New York Giants 33 – Philadelphia Eagles 18
Overview: The Giants’ 33-18 win was truly impressive. Don’t let the doubters from the national media fool you – the Eagles are a good team and this was their home opener. The Giants dominated the game and all three units played well. Indeed, the final score was not indicative of the domination. The Giants’ pulled in the reigns in the 4th quarter and the Eagles scored a meaningless late TD.
The most amazing aspect about the win to me was the poise and confidence of the players and coaches. The poise and confidence was palpable even through the television screen. The Giants never got flustered and one got the sense that they believed the game was theirs the moment they stepped on the field. This team believes in itself and that belief is worth its weight in five first round draft picks. Teams who believe in themselves win. It is as a simple as that.
The Giants are not only 2-0, but they are 2-0 in the NFC East. But there is no time to rest on laurels. The Chicago Bears are up next and they are a far more dangerous team than their 41-0 loss to the Bucs indicate. The players and coaches need to forget about the Eagles and focus completely at the task at hand. The growing confidence is great…but don’t get too cocky…just ask the Eagles about that.
Quarterback: You can talk about the offensive line, the running backs, and the wide receivers all you want. You can talk about Sean Payton too. But if the Giants don’t get the quarterbacking that they are getting right now, none of the rest matters. Kerry Collins (21-of-29 for 220 yards, two touchdowns, and no interceptions) is the catalyst. If he does not execute, no game plan will matter. It is his arm that is forcing opposing defenses to respect the run; it is his accuracy that is keeping drives alive; and it is his leadership that is elevating the offense to a status rivaling that of the defense. Yes, he is getting good pass protection, but even that can be a bit misleading. Collins’ quick release makes the pass pro look better than it actually is.
Collins was superb against the Eagles. Four of his eight incompletions were throwaways. He didn’t get flustered (and he could have after that early sack and fumble). The Eagles came after him hard and they sometimes got there, but he stood tough in the pocket and calmly delivered the ball. When something wasn’t there, he didn’t force it and threw the ball away. These were two big concerns of mine with Collins and yet both became strengths on Sunday. The exciting thing is that Collins will only get better as he becomes even more comfortable with the offense and his teammates. He is developing into one of the best quarterbacks in the league.
Collins threw two nice looking touchdown passes. Both had great touch. But it was his rifle-armed throws that picked up key first downs that most impressed me. With the Eagles’ pressing the wide receivers, Collins was able to fire the ball into tight spots and move the sticks. You could see the frustration on the Eagles’ secondary. Examples: On the Giants’ first field goal drive, Collins hit Ike Hilliard for 11 yards on 3rd-and-9. On the Giants’ first touchdown drive, he found Ron Dixon for 15 yards on 3rd-and-10. And the final blow was Collins’ brilliant 10-play, 67-yard drive in the third quarter that took all life out of the Eagles. On that drive, he hit Toomer for nine yards on 3rd-and-8, Hilliard for 10 yards on 3rd-and-8 (on a shovel pass), and Toomer for 9 yards on 3rd-and-five. The final play was a perfectly lofted 30 yard TD pass to Hilliard. See if Collins doesn’t convert on those previous third down occasions, the 30 yard TD pass never happens. Obvious you say? Well fans sometimes forget what transpired on a successful drive to make it successful. Do you think Danny Kanell or Kent Graham convert all those third downs? Then on a field goal drive in the fourth quarter, Kerry found Hilliard for 7 yards on 3rd-and-7. Collins was 7-of-8 in the second half, with his only missing coming at the hands of Howard Cross (no pun intended).
Wide Receivers: The numbers look good. Ike Hilliard had 8 catches for 84 yards and a touchdown. Amani Toomer had 7 catches for 80 yards and a touchdown (Toomer also got robbed by the officials on a deep sideline pass that should have been ruled a catch). Ron Dixon caught his first NFL pass for 15 yards and did a great job of getting open and keeping his feet inbounds. But what really impressed me was the down-field blocking of the receivers – something that I was disappointed in last week. Much of Tiki Barber’s damage running the ball was due to the blocking of Amani Toomer, Joe Jurevicius, and Ike Hilliard. It was nice to see Hilliard such a big part of the game plan. He was sure-handed and he helped to keep drives alive with clutch receptions. The entire Eagle secondary is very good and physical – but the receivers were not intimidated. The Giants now have a really nice one-two receiving punch with these two. Just wait until Pete Mitchell is back and Joe Jurevicius and Ron Dixon really get going.
