Washington Redskins 16 – New York Giants 6
Overview: The Giants played with emotion and intensity, but there were simply too many mental mistakes – which I will highlight in the positional reviews. Combine that with QB Brad Johnson’s hot hand and the poor performance from QB Kerry Collins and what was a closely fought smash-mouth affair quickly got out of hand in the second quarter. There were breakdowns in the secondary that led to 16 easy points for Washington.
But to me, the offense is the main culprit in this loss. If you hold the opposing team to 16 points, you should win…especially at home. Every time the Giants seemed to get something going, a missed block, a penalty, or a poor throw stalled the drive. Holding calls on kick returns were a big factor in poor field position. There were some strange calls from Sean Payton on top of everything else (3rd down draw on 3rd-and-10+, the repetitive screen calls that obviously were not working, etc.).
But you have to give the Redskins credit too. They played well and their veterans really stood up when their coach needed them to. For their part, the Giants’ players and coaches must quickly learn from this game and prepare for a tough Titan team. What the Giants’ offense needs to do is start scoring some points again.
Quarterback: Kerry Collins (21-of-44 for 210 yards, one touchdown and one interception) was not sharp. In the first half, there were two times that he was sacked, but aside from these two plays, Kerry had just as much time to throw the ball – if not more – than Brad Johnson did for the Skins. There were a few underneath throws to Ike Hilliard where he was right on the money, but he was way off the mark on a number of throws. It started with the first drive, where Kerry rolled out on 3rd-and-ten away from the pressure, but he seemed to rush a throw to an open Amani Toomer for what should have been an easy first down as the ball sailed high. The worst example of his inaccuracy was right before halftime when he had Amani Toomer for an easy touchdown, but badly overthrew the ball (it wouldn’t have counted because there was a penalty on the play). I don’t think it was the rush that bothered Kerry – it just didn’t look like he had “it” on Sunday night. In the first half, Kerry hit some nice passes early and late and mounted a couple of “drives”, but these would inevitably stall and no points were generated. The third down magic that the Giants had in the first three games disappeared against the Redskins. Some of his decision-making was tad questionable too. In the third quarter, he tried to get the ball deep to Hilliard who was covered inside-out by the corner and safety. Collins started to get into a bit of a rhythm in the fourth quarter when he found Ike and Pete Mitchell over the middle on well-thrown balls. But then he was picked off by Deion Sanders in the endzone. I don’t put much emphasis on his late stats after that since Washington was playing less aggressively in the secondary.
Offensive Line: Our offensive line analyst, Chris Jacobs, may disagree with me below, but it was more mental errors that seemed to be a problem than physical ones. On the big sack by DE Bruce Smith on the Giants’ most serious drive of the first half when the score was still 0-0, LT Lomas Brown wasn’t “beaten”; the problem was that he didn’t even try to block Smith. The Redskins blitzed and Smith was freely allowed to rush Collins. Head Coach Jim Fassel pointed to this play in particular on Monday: “We had other opportunities where we miscommunicated at the line of scrimmage. One time we had a good opportunity to hit a post for a touchdown. We had gotten down to about the 26-yard line, and we get a miscommunication. They walk a linebacker up in the gap, we miscommunicate it. We get two guys on one guy and Bruce Smith comes off the edge completely free and hits Kerry and we get a sack. That not only takes us out of field goal range, I think we had an excellent to hit a touchdown pass.” The Giants were driving at the end of the first half, and an idiotic personal foul by RT Luke Petitgout puts the Giants in 2nd-and-25 (and could have taken away a potential TD had Collins not been off-target). RG Ron Stone pulled on a run and whiffed on Smith in the first quarter. It was these kind of plays that hurt the Giants the most. Physically, they didn’t do as bad a job as you would think. There were holes in the running game and Collins had time to throw. Yes, it wasn’t picture perfect protection, but it rarely is in the NFL. The one big breakdown that was the responsibility of the line was Kenard Lang’s sack on the second drive of the second half that ended a Giants’ scoring threat. Lang split Parker and Zeigler and Collins never had a chance. (Stone also jumped offsides on the same set of downs). Luke was also beat badly by Lang on a running play in the 4th quarter and Barber was hit in the backfield.
