has a real history of choking and dropping easy passes. To his credit, Lewis is finally running sharper routes (an old weakness of his) and does get open — but all this doesn’t count a hill of beans if he doesn’t catch the damn ball. The Giants did throw to Amani Toomer early on in the game in a key third down situation and Amani came through with flying colors as he caught a quick out and kept both his feet in bounds for the first down. However, that was it for Amani as the only other chance he had was a deep pass down the middle where he was well covered. We would have thrown more to Amani on Saturday. We were also disappointed not to see more of Ike early on. Ike didn’t really see much action until late in the second quarter.
Tight Ends: These guys have been strangely quiet during the preseason. On one hand, the West Coast Offense loves to employ the tight end in the passing game. On the other hand, Fassel is well-known for adapting his offensive system to the talent on hand and Fassel may not have the talent he needs at this position. Perhaps, Fassel is “saving” plays to the tight end for the regular season, but we would feel more at ease if Aaron Pierce was more of a factor. Howard Cross did make another nice catch on a play where he was well covered (another good throw from Brown). Nevertheless, if Pierce doesn’t start making plays soon in the regular season, it will look like the Giants once again have overpaid a mediocre performer.
Running Backs: With Rodney Hampton (sore knee) and Tyrone Wheatley (sore knee and ankle) both out, HB Tiki Barber (17 carries for 77 yards; 7 catches for 63 yards) played the ENTIRE game at halfback — indeed, Tiki must be quite sore himself. Tiki did look a little bit rusty as he once accidentally knocked the ball out of Dave Brown’s hands on one blitz pick-up and also fumbled a clean exchange from Brown (which was lost). Moreover, because of his lack of size, Tiki will never be a pile-mover. He also showed that he will occasionally drop a pass too — a reputation he had at Virginia, despite being an overall sound receiving threat. For example, on one screen pass in the second half, Tiki dropped a ball on a well-designed play that may have gone for a long touchdown. (It was nice to see, however, Jim Fassel go over and pat Tiki on the back after this play). Later in the game, Tiki caught a screen pass that went for good yardage, but was a little impatient and ran ahead of his blockers — really had Tiki been a little more patient, he might have broken this play too. However, Tiki’s overall performance must be considered impressive. He seems to combine Ty Wheatley’s explosiveness with Rodney Hampton’s instincts. If he only had more size, he might have been the first back taken in the draft. Tiki has the ability to “make himself small” in the hole and cut in tight spaces. His speed and acceleration are very good and he looks like a threat to score any time he touches the ball. We are very excited about both our top draft picks this year. It is interesting to note that the Giants didn’t run or throw much to Charles Way much in this game, especially with Wheatley and Hampton out — and we think purposely so. Fassel knows what he has in Way and wants to surprise some people with him when the games count. Robert Walker didn’t see any action — his days are obviously numbered. FB’s Eric Lane and Matt Calhoun did not play much and made little impact.
Offensive Line: Roman Oben played much better this week. We saw two plays he got burned on, but that was it. His first breakdown occurred on a play where Dave Brown undoubtably held onto the ball longer than he wanted to — Oben didn’t maintain contact long enough on Hugh Douglas as Douglas broke inside of him and chased down the QB. Oben’s second breakdown occurred in the third quarter as the rusher blew past him to the inside and sacked Brown on the five yard line. However, for the most part Oben was very solid and gave Brown plenty of time. Truly, the first unit did a very credible job in pass protection. Granted, most of the Giants’ passing plays are of the quick variety where the quarterback doesn’t hold onto the ball very long, but for all the passing the Giants have done in the preseason, the revamped line seems to be holding its own. Where the unit is still a little shaky is in run blocking. It is understandable that most of the focus by the coaches in camp has been on pass protection, but we hope this doesn’t negatively affect the run blocking too much. Where the Giants are also very shaky is in their depth. Heaven help the Giants if one of their tackles goes down.
