Regular Season: Rams Lead Series 22-9
Post-Season: Series Tied 1-1
Approach to the Game – New York Giants at St. Louis Rams, December 19, 1999: After last week’s dramatic victory over the heavily favored Bills, there is a natural tendency to feel a sense of accomplishment and satisfaction. The Giants can’t afford the luxury of those feelings. The high-flying, high-scoring Rams are next on the agenda and all the positive ramifications (no pun intended) gained from last week’s win could be quickly lost with a defeat to St. Louis. The Bills are a very tough team. The Rams are far better. They are talented and playing with a great deal of confidence. It will take the Giants best game of the year to beat them. The odds makers have determined that the Rams are double digit point favorites. They certainly don’t think the Giants have a chance. Here are some of the reasons why:
- The makeshift secondary held its own last week. But the Rams’ receivers are downright scary. Tory Holt and Isaac Bruce each had 100-yard receiving games last week. Az-zahir Hakim had a 100-yard game two weeks ago. These three present problems for teams with healthy, quality corners. It is expecting quite a bit for Jeremy Lincoln, Emmanuel McDaniel, and Shaun Williams to keep these three under raps.
- The Giants’ defense has been taken to task three times by the two quality offenses that it has faced this year – the Redskins and Colts.
- The Rams’ defense keeps opposing ground games under wraps, gets after the quarterback, and forces turnovers.
- The Rams need this game to secure the home field advantage throughout the playoffs.
- The Rams are undefeated at home and the best team in the conference at 11-2. Some have questioned the caliber of their competition. But they have not only beaten teams often, but they have beaten them badly.
- No team in the league has given the Giants more problems in the history of the franchise. The Rams lead the regular season series 22-9. To make matters worse, the Rams are psyching themselves up to beat the Giants in order to silence their critics about beating quality teams.
The Giants have a chance at two great opportunities this weekend. First, they can gain a tremendous amount of respect around the league and the national media by defeating St. Louis. Second, and more importantly, a win will put them in even a better position to lock up a playoff spot for themselves. In fact, they will keep alive the slim chance that they can win the NFC East still and receive a playoff bye. If they lose, those opportunities go out the window.
Giants on Offense: The goal of the Giants’ offense this week is two-fold – not only to score, but to keep the Rams’ offense off the field by dominating the time of possession. The obvious tool is HB Joe Montgomery. It is imperative for Joe and the offensive line to take control of the game. The task won’t be easy. The Rams’ defense ranks first against the rush and they have not allowed a 100-yard rusher in 15 consecutive games. A bit of that is because other teams have fallen so far behind St. Louis, but they are not an easy bunch to run on. The strength of the run defense is on the strongside with DE Kevin Carter (probably the best all-around defensive end in the game) and DT Ray Agnew. But the weakside tandem of DT D’Marco Farr and DE Grant Wistrom is undersized by NFL standards. This is where I would attack the Rams. LT Roman Oben and LG Mike Rosenthal need to control these two and allow FB Greg Comella and OC Derek Engler to get out on the linebackers (of if Engler takes on Farr, allow Rosenthal to do so). Farr and Wistrom can be tough because of their quickness. But they can be mauled if you lock onto them. Of course, the Giants can’t ignore the strongside; a big match-up will be RT Scott Gragg against Carter. If Gragg and TE Howard Cross can control the corner, the Giants may be able to do some damage in that direction as well. RG Ron Stone will probably be left alone to handle Agnew, who has played very well for the Rams since leaving the Giants. You know Agnew will be up for this game.
If the Giants can’t run or if they fall far behind in the score, they will be in trouble. Carter has 14 sacks and putting Gragg into constant obvious pass-rushing situations is not a pretty picture. The defense has 48 sacks and 23 interceptions on the year. Much of their success has come because opposing teams fall behind and become predictable. The Giants must avoid falling into that same trap.
But make no mistake about it, the Rams are going to score points on the G-Men and therefore the pressure will be on the Giants’ offense to keep pace. The running game can’t do that alone. This will be a very interesting game to watch the Giants’ passing game and see if it can handle the pressure. “We set out to have intentions of being one of the more respected groups in the league,” WR Ike Hilliard says. “Now we’re in a position to do something special, and that comes along with the work, time and effort.” Well Ike, here is your chance – along with QB Kerry Collins, WR Amani Toomer, TE Pete Mitchell, HB Tiki Barber, and anyone else who wants to get in on the act. This is a great opportunity for all, especially since they can be compared to the pace-setters on the opposite sidelines. One guy who can have a big impact is Tiki Barber. Barber has become a real nightmare for linebackers to cover one-on-one – especially since the downfield passing game is now forcing linebackers and safeties to drop deeper. With Marshall Faulk getting all the attention in the pre-game hype, could this be a message game from Tiki? LB Mike Jones is very solid in coverage, but I’d like to see Tiki matched up on LB Todd Collins, who is better moving forward than in reverse. The Giants also need continued strong play from the banged up TE Pete Mitchell who will often face Jones. The very presence of Pete and Tiki help the receivers get open.