Tight Ends: TE Dan Campbell badly missed the block on DE Marco Coleman on the Giants’ attempted flea flicker in the second quarter that stalled yet another drive (Petitgout got blamed by the announcers, but it was Campbell who missed the block – Luke saw the whiff and tried to help out). Perhaps it wasn’t wise to put Campbell in such a sensitive situation on a critical play? Collins tried to hit Pete Mitchell on an intermediate route over the middle for a first down to keep the drive alive in the same quarter, but the pass was tipped at the line. He did have one catch for 18 yards.
Running Backs: When they had a chance to run, the running backs were fairly productive. Ron Dayne (5 carries for 23 yards) had what I thought his most impressive run as a Giant in the first quarter on a right-side pitch where he aggressively attacked the defense up the field and punished three tacklers. Tiki Barber (16 carries for 65 yards, 6 catches for 41 yards) got outside a few times for good yardage and had a nice looking inside burst in the first quarter too. There were times when they were halted at or near the line of scrimmage, but that was no different than any of the other games these two have played. The one thing the Redskins did do a good job of was defending the backside of the play when Tiki cutback. The Skins played very disciplined defense there, as did they on the three failed screens to Tiki the Giants ran in the first half. Greg Comella (2 catches for 11 yards) was once again an auxiliary target in the passing game. However, Greg missed the blitzing linebacker on the Giants’ opening drive of the second half that resulted in a sack on third down.
Wide Receivers: The Skins did a good job of taking Amani Toomer (3 catches for 31 yards, 1 reverse for 5 yards) out of the game. Toomer did get deep on the aforementioned deep pass, but he was rarely heard from. Ike Hilliard (7 catches for 85 yards, 1 touchdown) was often spotted running crossing routes and he did a good job getting open, but he dropped two passes, including one that would have taken the Giants out of a big hole and possibly kept a drive alive (see – another self-inflicted mistake). Ike gets a lot of grief on BBI and I’m not sure why. He will drop a pass or two in a game, but he is a very slippery defender who makes far many more good plays than bad. He’s probably just as frustrated with the drops as us fans, but keep in mind he is a big reason why the Giants offense has performed so well in the first three games. Joe Jurevicius (1 catch for 10 yards) did a good job of picking up a first down when the Giants were fighting to get out of the shadow of their own endzone in the second quarter, but he later dropped a ball from Collins in the third quarter. Ron Dixon (1 catch for 14 yards) almost made a circus catch in the endzone late in the game but was ruled out of bounds.
Defensive Line: Very strong in the first half against the run and not as bad as some say against the pass. First, the run: the Redskins have a very big and gifted offensive line and a very big and gifted tailback, but Washington could get no running game going in the first half and much of this had to do with the play of the defensive line. Norv Turner said the Giants stuffed the Skins rushing attack with run blitzes, but this isn’t exactly true. There were many times when the front four were doing the job on their own, occupying the blocker, and making the tackle as well. After watching the tape, I realized that the pass rush really wasn’t that bad either. The pocket was often pushed right back into Brad Johnson’s face or he was getting hit right as he threw the ball – he just did a great job of standing in the pocket and taking the hit. DE Michael Strahan was active early against both the run and the pass (I could do without the pointing at the opposing sideline however). Particularly impressive was his backside pursuit on a few plays. DT Christian Peter was pretty active (for him) in rushing the passer and I spotted him twice crashing into Johnson just as he released the ball (one could have been intentional grounding). DE Cedric Jones forced LT Chris Samuels to hold him and DT Cornelius Griffin forced RG Tre Johnson to do the same with him. DT Keith Hamilton was stout in the middle, but had a pretty bad personal foul face mask penalty on Stephen Davis. However, the line lost some steam (and intensity?) midway through the third quarter when Davis started to break off some decent-sized runs. This combined with the short-passing game let the Skins march down the field on a time-consuming drive that resulted in a missed field goal. But the damage had been done.
