St. Louis Rams 13 – New York Giants 3
Overview: This was truly a terrible football game, as two pathetic offenses, and more specifically, two pathetic offensive lines, struggled mightily to move the football and put points on the board. The heart of the Giants problems on Sunday was the poor play of the offensive line. The running backs had no holes to run through and Dave Brown had little time. Yet despite all of this, the Giants were in this game until very late due to the superb play of the defensive front seven. Week after week, for the last three years, this team continually finds a way to lose football games. One week, the offense plays well, but the defense falls apart; the next week, the defense plays well, but the offense lets the rest of the team down. At 1-3, those few optimistic Giant fans out there should forget about any playoff berth. What we should focus on is evaluating the true talent level of the players, and the development of the new offensive and defensive systems. Due to injuries, poor drafting in the first round, and inexperience, this is not a good football team.
Quarterbacks: Many fans are going to lay the blame on this one on Dave Brown again, but we beg to differ. Brown had little time, no running game to help him out, and receivers who had trouble getting open. The tone for the offense was set on the first Giant offensive play when there was a mix-up on the exchange to the running back and Dave Brown was knocked out of the game due to a blow to the head. Danny Kanell came in and missed an open Amani Toomer by throwing too high. Danny was then sacked and fumbled the ball away. With the running game struggling, Danny couldn’t get the team moving on his next possession either. When Brown returned, the Giants’ offense was continually hampered by poor run blocking and stupid penalties that kept erasing positive gains and/or setting the Giants back in more and more unfavorable down-and-distance situations. With all the three-and-outs on offense, and one long Ram drive in the second quarter, Brown and the offense hardly had the ball for most of the first half.
In the second half, the running game continued to struggle, but Brown was more successful hitting receivers on shorter stuff over the middle, especially to FB Charles Way. The Giants began a number of drives, but every time they got something going, a penalty would set them back. Brown had a chance to take the lead as he threw a little too late on a deep fly pattern to Kevin Alexander, but the Rams’ safety made a great play coming over and making the interception. If Brown had thrown, the ball slightly sooner, a TD pass would have resulted. He also put too much air under the ball and underthrew an open Chris Calloway on another deep pass in the 4th quarter. However, for the most part, Dave showed a lot of guts and toughness as he was repeatedly put in difficult down-and-distance situations, yet stood tough in the pocket and delivered the ball despite getting hammered by the Rams’ defense.
Offensive Line: If Giant fans are looking for scape goats, blame this unit. They were awful on Sunday. No one on the line could get a push on the Rams’ defensive line on running plays and pass protection took a step backwards after a solid effort against the Ravens. The line was passive and confused — a terrible combination. Mental mistakes only exacerbated matters. RT Scott Gragg was flagged repeatedly for false starts and a personal foul penalty. Greg Bishop made an incredible stupid play by hitting a Ram defender in the back after the play for another personal foul. Derek Engler’s shot-gun snaps were continually off the mark — one skipping along the ground and reaching the fullback, rather than the quarterback. RG Ron Stone struggled all game with DT DeMarco Farr. Roman Oben did a decent job on Leslie O’Neil at times and struggled at other times. RB’s Tiki Barber and Tyrone Wheatley continually ran into a brick wall up front and the Giants faced far, far too many 2nd-and-long, and 3rd-and-long situations in this game. Unless the offensive line gets it act together, the Giants will continue to flounder on offense this year. Unfortunately, there isn’t much help on the horizon. The only back-ups capable of replacing starters are Jerry Reynolds and Rob Zatechka. The injury to Brian Williams is really hurting the entire line. Either through free agency or the draft, the Giants need to come up with a new starting guard and better depth here next year.
Tight Ends: With all the problems the Giants are having running the football, Howard Cross and Aaron Pierce must accept some of the blame in the blocking department. Cross caught one ball on an outlet pass, but couldn’t come through on his two other chances. If we were Fassel, we’d get Aaron Pierce in there and see what he can do as a receiver. Right now, opposing offenses do not fear the tight end for obviously good reason and are thus allowed to focus more on the running backs coming out of the backfield. On many passes to the backs, there was one and many times two Ram defenders well-positioned to stop the play. Hitting the tight end over the middle would help deter such quick coverage on the backs as the linebackers and safeties would have to defend more of the field. The Giants need to draft a tight end high next year.
