New York Giants 13 – Atlanta Falcons 6
Overview of the Game: It wasn’t pretty. In fact, it was downright ugly. This game reminded me a lot of the Giants’ teams when Dave Brown and Danny Kanell still played here. But a win is a win and it definitely feels good to chalk up another conference game. Looking at the big picture, it is important to realize that the Giants have already finished half their road games and have chalked up a 3-1 away game record. Six of their remaining ten games are at home.
4-2 sounds great, but the Giants are going to have to play a lot better offensively if they are to put together a really good season. The problem remains their inability to put up points. The Giants’ defense is not good enough right now to carry a team that consistently struggles to reach the 20 point mark in a game.
Giants on Offense: What is the problem with the offense? In my opinion, the problems are resting largely with the passing attack. Specifically, I think QB Kerry Collins, WR Amani Toomer, and WR Ike Hilliard have been in a funk for the past few weeks. Personally, I just feel it’s a slump that all three will get over, but until they do, the entire offense will struggle. Opposing teams have learned to bottle up the running attack by crowding the line of scrimmage and daring the passing game to beat them. It is the same old problem the Giants have suffered since Phil Simms left. The good news is that Collins has demonstrated the ability to put up big passing numbers. So have Ike Hilliard and Amani Toomer. We’re not talking about potential here, but real ability. But for whatever reason, all three have contributed to a stagnating offensive performance.
On one play it will be a dropped ball, on another it will be a poor pass, on another it will be a penalty. These kind of self-inflicted mistakes are drive killers and there are only so many drives in a football game. If these mistakes are not made, the drive continues and there will be more chances to make big plays and score. When these mistakes are not made, fans laud the offensive play-calling and the ability of their players. When the mistakes are made, the drive stops and fans start questioning the play-calling and why so-and-so isn’t getting more touches. Well, you can’t touch the ball more when you are sitting on the bench because you couldn’t sustain the drive in the first place. The Giants were 1-of-12 on third down against the Falcons. You can’t move the ball when you don’t convert on 3rd down.
Just a bit of history to keep the situation in perspective a bit. I’m not trying to compare the 2000 Giants to the 1986 Giants. The latter team had an incredible defense – this team doesn’t. But that 1986 offense didn’t really move the ball very well consistently until Phil Simms started playing better down the stretch. Don’t forget the “ugly” wins against the Raiders (14-9), Cardinals (13-6), Cowboys (17-14), Eagles (17-14), and the (12-17) loss to the Seahawks before “The Pass” (4th-and-17 against the Vikes). Kerry Collins has the ability to break out of this funk, and he certainly has better receivers than Simms had.
Quarterback: Kerry Collins (14-of-25 for 151 yards, 0 touchdowns, and 2 interceptions) continues to look uncomfortable to me. He hasn’t been in a rhythm since the Bears’ game. The million dollar question is why? He was very sharp in camp, in the preseason, and in the first three games – including a very aggressive and blitz-happy Eagles’ team. But for whatever reason, he is in a slump right now. For example, to start the game in Atlanta, he came out and hit Greg Comella coming out of the backfield with a very nice pass (incidentally, this play has become one of the Giants’ most consistent calls in their play book) for a first down. Ron Dayne then picked up four yards. On second down, Collins started drifting back from the pocket when he couldn’t find the open man. There was absolutely no pressure on him, but he left the pocket and this caused him to receive pressure and he had to throw the ball away. This is where his occasional jumpiness hurts him. Then on third down, he badly overthrew Toomer on the left sideline. The Giants punt, but get the ball back when the Falcons muff the punt. The Giants picked up a first down on the ground. After two more carries, they found themselves in 3rd-and-3. Collins tried to hit TE Pete Mitchell on a short out, but the ball was batted down at the line (I also thought it was a poor decision on the part of Collins because Pete was well covered by a defensive back on the play). But the Giants got another break when Atlanta got called for a penalty on the field goal attempt and the drive continued. The Giants scored by running the ball twice.
It’s not all Collins’ fault. He is making some very good throws…passes that none of the Giants’ quarterbacks since Simms could have made. But his accuracy is sagging a bit. He and the offense was also very much hurt by the play of his receivers (more on that below). Kerry was very sharp on the Giants’ second (and last) field goal drive – looking very much in command of the two minute drill. Only some questionable play-calling in the redzone kept the Giants out of the endzone.
