New York Giants 31 – Philadelphia Eagles 17
Game Overview: As Bill Parcells used to say, a 16 game season is more of a marathon than a sprint, and thus Giant fans should keep this win in proper perspective. Nevertheless, the Giants 31-17 win over the Eagles was both impressive and very important. Indeed, if it weren’t for some costly Giant miscues and some truly remarkable catches by the Eagle receivers, this game would have been a blowout for New York. Most importantly, with the Giants’ 21 point second half lead quickly slipping away at the hands of back-up quarterback Rodney Peete, this Giant team showed that, unlike its recent predecessors, it would not let this game get away from them. This is the league’s youngest team and every win early in the season is critical for developing its confidence and belief in itself.
Quarterbacks: Dave Brown (13-for-27, 193 yards, no interceptions) had a so-so game. The good news was that he led the Giants on two TD drives — one finishing on a TD run by himself and the second finishing on a TD pass to WR Chris Calloway right before halftime. Really David should have had two more TD tosses. He hit a wide open WR Thomas Lewis on a play where Lewis should have scored on a long TD pass, but Lewis tripped over his own feet after making the catch. Then in the third quarter, Brown hit WR Ike Hilliard right in the hands in the endzone, but Ike dropped the ball (the Giants had to settle for a field goal). In the first quarter, Fassel called a marvelously designed play that had Brown faking a reverse to Hilliard then rolling right and tossing the ball over the head of the leaping safety to a wide open FB Charles Way who was off to the races — a 62 yard play that set up the Giants inside the Eagles’ 10 yard line. Brown then scored a few plays later on a called quarterback draw right up the middle (a play from the old Reeves’ playbook). Where Brown looked very sharp was on the drive right before halftime. Running the two minute offense, Brown threw an excellent deep sideline pass to HB Tiki Barber, who was well covered. He then made a clutch TD throw as time was running out to Chris Calloway — however, Calloway “saved” Brown on this play by making a wonderful one-handed grab as the pass was slightly off the mark. He also made a really sharp pass to Ike Hilliard on 3rd-and-17 which set up the Giants’ field goal in the third quarter.
The bad news was that Brown’s accuracy was not as impressive as it was in the preseason. Part of this we blame on opening day jitters in front of a somewhat hostile “home” crowd. However, there were times in the game where Brown looked uncomfortably like last year as it seemed the pressure of the game got to him, especially in the second half when the Giants needed to put together some first downs in order to run time off the clock. There were too many three-and-outs in the second half and one could see Head Coach Jim Fassel trying to settle down Brown on the sideline. Indeed, the Giants’ passing offense seemed to be missing the quick timing it had throughout camp and the preseason. Perhaps it had to do with the receivers having problems getting open, perhaps it had to do with indecision on the part of Brown, perhaps it had to do with the playcalling — but whatever the reason, it was fairly obvious that many of the plays lacked a certain smoothness and that Brown was well off on a number of his second half passes.
Regardless, a win is a win and in the end, that is all that truly matters. Eagle Head Coach Ray Rhodes and Defensive Coordinator Emmitt Thomas know how to defend against this type of offense and some credit must be given to them. For Brown and his offensive teammates, putting 24 points on the board against a tough defense has to help their confidence. Just as importantly, with more experience in this offense, things should get even better.
Running Backs: HB Tiki Barber (20 carries for 88 yards and one TD; 3 catches for 32 yards) played well, but not as impressively as some would have you believe. Barber is a quick, elusive back who seems to make the big run or get stuffed at the line of scrimmage. What is needed from him is more consistent and regularly occurring plays for positive yardage. Right now, for each 20 yard run, there seems to be too many plays for 1 or 2 yards. Of course, much of this must be blamed on the inconsistent run blocking. Tiki’s best run of the day came on the Giants’ scoring drive right before halftime as he showed moves, cutback ability, and an ability to break tackles. He also made a wonderful deep sideline catch on the same drive. While Tiki didn’t fumble, we’d also like to see him protect the ball a little better when running in traffic. He also is still dropping too many short passes.
FB Charles Way wasn’t used as much offensively as he probably normally will be later in the season as many times he was kept in the backfield to help out Roman Oben. Way did have a 62-yard catch-and-run that set up the Giants’ first touchdown.
In a move that speaks volumes, Tyrone Wheatley saw no action with the offense except for one play where he did not touch the ball.
Wide Receivers/Tight Ends: Aside from Chris Calloway, not a good game from this group, which much is expected from. Calloway (4 catches for 42 yards) had a very good game. Not only did he make the one-handed TD grab, but he also made a leaping catch of a high Brown sideline pass where he outfought the Eagle defender for the ball. Poor Thomas Lewis. In the preseason, he dropped a sure TD pass from Brown and in this game, he caught a sure TD pass, but tripped over his own feet with no Eagle defender around him. Obviously, Thomas (1 catch for 34 yards) has the talent, but he’s having some problem upstairs — if you know what we mean. Ike Hilliard made a fantastic grab on a crossing route where he got hammered as he caught the ball, but dropped two other passes, including a TD — we attribute this more to opening day jitters as well. Amani Toomer saw some action, but he and Brown seemed to be on different pages on a deep route into the endzone — based on Brown’s reactions, it seems as if Toomer ran the wrong route.
Like the preseason, the tight ends were not passed to much. Howard Cross dropped one pass in heavy traffic, but came through later in the game with a tough catch with a defender all over him. Aaron Pierce played quite a bit, but was not passed to.