Defensive Line: The first team was strong against the run, but weak against the pass. Michael Strahan did pick up another sack, but for the most part that was it. Neil O’Donnell often had way too much time to throw the ball, especially on third down. If the Giants aren’t able to generate more of a pass rush in 1997, either from the front four or from blitz packages, the Giants’ defense will be in BIG trouble. The good news was the run defense — all four starting linemen were very active and aggressive in this department — especially Strahan and Hamilton. Indeed, Hamilton did a nice job all night of getting penetration in the backfield. Even Robert Harris and Chad Bratzke stood their ground on a number of occasions. Where the latter two have been disappointing is in the pass rush department. The Giants need to get more pressure out of both, especially from the right end position. To make matters worse, the second team line of Duff, Peter, Holsey, and Jones was once again very disappointing. Duff did “flash” a little bit and seems to be getting some of that rust off. Holsey also was very active in the sense that he was getting off of his blocks a little quicker and making penetration. However, Peter and Jones still have not lived up to their billings. Jones is just not getting out of his stance quickly enough. Why? Is this related to his eye condition? Do the coaches see this? A defensive lineman in the NFL cannot afford to give his opponent a half second advantage at the snap of the ball. If Jones doesn’t get out of his stance quicker, he will never be anything other than a journeyman. Right now, we just don’t get the sense that Jones wants it badly enough — he is undoubtably the biggest disappointment of the Giants’ preseason.
Linebackers: A very ordinary performance. Corey Miller did a great job of muscling past the offensive guard on a blitz to sack O’Donnell, but the starting unit was quiet for the most part. Miller is a strong blitzer and we hope we see him more in this phase of the game this season. He still has some problems in coverage, especially when he has to get over quickly to cover the flats, but he’s the kind of fiery guy the Giants’ defense needs. On the second unit, Scott Galyon made another wonderful play when he sniffed out a screen pass and nailed the back for a loss. He just may be the most instinctive linebacker on the team. Ryan Phillips made some strong tackles late in the game when the Jets were attempting to run out the clock. Marcus Buckley had a fairly strong game. He missed an easy tackle on one play, but was active and did nail a running back for a loss. He’s playing better with the Giants than we can ever remember.
Secondary: Better than last week, but still somewhat disappointing. Part of the problem was the lack of a pass rush — the defensive backs were forced to cover their men much longer than should have. Part of the problem was the fine play of QB Neil O’Donnell and WR Jeff Graham — both of whom were very sharp. Nevertheless, more is expected of the Giants’ two high-priced starting cornerbacks. Jason Sehorn tackled better this week, but was burned for a long gain on man-to-man coverage. Phillippi Sparks did not give up a big play, but allowed far too many passes to be completed in front of him. Conrad Hamilton was burned deep for the go-ahead TD while he was playing man. Thomas Randolph played well for the most part, but was beaten for what should have been a TD by Keyshawn Johnson but Johnson dropped the ball. Randolph did intercept a deep ball intended for Keyshawn.
The safety play was surprisingly strong this week. First and foremost, Sam Garnes should be starting at strong safety. Garnes was all over the field, especially on run support. While he doesn’t bring as much experience to the table as Maurice Douglass, he is a fiery, instinctive player who makes things happen. Indeed, it is nice to see the Giants have brought in some guys like Ike Hilliard, Tiki Barber, and Sam Garnes who actually get visibly excited after making a big play. Garnes forced a fumble and was generally around the ball the whole night. Rodney Young can hit like a ton of bricks, but he sometimes suffers from mental lapses in coverage. It looked like Rodney blew a play when he failed to pick up a receiver crossing his zone quickly enough. Tito Wooten had a strong game and looks to be assured the starting job on opening day. Aside from his fine fumble recovery and TD return, Tito was solid in coverage and was also strong in run support. A combination of Wooten and Garnes at safety has to be an appealing option for the coaches. Percy Ellsworth had a quiet game. On a negative note, he ran right by the runner on a 3rd down draw play that picked up the first down.
Special Teams: The coverage units were much stronger this week with Pete Monty, Marcus Buckley, and Doug Colman making nice plays. The David Patten experiment seems to be over as Thomas Lewis was given the main returner role. Lewis seems to be a better returner, but carries the ball a little too loosely for our liking. While he was really nailed by James Farrior on one return, Lewis almost broke a kick return for a TD — ironically, it was the kicker (the last man) who forced him out of bounds (Tommy did not have a good night!). Amani Toomer fielded all but one of the punts (Calloway fielded one). Amani is an instinctive return man, but he dances a little too much on almost every return before he heads up field. Also, because he likes to change directions so much, his fellow teammates must be careful not to block in the back. Colman made one such bonehead block on one return. Brad Daluiso nailed yet another field goal right down the middle. Brad Maynard got superb hang time on his punts. Scott Player surprisingly punted quite a bit but wasn’t as impressive as Maynard.