New York Giants 7 – Washington Redskins 7
Overview: What a bizarre game! The Giants-Redskins contest in Maryland had more emotional ups and downs than a Greek tragedy. Each team could have won, each team deserved to win, but in the end, neither team could put together enough offense to pull off the victory and the game ended in an unusual 7-7 tie.
We had said in our preview that for the Giants to win, they would have to run the ball, stop the run, commit fewer turnovers, and outplay the Redskins on special teams. Strangely, the Giants did all of those things, yet still could not win. The Giants’ defense was magnificent. For one game, it was as good as it ever was when LT, Harry Carson, and George Martin roamed the field in the 1980’s. Aside from one Terry Allen burst, the Giants completely shut down the vaunted Redskin running game — despite the fact that the Skins had all their linemen and Allen healthy. The Giants’ offense started off running the ball well and continued to outperform the Redskins throughout the contest, but sputtered at key moments. The Redskins turned the ball over four times — the Giants only once (we’re not counting the last second Hail Mary interception). New York kept Brian Mitchell in check on kick and punt returns. So how did the Giants not win?
The answer is simple: the Giants’ passing game just could not get it done on Sunday night. As expected, the Redskins’ secondary took the Giants’ wide receivers out of the game and the Giants’ backs and tight ends could not compensate. Because the Redskins did not fear the Giants’ receivers, they were able to play SS Jesse Campbell close to the line of scrimmage and thus hamper the running game. When QB Danny Kanell tried to get the ball to the receivers, they could not break free and Kanell ended up holding onto the ball longer than he should have. To exacerbate matters, there were plenty of mental and physical mistakes which killed any remaining fleeting hope of moving the ball into scoring position.
But give the Redskins some credit too. Their defense was also magnificent and they played with a great deal of fire and hustle on Sunday night. They were a desperate team who simply could not afford to lose this game. Nevertheless, the Giants blew an excellent opportunity to take command of the division. The Giants’ defense forced three turnovers and stopped the Skins on 4th-and-inches in overtime alone, yet the offense couldn’t get into realistic field goal position. Because the G-Men couldn’t win what ultimately turned out to be a very winnable game, they now find themselves in a dog fight with Washington and Dallas.
Let’s be brutally honest here. The Giants simply do not have enough talent at wide receiver and tight end to consistently beat teams with good defenses, especially good secondaries. The problem for the Giants is that the final four opponents on their schedule have good defenses, and three of them (Eagles, Redskins, and Dallas) have outstanding secondaries. If the Giants are going to win the division, their defense, special teams, and running game will have to carry them. Will that be enough?
Quarterback: When a team wins, the quarterback receives more of the credit than he deserves and win a team loses, the quarterback receivers more of the blame than he deserves. Kanell’s problem against the Redskins is that he often had nowhere to throw the ball. CB’s Darrell Green and Chris Dishman took the Giants’ receivers out of the game, one-on-one, and allowed the Skins’ linebackers to focus on the backs and tight ends. However, Kanell often made matters worse by not throwing the ball away when nothing was there. The result? Six sacks, a few of which were not the offensive line’s fault. We do not think that Kanell got rattled as some have suggested. Instead, we think he tried to do too much and make plays himself. You could see the frustration building on his face as nothing developed down field for him. Kanell is a young quarterback with limited NFL experience, and that inexperience showed Sunday night.
Wide Receivers: Green and Dishman toyed with the Giants’ receivers all night. The Skins kept Green on Chris Calloway for most of the game, even when Chris moved to the slot — a move which we suggested in our game preview but obviously didn’t work. Calloway is a nice receiver, but he’s not really going to scare a quality cornerback like Green. In fact, we thought Green’s first interference call on Calloway that set up the Giants’ only touchdown was highly questionable. Regardless of the flag, Calloway dropped that pass — a very catchable ball. He also committed a costly holding penalty after a good Ty Wheatley run. Part of Calloway’s problem is that whoever is playing opposite of him is not getting the job done. David Patten was on the field a lot and didn’t make any plays. He doesn’t seem to be in sync with Kanell at all, and when he runs his patterns, there doesn’t ever seem to be any deception to routes. For the second time this season, Fassel admitted to the press that Kevin Alexander ran the wrong route on a play. Luckily, both plays were successful (Kevin’s 40-yard catch against the Bengals and Calloway’s TD catch against the Skins), but we wonder if much of the Giants’ passing woes have to do with receivers constantly being out of position. WR Amani Toomer may have been on the field a lot, but it didn’t seem that way to us. He made a real nice catch in overtime to keep a drive alive. We really would like to see him given more chances than Patten — a guy who has only played one good game all year. A few times during the game, ESPN isolated cameras on the Giants’ wide receivers and this camera work made it quite clear where the problem was with the Giants’ passing game — it wasn’t Kanell, it was the receivers. Somebody other than Calloway MUST step up down the stretch. If they don’t, the Giants are in deep trouble.
