New York Giants 28 – Kansas City Chiefs 7
Overview: Three over-arching impressions stick with me after this game:
- Head Coach Jim Fassel and his coaching staff have done a wonderful job of holding this team together after a 3-7 start. Fassel didn’t panic and start making wholesale changes. This team believes in itself again and is becoming more and more confident. Only a few weeks ago, I feared Fassel and his staff losing control of the team.
- I hope it has finally hit home with the players that EACH AND EVERY GAME is crucially important. The Giants most likely won’t make the playoffs this year and it will be because they needed just one more win. In the NFL, you can’t take ANY TEAM for granted. One regular season game could mean the difference in making it to the Superbowl or not.
- Are the Giants more settled at quarterback than most think? Or am I blinded by rose-colored glasses? I’m starting to think that Kent Graham is a viable option. At best, a quarterback taken in the 1999 draft won’t start until 2000, and most likely 2001. And there are no guarantees that he won’t be a bust. Meanwhile, Graham seems to be improving and already knows the offense. Kanell may not be an ideal starter, but he would make a decent back-up. Mike Cherry flashed some bigtime potential on his one and only pass attempt in the Kansas City game. Perhaps that number one draft pick should be spent on a linebacker, offensive lineman, or running back.
Quarterbacks: Good game for Kent (16 out-of-33 for 167 yards, 1 touchdown passing, no interceptions; 3 carries for 17 yards, 1 touchdown run) — almost a very good game. Graham started off the game particularly strong. What I liked the most is that he seemed to be very comfortable and confident out there. He looked like a guy who knows the job is his, not one who in reality is still auditioning for a job. The Chiefs came after Graham. They looked to rattle him and force him to make mistakes. But Graham stood tall in the pocket, moved when necessary, and took some shots down the field. Very impressive. Indeed, his stats would have been much better if it weren’t for some dropped balls and excellent defensive plays by the Chief defensive backs. On the negative side, Kent did cool off somewhat in the second and third quarters. He also was not particularly sharp on his short throws to the backs again. He just missed hitting Brian Alford deep on what would have been a 44-yard TD pass, but he was a tad late and short on his throw.
Mike Cherry came into the game with under seven minutes left in the 4th quarter. He was only given two chances to throw. On the first, he was smothered by the pass rush before he could set up. On his second throw, he threw a wonderfully accurate deep ball to Alford that hit Brian in the hands but the KC defensive back broke up the play. Superb throw.
Offensive Line: Aside from LT Roman Oben, the line played very well. Kudos to RG Jerry Reynolds for filling in more than adequately for the injured Ron Stone. The line once again blocked well for the run and did a decent job against the pass. Gary Brown ran for over 100 yards once again. Only on a couple of wide runs did the line get pushed off the ball. Particularly impressive was the way the line once again dealt with the blitz. On Graham’s touchdown toss, he had time to pump fake despite being faced with an all-out blitz — the credit for the touchdown must go to the offensive line and running backs who picked up the blitz. The weak spot this week was Oben who had some problems on the pass rush (though he was facing All-Pro Derrick Thomas). Where Oben really hurt the Giants was with two holding penalties and an unsportsmanlike conduct foul — the latter costing the Giants 3 points as Daluiso barely missed a 41 yarder. Both Oben and Bishop almost got Cherry killed on his first NFL pass attempt. Lance Scott was also flagged for holding. Another solid performance from RT Scott Gragg — a guy on a roll.
Wide Receivers: With Graham more willing to fire the ball down the field, the vast potential of these guys is starting to show. However, there is much room for improvement. The Giants really could have had a big day if it weren’t for some dropped passes and good plays from the Chief defensive backs. Amani Toomer (4 catches for 49 yards and a touchdown) had a good game. He made a nice catch of a high ball for a touchdown from Kent Graham on a slant-and-go route. Toomer also made a key catch on that drive picking up 14 yards on 3rd-and-8. Amani made a big play early in the 4th quarter, catching a 20 yarder on a crossing route right after the Chiefs had scored on the previous drive.
Ike Hilliard made one big play in the second quarter when he caught a short pass and juked out three defenders on a 32-yard catch-and-run. He was also open twice in the endzone on the same drive, but Graham missed him both times. Chris Calloway (4 catches for 42 yards) had a bad case of the dropsies in the game. He had a bomb knocked away by a Chiefs defender, but might have been able to outfight the defender with a greater effort. He also dropped a very catchable low throw from Graham.
