New York Giants 23 – Arizona Cardinals 19
Overview: Strange game. The Giants came back from a 10 point deficit to win the game despite the almost complete lack of any viable passing game. The story of the game was the play of the defensive line, offensive line, and running backs.
Quarterback: Kent Graham (8-out-of-23 for 144 yards, 2 interceptions, 1 touchdown) was pretty bad. Last week, I talked about how painful it was to see him try to hit a running back out of the backfield and very little changed this week. Kent threw badly behind a back early in the game. Most of his passing yards did come on a well executed screen pass (can you believe it? the Giants finally were able to run a screen pass!) that went for 87 yards and a score. To be fair, Graham was victimized by some dropped balls, but with the benefit of an outstanding running game, I think he only completed two passes in the second half of the game. Worse, his second interception almost cost the Giants the lead. I can’t ever remember a team winning a game completing just eight passes. Accuracy, or should I say lack thereof, continues to be Graham’s biggest problem. On the plus side, Kent’s pocket presence was pretty good and he did a good job stepping up.
Offensive Line: If it weren’t for all the stupid penalties, these guys would have had a wonderful game. Granted, the Cardinals were pretty beat up in the front seven. However, the offensive line simply dominated the line of scrimmage. Indeed, it was like watching a football game from the 1930’s as the Giants practically told the Cardinals, “We’re only going to run the ball. Let’s see if you can stop us.” And they couldn’t. The guy who really stuck out to me was RT Scott Gragg. For the second time this season, Gragg shut down the first defensive player taken in the draft, Andre Wadsworth. Moreover, Gragg wasn’t penalized once in the game (a minor miracle considering all the infractions his teammates picked up). Also, let’s give Gragg some credit. Remember all those false start penalties last year from him. Well, Gragg has really improved in that department by doing a better job of playing disciplined football. I’ve also focused a lot on LT Roman Oben’s pass blocking all year, but his run blocking is coming along nicely. He controlled the corner on numerous occasions. I saw OC Lance Scott do a good job of making initial contact with a defensive tackle and then coming off and taking out a linebacker. Much of the success of the inside running game and outside pulls goes to the guards, Ron Stone and Greg Bishop. Stone made a couple of very nice blocks on Tiki Barber’s 87-yard TD, including an all-hustle down-the-field block. The only negative with Stone is that I’d like to see him sustain his blocks better. The big negative was all the penalties, with Oben and Bishop being the main culprits.
Tight Ends: Howard Cross (1 catch for nine yards) once again blocked like an extra offensive lineman. Cross is one of the few tight ends in the game who can handle a defensive end by himself. Unfortunately, Cross fumbled the ball on his only catch (a big time hustle play from FB Charles Way saved the day). Andy Haase (1 catch for six yards) made another catch and played quite a bit in a two-TE set. He is impressing me more and more and looks to have a possible bright future as a back-up. Haase has nice hands.
Running Backs: Outstanding. Back in training camp, I thought Gary Brown looked like the best of the bunch (see my old camp report). With each passing week, he is getting more and more in sync with the offensive line. What impressed me most about Brown (25 carries for 124 yards, for nearly a 5.0 yards-per-carry average) was not all the yards he picked up, but the desire he played with. He’s one tough son of a gun and wouldn’t give up without a fight. Brown ran well both inside and, on occasion, outside. He cut back well and plays a very physical game. There is something very “Giant” about the way he runs the ball — not flashy, but tough, physical, and determined. Speaking of determined, Way (13 carries for 60 yards, a 4.6 yards-per-carry average) continues to be that personified. His short run to the left side was “Bavaro-like,” dragging three tacklers with him for extra yardage. I don’t know why (perhaps a previous injury has healed), but Way has exploded in his last two games. His blocking was great and he also beat up Cardinal defenders with his bruising running style. The guy I was most happy for was Tiki Barber. I had a feeling (see my game preview) that Tiki was breaking out of his slump (it’s about freaking time). He hasn’t dropped a ball in quite a while and on the 87-yard TD catch-and-run, he showed that burst that has been missing all year. Let’s pray this bodes of things to come.