Linebackers: Very active and overall a good game. This might have been SLB Ryan Phillips’ best game as a Giant. He flashed (for once) a couple of times in run defense – once stringing out an outside run and making the solo tackle and then later slashing through the line (something that I’ve been waiting for from him for a long time) to make a very strong tackle for a loss. In coverage, Phillips made one good play against a back, but got beat down the field by the tight end in the second half. WLB Jessie Armstead also made a couple of strong tackles at or behind the line of scrimmage (his quicks are back). He absolutely crushed Johnson on an inside blitz, but Johnson stood tough in the pocket and delivered a huge pass deep down the field. It was an up-and-down night for MLB Mike Barrow. In the first half, I spotted him flying around the field and shooting gaps. He seemed to start getting into the flow of the defense after missing much of camp. But Mike missed a couple of tackles on the Skins’ time-consuming drive in the third quarter that did not result in points.
Defensive Backs: Mental mistakes seemed to be the big story here too, but there were physical breakdowns as well. First listen to Coach Fassel: “I told the defense guys this morning they were going to go deep. I read all the comments all week about everything they said, their philosophy; they are going to go play-action pass over the top…The one pass they hit up on our sideline, we’re in cover two. That ball was thrown and we should be waiting there for the interception. That’s a slam dunk, no question in my mind, absolutely no question, interception. We should be in position. We misjudged the ball and misplayed it. The angle was wrong. They get the completion. They got (53) yards out of it. We should’ve had an interception on that play.” The man in question is FS Shaun Williams, who played very well in the previous three games despite missing all of the preseason. “I thought the receiver was behind me,” said Williams. “I was going for the ball, but I didn’t have a good feel for where the receiver was. He just jumped in front of me and made the play.” On the very next play, Dave Thomas was burned by Jake Reed for a TD on what he thought was going to be a curl route and ended up being a stop-and-go route – another mental mistake. “He ran a shuttle and go. We call it a sluggo,” Thomas said. “He did a curl and I bit on the curl. I tried to recover in time to get the ball, but by that time he was all over it.” In the first half of the game, it seemed to me that the Giants were confused. CB Dave Thomas is the weak link of the secondary. He’s no Jeremy Lincoln, but he’s the kind of guy you want to give some help to if you can. Well, the first big play against the secondary was a deep post pattern to WR James Thrash (the fastest offensive player on the Redskins), yet there was no safety in the picture (Shaun Williams was out of position). You can’t leave a speed receiver all alone with Thomas deep over the middle like that. “I didn’t play disciplined,” Williams said. “I was supposed to be back deep, but I jumped the short route because I thought that’s where he was going to throw it. I made a bad decision.” Later, SS Sam Garnes was burned badly by Irving Fryar on an out-and-up. Why was Garnes covering Fryar all by himself? To me, these are either mental breakdowns on the part of the players or scheme problems on the part of Defensive Coordinator John Fox. (Fox was also crossed up by Turner’s play-calling in the third quarter when the Skins started to hit the fullback and tight end). The other deep throw of the first half by Johnson was simply a beautiful throw and well-executed.
Special Teams: Great coverage on punt returns. First, P Brad Maynard put together a strong game, both in terms of his long drive opportunities and coffin corner chances. He did a good job of pinning Deion Sanders to the sideline. Second, the coverage unit really did a number on Deion with guys like Lyle West, Ryan Phillips, Emmanuel McDaniel, and Greg Comella leading the charge.
The bad news was the Giants’ kick returns. Two first half holding penalties (by Brandon Short and Chris Ziemann) really hurt. But so did some strange returns from Ron Dixon. I thought Dixon was over his dancing around the field routine, but he regressed on Sunday and didn’t take the ball aggressively up the field. A kick returner simply cannot hesitate in the NFL, and he certainly cannot come to a virtual stop. Dixon did too much of this (and I also think he put his blockers in a bad position as he seemed to free lance a bit much).
A big mistake was CB Reggie Stephens not falling on the fumble on the Redskins’ opening kick-off of the second half. He tried to pick up the ball and score (a noble goal), but in that situation he needs to fall on the ball. He’ll learn from this. Emmanuel McDaniel should have been able to keep one of Maynard’s punts from bouncing into the endzone. Brandon Short also gave the Redskins a first down very late in the game when he jumped offsides.