Collins started off well in the second half with a nice looking screen pass and a well-thrown ball to Hilliard against tight coverage. After two runs, the Giants found themselves in 3rd-and-7 and Kerry threw a perfect pass to Toomer, but Toomer was called for offensive pass interference and the drive was stopped. Drive number two of the second half stalled when Collins tried to squeeze a slant pass into Amani Toomer on 3rd-and-7, but the ball was knocked away. Drive three started off with a swing pass to Tiki, but two subsequent Tiki runs could not pick up the first down; drive over. Fourth drive (right after the Armstead interception): Giants ran Dayne on a wide sweep to the right (dumb), then picked up a couple on an inside run to Dayne; on 3rd-and-long Collins missed Ike over the middle (might have been his worst pass of the game). Fifth drive: first play the ball is thrown slightly behind Dan Campbell, but the ball bounces off both his hands and is picked off. Sixth (and last) drive: starts off with a very nice screen pass to Barber (good block from Ron Stone). Then Dayne picks up a first down on two back-to-back runs. Collins slightly underthrows Toomer on a fleaflicker. After a Tiki run for four yards, Collins hits Toomer for a first down, but Toomer is called for offensive pass interference again. Drive ends on an incomplete pass to Ron Dixon on 3rd-and-16.
Wide Receivers: Terrible. First let’s start with Amani Toomer (1 catch for 17 yards) who just simply hasn’t been playing well. He not only killed one drive but not catching a pass from Collins, but his deflection was then picked off. He also killed two more drives with very costly pass interference penalties. Toomer is one of the Giants’ very best players. But you wouldn’t know it if you watched him this season. Amani did make a very good effort on his 17-yard reception. Collins was forced to step up into the pocket on the play and was being hit just as he threw – Toomer made a very strong leaping catch. This was a big play on their first field goal drive.
Ike Hilliard (2 catches for 25 yards) dropped yet another pass. These drops are now past the point of ridiculousness and it is time for the coaching staff to force Ike to spend extra time after practice catching balls. If this continues, the Giants should consider benching him for a game to get his head straight. Drops are drive killers and take away scoring opportunities. With the Giants driving late in the first quarter for their second score on their second drive, Hilliard dropped a perfectly thrown pass from Collins right over the middle of the defense. Ike would have either made the first down or been just short of it inside the 15 yard line. Instead, a 3rd-and-ten resulted and when Jurevicius was held short of the sticks on the next play, the Giants had to settle for a field goal. Ike did look pretty sharp on his 17-yard double reverse early on the same drive, where he showed better speed than I thought he had.
Ron Dixon (1 catch for 9 yards) made a great catch on a slant where he was popped just as the ball arrived. His effort to fight for the first down after the reception was impressive too and kept alive the first field goal drive (sadly, the Giants only 3rd down conversion in the game). WR Joe Jurevicius (1 catch for 7 yards) continues to be a non-factor.
Tight Ends/H-Backs: Dan Campbell was hit right in the hands by a Collins pass but the ball deflected off his mitts and was picked off on a play that could have cost the Giants the ball game. It occurred while the Giants were trying to run out the clock and it was good call by the offensive board of strategy. The play was there, but Campbell didn’t bring the ball in. Yet another mistake that stopped a drive.
The Giants really need to get Pete Mitchell (no catches) involved more over the middle. I’m not crazy about plays that send him parallel to the line of scrimmage like the attempted 3rd down pass to him on the first drive (this used to be a Dan Reeves specialty with Howard Cross). Get Mitchell over the middle running curls, ins, and crossing patterns against the under coverage.
Running Backs: FB Greg Comella really isn’t a very strong run blocker. As I’ve pointed out a number of times, he doesn’t seem to be able to blow linebackers out of the hole on running plays. So on plays where the linebacker is really aggressive and comes up to attack Greg, the play often gets jammed up at the line of scrimmage. However, Greg does do a good job of getting to the blocker and engaging him. So on plays where the linebacker is more passive, he is much more effective. He’s also much better at blocking smaller guys on the perimeter of the defense where he uses his good speed (for a fullback) to get out quickly ahead of Tiki or Ron. Greg’s big value to the team is his pass receiving ability (4 catches for 43 yards on Sunday). Greg has become a sure-handed security valve for Kerry Collins – the kind of play I expected Pete Mitchell to be this year. The little passes to him out of the backfield against the linebacker have become the Giants most consistently successful play.
