New York Giants 17 – Arizona Cardinals 13
Game Overview: Things broke right for the Giants this weekend in terms of both them beating the Cardinals and other NFC playoff contenders losing. However, that fact should not overshadow what was generally a terribly lackluster performance against a mediocre team. Indeed, for much of the game, it looked like the Giants had already packed it in on the season. The Giants did not play with much passion – a poor reflection of the character of many on the team as well as the coaching staff.
If the Giants are to win three games in a row, they need to get their collective heads out of their collective asses. They still have a chance to make the playoffs, and if they are fortunate to make it there, anything can happen.
Quarterback: Kerry Collins (14-out-of- 32 for 147 yards, 2 touchdowns, and no interceptions) played like sh*t. The fact that he threw one beautiful touchdown pass in the first quarter and led the Giants on a last-second, game-winning touchdown drive cannot erase what was otherwise a miserable performance. Despite the fact that he was rarely under pressure, Collins’ accuracy was terrible. Most of his throws were either low, too far in front, or too far behind his intended receiver. Well into the third quarter, he had only completed four passes in the entire game and at one point was 1-of-his-last-9. Dropped passes were a factor, but those who point to the wind should note that the much weaker-armed Jake Plummer didn’t seem to have any problems with the weather.
To his credit, Collins did come through on the last drive and he didn’t force the ball except for one incredibly stupid play where he blindly launched a pass into the end zone – only a good play by Toomer prevented an interception that would have cost the Giants three points. He also wasn’t helped by some strange called rollouts – strange because the Cardinals were getting absolutely no pressure on Kerry. In fact, Collins’ only sack came on one of these rollouts – and another pressure came from another rollout. Stupid coaching.
Collins is getting worse and right now he is one of the worst quarterbacks in the league. This team will only go as far as he takes them.
Wide Receivers: Collins was not helped by the poor performance of WR Amani Toomer (3 catches for 32 yards, 1 touchdown). Toomer dropped three passes – all of which came on third down and all of which would have kept drives alive. The last pass was a poor throw from Collins, but certainly catchable. The only thing real positive about Toomer is that I liked some of his downfield blocking (all the receivers did a good job with their blocking). Ike Hilliard (4 catches for 41 yards) had a key third down catch on the Giants’ game-winning drive despite moments earlier aggravating his toe injury. He also made a key reception on third down on the Giants’ field goal drive in the 4th quarter. Ron Dixon made a big play deep for a 26-yard score on a perfectly thrown pass from Collins.
Tight Ends: Dan Campbell and Howard Cross continue to block well. One of the few positives this year has been the development of Campbell into a more consistent blocker. He also had a very nice 13-yard reception on the field goal drive where he carried tacklers a few extra yards. Marcellus Rivers is seeing more playing time.
Offensive Line: I was impressed with the game RT Luke Petitgout played – though one must consider the fact that he was playing against a rookie. He controlled the end all game in both pass and run blocking. He also looked sharp on a number of right-side pulls. RG Ron Stone was up-and-down. On the Giants’ first drive, he failed to pick up a stunt on 3rd-and-6 and some pressure got to Collins (who threw behind Dan Campbell). He also allowed too much penetration on a Tiki Barber run in the second quarter that lost two yards. He then was flagged for a false start on the Giants’ last drive right before halftime. But as the game progressed, he played in a more positively consistent manner and made a number of key blocks in the running game as well as keeping rushers off of Collins. The rest of the line played fairly well. There were a few breakdowns here and there (i.e., OC Dusty Zeigler and Stone got beat badly by the defensive tackle on a play where Barber lost two yards; Parker was also too slow on one right-side pull), but for the most part, LT Lomas Brown, LG Glenn Parker, and Zeigler kept things quiet and did their job. The only time I got real mad at this group was when they all stood around and watched Collins get sacked on a designed rollout (why this rollout was called in the first place is beyond me).
Running Backs: FB Greg Comella wasn’t as consistent on his run blocking this week. He had some beautiful blocks where he took the feet from underneath the defender, but I spotted one blocking attempt where he didn’t sustain long enough on the linebacker (who made the tackle in the hole) and a couple of other plays where he got stuffed in the hole and this aborted the plays. The Giants also have to stop throwing that damn short pass to Comella to the right – it fools no one anymore and results in little or no gain.
Tiki Barber (16 carries for 85 yards; 5 catches for 35 yards) was up-and-down. He broke off a number of long runs including a 29-yarder on the Giants’ touchdown drive in the first quarter. But he also fumbled the ball (luckily out-of-bounds) and dropped two passes. His performance was mostly positive due to his rushing effort however. I don’t know what it is about Ron Dayne (4 carries for 9 yards), but every time he gets the ball, the blocking seems to mostly disappear. His first effort I thought was reminiscent of last year – too much dancing as he neared the line of scrimmage. There was also a sweep to the right were there was no place to go (the Cardinal pursuit prevented a cutback). His best run of the game was a 6-yard effort where he showed good vision by cutting back and then making another move through the hole.
Defensive Line: DE Michael Strahan (5 tackles, 0.5 sacks) played a strong game. He not only shared a sack with SLB Brandon Short, but got close to Plummer on a number of other occasions and just missed two more sacks. His run defense was excellent.
We saw more life from the other three down linemen this week. There were a few plays where DT Keith Hamilton (5 tackles, 0.5 sacks) and DE Kenny Holmes (3 tackles) were not real stout against the run, but for the most part, these two played well. Both Hamilton and Holmes pressured Plummer on a few occasions, as did DT Cornelius Griffin (2 tackles). Arizona was not able to generate much yardage up the gut at all and all four down linemen did a good job of keeping the linebackers free of blockers. I really liked one play where Holmes stuffed the lineman, played off the block and slammed Thomas Jones for a 1-yard loss. The only real negative I saw is that Strahan and the defensive tackles sometimes lost contain on Plummer and allowed him to scramble for yardage. DE Frank Ferrara (1 tackle) and DT Lance Legree (no tackles) saw some playing time.