Analysis of the Offensive Line
by Chris Jacobs
Lomas Brown 88%:
I was very very impressed with his play this week. If it wasn’t for the miscommunication on the line in the first quarter you would have never heard Bruce Smith’s name mentioned once. And Smith tried every trick in the book; speed rush, bull rush, swim move, spin move, the Reggie White one arm toss, etc. Well Lomas handled everything that Smith threw at him. And what’s even more impressive is 90% of the time Washington knew they were going to throw so they just pinned their ears back and went. You can start carving out the bust now for Bruce Smith in Canton and LB shut him down.
Glen Parker 92%:
All I’ve been reading in the papers is GP saying he had a bad game and blaming himself for the loss. I admire him for not pointing fingers because that’s been a problem in the past with the team, however the truth of the matter is he had a very good game. There was one really bad play that Kenard Lang made GP and DZ look like swinging saloon doors from an old western, and I also gave him a bad mark on Toomer’s reverse because he didn’t hit anyone, but besides that he played a solid game. Still a tad high at times in pass protection.
Dusty Ziegler 90%:
This was a very physical football game. Barring the aforementioned pass protection breakdown with he and Glen P, I would say he had a pretty good game. Did a really nice job handling Wilkinson and Stubblefield up front. On one 3rd-and-2 he took Big Daddy out of the play by himself, it actually surprised me that they didn’t double him in that instance but he got the job done alone. He wasn’t driving guys 5 yards downfield like he has the last 3 weeks but he did good enough to get the job done. Between Stubblefield and Wilkinson, they had no tackles no assists and no sacks.
Ron Stone 88%:
The reason they don’t use him as much as Parker to pull and kick out could not have been more clear than on the second play of the game. I know this has already been well documented but if he makes that block it’s at the very least 10 yards, possibly a long run because it was wide open downfield. Again had some problems getting to the backers here and there but overall did a good job, like I mentioned before, both inside guys didn’t have a tackle.
Luke Petitgout 88%:
88%?!?!?!?!?!? Are you kidding me? Listen, there were 75 offensive plays and the reason why it seemed like he had a bad game was because his mistakes were the most glaring and obvious. First of all the flea flicker sack wasn’t his fault, it was Dan Campbell’s (Paul McGuire knows less about football than Dennis Miller does). And, yes, the left hook to the head of Arrington was a bonehead thing to do out of frustration, he completely missed Kenard Lang on a run in the fourth quarter that resulted in a four yard loss, and, the failed two point conversion was his fault. However, all in all he really didn’t have a bad game.
I could get into all the reasons why they lost this game, I can point out certain players, on both sides of the ball, coaches, play calling (actually I would never question the playcalling). The fact of the matter is they lost, and they lost to a good football team that has a ton of talent. The reason I’m saying all this is because I know many of you are going to read this and think I’m being biased because I’m a fan of the team. But the truth is the O-line really had a good game, I tried to give them bad grades and I looked for bad play from all of them but I couldn’t find it. I’m standing by my post the other day that I don’t think the Redskins are a better team than the Giants.
One final note – Dayne did and excellent job pass blocking.
WASHINGTON EXPOSE
by David Oliver
This week is the first of an annual double header which takes on more meaning than football for me. I have lived in the Washington area over 30 years now and it’s never been home. I’ve watched it grow from a southern cow town with paved street to a fun house mirror impersonation of the Big Apple. There are no European or Asian ethnic enclaves, although northern Virginia is developing a Vietnamese/Korean and Hispanic culture, no traditional working class, no decent bakeries or affordable neighborhood restaurants, and only a pseudo Kulture ,based on road shows and federal largesse. Move the federal government out of town and it would sink back into the Potomac swamps from whence it came. It is a town whose only sport is politics and whose only true fans are the detritus of political campaigns who tramp here, smug and pompous after every election, only to ebb away like a bad low tide 4 years following its arrival.