Tight Ends: Virtually invisible and we are not sure why. We don’t know if it was the fact that Fassel kept them in to help out on pass protection like earlier in the season, if they couldn’t get off the line of scrimmage, if they couldn’t separate from a defender, or if Kanell couldn’t or wouldn’t get the ball to them? Whatever the reason, the Giants’ lack of production at this position is a joke. Howard Cross remains a top notch blocker and the Giants had great success early in the game running behind Cross, Scott Gragg, and Ron Stone. Aaron Pierce did catch one short pass, but it obviously wasn’t enough.
Running Backs: Inconsistent production, thought much of this had to do with inconsistent run blocking and too many Redskins to block at the line of scrimmage. Tyrone Wheatley started off very strong, faltered, and had some late moments. Indeed, we thought Ty ran exceptionally hard on his inside runs, especially early on the first drive. He got his shoulder pads down, ran with good speed, vision, and power. On one run, he carried a number of tacklers 3-4 yards more in a very Bavaro-like run. Very impressive. Where Wheatley regressed somewhat is in his ball security. He fumbled one ball that the Giants were extremely fortunate to recover and could have been called for a second fumble on the first drive. Wheatley came ever so close to ending the game in overtime. On a right side sweep, with FB Charles Way leading the way, Wheatley displayed his great speed by turning the corner and nearly broke it for a TD down the sideline. If he only was able to keep his balance!!! HB Tiki Barber was very active in the passing game, but was very much limited after suffering a hamstring injury. It was fairly obvious that he couldn’t explode into and out of his cuts or use his speed like he likes to after the injury. In fact, we question keeping him in the game. Way had another impressive game running the ball, but his 3rd-and-1 drop of a Kanell pass late in the game might have cost the Giants their best chance for victory. Way also fumbled the ball, but recovered. Charles continues to amaze with his ability not only to run with power inside, but also outside the tackles. HB Erric Pegram was quiet. In an interesting move, at one point in the game with their backs to their own endzone, Fassel had FB’s Charles Way and Eric Lane both in the backfield together.
Offensive Line: Inconsistent. At times, the line provided the runners with impressive holes and Kanell with plenty of time. At other times, the running backs had nowhere to run and Kanell had no chance. LT Roman Oben had his roughest game of the season. OLB Ken Harvey out-quicked and overpowered Oben for two sacks. The Giants’ interior trio had problems with DT William Gaines, a journeyman, all night. OG Greg Bishop was beaten by Gaines and Wheatley was nailed in the backfield on a critical 3rd-and-1 on the first drive. Gaines also overpowered OC Lance Scott on another play. However, to be fair to the line, the Redskins did commit eight men to stop the run and it is extremely difficult to run the ball in such situations. Also, one of the Redskins’ sacks by Harvey came when their was no back in the backfield to pick up the blitz. The other sacks were the result of receivers not being able to get open and Kanell holding the ball too long. Nevertheless, the Giants were provided with many excellent opportunities to win the game in overtime if only they could have picked up one or two first downs. The offensive line could have made a statement and decided the contest there and then. Instead, the Giants’ ball carriers were often hammered at or behind the line of scrimmage.
Defensive Line: Outstanding. As good as we have ever seen the Giants play. Everyone stood out. Inside, Robert Harris (0.5 sacks) and Keith Hamilton (1.5 sacks) terrorized the Skins’ inside running game. Harris ate up OG Bob Dahl all night and Hamilton played as well as we ever seen anyone play against OG Tre Johnson. DE Michael Strahan picked up his 12th sack of the season and was equally strong against the run. Early on in the contest the Redskins continually ran at DE Cedric Jones and could get nothing going. Jones also looked impressive in the pass rush department on a couple of plays where he buzzed by or hit Frerotte as he threw the ball. Unfortunately, Jones re-injured his left knee and was forced to leave the game. In came DE Bernard Holsey and the Redskins couldn’t run on him either. Holsey was also spotted buzzing the Redskin quarterbacks on a number of occasions. Even DT Ray Agnew got into the act and smashed Terry Allen in the backfield on one play. For all intents and purposes, the Redskins were humiliated up front in a way that we haven’t seen in a long, long time. We just hope these guys keep it going.