Running Backs: The first guy I want to talk about is not Tiki Barber or Ron Dayne, but FB Greg Comella. Greg is proving that the Giants knew what they were doing when they decided not to aggressively pursue another veteran fullback. Greg’s lead blocking has surprised me. For the most part, he is making solid contact and while he is not blasting his man, he is successfully occupying the defender. He caught two more passes for 12 yards on Sunday, but he did even more damage running the ball twice for 19 yards. With defenses so focused on the receivers and halfbacks, they are often forgetting about Greg. Indeed, on Greg’s first carry, almost the entire Eagle defense followed the fake and left Comella alone for big yardage.
As for Tiki (11 carries for 96 yards and a touchdown; 3 catches for 29 yards), what can you say? Many fans have questioned his ability from the start, but right now he is one of the most dangerous halfbacks in the league. I hate to sound like a broken record, but his vision and instincts for the hole right now are startling. Against the Eagles, he torched Philly with his cutback running with three big runs. He has become a big-play homerun hitter for New York. Do realize that in two games, he is averaging 10 yards a carry?!!! Tiki is also starting now to break tackles and his 31-yard TD run on a draw play that he cut back to the left was apt demonstration of his quickness, elusiveness, and power.
Dayne (21 carries for 50 yards) keeps plugging along. I’d like to see him start breaking some more runs. He had a couple of carries against the Eagles where he flashed those quick feet (for a big man) and picked up good gains. There was one run in particular where he made a lateral cut that was startling for someone so large. Still, Dayne seems to be stuck in second gear – I’d like to see more decisiveness and straight-ahead attitude in his runs. He also must improve his blitz pick-ups. Perhaps I’m being too greedy and impatient – he is a rookie after all. All that being said, Dayne is already a significant presence and you can see that the Eagles were very conscious of him when he was in the game. Dayne’s short-yardage running is already having an impact as well. He picked up a number of key first downs on the ground against Philadelphia.
Offensive Line/Tight Ends: There were some problems. For example, DE Hugh Douglas gave LT Lomas Brown some problems early on a few rushes. There were also three penalties (a false start on Brown and Luke Petitgout as well as a holding penalty on Luke). But the line did a great job of controlling the line of scrimmage against a very aggressive, blitz-happy team. And to be fair, the tight ends (Howard Cross and Dan Campbell) and backs deserve equal credit. The one guy who gave New York real problems when they ran the ball was MLB Jeremiah Trotter (12 tackles); he was all over the field. Trotter disrupted a number of Ron Dayne runs by successfully shooting gaps or out-quicking blockers. There were other occasions where Philly just jammed things up with physical play. But as the game wore on, New York used the Eagles’ aggressiveness against them with misdirection. The most effective play was the cutback run by Barber once he had the defense leaning in one direction. But the Giants were also able to pound the ball somewhat too and the Eagle defense spent a long, long time on the field. “I don’t think we had but about 20 plays in the first half,” DT Keith Hamilton said. “That’s something we haven’t had around here as long as I can remember. I’m used to playing 80, 90 plays a game down here in Philly.”
What was most surprising was that Collins had pretty good protection most of the day. The Eagles were coming too, but the line, tight ends, and backs picked it up. Of course, there were 3-step drops and Kerry has a quick release and this helped. But there were also 5- and 7-step drops and except for the early sack and fumble (Brown and Barber got beat), the Eagles rarely hit Kerry. The plays that got me the most excited were the ones involving the screens. There was one screen pass to Tiki in particular that was simply a well-executed joy to watch. It didn’t go for big yardage, but to see Barber with an escort of three huge lineman in front of him was just great.
Defensive Line: The stars of the defense were DE Michael Strahan, DT Christian Peter, DT Keith Hamilton, and DE Cedric Jones. They didn’t pick up any sacks, but there were numerous pressures. But the most important aspect of the game was the fact that they completely out-played a highly-regarded Eagle offensive line and shut down the dangerous ground game of Philadelphia. HB Duce Staley, who gained 201 yards rushing in the previous game, was held to 11 yards against the Giants (his longest rush was four yards). The Eagles didn’t pick up a first down until the second quarter. Strahan (3 tackles) was superb against RT Jon Runyan – arguably the best right tackle in the game. Runyan was never able to get any movement on Strahan; indeed, it was Strahan who often disrupted plays with his push against Runyan. Jones (2 tackles), who has had a strong start, also played very well against the run, controlling huge first rounder Tra Thomas. Both ends were spotted buzzing around Donavan McNabb on the pass rush, but the elusive quarterback was able to avoid both. The going was equally tough inside; the Eagles could not drive Peter and Hamilton off the ball and this enabled the linebackers and secondary to make plays in run support. The only down note was Hamilton’s dumb late hit penalty on the quarterback that helped the Eagles’ on their first drive in the second half. Reserves DE Cornelius Griffin and DT Ryan Hale saw some playing time.