When the Giants play the Redskins, it becomes a Holy Crusade for me; grit against gloss, truth against lie, reality against delusion. When the Skins win, I grieve; when the Giants win, I preen. A really great year for me is one like the Super Bowl year when the Giants won 3 games; a bad year is like last year when the Giants not only lose 2, but give up 50 points at home.
This year I left home concerned – on a personal note, the lump in my wife’s leg is a tumor (although the surgeon says most of these are benign, we’re not crossing that bridge just yet), Buff the Cat does have cancer and his life expectancy is months, and this is my last week on the job. No, Joey, I don’t want your money – I was being cute and guess I missed the mark. I just try to bring the average fan into the game, to show that we, you and I do have lives and to set the stage for the fact that the players too have lives. And that these lives we have do impact or are impacted by the game -that’s why it is so popular. Of course, I forget that many people today, particularly the young, don’t have lives, having been around only so long. I do have a life and it does involve not only the Giants but a lot of history. If I miss the mark with some, I hope I hit it with others.
The omens are not good as I ride north. The Giants are 3 and 0 and are slightly giddy. The Redskins are 1 and 2 and running scared, after all, Washington is such a wonderful place, where fate is determined ala the roman coliseum, on the whim of the mob’s finger. So Saturday night, I drove down to an old neighborhood establishment – Jimmy Buff’s, on Washington St. in West Orange, N.J. Buff’s has been around forever. Big buff has had a stroke and Little Buff runs it now. Little Buff is a pretty big guy himself. Buff’s makes those great sausage and peppers and onions and potato sandwiches or dogs with the works or just plain vegetables. Order a double and they cut a loaf of pizza bread (a favorite in north Jersey) in half and stuff with your selection. It’s a small place, like a half diner. Single file in the door and there is a counter, a soda cooler and two grills. The grease is sizzling and popping and the air is redolent with the aroma of old Newark. The place is magical- it is a time machine. Every few years I head down and I feel at home again. Thomas Wolfe wrote ‘you can never go home again.’ But Thomas Wolfe never visited Jimmy Buff’s. Hanging at places like Buff’s or Sal’s or the White Castle was a rite of passage – and I don’t apologize for the fact that I miss those places, those times, my friends, family, the bakeries, the nights with Jive Five or thunderbird and a pizza, or slippery sack. And the Giants have always been a large part of those times, and these. Now I’m fully armed and ready for the Redskins game.
Sunday finally comes. I can’t stand hanging around all day. I take Mom shopping, get the cameras ready, watch the Cowboys and the race at Dover, then part of the Jets. At 5PM, I leave for the game. The parking lot is already full of tailgaters – after all, this game could be special – although Sunday and Monday nights are not good to the Giant – another fatalistic omen. Watching the smoke rise into the gray dusky sky calls to mind an interesting juxtaposition – we Giants fans always believe we are at the gates of Camelot, when in truth, we stand closer to Hephaestus’ forge. What to others appears acrid and searing, to us is aromatic and soothing. Another year, a good start, and we think, this could be the year, while preparing at the same time for the inevitable letdown.
There are few experiences in sports that top the introduction of the Giants players before a big game. The Pizza Man and his hard hat cohorts stand atop the tunnel entrance, the team gathers, jumping and shouting and psyching each other, the bell begins tolling, the mournful war cry of the Meadowlands, bong, bong, bong…For this game the Giants have borrowed something else from the Rams playbook. The tunnel fills with smoke and the players come onto the field as their numbers are called, entering out of the mist and the foggy darkness, emerging from the Stadium underworld through Vulcan’s fires. When Jessie’s name is called he emerges from the mist on all fours, barking like a demented war dog, almost howling, and the fans are going crazy. The XFL can’t top this. The feeling is almost mystical, but instinctively I think, oh, my God the Giants are going to lose this game. Adrenalin is a funny thing. When released it must be used up quickly or it dissipates and takes a long time to reload. If the Giants don’t strike fast, I fear this will be a long night. Well, they didn’t and that was that. They worked hard, they fought to the end, but the demon minions of diminutive Dan doused the flames of victory.