The stats don’t show it, but Brian Alford made a very impressive debut. He blew past the KC secondary in the second quarter and was wide open for a 44-yard TD strike, but Graham threw the ball too late. Alford also showed his speed and explosiveness on a couple more deep routes that just missed. He did get his first catch — an 11-yard slant from Graham late in the game.
Tight Ends: Very quiet again. Added the runners, no catches in the passing game.
Running Backs: Gary Brown (25 carries for 103 yards, a 4.1 yards-per-carry average, 1 touchdown) was impressive again. He didn’t break off any big runs, but he was very quick in the hole and made some nice cuts in traffic. He is a physical presence. Brown is now only 49 yards away from a 1,000 yard season.
FB Charles Way (4 carries for 20 yards, a 5.0 yards-per-carry average, 2 catches for 14 yards) just can’t seem to get untracked with the ball in his hands. He was excellent in the run blocking department and pass blocking (as were all the backs).
Tiki Barber made a very nice run for 23 yards on a draw play in a very dangerous down-and-distance situation for the Giants (2nd-and-18). He also picked up the blitz well again.
Defensive Line: Played a very good game. Effective stopping the run and rushing the passer. The line only lost contain on Gannon once (the tackles at fault). DE Michael Strahan (2 tackles) picked up yet another sack (he has 14 on the year). DE Chad Bratzke (6 tackles) was a problem all day for the Chiefs’ left tackle in pass protection. Bratzke picked up 2.5 sacks (though one was a gift as the quarterback fell down) and was buzzing around the Chief quarterbacks much of the afternoon. Christian Peter (3 tackles) and Keith Hamilton (2 tackles, 0.5 sacks) were tough and physical inside, though Hamilton was flagged with a dumb unsportsmanlike call. The Chiefs only gained 66 yards on the ground all day. DE Cedric Jones, DT Bernard Holsey, and DT George Williams all some playing time.
Linebackers: Good game for the linebackers. Jessie Armstead (5 tackles, 1 interception) made a great play on the Chiefs’ 4th-and-inches conversion attempt in the second quarter. He picked off a pass late in the game, but also dropped an easy pick. Corey Widmer (3 tackles) made two excellent stuffs at the line of scrimmage on Bam Morris — one coming on the 3rd-and-one play right before the above-mentioned Armstead play. Either Armstead or Widmer were most likely responsible for covering TE Tony Gonzalez on his wide-open touchdown catch. Marcus Buckley (4 tackles) combined with Armstead to nail Morris in the backfield early in the game.
Defensive Backs: This group played well. They gave up a big play or two on excellent execution from the Chiefs more than anything else. FS Percy Ellsworth (3 tackles, 2 interceptions) set the tone for the game when he picked off a bobbled pass and ran it back 43-yards for the touchdown on the first drive of the game. He also was credited with another interception when he came over quickly to help out CB Phillippi Sparks on a deep sideline pass (Percy did a poor job trying to keep his feet in bounds and the pick shouldn’t have counted, but it was an excellent play otherwise). Ellsworth almost came up with the hat trick when he stepped in front of another sideline pass but this time was correctly ruled out-of-bounds. The biggest negative is that he looked like he took the wrong angle on WR Andre Rison’s 39-yard catch-and-run over the middle. FS Tito Wooten (2 tackles) was quiet and forced to leave the game early with a hamstring injury. SS Sam Garnes (7 tackles) was active in run support, including short yardage. CB Phillippi Sparks (7 tackles, 1 interception) had another good game. He did a great job covering Rison on one deep pass and then came back to pick off a pass on the next play. He did give up a 23-yarder to Alexander. CB Conrad Hamilton was beaten by Rison on his big catch-and-run, but Hamilton had good coverage on the play. Hamilton (7 tackles) was active in pass and run defense. S Shaun Williams played quite a bit and seemed to play well.
Giants on Special Teams: Very poor effort from PK Brad Daluiso (missed from 41 and 39 yards). P Brad Maynard punted very well. The Giants need to do a better job of protecting him. Once again, he almost had a punt blocked. Coverage teams were better than usual as Shaun Williams was very active. Tiki Barber had a very nice kick return for 32 yards. Watching Amani Toomer try to return a punt is comical. He’s afraid to run it up the field when he has a chance to do so. Other times, he has no chance as his blocking is piss poor.