Linebackers: I thought SLB Ryan Phillips (2 tackles, 1 sack) played maybe his best game as a pro. He was very stout against the run and was finally able to pick up a sack. Phillips’ sack was big…it came right after two superb individual efforts (an amazing scramble by McNabb and a highlight reel catch by TE Chad Lewis) got the ball to the Giants’ 4-yard line. But the sack and subsequent pressure from Jones and Strahan on back-to-back plays forced Philly to kick a field goal. WLB Jessie Armstead (3 tackles, 1 sack) also got to the quarterback and was helped by the fact that the defensive line kept the big blockers off his body (he did get handled on McNabb’s quarterback draw for a TD however). I didn’t think Mike Barrow (no tackles) played very well either against the run or pass. He did flash as a pass rusher on a couple of plays. Pete Monty (1 tackle, 1 sack) got to the passer on an inside dog where he hammered McNabb – very well timed. Brandon Short (3 tackles) saw some time late an looked terrible in pass coverage.
Defensive Backs: The Eagles’ wide receivers are not very good, so this wasn’t a great test for the secondary. I was impressed with CB Jason Sehorn (8 tackles). He was flying around the field and was step for step with his man when McNabb did look in his direction. Sehorn did a great job of chasing down Duce Staley from the other side of the field after a reception. CB Dave Thomas (5 tackles) played well except for giving up a 23-yard reception on 3rd-and-3 on the Eagles’ first TD drive. Thomas had solid coverage, but didn’t turn around to look for the ball. CB Emmanuel McDaniel (3 tackles) was quiet (a good sign). He broke up a two-point conversion attempt.
Shaun Williams (2 tackles) was aggressive against the run and made a hell of a hit on a tight end coming over the middle late in the game, knocking the ball loose for an incompletion. Lyle West (3 tackles) was not heard from (a very good sign) until late when he gave up the final touchdown. He did miss a tackle on McNabb’s touchdown run too, however.
Special Teams: This unit played fairly well. P Brad Maynard did not punt well with his two chances – he’s still just too damn inconsistent. His first punt bothered me the most. The Giants could have pinned the Eagles inside the ten yard line, but his kick bounced right into the endzone. His second punt was short and took a backwards bounce.
Kick-off coverage gave up one decent return to Brian Mitchell. Aside from that play, they Giants did a good job of covering kicks with Omar Stoutmire standing out on a fake reverse. Reggie Stephens also made a very strong tackle on another return. Brad Daluiso jacked one into the end zone that wasn’t returned, but his first kick-off was very short (fans forget that Daluiso wasn’t really nailing kick-offs anymore even before his knee injury).
The return game looked decent. Blocking on returns is getting better as Ron Dixon and Tiki Barber keep just missing huge returns. As it was, Dixon picked up 44 yards on one return.
Analysis of the Offensive Line
by Chris Jacobs
Lomas Brown 76%:
Hugh Douglas gave him some trouble, particularly in the 1st half, but surprisingly enough he graded out at 82% for the first half. It was the second half that really hurt his grade but by that point the game was all but over. In the first half Douglas got around him three times, he had one false start, and he missed his block on one or two running plays. But there were 46 plays in the first half so even with those few bad plays he didn’t grade out bad for the 1st half. In the second half, particularly the 4th quarter he seemed tired, played a little sluggish, perhaps showing his age, or got comfortable with the lead. Here’s the positive. Third play of the game, Douglas gets around him and Tiki and causes the fumble, then a false start, pinned deep in the second quarter Douglas gets around him again but Collins gets rid of it. I started to get a little nervous, because this is the point that Roman Oben would begin to implode. But with help from Payton’s play calling, and the fact that he’s a veteran he didn’t lose confidence and played solid.
Glenn Parker 87%:
A solid game again for Glenny. (Do you think they really call him that or is Bill Maas trying to be funny?) There was something I noticed last week that I didn’t comment on because it only happened once. Parker seems to be pulling too deep, he needs to make his first step flatter down the line. Last week he stepped on Collins’ foot which caused the Collins-Dayne collision. This week he did it a couple of times, on one occasion he was too deep and Trotter cut underneath him and stopped he play for no gain. On the positive side he wasn’t too high on his pass blocking this week, he did a much better job with that.