And what minions they are. Cruising the Redskins sideline is like a history tour of NFL football in the 1990s. Deion Sanders, Bruce Smith, Andre Reed, Irving Fryar, Mark Carrier, Darrell Green, Larry Centers, Big Daddy and Dana Stubblefield, Brad Johnson and Jeff George; throw in LaVar Arrington and Chris Samuels for future shock and you don’t know where to look, whose picture to take. You read about the 100 million payroll and the names, but until you walk down there and see them, you just can’t imagine that such a team has actually been assembled. It’s like a casting call for an NFL Properties spectacular choreographed by the great Busby Berkeley, with sound and lighting by Lucas and sub theme by Spielberg. It’s a shame Theisman and Co. have this game, it was tailor made for Dennis Miller.
Is there anything you haven’t heard about the game? My take is exactly as Coach Fassel – 4 or 5 plays made the difference. The Giants didn’t make them, the Redskins did. Forget total dominance, because it wasn’t, it was actually a pretty even game. Mad Dog and Fatso didn’t watch the game, hell, they didn’t even listen on radio to the whole thing. Forget the thought that the Giants didn’t play hard, they did. Forget bad coaching, it wasn’t; forget the play calling, that wasn’t the reason (although if you read JFs Monday Press Conference carefully, he did say he had spoken to Sean Payton about the lack of big play calls). But how can you call big plays if there is no execution? It doesn’t matter what you call if players drop passes, miss blocking assignments, or the QB is off target. It wasn’t the case on every play, but it happened enough to prevent victory. Ike dropped a couple early, JJ couldn’t bring one or two in, KC missed numerous receivers and on one play Tiki and Lomas Brown clocked a LB while Bruce Smith went unimpeded to KC.
Statistically, those 4 plays are the difference. First downs, Giants 21 (15 rushing), Redskins 17 (11 rushing); third down efficiency, Giants 44%, Redskins 36%. Net yards, rushing yards, time of possession and final score, advantage Redskins. But all that is tempered by this: Connell 4 catches for 122 yards, a long of 53 (at least 2 undefensed); Reed 21 yard TD; Fryar 23 yard TD (direct result of defensive lapse on play previous); Thrash 46 yard catch (bad defense). Four of those plays were blown coverages; add the failed fumble recovery to start the second half and that is the margin of victory. We can’t minimize it because the Redskins took advantage, therefore they were the better team and won on this night. But it wasn’t a total disaster out there. For fotogs, the keys are luck and lighting. For coaches, it is luck and 4 plays.
Ike wound up with 7 catches – he was the go to guy. Tiki had 6, but 5 of them amounted to very little. Amani, Pete Mitchell, Dixon and JJ were all quiet, with JJ not showing he had stepped up. His size creates enormous mismatches and the Giants had them but JJ couldn’t bring in a couple of critical receptions. Tiki had 65 on the ground, Dayne added 23 but I though Dayne could have been used more and with effect. When Parker pulls in front of him, the Big Fella seems to have a comfort zone and he tucks in the holes. It was interesting on the 2 point attempt to see Dayne coming into a pretty big hole and then to watch Arrington shoot across the gap and totally obliterate him. That doesn’t happen on many Dayne runs. The Giants need to ride this horse now – he looks ready to step up.
The defense was led by dog-man Jessie who had 7 unassisted and 4 assisted for a total of 11. Barrow had a combined 8. Interestingly, Williams and Thomas each had 8. Williams looked great on his blitz. Thomas did not look that bad. He didn’t get help on a couple of plays and that made him look like the culprit. Williams had the bad game, he knows it and he feels bad about it. But I won’t dis him here – he learned something – stay home – take care of your responsibility – his was the deep half and deep third and he bit on play fakes or pumps – ergo bad game for him – big gains for Redskins. Sehorn also looked spotty; he seems to have lost some instinct for the play. Of course, Francesca says he was never impressed with Sehorn, even in his big year. Yeah, Right!! Ryan Phillips was active and had one beauty where he chased Davis into the flat and made the tackle – not many can do that. The middle of the line was solid and the ends stopped the rush, but there was no penetration, no pressure. Johnson actually had time to wind up and throw into the wind. The missing ingredient for this defense is a proven rusher, a pressure generator. One such player will make this a very formidable defense, a premiere defense. Without it, the secondary will be exposed at times.