One gets the sense that a lot of people out there are just waiting for QB Kerry Collins to fall on his face. If history is any lesson, he is certainly due for a bad game. But Kerry’s mechanics are far better than when he came to New York. He also is playing with a lot of confidence right now. There is a lot of pressure on him. Kerry is being counted on to carry this team right now and because of the hole the Giants dug for themselves, there is no room for error. That’s tough. But he can keep winning the skeptics over with strong games. One thing he must be very wary of is turning the ball over against the Rams’ ball-hawking defense. The turnover battle will be crucial.
If the line gives Kerry the time and Kerry plays well, the Giants’ receivers should be able to do some damage against the St. Louis secondary. CB Todd Lyght is a very good coverage man and run defender and he leads the team with six interceptions. However, he can be over-aggressive at times and a double-move on him might result in a big play. I would try a pump-and-go on him at least once. Todd plays on the left side of the defense, but it will be interesting to see if the Rams keep him on Ike or move him around to cover Toomer. RCB Dexter McCleon is average. SS Billy Jenkins can be exposed in coverage. FS Keith Lyle is out with an injury and the Rams’ nickel package isn’t real strong. David Patten and/or Joe Jurevicius will probably have a chance to make big plays. But again…all this depends on the line and Kerry. If the Giants fall far behind, it will be difficult to give him time to throw and Rams’ back seven can think nothing but pass.
Giants on Defense: The Giants simply cannot allow the Rams to score quickly and often – but that is exactly what they have been doing all season. St. Louis has the number one rated offense in the league. They are first in passing; fifth in rushing. By no means are they one-dimensional – just like the Redskins and Colts – and that spells trouble for New York.
If the Giants were healthy, they’d undoubtably play closer to the line of scrimmage to stop HB Marshall Faulk and attempt to make the Rams one-dimensional. Defensive Coordinator John Fox may attempt to do that still. But that is asking a lot of a beat up Giants’ secondary. WR Isaac Bruce is one of the very best in the game. Rookie WR Torry Holt is the best receiver coming out of the draft. These two will be a nightmare for cornerbacks Jeremy Lincoln and Emmanuel McDaniel to cover. McDaniel will also have a size disadvantage against Holt. To make matters worse, WR Az-zahir Hakim is as quick as a water bug – the very type of receiver that gives nickel back Shaun Williams problems. There were comments in the newspaper this week that the Rams don’t seem to think much of the coverage-ability of the Giants’ safeties. Look for surprising QB Kurt Warner (an incredible 34 touchdown passes) to throw deep time after time after time. They may even run quite a few 4-WR sets with Ricky Proehl or move Faulk outside. It will be a minor miracle if the Giants don’t get burned quite a bit. Tackling in the secondary will be extremely important as almost all the Rams’ receivers (and Faulk) are superb run-after-the-catch players.
So do the Giants play it safe and drop more guys into coverage and force the Rams to drive the length of the field in smaller chunks or do they go the opposite route and blitz the heck out of Warner and try to take him out of his game? Very tough question. Last week, Fox surprised me by coming at Flutie and he got away with it. I doubt he can do that again. I think the what the Giants should do is operate a variety of unconventional defenses utilizing nickel personnel such as S/CB Shaun Williams and LB Scott Galyon. If CB Conrad Hamilton can make it on the field, this would help to free up Williams some – but that might be asking too much. Playing more of a nickel-type defense will put a lot of pressure on the run defense. Faulk (1,180 yards) averages over five yards a carry and he can take over a game. However, he is just as dangerous as a receiver (66 catches, 720 yards) and playing the nickel would help keep him under wraps there. The one thing I would do is keep WLB Jessie Armstead on him all day long. Faulk is Warner’s security blanket. Jessie is one of the very few linebackers in the league who can cover him. The Giants also need SLB Ryan Phillips to hold down the fort in pass coverage against the tight end or fullback. This is a game where Marcus Buckley will be missed.
The surest way to shut down an opposing passing attack is to get after the passer. But can the Giants get enough pressure on Warner without too many risky blitzes? Thus far this season, the pass rush of the front four has been very disappointing. DE Michael Strahan has been playing better in recent weeks, but the Giants need to have him have a breakout game. He faces RT Fred Miller. DT Christian Peter will match up against the very tough RG Adam Timmerman. Christian has been getting absolutely no rush against opponents and that is killing New York and hurting Strahan. It’s time for both of these guys to step it up. DT Keith Hamilton will probably be double-teamed on passing plays by OC Mike Gruttadauria and LG Tom Nutten. DE Cedric Jones faces monster LT Orlando Pace. The secondary and linebackers really need the front four to play their game of the year. They need to control the line of scrimmage against the run and get after Warner. Be tougher and more physical than their opponent. If they don’t, it will be a long day.
Giants on Specials: Kick returner Tony Horne is leading the league with a 32.4 yards-per-return average and two touchdowns. Newcomer PK Jose Cortez and the coverage unit will be under a lot of pressure to keep him under wraps. Hakim is likewise a very dangerous punt returner and has taken one the distance this year. PR Tiki Barber and KR Bashir Levingston can do some damage against this group if their blockers give them some room to operate.