Dusty Ziegler 89%:
Another solid game, it’s the same thing every week, he’s quick and strong. He whiffed once on a running play in the fourth quarter. Like I’ve mentioned before, I don’t know the Giants’ playbook or blocking schemes, so if he’s blocking the right guy he’s doing a great job.
Ron Stone 86%:
If he has one downfall it’s his quickness, and that Corey Simon kid really gave him a hard time in the first half. (His first half grade was 76%). Simon kept putting a swim move on him and was in the backfield blowing up running plays. The flip side to that was when Ron got into him he blew him off the ball. Trotter gave him a hard time too, but it’s the smaller quicker guys that Stoney is going to struggle with. And like I mentioned earlier, Payton’s play calling helped. He almost had a mistake free second half that brought his grade up to 86%.
Luke Petitgout 82%: (Would have been 86% without the penalties).
Mike Ma-who-la? The obvious mistakes, missing his block on he second play of the game, the hold, getting bull rushed into Collins causing the incomplete pass to Tiki. Everyone has bad plays, especially the younger players, but he’s bouncing back from it, which shows maturity. I see over in the Corner Forum that there are many inquiries about Luke and how he is doing. So far he is a huge upgrade over Gragg.
Other Thoughts:
I’m very very impressed with Greg Comella, if everyone wants to go back and look I called him average at best in the Chicago preseason review. He’s making me eat my words. He’s a complete player, he can catch, run, and his blocking is improving every week. That Trotter kid is a stud and GC blew him up on more than one occasion. He’s Way and Bennett in one.
YOU COULD FEEL THE LOVE
by David Oliver
Pow! Whack! Thwack! Bam! An easy way to start this review because that’s how it went out there on the sun-baked, ratty-carpeted killing fields of the Vet. It was an awe inspiring, uplifting, and from field level, totally dominating throwback to the glories of the 80s. Of course, reality is never very far, as this week’s dominated was last week’s dominator, when they completely dismantled the Cowgirls. The nice thought is that the other 4 will spend the season ripping each other to shreds.
So, I’ll begin again at the end of the game and tell you about the parade of players who went up to Coach Fassel and shook his hand, patted him on the back or threw a big arm around his shoulders for a moment. This game was a vindication of sorts, a catharsis of sorts, an alert to the fans that these Giants of 2000 are for real and will be a force in the division. There was a lot of shaking hands among the offensive and defensive units, a congratulations for a job well done and a thank you to the specials who held it together today and showed signs of emergent life. And there was Tiki with a smile as wide as the Grand Canyon, the sheer exuberance of Michael Strahan who had a monkey dislodged from his upper torso, and Coach MacDuff, coaching his troops, exhorting them, inspiring them to take pride in their job. The veteran parade to Coach Fassel as the clock wound down was genuine in its expression; it signified the coming of age of a TEAM, the togetherness so stressed by the Coach, in the face of the relentless media and fan cauldron of scrutiny which hangs over every NY area sports franchise.
Even during the pre-game warmups, there was an ambient feeling of adrenaline rush and testosterone flow. One of the Philly fanatics got all over MS and MS answered back. They waged a war of words with Michael being incensed over the use of profanity and the flicking of the bird in front of the children in the area, including the heckler’s own young one. After the game, Michael told me he doesn’t usually talk back to the fans but “well, this is Philly.” The City and its fans have a way of doing that to you. However, today they were cheerful, almost friendly, and acting like real fans. They were louder than I can remember, for a while. They were not all that vulgar and they had that look of pain in their eyes just as we do when so disappointed. They had high hopes. They were fans just as we are.
Game stats – Giants 24 first downs, Eagles 13; Giants 3rd down eff 50%, Eagles 30%; Giants net yards 387, Eagles 237; Giants offensive plays 69, Eagles 48; Giants rushing yards 167, Eagles 56; Giants tackles for a loss 6, Eagles 1; Giants time of possession 38:44, Eagles 21:16. Oi! 38+ minutes, shades of Tuna and the glory days of the 80s.
Tiki the Magician, 11 carries 96 yards, the Great Dayne 21 carries 50 yards, tough yards, off-tackle yards, Gforce Comella 2 carries 19 yards. Kerry, well he just had to go and spoil the stats, 5 carries for 2 yards. I’m cutting him some slack because he was 21 of 29 in compilations for a tidy 220 yards and he managed the game quite nicely. The big guns of Air Payton showed up today. Ike had 8 for 84 yards, Amani 7 for 80 yards, each had one TD; Tiki reeled in 3 for 29 yards, Comella and Dixon each had one.
