Approach to the Game – Arizona Cardinals at New York Giants, November 16, 1997: Last week’s loss to the Oilers hurts because the Giants no longer have any room for error. If they are going to have any credible shot at winning the NFC East, they must beat the Cardinals on Sunday and move to 4-0 in the all important division race. Key to all future wins will be the play of the defense and special teams because the Giants simply lack the offensive firepower right now to get into a scoring match with most teams. The Cardinals are starting a promising young quarterback, but he is a rookie without the advantage of a strong running game to support him. The Giants’ defense needs to take control of this game and set up the offense for some easy scores. Same story with the special teams.
Giants on Defense: The defense must keep the Cardinals one-dimensional and that means taking away whatever threat their running game poses. The two men on the spot when it comes to playing the running game will be new starters OLB Marcus Buckley on the strongside and DE Cedric Jones on the weakside. The Cardinals are likely to test both and try to play a very physical game. To keep pressure on rookie quarterback Jake Plummer, the Giants need to force the Cardinals into long yardage situations on both second and third down. HB’s Leeland McElroy and LeShon Johnson have had big games in the past when allowed to get untracked — the Giants need to close the door on them. They didn’t do that last week against the Oilers and HB Eddie George. In particular, let’s hope the Giants tackling improves this week. It’s also about time the defense start forcing more fumbles with big hits. Inside, DT Keith Hamilton, though double-teamed, has been far too quiet in the last few games. He needs to regain his fire and make an impact again.
Against the passing game, the cornerbacks must start making more plays. Granted a lot of pressure is being placed on CB’s Phillippi Sparks and Jason Sehorn in the new defensive schemes, but if they ever want to be considered the best in the game, they have to make some game-deciding plays in the Giants favor. WR’s Rob Moore and Frank Sanders are capable targets who can make plays when given an opportunity. It will be Sparks’ and Sehorn’s job to make sure they don’t get that opportunity. Of course the best ally for a cornerback is a good pass rush. Cedric Jones is bound to be more than a little rusty after not playing regularly for two years, but he has the tools to be a much stronger pass rushing presence than Chad Bratzke. Inside, Robert Harris has been very active rushing the passer and let’s hope that continues. Like Hamilton, DE Michael Strahan has slipped a little bit in recent weeks. The Giants need both Strahan and Hamilton to apply CONSISTENT pass pressure on Plummer. If they do, they may cause the rookie to throw into coverage. Disguising the coverages would also help and we hope Defensive Coordinator John Fox makes things difficult for their quarterback by giving him different looks.
Most importantly, the Giants’ defense must control the tone of this game. Force three-and-outs and get the Giants’ offense back on the field with good field position. No mistakes, no let-ups — especially after the Giants score. If the Giants turn the ball over, the defense must not allow the Cardinals to score points off the turnover. Beat the Cardinals into the turf and keep them there until the final whistle blows. The time for talking about how good the defense is has long since passed — prove it on the field.
Giants on Special Teams: This is the other area of the team where the Giants need to outplay their opponent. Create good field position for the Giants’ offense while making the Cardinals work the length of the field. Too many costly mistakes were made in the kick return game last week. Erric Pegram can’t let the ball bounce past him or muff it. That has to stop right now. Pegram doesn’t have a lot of speed so he isn’t going to break any big returns, but if the blockers can make some room for him, he can pick up some decent field position if he runs up the football field. On punt returns, Toomer is starting to even get chewed out by his own teammates for running towards the sideline so much (see Jason Sehorn’s reaction last week). Amani! Run up the damn football field. Remember the result against Detroit? Special teams coverage units can also set a tone for the game by being physical and making big hits. But they must also play smart — no breakdowns in coverage! The Cardinals are a desperate team with little to lose so they may try some trick plays — the Giants need to be alert for this as well. P Brad Maynard has been an improvement over Mike Horan, but he’s not playing as well as he is capable of. His hangtime is fine, but he should be getting better distance and his coffin corner punting has been very inconsistent.
Giants on Offense: To play it conservative or open it up? To rely on the running game or use the passing game to put points on the board? That is the big question. The last time the Giants faced the Cardinals, the Giants literally ran the ball up and down the field on them. That isn’t likely to happen again. The Cardinals just have too many good players on defense with too much pride. Nevertheless, the Giants must run the football. The left side of the Giants’ offensive line is coming off of a sub-par performance and they need to regroup, particularly OG Greg Bishop. LT Roman Oben faces the always dangerous Simeon Rice again and RG Ron Stone may face All-World Eric Swann (who is ailing with a hamstring injury). The running game has been picking up steam in recent weeks because the offensive line is starting to come together in the run game. The biggest beneficiaries of this have been HB Ty Wheatley (who played his best game as a Giant last week) and FB Charles Way (who didn’t receive many opportunities last week). Wheatley is starting to make plays for bigger yardage, but we’re still waiting for the big run where he goes the distance. If we were Head Coach Jim Fassel, we wouldn’t pull Wheatley out of an ongoing drive unless the situation called for it (i.e., 3rd-and-long). Tyrone is the type of back who needs to be allowed to get into a rhythm. The dilemma is that Tiki Barber may be the better back. How to get him involved is a key question. Perhaps, Fassel should give Barber every third offensive series and let him work himself back into the flow of things.
You had better believe the Cardinals are coming into this game with one major defensive goal — stop the run. Look for the Cards to play eight men up in the box and dare the Giants to throw the football. We wouldn’t stay conservative — we would accept the challenge by utilizing the backs and tight ends in the passing game. Despite Chris Calloway’s big play against CB Aeneas Williams the last time these two teams met, Williams is talented enough to shut Chris down. At the same time, while the Cards’ linebackers are good run defenders (especially MLB Eric Hill), they aren’t top-notch in the pass defense department. Thus, on first down we would throw to the backs and tight ends. These are short, safe throws that will help to build Kanell’s rhythm and confidence, and help open things up in the running game. The risk is the turnover, sack, or even incompletion. Kanell is still an inexperienced back and the Cardinals know Fassel’s system. However, we’re not sure the Giants can move the ball without taking some chances.
Fassel sent TE Aaron Pierce down the field last week and we hope this continues. On the other hand, we also hope he stops sending Cross and Pierce on those two yard out patterns that generate nothing. This is a big game for WR Kevin Alexander. He will be facing promising rookie CB Tom Knight, but the Giants need Kevin to win this match-up. It looks like WR Amani Toomer is getting more chances and he needs to deliver when the ball comes his way. He has the physical tools to take charge of a game if he can keep his head on straight, run good routes, adjust when necessary, and make the catch. WR David Patten isn’t getting the job done.
As for Danny Kanell, last week was a learning experience for him. The Oilers threw the book at him by running different coverages and blitzing him a lot. Look for the Cards to follow this game plan. Some of Danny’s decisions were questionable and he must be careful not to force the ball into double-coverage. It will be interesting to see how he performs this week after tasting some failure. This will also be a big game for the backs and linemen picking up the blitz. If they can do so, then the Giants just may hit some big plays on the Cards’ defense.