Approach to the Game – New York Giants at Oakland Raiders, September 13, 1998: Sandwiched between two very important division games, this game has “letdown” written all over it. Besides the difficulties resulting from a cross-country trip, the Giants run the very real risk of taking the Raiders too lightly. Oakland is not as bad as it seemed last Sunday. Moreover, Raider head coach Jon Gruden (former Eagles’ offensive coordinator) knows the Giants’ personnel. Regardless, this is important game for the Giants. The team obviously would like to be 2-0 heading into its Monday night confrontation with Dallas rather than 1-1. If the Giants can keep their focus and intensity, as well as play smart, sound football and come away with a win, we will be VERY impressed.
Giants on Offense: The Raiders have a lot of explosive weapons and can put a lot of points up on the board, so a much better offensive performance this week will most likely be required if the Giants are to win. A ball-control attack that controls the clock and tempo of the game would be ideal. This is the game where we think the Giants might be able to start making some headway with their running game. The Raiders have two very good defensive tackles in Russell Maryland and Darrell Russell, but they are light at the ends and in the linebacking corps. We would run off-tackle on these guys for most of the day.
The key is to get an early lead.
The Raiders are most likely expecting the Giants to run the ball. Thus, look for their defensive coordinator to have his players crowd the line of scrimmage and dare the Giants’ wide receivers and QB Danny Kanell to beat them. We would use the passing game early on in the contest to set up the running game. The Raiders have three new starters in the secondary: the super-talented but raw CB Charles Woodson, CB Eric Allen (remember him guys?), and S Anthony Newman. Hopefully, Head Coach Jim Fassel has some tricks up his sleeve to confuse this group that hasn’t played long together. Such a passing attack would not only involve the wide receivers, but TE’s Alfred Pupunu and Howard Cross as well as RB’s Tiki Barber and Charles Way.
The onus will be clearly on the offensive line to successfully block, the receivers to get open, and QB Danny Kanell to deliver the ball accurately. Hurt the Raiders through the air — get them to back off their safeties from the line of scrimmage. Make the linebackers conscious of the backs catching passes. Put some points on the board and then switch to the ground game.
Interesting match-ups to watch will be LG Greg Bishop on DT Russell Maryland and RG Ron Stone (who is coming off a bad week for him) on DT Darrell Russell. If Bishop and Stone can control their opponents, the Raiders will be in a lot of trouble. If the Raiders win these match-ups, the Giants may have trouble moving the ball. It will also be interesting to see the veteran Eric Allen take on the green Ike Hilliard and the green Charles Woodson take on the veteran Chris Calloway. The Raiders will be counting on to win these match-ups. Hilliard and Calloway need to play good games. Also look for the Giants to continue to use multiple-WR formations in order to get Joe Jurevicius, Amani Toomer, and David Patten into the game. We wouldn’t be surprised at all to see Al Pupunu to have a big role either.
Giants on Defense: The way to beat the Raiders on offense is to be VERY physical with them. The Raiders are VERY dangerous offensively. They are loaded at the skill positions. QB Jeff George has a rocket for an arm, has very good accuracy, and a superb quick release. WR Tim Brown is one of the best wide receivers in the game. WR James Jett is a speed demon. TE Rickey Dudley can hurt teams with the big play over the middle. HB Napoleon Kaufman is the most explosive running back in the league. Where the Raiders are weak is in their foundation — the offensive line is not very good. The Giants’ defensive line must, absolutely must, dominate the Raider offensive line or the Giants will not win the game. We are very worried about two things: (1) since the Raider line was horrible last week, the coaches undoubtably have been riding them all week and they are likely to rebound somewhat, and (2) since the Giants’ defensive line was so dominant last week, we’re afraid their play might have gone to their collective heads. It had better not. DE Chad Bratzke and DE Michael Strahan should win their battles against LT Pat Harlow and RT Lincoln Kennedy, respectively. Both are better pass blockers than run blockers. DT Keith Hamilton draws the toughest assignment by facing LG Steve Wisniewski, a very tough, dirty player. It will be important for DT Robert Harris to have a good game against the pass and the run.
As always, the best way to beat a team is to make them one-dimensional. Take away the run and force them to pass. The more they pass, the more likely they are to make mistakes. Don’t let HB’s Napoleon Kaufman and Harvey Williams get going. Control the line of scrimmage. Aside from Wisniewski, the Raiders aren’t very tough up front. We hope the defensive line plays a very physical game. The linebackers also have to be quick to fill the holes inside and outside. If Kaufman gets a crease, he’s gone. Since the Raiders like to run sweeps to Kaufman and throw to him out of the backfield, sure-tackling in the secondary will be critical.
In the passing game, we’d like to keep WLB Jessie Armstead matched-up on Kaufman, but we aren’t sure how mobile Jessie (sprained ankle) will be. That could hurt. SS Sam Garnes and/or SLB Marcus Buckley also need to do a good job on TE Rickey Dudley. Jam him at the line and get into his face. Gruden also has a history of having his quarterbakc throw to the fullback. The Giants had better keep one eye on FB Jon Ritchie or Harvey Williams.
Three years ago, CB Phillippi Sparks played a great game against WR Tim Brown. He did so by being VERY physical with him at the line of scrimmage. We hope Phillippi plays in the same style. Same with Conrad Hamilton. James Jett doesn’t handle the bump-and-run very well. The good news is that Conrad likes to play a physical game. The risk is that Jett has more speed than Conrad and can blow right past him. It will be interesting to see who receives more playing time when the Giants go to their nickel — Shaun Williams or the newly signed Carlton Gray. Gray is very talented, but doesn’t know the defense yet.
Stuff the run. Then jam the receivers (including the tight end) and get after the passer. The best way to defeat a good passer like Jeff George is to get into his face and punish him.
But be careful. Gruden knows that the Giants’ pass rushers will most likely be licking their chops trying to inflate their sack totals against the team. He also knows the Giants run a very aggressive defense. Look out for screens, draws, and misdirection plays. Gruden will use these plays not only to move the ball, but to slow down the pass rush.
Giants on Special Teams: Can’t afford to lose this battle to the Raiders. We need strong kick-off and punt coverage. There were too many big plays given up on returns last week. Desmond Howard will be looking to redeem himself after two costly turnovers against the Chiefs. In the return game, it is interesting to note that Amani Toomer returned all the punts last week. Will the Giants try to cross the Raiders up this week by using Tiki Barber, who has a much different style? The blocking on kick-offs has gotten noticeably better the last couple of weeks. We hope this continues as we think it is only a matter of time before David Patten takes one the distance. The Raiders may try to come after Brad Maynard. There was a breakdown in punt protection against the Skins which the Raiders most likely noticed.