The Giants had the ball 12 minutes in the first quarter and 10:5 in the last quarter, another almost 10 in the second, but they allowed the defense to get a workout in the third. They had 10 possessions, with most averaging around 4 minutes. Their long drive was 7:16. Let’s look at this long time of possession. It started with a Dixon return of 27 yards and a 15 yard roughing call tacked on for the push out of bounds. Dayne ran for 1 yard and the 3rd quarter ended. Tiki went off tackle for 10; KC passed to Amani for 9; Dayne off right tackle for 5; Dayne off right tackle for 0; Comella up the middle for 3; KC to Ike for 7; Dayne off right guard for 1; Dayne up the middle for 4 loss (Douglas and Mamula came off the same side for that stop); Tiki around left end for 4 loss; Daluiso 44 yard field goal.
Now let’s look at the defensive side of the ball. The Eagles’ best drive came in the second quarter. 1st and 10 at midfield following a weak punt(31 yards); Staley for a 2 yard loss (S. Williams crunch); McNabb up the middle for 17 on a scramble during which he somehow eluded a host of tacklers; McNabb a 31 yard pass which was somehow caught for 31 (West covering, but it was a great catch not a defensive lapse); Eagles on the Giants 4 yard line. McNabb sacked for a 12 yard loss (Phillips); McNabb pass incomplete (CJ rush); McNabb pass incomplete (Jessie rush); field goal.
On offense the Giants mixed pass and run effectively, utilizing all weapons except tight end. One pass to “hands of stone” fell incomplete. Credit to Kerry, he keeps trying. On defense, they also mixed it up, utilizing a variety of rush and contain schemes (which totally befuddled the blockers), with very good coverage by the secondary.
Game impressions: First quarter was slow with a field goal and good defense, holding the Eagles to 3-and-out and 3-and-out. In the second quarter, the Giants opened it up a little using multiple receiver, stacked formations and motion. Toomer scored on a 25 yard reception, with Kerry arm pumping once and then waiting for Amani to blow by the coverage. Both secondary men bit on the pump and Amani was almost 7 yards behind them crossing the goal line, where the pass just nestled in his arms. Then came the back breaker as the defense stuffed the Eagles just before the half. KC went to the shotgun and hit Tiki for 4, Hilliard for 7, then Tiki went out of the gun up the middle, cut to the sidelines and romped 31 yards, untouched, in a classic he-could-go-all-the-way TD. Check the photos and see the HOLE.
The Eagles were relatively impotent all day with McNabb scrambling all over the place but doing minimal damage as the secondary coverage held, the ends converged and contained and the tackles and linebackers swept up. There were individual stand out plays by Sehorn, Williams, Monty, Phillips, CJ and MS. The tackles controlled the middle with little drop off from Hammer and Peter to Hale, Big George and C. Griffin. Hale blocked an extra point kick and Griffin showed he came to play by not backing down to Eagles’ provocation. He had to be dragged away more than once. This young man has some fire. Thomas and West played well enough to help the D – Thomas was only badly beaten on one play but McNabb, under pressure, couldn’t make the connection.
JJ and Taylor were doing a lot of jawing and pointing and the middle of the Eagles’ line was frustrated all afternoon. Some minor scuffles broke out late, nothing serious. Taylor should have been quiet because he was getting beaten all day. Ike scored his TD beating Taylor on a post pattern, and both Ike and Amani raced by defenders indicating that the Eagles game planned for the run, not the pass. They went after Dayne and figured for some reason that the Giants were not an aerial threat. NOT! They did stop Dayne on the tough inside runs with 2 and 3 men tackling the big fella, but Tiki’s outside sprints had them off balance, and the line was really punching some holes on the motion plays. Dan Campbell was on the field in some two tight end sets and is establishing himself as a powerful blocker. His long legs give him stability for the push and he gets good drive often sealing off his end.
Dixon had some nice returns, one on a bobble and he added a catch. I thought I saw him gimpy on one play and he may have suffered a little “toe”. Special teams did give up a Mitchell run back, also on a bobble, otherwise coverage was credible. They are doing a much better job on return blocking, allowing Dixon to get to the outside. On coverage, they are improving, but still not a force. These are young guys and as they start to believe in themselves and have some fun I believe they will develop into a better than average unit. Brad D is accurate and getting good distance on his field goals, but his kickoffs have lost some distance and he doesn’t reach the end zone. Maynard is often a story of the beauty and the beast. Sean Landeta, kicking for the Eagles, still has it. Sean, along with McCaffrey, are legacies of Dan Reeves mistakes.