Tiki Barber (14 carries for 50 yards, 5 catches for 50 yards) is one of the Giants’ most explosive players. He needs to touch the ball at least 15-20 times per game. However, I think it is time for him to pass the torch to Ron Dayne (12 carries for 31 yards and one touchdown) as the feature back carrying the ball. For one, I am worried about the wear-and-tear occurring on Barber. He seems to be getting dinged up more and more. Secondly, I think Barber is much more effective as a change of pace back after the defense has become accustomed to Dayne. Dayne’s statistics are deceiving. The Giants were having good success pounding the ball up the middle with him throughout the game. Indeed, this was the best I’ve seen him at making yardage after first contact. Dayne was very powerful breaking tackles and dragging defenders for an extra yard or two on almost every carry. I would have featured him more in the second half of the game by feeding him the ball regularly inside until the Falcons stopped it – then I would have brought in Tiki as the change of pace back.
My other problem with the use of the backs is that I’d like to see Tiki used more as a receiver. Yes, the Giants call a lot of screen and swing passes to him, but I’d like to see more passes over the middle or down the field against the linebacker (like the Rams use Marshall Faulk). His passing plays are just too predictable right now. The swing pass to him on 3rd-and-4 with the Giants inside the 10 yard line at the end of the first half was a stupid call. The Giants had a chance to go up 17-3 there. The Giants did have an excellently set up screen the picked up sizable yardage on the Giants’ first drive of the second half, but the play might have gone for even farther if Barber had stuck with his blocking linemen.
Offensive Line: Outstanding in pass protection. No sacks given up and very little pressure. The problems largely came in the run blocking area. As I’ve repeatedly said, the Giants are not a move-them-out kind of line, but for some reason, they were having more success this week running Dayne between the tackles than they were trying to hit the outside run on the right side. Ohh, the right side. The Giants are running too much to the right. It’s becoming far too predictable and I’m sure opposing defenses are now stacking up against them to the right. Perhaps it is fear that Lomas Brown can’t move his man off the line of scrimmage, but if the Giants don’t start running more to the left, I’m afraid they won’t break many big runs. They will also struggle until the passing game gets the defense to back off the line some – there were too many plays where there were more defenders to block at the point-of-attack than bodies to block them.
RT Luke Petitgout had some problems. He was beaten inside on one pass rush and called for holding on the play. This penalty took away a first down completion to Toomer that would have gotten the Giants out of a big hole near their own goal line. To make matters worse, Luke was flagged for moving before the snap two plays later – these penalties stalled a drive before it even got a chance to get started (at a point where the Falcons were already down 10-0). He was also flagged for being illegally down field on a long pass attempt to Jurevicius. Luke had some very sharp blocks on plays where he pulled to his right. On one running play on the Giants’ last scoring drive, he took out two defenders (incidentally, this was the Giants’ best running play of the game). LT Lomas Brown has really solidified the blindside of the quarterback of the Giants – you never heard a peep out of his man this week.
Giants on Defense: Let’s get one thing straight – the Falcons are NOT very good on offense right now mostly because their offensive line is a mess. But Chris Chandler is a good quarterback and can look outstanding if you give him time. He has some decent targets (wide receivers, a good tight end, and an H-Back) and a solid running back. It was very possible that the Falcons could have gotten untracked this week if the Giants’ defense did not play with intensity and aggressiveness. Thankfully, they did. Most gratifying was that the Giant defenders were absolutely punishing. I don’t think I’ve seen more big hits from a Giants’ defense since the 1990 playoffs. The highlights to me were the play of CB Jason Sehorn, FS Shaun Williams, and the aggressive game called by Defensive Coordinator John Fox who blitzed Chandler repeatedly. Three crushing consecutive hits on Chandler from blitzing defenders Shaun Williams, Ryan Phillips, and Dave Thomas forced Chandler from the game. And the life of his back-up, our old friend Danny Kanell, was made pretty miserable too. All told, the Giants’ defense picked up four sacks, countless pressures, and two interceptions. Most shocking, was that the Giants held the Falcons to 13 yards rushing – the lowest in Falcon team history.
Defensive Line: Very strong against the run (can’t get much better than holding Jamal Anderson to 12 yards on 12 carries). Better against the pass this week, but there is still room for improvement. What impressed me the most this week was the intensity that DE Michael Strahan (3 tackles, 1 sack) was playing with. There were many plays where he was successfully blocked on the pass rush, but you could tell that he was fighting and scratching on every play and not letting up. The Falcons also seemed to pay more attention to him than some other teams by having the H-Back chip on him. As the game wore on, Strahan pressured Kanell more and more until he may have made the defensive play of the game by sacking Kanell on second-and-goal on the Falcons’ last desperate drive to tie the game. That was a big-time play where he simply exploded by the reserve right tackle. Strahan may have also saved another TD by hitting Kanell just as he threw the ball right after Collins’ first interception. Shawn Jefferson was wide open on the play, but the ball fell harmlessly incomplete due to the hit as he was throwing. Strahan’s pressure on Kanell also forced to him to make a bad throw on 3rd-and-10 after Collins’ second interception.
