Approach to the Game – Kansas City Chiefs at New York Giants, December 20, 1998: This is going to be a tough, physical football game. Both teams play good defense. Both teams have demonstrated recently that they can pound the ball with a big back. The Giant players and coaches had better be ready for this one. If they are still dwelling on their colossal upset of Denver, the Chiefs are going to take it to them. Despite their record, Kansas City has a good football team.
Giants on Offense: The most interesting aspect of this game will be to see how QB Kent Graham performs. Will he be able to play anywhere near the level he established against Denver last week? Or will he come up with a stinker, like he did two weeks ago? This is important game for Kent’s future. All eyes within the organization will be on him to see if he can string some positive games together here at the end of the season.
If Kent is able to pull it off and look good again on Sunday, then it will have to come against one of the league’s best pass defenses. Kansas City has a very good secondary. The good news is that CB Dale Carter is doubtful. The bad news is that the remaining players are still very good. Passing against the Chiefs will be tough. Graham will have to be on his game and the receivers are going to have to play with more maturity.
The primary focus of my game plan would be to attack the Chiefs on the ground with Gary Brown. However, I think the Giants can take some shots with play action on first and second down. SS Reggie Tongue and FS Jerome Woods are very talented and aggressive young players. But the Giants may be able to use that youth and aggressiveness against them with play-action. Carter’s replacement will be CB Mark McMillian. He and veteran starter James Hasty are also aggressive players who like to take chances. Moreover, with Carter out and McMillian (the regular nickel back) now starting, the Giants might want to attack McMillian’s replacement (I think this will be Kavis Reed). Joe Jurevicius and Amani Toomer made big plays last week. Jurevicius and/or Toomer versus Reed could be a good match-up for New York. It will also be interesting to see how much playing time rookie Brian Alford gets and whether he makes an impact. Sunday will be his first NFL game.
MLB Donnie Edwards is another third-year player who plays an aggressive game. Play-faking and sneaking a guy like TE Andy Haase through his zone could pay dividends. Tiki Barber has three touchdown catches in four games. He has demonstrated solid hands recently, a more explosive burst, and excellent blitz pick-ups. I would continue to expand his role and try to lock him up on the Chief linebackers. A toss to Charles Way here or there wouldn’t hurt matters either. If the Chiefs start blitzing heavily, I’d like to see if the Giants could hit another screen pass.
But the focus should be the ground game. The Chiefs will be looking to stop the run. The Chiefs aren’t likely to give Kent much respect until he proves he can continue to hurt opponents through the air. This figures to be a defensive struggle and the Giants will need to fight for field position. I would think the Giants would be better off targeting DE Leslie O’Neal and DE/LB Derrick Thomas. Both are superb pass rushers, but both can be handled at the point of attack in the running game. It will also be important to keep DT Tom Barndt and DT/DE Chester McGlockton under control. The Giants’ offensive line has played two good games in a row — can we hope that they will do it a third time?
Giants on Defense: The Chiefs went back to the ground game big time last week in the second half of the Dallas game and it worked wonders for them. Look for Marty Schottenheimer to try to pound it out against the Giants. Bam Morris is a big, power back and the Giants don’t have a great recent history in facing these type of runners. Schottenheimer will most likely want to target DE Chad Bratzke and WLB Jessie Armstead. These two guys will be under the gun. So will MLB Corey Widmer and SS Sam Garnes. These two need to shed blocks quickly and make sure tackles. Indeed, the tackling of the secondary will be very important. The Chiefs are a little beat up on the offensive line. The Giants’ front seven will have to play tough, strong, and physical. If not, the Chiefs will control the field position battle, the tempo, and ultimately, the game. It’s as simple as that — stop the run, win the game.
The Chiefs’ passing offense has been a disappointment this season, but it is showing signs of life. WR Derrick Alexander has made a big impact in recent weeks and WR Andre Rison is always dangerous. TE Tony Gonzalez has dropped a few passes, but he has the kind of athletic-ability the Giants will be looking for at that position in the offseason. A big match-up will be the linebackers and/or safeties on Gonzalez. The linebackers also need to keep an eye on FB Kimble Anders out of the backfield. A very dangerous guy is Tamarick Vanover — the Chiefs often utilize him as their third down back and he has excellent speed.
The guy who scares me in this game is QB Rich Gannon. Gannon plays well under pressure and can make the tough throw. He also has very good mobility and hurts teams with his feet by keeping drives alive. The pass rushers must keep him contained in the pocket and make sure tackles when they get a hand on him. If not, the Giants will lose the game.
Giants on Special Teams: With David Patten out, Tiki Barber will see the bulk of the kick return duties (Brian Alford may see some action there too). Barber, first and foremost, has to keep his hands on the ball and not turn it over. Amani Toomer has stunk as a punt returner for weeks.
Once again, kick-off and punt coverage will be under the spotlight. Tamarick Vanover has a history of breaking big returns as both a punt and kick returner. Rookie Rashaan Shehee can also return kicks. Curtis Buckley hasn’t made many plays since the Eagle game — he needs to start making an impact again. Brad Maynard and Brad Daluiso are both coming off solid performance, although Daluiso has been shaky on kick-offs. The Giants had also protect Maynard better than they did last week when Denver almost blocked a punt.