Sean Payton is doing a great job mixing it up. His play calling is confusing the opponents. The formations are helping this effort, particularly in keeping the D backs off balance. The O Line is thriving, keeping Kerry upright; Ike has more moves than a snake, Amani is showing his 5th gear and Tiki, Tiki, Tiki. Stone is a massive drive blocker, Parker can still pull and Ziegler is very active (I don’t understand why the Bills thought he couldn’t play center).
Only concern – There were a whole lot of ice packs and wraps on legs and arms. Nothing appearing serious, but…Jason might have caught a spike or something on his tackle, Parker hurtled off into space on one play and stayed on all fours for a few seconds and Lomas favored his leg on a play late in the game, but appeared fit in the locker.
REPORT CARD: Solid A for an overwhelming performance against a very good Eagles’ team.
Offensive Unit: A+ Playing as a team, everyone contributing. Kerry and Tiki are the drive wheels, playing behind a very good offensive line which is quickly silencing critics. These guys are proving adept at making holes and pass protection. Ron Dayne is doing some heavy lugging and getting his Baptism by fire with the Eagles keying on him and sending 2 and 3 tacklers on every play. They were selling out to stop Dayne, which opened opportunity elsewhere. Comella is stepping up and playing as he did in College. He can run and catch and is not afraid to lead into the hole. Kerry complimented him in a post game.
Wideouts: Special commendation A++ Ike and Toomer, not your standard election year package. Dixon should get more time – he is a talent, throw him into the fray. JJ needs to work himself into position to catch Kerry’s eye.
Tight ends: B But only because they don’t catch. They block with the best. When Pete rejoins them, they will be a more complete unit.
Regrets: Although Walendy has value on special teams, he is not in the fullback rotation. This spot can be more usefully occupied by JoMo. Same deal with mike Rosenthal. Big Mike and JoMo are players – they have attitude. They need to get in the game some to develop. Rosenthal can spell Parker for a few plays a game. JoMo can give the Giants a three headed monster. With as many plays as were run in this game there are plenty of balls to feed all these guys and not risk demoralization or rust.
Coaching – Offense: Solid A. Payton is having fun. This is good. Every game he uses a little something different. He still scripts the first 15 plays, but only the first 15. He’s smart enough to ride a hot horse, will not panic and abandon the running game, but also uses the quick strike. A nice variant of the WCO. I teased him about his ‘single wing’ and ‘double wing’ formations and he grinned and acknowledged he borrowed a little from here and there. McNally looks comfortable and he has put something special together. Incidentally, the Giants have one of the lighter lines in the NFC, averaging 306.4, with only Carolina and St. louis averaging less. Denver is the lightest overall averaging 287. Other interesting figures. The Giants average 6-2.4 in height (an NFC high), 247.1 pounds overall, 26.3 years in age, 3.94 years in experience, they have 13 rookies and first year men and 7 players over 30. This places them somewhere in the lower half (favorable) of the NFC.
Coaching – Defense: A+ You’ve read the statements elsewhere. I’ve been saying it since mini camp, this defense is solid and will continue to play Giants’ football. Credit Fox and Marcin for developing the rotation, fostering high expectations and morale and calling an aggressive game. The Giants are not as thin as supposed. Hammer, Peter, Hale, Williams and Griffin fill the middle. Golden and Short are developing and with Monty will give the giants 2 deep at backer and the secondary – special kudos to Coach Lynn – McDaniel and Stephens are developing nicely, Sehorn is a force, Shaun Williams – I apologize Shaun – you are starting to play like a #1; same for CJ, and Michael is still the leader of this unfairly maligned gang. Coach Fox is at his best with an attacking unit and the Giants are once again sending waves of attackers in unpredictable fashion. Jessie, Monty and Phillips all blitzed; Sehorn is also in the mix. CJ and MS are playing contain against the scramblers, sacrificing personal stats for unit success. The D is back.
Specials: B MacDuff is working hard and it’s beginning to show. The youngsters on the return team are bonding and developing unit pride. They are beginning to catch on. This is their way onto the field and they take it seriously. Not there totally, yet, but give credit where credit is due.