Who also impressed me (before he was forced to leave the game with a knee injury) was DT Keith Hamilton (2 tackles, 1 sack). If you have a tape of the game, I suggest you watch the intensity Hamilton lined up with every snap. His right hand twitching and back foot pumping in anticipation of every snap. Both he and DT Christian Peter (2 tackles) really jammed things up inside while Strahan and DE Cedric Jones (3 tackles) couldn’t be moved off at the ends. Peter had one good-looking pass rush where he crushed Chandler just as he released the ball and Hamilton picked up another sack. Jones leveled Kanell a couple of times just as he threw the ball, including on the play where Armstead intercepted Kanell.
Cornelius Griffin (2 tackles, 1 sack) saw a lot of playing time at tackle even before Hamilton was hurt (and also at end). There was one early rush opportunity where he was knocked right into Strahan and he actually helped the Falcons block Strahan, but as the game wore on, he made his presence felt more and more. He knocked down two balls at the line of scrimmage and chased the ball very well on outside runs. He and Jones nailed Anderson for a loss on a play where Dave Thomas made a good play in run support, forcing Anderson back inside. His best play of the game came in a 3rd-and-long pass rushing situation where he played nose tackle on a three man rush. He beat the double-team block right at the snap of the ball and sacked Kanell for an 11-yard loss. DT Ryan Hale (1 tackle) also played quite a bit in the second half too.
Linebackers: Better this week, but still a bit weak in coverage. WLB Jessie Armstead (1 tackle) picked off a Kanell pass and made a couple of nice plays on Anderson runs that were stopped behind the line of scrimmage (I thought he should have been credited with two tackles). Pete Monty (5 tackles, 1 sack) made a very strong play on the Falcons first play from scrimmage where he pursued Anderson down the line and stuffed him right in the hole – a textbook play. He and Phillips ran by Anderson on an inside blitz during Jamal’s best run of the game (a 9 yarder on their first drive of the game). He did have problems in coverage. I think (but am not sure) that Monty was supposed to have covered Anderson on his swing pass that picked up a first down on the same drive. I also think Monty got suckered on play-action and let Kozlowski get behind him on the Falcons’ first drive of the second quarter. He later got flagged for holding on Kozlowski in the redzone on 2nd-and-13. Kelly beat him for good yardage in the third quarter and he got beat by the fullback on the last drive. On the positive side, Monty picked up an easy sack when he blitzed when the Falcons had an empty backfield (and thus there was no back to pick him up). Good call by John Fox. Ryan Phillips (3 tackles) had good coverage on the tight end on the first Atlanta pass of the game, holding Kelly to a short gain. Kelly later got past him on the last drive of the game for a first down. Phillips did smash Chandler in the pocket on a blitz in the first half just as Chandler unloaded the ball.
Defensive Backs: Outstanding games by CB Jason Sehorn (6 tackles, 6 passes defensed, 1 interception) and FS Shaun Williams (8 tackles). Sehorn looked like the Jason of old. He had a huge play early in the game where he picked off a pass in the endzone and returned it 32 yards – saving certain points. He almost picked off another pass later in the game – where if he held on, he would have scored. On the very next ensuing play, he made a picture-perfect defensive play by coming over the receiver and knocking the ball away. One of his lesser-noticed plays may have been a pass to the fullback who was wide open for what looked to be a first down. Jason came out of nowhere to keep the fullback just short of the sticks. Sehorn also knocked down Kanell’s last desperate 4th down pass in the endzone. His run support was also excellent as he forced a few outside runs back inside to the pursuit. Great game – hopefully, he can build on it.
Shaun Williams looked like a Ronnie Lott-clone out there in the hitting department. Not once, or twice, but three times he had highlight-reel smacks that caused me to rewind the tape a number of times just so I could watch and listen to these hits again. The first came on a blitz where he knocked Chandler off his feet; the second was a big hit on Kozlowski on a short completion; and the third came against Shawn Jefferson in the 4th quarter on another short pass. If Shaun keeps this up, opposing receivers will become more tentative running in the middle of the Giants’ zone coverage. Shaun was also super aggressive in run defense, making a superb play on an outside run where he not only forced the play outside, but he then beat the block, and made the tackle on top of that.