Receivers: For the most part, invisible. Amani Toomer and Thomas Lewis did absolutely nothing all game. Dave Brown and Lewis looked like they miscommunicated on two plays, and based on Dave’s reactions, it would seem Lewis was at fault. Inexcusable! We’ve given up on Thomas. We were delighted to see Kevin Alexander enter the game and make some plays. He caught a deep pass on a sideline route, but was called out of bounds. However, his aggressiveness in going up for the ball is nice to see from a Giant wideout — something Lewis should learn. Kevin then made a big play to pick up a first down later in the game. Chris Calloway made a couple of nice catches, but is he really the guy you want in your #1 wide receiver? The Giants really miss Ike Hilliard. Pray that Toomer or Alexander come on, or the team will have to spend another high draft pick here next year.
Running Backs: FB Charles Way was the Giants’ offense. Indeed, he’s the only player besides Alexander who we thought had a good game on offense. Way is a sure-handed target for Brown with a little wiggle to make the first defender miss after the catch. Fassel should try to get the ball into his hands at least 10-15 times each game. Way also looked good running the ball, despite the poor blocking up front. Tiki Barber was knocked out of the game for a short period of time after a vicious hit, on a play where he fumbled once again (though, this time he had a decent excuse). Barber never had a chance with the ball in his hands as there was often no place to run. Many times he was hit in the backfield before the play even started. Same story with Tyrone Wheatley. Ram penetration had him cutting and avoiding tacklers BEHIND the line of scrimmage.
Defensive Line: Superb game from this group. Keith Hamilton had a monster game as he gave the Rams’ interior line fits all day on both running and passing plays. “Hammer” was in Rams’ QB Tony Banks’ face most of the game and picked up yet another sack. Keith also made an incredible play leaping over an offensive lineman to nail Lawrence Phillips for no gain on a 4th-and-inches play in the first quarter. It looks like the Giants made the right move in re-signing Hamilton for five years. Robert Harris was strong against the run, and picked up a “garbage” sack after pressure from Michael Strahan flushed Banks in his direction. Believe it or not, DE Chad Bratzke beat Orlando Pace badly to the inside and sacked Banks on the three-yard line of the Rams — a play on which Banks fumbled and if the Giants had recovered, they probably would have won the game. Even DT Ray Agnew played well defending the inside run. DE Cedric Jones saw a little playing time, and although he wasn’t a factor in rushing the passer, he was tough against the run too.
Linebackers: Along with Keith Hamilton, OLB Jessie Armstead was the star of game on defense. Armstead was all over the field in pass defense, in playing the run (often nailing the ball carrier behind the line of scrimmage), and picking up a sack. Armstead is a sure-tackler and a difference-maker. Along with Keith Hamilton, Michael Strahan, Phillippi Sparks, and Jason Sehorn, he gives the Giants a good foundation to build around. Corey Widmer also had a strong game, defending the inside the run. On the other hand, Corey Miller missed a couple of sacks. He also got caught too far outside on one of the Rams’ few big positive runs of the game. Interestingly, Scott Galyon replaced Marcus Buckley in the nickel. We like Scott a great deal due to his quickness and instincts, but Scott had a rough game. He missed an easy sack too and was beat in coverage by Amp Lee on a big play for the Rams.
Secondary: Decent game, but the Giants really needed someone to step up here and come up with some turnovers. Phillippi Sparks had a great game in coverage, but missed an interception that he would have returned for a TD (and probably won the game). Jason Sehorn only had a so-so game. He didn’t hurt the Giants, but didn’t make the kind of plays you expect from a high-priced cornerback. He was beat a couple of times on short out patterns and also was beaten deep (but luckily the ball was overthrown). SS Sam Garnes looked good helping out on deep coverage, but dropped his chance at an interception too. Percy Ellsworth made a nice play by knocking the ball away on one play, but he was late in helping out Sehorn on the incomplete deep pass. Tito Wooten was quiet. Conrad Hamilton replaced Thomas Randolph in the nickel but was beaten by Amp Lee on one play.
Special Teams: Brad Daluiso missed another 41 yarder. He also missed a 54-yarder. We can excuse him for the latter, but not the former. He’s walking on thin ice. P Brad Maynard did not punt particularly well. Kick and punt coverage was strong. Amani Toomer still dances too much on his punt returns. Thomas Lewis was OK on his kick returns, as was David Patten on his only chance.