HEAD COACHING: A If JF fails now, it is his albatross. This is his team, molded in his image and bonding as he wants. The veteran leadership is showing, Kerry is quietly showing that redemption is possible. Handing over the play reins to Payton has served as a tremendous pressure valve. JF can now exhort, lead and mold this team. My only downgrade, and it is a nitpick, is sitting JoMo and Rosenthal in sweats. Let’s get the whole team in on the fun Remember the lesson of Gladiator, Coach, stand together and you survive.
Conversations in Philly:
It was a better trip this week, mostly sunshine and light traffic. The trip home following the Cardinals game was an adventure. On the NJ side of the river across from Philly, I ran through a thunderstorm of biblical proportions. Hundreds of cars were pulled to the side of the road, which was covered by 2-3 inches of water. There was more lightning and thunder and visibility was low. Coming under one underpass, there was a sudden stoppage of traffic. As I cleared the pass I noticed red flashers all over the road – then a flood – 3 or more feet deep, with all those cars stuck in the outer lanes – guess the owners had to swim for it. I was behind a huge van and just tucked up beneath his underride. I put the car in second, told him go, baby, and let him break a wake for me. I stayed on the phone with my wife, who always keeps me calm, and through the flood and up over the hill we went. Two major things I learned from all my years working with highways: 1) never pull to the side of a highway, but if you do get out of the car and run for the trees, and 2) never stop – go slow, crawl, but do not stop in a danger situation or you are done.
But that was last week and now we had sunshine so I took a little extra time in the locker room. It was a happy locker as always after a win. I stopped to chat with Mike Rosenthal who told me I should be talking to the guys who played. I asked about the shoulder and he told me it was fine, that he was ready and just waiting for his opportunity. It’s got to be tough on the big guy, going from last year inactive, to dressing, to starting to this year inactive. He’s going to be in this league for a long time, he’s ready to go, he’s paying some dues without complaining and he deserves a uniform.
I asked Lomas Brown if it felt good and he said “it was awesome; it was awesome; it was something that we needed; we came in here and pretty much took it from them. That’s impressive, that’s impressive for this team.” I asked him if this was one of those defining moments for a team, and he having been through many wars, gave me a realistic answer in saying, “Well, I won’t say that because it’s still early in the season, we still have a long way to go, but for us, it helps our confidence, to come in here and do what we did, especially on the road against a team like that.” I asked him if the Eagles did anything different out there and he told me, “Without a doubt. Their aim was to stop the running game, they did more stunting than we thought they were going to, but we stayed grounded and kept doing what we had to do, and we were able to get the victory.” I told him that I noticed they were loading both ends on one side and Lomas told me, “Yes, they were doing that, they were walking the backers up, they had the interior D-linemen doing a lot of stunting and that makes it hard on the run blocking because guys aren’t where they’re supposed to be, so you have to make adjustments on the run, but I thought we did that for the most part and we hit them with a couple of big plays and that helped us.”
I had him laughing as I left him by telling him I was behind the bench with my kneepads on and they got me so fired up I started yelling for a helmet because I was ready to go and run some traps with him. He graciously told me to come on out because he could use all the help he could get. Lomas is a great addition, a warrior and a gentleman and I wish him success in getting that Ring here with the Giants.
Ryan Hale is getting more rotation time and thoroughly enjoying it. He told me “It felt good” then we talked about Michael Strahan. Ryan told me “I was so happy for Michael Strahan, because Michael Strahan is and will be the premiere end in this League for as long as he plays this game. Michael has been taking a lot of heat lately and I think today he silenced a lot of people because John Runyan is a good tackle, but Michael showed him…and I’m glad for Michael because this was a big game…and he really stepped it up.” Hale went on to tell me of the respect the team has for MS, who is not only a captain but a true team leader and that the team doesn’t expect him to get 15 or 16 sacks every year because he is being blocked differently and because other teams are game planning for Michael. Ryan told me, “No matter what kind of game he has, we’ll always be behind him because he is our team leader and we’ll always support him.”
We then talked about Ryan’s role in the rotation, and he described it, “It’s just like anything else. If I were to cut a head of wheat I wouldn’t be very good at it, but the more hay you cut, the more plays you get, the more comfortable you feel out there, and that’s the way I’m feeling right now. I’m feeling a little more comfortable out there. By no means am I ready to start, but I feel like I’m making some pretty good strides.” I asked about the blocked extra point and he told me that was his block. I told him we weren’t sure on the sidelines because big George Williams came out thumping his chest. Ryan said, “It’s hard in that type of situation, you never know who gets it because it comes off so fast.”