Dave Thomas (1 tackle) was very quiet for the most part (and that is a good sign). He did make two bad plays however. He missed the jam on one play where he was playing tight to the line and the receiver was able to get quickly behind him and Shaun Williams for 35 yard reception on a fade. The play was not Williams’ fault because Thomas is supposed to jam the receiver and give Shaun time to get over there. Of course, the big mistake was the 24-yard pass interference call near the very end of the game that could have cost the Giants the contest. It was nice to see Dave play the receiver aggressively (he was not beat on the play), but his hand-checking was a little too obvious. Thomas’ blitz and big hit of Chandler was the last straw and sent the starting quarterback to the bench.
SS Sam Garnes (6 tackles) was quiet. Nickel back Emmanuel McDaniel (3 tackles) was flagged with a very costly illegal contact penalty on 3rd-and-16 – dumb play. He was lucky that Kanell didn’t spot Tim Dwight behind him late in the game. The good news is that he did a good job on Dwight for most of the game, including coming up and making a very strong open field tackle on a quick swing pass to Dwight.
Special Teams: The Giants gave up one big kick return (35 yards) to Tim Dwight after their opening drive touchdown, but the coverage teams really settled down after that and excelled. Brandon Short and McDaniel made very strong open field tackles. So did Lyle West who also did a great job of recovering a fumble on a punt that helped to set up the sole touchdown. Reggie Stephens made an outstanding play by downing a Maynard punt at the two-yard line in the 4th quarter.
P Brad Maynard did not punt well. And even though his poor first effort led directly to the fumble, his play certainly is not commendable. PK Jaret Holmes hit both of his field goals, but his kick-offs were not as impressive as last week. Ron Dixon didn’t look very sharp returning kicks and his poor returns put the Giants in bad field position a couple of times (a Lyle West block in the back also hurt there). Tiki Barber could only gain six yards on his only chance at a return.
Analysis of the Offensive
by Chris Jacobs
Lomas Brown 87%:
Did an excellent job pass blocking, run blocking is another story. Earlier this season they were using him more to influence block, or what they call zone blocking in the NFL. He did a lot of that for Barry Sanders who made a career off the sprint draw. Anyway, they’re asking him to do more drive blocking, and it’s not really his strength.
Glen Parker 85%:
Like LB, had a better game pass blocking than run blocking. (I’ll have more comments on the problems with the running game below). There was one play that his man beat him with an inside swim move forcing Collins to throw it away.
Dusty Zeigler 90%:
Can’t say enough good things about this guy, he hasn’t really had a bad game yet. While I didn’t grade the line individually last week, I know he wasn’t really blowing guys off the ball the last 2 weeks but he was back to his old self putting guys on roller skates. (May have something to do with the level of competition). I actually feel sorry for the opposing DT when he and Stone double him, well, unless it’s a Redskin. I really think out of all he off-season acquisitions, DZ was the best pickup.
Ron Stone 92%:
I know I’m beating a dead horse here, and I haven’t looked back at the earlier reviews but this guy just can’t get to a linebacker. Don’t get me wrong, he had a solid game, and I still think he’s the best lineman the Giants have. But he’s just not fast enough to get the linebackers, part of it has to do with the play faking when they pass, but I’ll elaborate on that later. Pass blocking he played a perfect game.
Luke Petitgout 82%:
I think he got hurt at some point during this game, he played great in the first half and then just didn’t seem himself in the second half. Did a good job in pass protection but really struggled with the run blocking, like everyone else did, but it was a different kind of struggle. Like I said, I think he’s hurt but I didn’t see him on any injury report, and I didn’t read anywhere that he was hurt.
The Problem with the Offense:
I know all the players and coaches are saying they can’t explain what’s wrong with the offense, and I don’t really know if I know either, but I have an idea. This is just my opinion, but I’ve been reviewing a lot of tape on these guys, and I can tell you that at the snap, you tell by the body language of the backs and Collins whether it’s going to be a pass or a run. They aren’t selling the fakes, and that’s all there is too it. The backers are flying to the line of scrimmage if it’s a run, and they are immediately dropping on the pass. I can’t explain why the receivers can’t catch, or why there is no deep passing game, but I can tell you the play faking is terrible and they need to work on it.