Linebackers: Excellent. Weakside backer Jessie Armstead was all over the field making plays, both defending the run and playing the pass. He made a terrific play tacking Allen for a big loss on a right-side sweep and also batted down a ball at the line of scrimmage. MLB Corey Widmer had a big night too. He made a number of sure tackles of Allen and once again looked good in coverage too — a supposed weakness of his. Strongside backer Marcus Buckley looked pretty bad in trying to bring Allen down on Allen’s only big run of the evening, but aside from that play had a good evening. He also tackled Allen in the backfield and made plays in coverage. The Giants did an excellent job of shutting down TE Jamie Asher. The one breakdown in the undercoverage occurred when TE James Jenkins was left all alone for a big play — something we warned against. His catch and run set up the Skins touchdown. Ryan Phillips finally saw some action and didn’t look bad. The Giants had him rushing some from the right side on a few occasions.
Defensive Backs: We thought these guys played a much better game this week. The Skins made some outstanding plays against CB’s Jason Sehorn and Phillippi Sparks — plays that are virtually impossible to defend. For example, on one completion to WR Henry Ellard against Sparks, Sparks was all over the play, but the ball was delivered just as Ellard made his cut. On another play, Sparks was picked by another Giant and WR Michael Westbrook made a big play. Westbrook gave Sehorn some problems on quick slants, but this was more the result of the called coverage, than a physical breakdown. The only problem we had with Sehorn on Sunday night was with his tackling. He forgot to wrap up twice and let his man get away after initial contact. Jason made a terrific play in overtime when he read the Skins’ receiver perfectly and actually cut before the receiver did an picked off the ball. SS Sam Garnes made a nice play colliding with the Skins’ fullback as the ball was delivered — the ensuing ricochet was intercepted by Sparks. Phillippi also made a superb interception in overtime on an Ellard comeback route and also came up with a sack earlier in the game — the first time we can remember the Giants blitzing Sparks this year. Tito Wooten also had a very active game and was regularly around the ball. Percy Ellsworth continues to read quarterbacks well and positions himself for picks, but once again dropped the ball (there was a penalty on the play regardless). CB Conrad Hamilton, who has been unfairly blamed for the TD to Frank Sanders last week (one Giants’ publication has said that Ellsworth blew the play), has had a rough year nevertheless. Hamilton was flagged for two illegal contact penalties on 3rd-and-long situations ON THE SAME DRIVE. Hamilton is a better player than he has been showing of late.
Special Teams: Surprisingly, the Giants were not outplayed on specials. P Brad Maynard remains inconsistent. Some of his punts were very good, but at other times, they were very mediocre. His biggest problem remains his directional punting on coffin corner punts. He always seems to nail the ball into the endzone or near the 20-yard line, but rarely in between — very strange. However, his superb hangtime and solid punt coverage kept the dangerous Brian Mitchell in check. The Giants also did a great job on Mitchell on his three kick returns. Brandon Sanders and Doug Colman stood out in this department. On the negative side, the blocking on punt and kick returns remains terrible — though the Redskins’ punter deserves much of the credit for keeping Amani Toomer in check. To us, the strangest aspect of the special teams play was Brad Daluiso. For a guy with a strong leg who has kicked a number of 50+ field goal attempts in his career, including one game winner in 1993 which was into a stiff wind, Brad showed absolutely no confidence in himself on Sunday. It has been reported for a number of years that Brad has kicked 60+ yard field goals in practice and Head Coach Jim Fassel wanted to give him a chance at the end of regulation at a 64 yarder, but Daluiso told Fassel he couldn’t make it. Brad also looked unsure of himself on his 54-yard attempt later in overtime that was way left. Granted, that is a tough kick, but clutch players make clutch plays in tight situations. His last attempt (which didn’t count because of a Redskin timeout), another 54-yarder, was blocked…or to be more correct, hit a Giant in the backside. The kick couldn’t have been more than two yards off the ground — a poor effort even if it didn’t count.