I visited with Brandon Short and asked him if it was everything he expected and what lessons he had learned so far. He told me, “It’s a lot of fun, it’s always fun when you win…I’ve learned all rookies start the same whether you are a first pick or the last guy in the draft; you’ve all got to get out there and perform; granted a higher pick gets a lot more opportunities to get out there on the field, but if you play, they’re going to put you in anyway…I’m just trying to get better every week. All the older linebackers have been helping us young guys, like me, Jack (Golden), and Kevin (Lewis), they’ve been helping us out tremendously, so I feel like I’m getting better, we all are, every week.”
Shaun Williams and I discussed the succession of scramblers the Giants are facing and he acknowledged that this was a good win. I asked about game planning and he told me, “As a team we’ve started to study film more this year and guys are spending extra time because we want to win, and that’s been a key to our success so far.” I asked him about working with Lyle West and he said, “Lyle knows the defense, Lyle is a competitor, he’s a football player. I knew he was going to play well today and he did.”
Amani was talking to a group of us about his TD and he was saying, “When situations like that arise, the ball is going to be in the right spot…during training camp we were looking good and the defense was telling us it was hard to cover us…now when we’re playing other teams that aren’t used to the motion and the shifts, we’re really stretching them out and they don’t know how to react…the more plays we get, I’d compare it to boxing, like taking body shots; in the first quarter we were on the field for a long time, kind of like hitting them in the body, getting them loosened up, then when we scored the TD, they didn’t have the juice to come back and put more pressure on us.” I asked him how he got 7 yards behind the defenders and he told me, “A lot of it has to do with Kerry looking them off, our offensive line is protecting, and we’re executing good; we practice it so it looks like that, it’s the way it’s supposed to be.” But he quickly said, “There were a couple of drives that we could have done better, convert on a couple of third downs, just to put the game more out of reach.” I told him that at the end it looked as if the Giants were trying not to roll up the score. He said, “We know they work just as hard as we do, they went to training camp, we just wanted to win; we don’t want to rub it in anybody’s face…that always comes back to you.” I asked if we had finally seen the entire arsenal and he smiled and said, “We showed a little bit more this week than we did the week before, but I think there’s still a lot to see.”
MS told me, “I feel good, we won the game, I feel good about that…the whole week it’s been Runyan and Strahan, everybody made a battle of it except me. I just wanted to pay and do what I could do. I was able to play pretty good today. The next time we play, who knows…I know he’s going to come out and play a lot harder, so it’s an interesting match up for everybody except me. I’m just happy trying to play and each week is different. Next week I’ve got Big Cat Williams and we’ll see how I do.” We talked about the pre-game heckler and Michael told me, “In Philadelphia, this is probably the only City where I would talk to the crowd, because it’s Philadelphia…when you see a guy flicking you off with a kid sitting next to him…it’s Philadelphia…” I asked him how McNabb was developing and he said, “He’s coming along great, you can’t catch the guy, like I said earlier, you can put him in a cab with 5 guys and he’ll escape from the cab without anybody touching him. He’s very elusive, very strong, once he gets a little more experience, he’s going to be dangerous.”
I continued that discussion with CJ who told me “he’s unbelievable. We put a lot of pressure on him, he still makes the plays…he got out of trouble a few times…that’s when he’s at his best, coming off blitzes…for the most part we wanted to contain him.” I asked CJ if he had a role as a run specialist or pass rusher and he told me, “In the NFC, if you can’t stop the run, you’re not going to win…because you’re playing against backs like Duce Staley…we try to stop the run and make them one dimensional. When you chase a QB like we did last week and this guy, here, McNabb, you’ve got to be real cautious, you just can’t go up the field with a speed rush, you’ve got to come under control. If we had been flying up the field out of control, he wold have hurt us real big time. We’re staying under control until we face pocket passers. Next week we’ve got Cade McNown, it’ll probably be about the same, staying under control on our rush.” CJ told me he was feeling comfortable with his development but “there’s still a lot of things out there. I go back, and I’m my biggest critic, I’ll look at the film, I’m going to be hard on myself every week so I keep on improving and getting better. I’m just going to keep on plugging and I feel it’s going to come the way I want it to come.” He told me that he and Michael “just go full out the whole game, just empty the tank, throughout the week try to reload it and empty it again next Sunday. Mike and I expected to get a lot of plays, so we got in better shape so we’d be able to sustain throughout the game.”
Well, there you have it, game planning, film review, going full out the new offensive philosophy and execution. So far so good.