I was totally nonplused by the big catches and asked several players if they had seen tapes of the Dallas game. They answered, of course. Well, duh, what does it take – the coach goes over and over on the probable attempts, everyone has seen the film, and then, and then, and then, along came…For those who haven’t heard, the Giants were actually in a two deep zone, they just blew the coverages. JF said that the sideline pass caught by Thrash would have been an INT 9 times out of 10, and the guy was there, he just didn’t make the play. Fox and Olivadotti better come up with something or someone to get some pressure before it gets out of control. Maybe it’s time to give Jeremiah Parker a shot. Strahan got close several times but Brad Johnson is so big, he just flipped it over MS’ head for a completion.
Mad Dog and Fatso were crowing about how the Redskins ran the ball late, when the other team needed possession, and how this is the mark of a good running team. NOT!!! The damage was done by two key passes, one late in the third, one in the fourth, to keep possession. They were a 24 yarder to Sellers and a 20 yard to Alexander. In the 4th quarter, Davis runs went: 1 yard, 5 yards, 5 yards, 1 yard, 3 yards, 3 yards, no gain, 2 yards, 1 yard and 3 yards on two different drives, hardly an overwhelming ball control offense. Watch the game, guys before you spout off nonsense.
Here was the critical series of the game for the Giants offense. First quarter at the 4:36 mark, Giants take over following a punt – at their 36. Dayne goes around right end for 12, Tiki around right end for 8, Dayne stopped, Tiki around left end for 18. Then an incomplete pass to Tiki, a sack for -8 (the Bruce Smith sack-result of miscommunication – Giant receiver open on the play). KC to Tiki for -2, and the Giants are 4th-and-20 instead of having points.
There was also the slightly frenetic drive in the 4th quarter. The Skins missed a field goal, Giants ball on the 20. KC to Ike for 12, Tiki -4, KC to Comella for no gain, KC to Ike for 20, Tiki -4, KC to Pete for 18, inc, inc, KC to Tiki for 15. First-and-10 on the 23 and the attempted strike – KC to Ike INT Neon, who runs it back to the 28. No points again.
That, kiddies, is how it went. Cough, sputter, sputter, cough. It was the Ike and Tiki show, everyone else was window dressing. There were open receivers but KC reverted and locked on – and he had happy feet. I looked up once and thought I saw Dave Brown out there, no, I’m sure it was Kent Graham; must be something in the water in the locker room. Man, think about it; Dave Brown got hit and wanted to fight linebackers, Kent got hit and thought he was still in Arizona, KC gets hit and he begins thinking, hey, I’m not Brown or Graham, I think I’m Michael Jackson. Last guy who played here who could get hit and still play a good game was Phil Simms – tell me he doesn’t belong in the Hall!!
Grading this effort was tough. The defense overall gets a solid B+- the Redskins were held to 16 points and weren’t dominant. The secondary doesn’t deserve a D, but what the hell, they tackled if they couldn’t make a play. The linebackers deserve an A for a gutsy performance. All three starters did their jobs. The interior linemen stopped the run. The ends stopped the run, but generated no pressure.
On offense, whew! KC is a stand up guy – he took the blame, and a lot of it was his. The line didn’t run and hide either. Parker acknowledged they could have done better, Lomas did as well as anyone would have against a fired up Bruce Smith. But the line let too many guys get to KC. The tight ends must do more than block. Pete got free once and it was big. The receivers were open – sometimes KC didn’t get the ball there, sometimes they dropped it – inexcusable on both counts. The running backs did their job – Tiki gave it all, Dayne wasn’t used enough – the Big Fella is suited to running at the Redskins.
The Coaching – JF did his job, Sean Payton had one of those games, Fox had a good scheme, but didn’t bring enough heat, Johnny Lynnn – well, he wasn’t the center fielder, so we can’t blame him.
Breakdowns, breakdowns, breakdowns. As MacDuff told his ST unit after the game, “You have to grow up fast in this league”. The breakdowns are inexcusable. They cost the Giants victory – and those of us in the DC area, untold abuse at the hands of THEM.