Offensive Line: A fairly solid game, though Roman Oben had some rough moments with DE Mike Mamula. The good news was the Giants “only” gave up two sacks — though Brown was under heavy pressure at other times. Interestingly, Oben was having more problems with Mamula’s inside moves than his outside stuff. However, for a first time starter on opening day, Oben didn’t do too bad. Greg Bishop gave up a sack as well, but was solid for most of the game. Derek Engler was not a liability, and aside from a false start penalty on Gragg, the right side was very strong. Right now, we’re actually more concerned about the Giants’ run blocking than their pass blocking. If the Giants are going to become a playoff contender, they can’t become one-dimensional — they need to be able to run the ball as well as pass it.
Defensive Line: Give Defensive Coordinator John Fox and his staff credit — the Giants played a wonderful defensive game, despite the fact that the Eagles tried to take advantage of the Giants’ losses at cornerback by employing multiple wide receiver sets throughout the game. The line played a very strong game. Amazingly, the Giants picked up nine quarterback sacks, although many of these came in the waning moments of the game as the Eagles were desperately attempting to make a comeback. As a matter of fact, early on in the game, the Giants’ pass rush was lacking as Ty Detmer had too much time to complete passes. However, as the game progressed, Detmer and then Rodney Peete were running for their lives. Against the run, the Giants were very strong early on, but let up somewhat during the Eagles’ comeback in the late third and early fourth quarters. Nevertheless, despite what the statistics indicate, the Eagles’ running game never really hurt the Giants. As for the specifics, both DE Michael Strahan and DT Robert Harris played extremely well. Strahan picked up 2.5 sacks and was strong against the run for the most part. He and OLB Corey Miller did get pushed too far outside on one big Watters’ run, but for the most part the Eagles couldn’t pick up significant yardage to the right side. Harris had a very strong game. Indeed, Harris was found at the bottom of the pile in many thwarted Eagle rushing attempts up the middle. In the pass rush department, he picked up 1.5 sacks and regularly exerted pressure up the middle. Playing quieter games were DE Chad Bratzke (1 sack) and DT Keith Hamilton (1 sack). Bratzke was both up-and-down in the run defense department. Most of the time, he played strong and strung plays wide or made the tackle. However, he got pinched inside on one big Eagle run to the left side. Hamilton had a fair game in the run defense and pass rush department, but he wasn’t as active as Harris. Surprisingly before he was forced to leave the game with a knee injury, DE Cedric Jones played quite a bit and didn’t look too bad. DT Ray Agnew played a lot as well and was fairly solid.
Linebackers: OLB Jessie Armstead was hitting machine all day as he made a number of highlight-reel hits on both defense and special teams. Jessie was handled by FB Kevin Turner on one run, but did well in coverage, against the run, and on the blitz. He’s turning into a real player and leader on defense. Corey Miller (1 sack) came free on one blitz too and just barely missed sacking the quarterback again on another play. Miller had superb coverage on Turner in the endzone, but was outfought for the ball and the play resulted in a TD. Corey Widmer was sent on a number of inside dogs and his pressure of Peete led directly to Garnes’ interception and TD return. Widmer also did well in getting over to cover the flats. Either Marcus Buckley’s hip is still bothering him or Scott Galyon has moved ahead of him on the depth chart as Galyon has now become one of the Giants’ nickel linebackers (along with Armstead). Ryan Phillips played late in the game and picked up a sack.
Defensive Backs: Very strong game for this group, even without Phillippi Sparks and Conrad Hamilton. Really the Eagle comeback was more the result of some spectacular catches by Eagle wide receivers than breakdowns in coverage. CB Robert Massey played a lot due to the fact that the Eagles played multiple WR sets much of the game, and he didn’t disappoint. Both Jason Sehorn and Thomas Randolph did a good job covering their men, though Randolph still plays too far off the ball and Sehorn still has problems in the tackling department. The Eagles picked up a first down on 4th-and-long late in the game because Jason wasn’t aggressive enough attacking the Eagle receiver after he caught the ball. Sehorn was sent on quite a few blitzes and picked up a sack. Randolph got obliterated on a number of runs to his side, but at least he stuck his nose in there.
Sam Garnes was not that noticeable for most of the game (and that’s usually a good thing for a defensive back), but he made the play of the game when he thwarted the Eagles’ comeback by picking off Peete at the Giants’ five yard line and returned the ball 95 yards for a touchdown. Tito Wooten was around the ball the whole game, both against the run and the pass. Percy Ellsworth made a couple of nice sticks and was also generally around the ball.
Special Teams: The Giants outplayed the Eagles in this department and this was a large factor in the win. Thomas Lewis redeemed himself when he broke the opening half kick-off and returned the ball to inside the Eagles’ 10 yard line — much credit must be given to the blocking on the return as Lewis had a huge hole to run through right up the middle of the field. Kick coverage, a real sore spot in the preseason, was very strong. Aside from one near game-turning punt return, the Giants also did well in covering punts, as Jessie Armstead and David Patten made nice plays. Patten may have saved the game with his hustle running across the field to knock the Eagle punt returner out of bounds on Philadelphia’s one big return. Frustratingly, after a perfect preseason, Brad Daluiso showed once again that he cannot make the long kick on a consistent basis as he missed a 48 yarder. He also came awfully close to missing the one field goal he made. Brad did well on his kickoffs, however. Brad Maynard punted well on all but one of his punts. Amani Toomer continues to do too much dancing and runs to the sidelines on all of his punt returns.