Wide Receivers: Every time I say that it’s time for Chris Calloway (3 catches for 35 yards) to step aside, he has one of those games which makes it look like he is the only competent receiver on the Giants. Calloway was the only Giants’ receiver to make a positive impact in the game. He did drop one catchable ball, but he was “Mr. Sure and Steady” for Graham, especially on his crossing routes. His catch right before halftime was huge as it set up Brad Daluiso’s 51-yard field goal. He also broke a tackle on one play and picked up some run-after-the-catch yardage. The others? Not good. Ike Hilliard (1 catch for a measly 3 yards) dropped two or three balls. Perhaps his wisdom tooth was still bothering him. Regardless, Ike has to start stringing good games together. On one play, I thought he didn’t do a good job coming back for the ball and this allowed the defender to break up the pass. On another route, on third down, he didn’t run the pattern deep enough to pick up the first down. The other receivers were invisible.
Defensive Line: These guys started off the game slow as the Cardinals moved at will on their first two drives, but they settled down after that and dominated the game. Where the Giants’ defensive line really stood out was on their goalline stand in the second half and the pressure they exerted on QB Jake Plummer on second to last drive of the game when it looked like the Cardinals might tie the game. Leading the pack once again was DE Michael Strahan (7 tackles, 1 sack) who was a terror against the run. Strahan also gave the Cardinals’ right tackle problems on the pass rush. DE Chad Bratzke was exposed somewhat against the run as usual. He picked up a big sack that was unfortunately called back due to a penalty. DT Keith Hamilton was a force inside, stuffing the run and forcing the backs to run outside as well as getting decent inside pass pressure. DT Christian Peter (6 tackles) played almost the entire game for the injured Robert Harris and played well. He’s a much better run player than pass rusher, but when he did get to the quarterback, he made Plummer pay. His hustle was most impressive. DE Cedric Jones stood out on one play where he sacked the quarterback, forced a fumble, and recovered the fumble.
Linebackers: OLB Jessie Armstead (5 tackles) played much of the game on one leg as his ankle was giving him problems again. He had one heck of a hit by filling the hole on a right side run. MLB Corey Widmer played a strong game and came up with a huge pass defense in the endzone late in the game. Marcus Buckley was solid in pass coverage, but didn’t make many plays. Ryan Phillips played quite a bit. He was beaten deep by the tight end immediately upon entering the game, but came back on the very next play with nice coverage. He also made a play or two against the run. Scott Galyon was forced to leave the game early with a broken leg.
Defensive Backs: An up and down day, especially for CB Conrad Hamilton. Hamilton (7 tackles) really stood out in run defense, being the last man to save the day on a few sweeps. He also played tight, aggressive coverage underneath (as opposed to last Monday night). However, Hamilton was beaten deep twice (luckily one ball was overthrown, but the other set the Cards up on the one yard line). CB Phillippi Sparks played a strong game, but was beaten once on a crossing route. Whenever CB Jeremy Lincoln is in the game, I hold my breath, but Lincoln didn’t really embarrass himself (despite playing a mile off the line of scrimmage) and he came up with a huge interception in the endzone on third-and-goal. S/CB Shaun Williams also came up with a big pick late in the second quarter that set up a Giant field goal. He did get flagged with a costly holding penalty late in the game however, erasing Bratzke’s sack. FS Tito Wooten is driving me crazy. Watching him trying to tackle an open field runner is like watching someone who has never played football before doing the same. It was a joke seeing him “attempt” to bring down FB Larry Centers on his 57-yard screen pass (a play where FS Percy Ellsworth made a good play to prevent the touchdown). However, on the very next play, both Percy and Tito were run over by Adrian Murrell. Tito also didn’t attack Plummer on Plummer’s big draw play that was fortunately called back. On the positive side, Tito did come up with a crushing hit on WR Rob Moore that caused Moore to drop the ball. He also showed excellent hustle on his blitz that led to an incompletion. Strangely, SS Sam Garnes didn’t seem to play much. Ellsworth saw a lot of playing time, but didn’t stand out.
Giants on Special Teams: Watching the Giants trying to cover a kick is an absolute joke. It seems as if the returner regularly reaches the 40-yard line. That’s unacceptable. Only twice during the game did the Giants solidly cover a kick, with Bernard Holsey and Shaun Williams making plays. Shaun Williams also made a heck of an open-field tackle on the punt right after the intentional safety. (Incidentally, the intentional safety was a great call by the coaching staff). Brad Maynard got off a beautiful 58-yard punt, but also shanked one. PK Brad Dalusio came through with a big day, hitting three field goals, including two long ones (one for 51 yards, another for 45). Punt returner Amani Toomer continues to head for the safety of the sidelines. Kick returner David Patten hasn’t come close to breaking one in weeks. Neither Amani or David are receiving much help from their blockers.