Linebackers: Very strong game by all three starting linebackers. WLB Jessie Armstead (16 tackles, 1 forced fumble), MLB Mike Barrow (13 tackles, 1.5 sacks, 1 pass defensed), and SLB Brandon Short (10 tackles, 0.5 sacks) combined for 39 tackles and 2 sacks in the game. That is superb production. Short stood out not only near the line of scrimmage, but also covering passes in the flat. Mike Barrow was a bit up-and-down in pass coverage this week, but got in on 1.5 sacks. Jessie looked like the Jessie of old as he was all over the field making sure tackles. Plays where he stood out included his forced fumble and the 5-yard loss on the swing pass to HB Thomas Jones. Armstead also did a good job defending a draw play late in the third quarter.
Defensive Backs: Mostly positive. I thought CB Will Allen (4 tackles, 1 pass defensed) played a strong game. He was on his man like glue most of the game. Allen made a real nice play on the ball when he knocked down a 3rd down pass intended for Boston in the third quarter. In the 4th quarter, he blanketed Frank Sanders on a fly pattern that fell incomplete. CB Jason Sehorn (7 tackles, 2 passes defensed, 1 fumble recovery) was inconsistent. He made a sure tackle on WR David Boston on 3rd-and-7 to prevent a first down early in the game (Sehorn’s tackling was pretty strong in this game), and generally played very well against a top notch receiver – Boston was not a huge factor in the game. Sehorn was lucky however that Plummer overthrew Frank Sanders in the third quarter on what should have resulted in a touchdown (pressure from Griffin saved the day). Of course, Jason’s biggest mistake was not knocking down the 4th-and-16 pass that resulted in a late touchdown; he learned his lesson on the last play of the game by violently knocking down Plummer’s Hail Mary. CB Will Peterson (7 tackles) played aggressively at times, but was a bit inconsistent too. Peterson was too far off of the receiver on a 3rd-and-3 pass in the first quarter that was completed easily for a first down. He made the same mistake when lined up against Frank Sanders later in the quarter. Despite the fact that Boston caught a 4th-and-4 pass against Peterson for a first down in the second quarter, I liked the aggressive way Peterson played his coverage (it was an excellent play by the receiver). Peterson later made a nice play by providing strong coverage on a pass intended for Boston on 3rd-and-18 in the 4th quarter.
SS Sam Garnes (5 tackles, 1 pass defensed) was alright. He knocked away a pass intended for Frank Sanders on the Cards’ first drive of the game. But Garnes took the wrong angle on a Thomas Jones run that picked up 12 yards – had he taken the right angle, the play would have gone for no gain. After that, Garnes was pretty solid in run defense. Garnes and Peterson were lucky that Plummer slightly overthrew Boston on a deep pass as Garnes was late to get over in time. FS Shaun Williams (3 tackles) did a good job of defending a deep pass to David Boston on the Cards’ second drive. However, Peterson and Williams got beat down the left sideline for a 20 yard reception by Boston in the third quarter.
Giants on Special Teams: God am I tired of writing how bad the Giants’ special teams are. At least Morten Andersen continued his strong year by hitting his only attempt. Rodney Williams’ punting was poor and he panicked on the play where he attempted to run for the first down. PK Owen Pochman’s kick-offs, both with and against the wind, were mediocre at best. The punt coverage unit gave up 19-yard and 39-yard returns. The Giants were fortunate that a 43-yard kick return was brought back due to a penalty. Tiki Barber muffed another punt and Ron Dixon didn’t do anything on his one return before the Cardinal kicker hurt himself.
Raising Arizona
by David Oliver
From the eternal torpor in which it finds itself is a difficult job. How would we feel if we were their fans? I am going to miss them for two reasons; it was one of the nicest trips I could make every year, and what a tonic for lame football the Cardinals provide for the Giants.
This year, the Giants have proved difficult to cover. In the words of Thomas Carlyle:
The most gifted man can observe, still more can record, only the series of his own impressions; his observations, therefore,…must be successive, while the things done were often simultaneous…Actual events are nowise so simply related to each other as parent and offspring are; every single event is the offspring not of one, but of all other events, prior or contemporaneous, and will in turn combine with all others to give birth to new; it is an ever-living, ever-working Chaos of Being, wherein shape after shape bodies itself forth from innumerable elements. And this Chaos…is what the historian will depict, and scientifically gauge, we may say, by threading it with single lines of a few (inches) in length!
Okay, okay, pretty deep stuff. A simpler version is Soren Kierkegaard’s statement,
Life is lived forward, but understood backward.
That, ladies and ladies is why you must suffer through reams of useless information from me before I will tell you of the Giants. It has been an interesting couple of weeks and my email has been busy. I have been in discussions on the nature of the game, the relationship of the Giants to our lives as fans, and the SOTI comments.
In a fall of depressing happenstances, I have spent a lot of time in this room, introspectively. I don’t actually talk to a lot of people, and although the cats and I have worked out a language, it is basically monosyllabic. They say, food, scratch, open the door. I sing to them, stroke them, watch them sleep. For a time, I thought I was in danger of oscillating on a high enough mental frequency to disappear up my own arse. Pounding the shit out of the Arab rabble has helped; and the Giants have kept me sane. Like Quixote, each week, I put my pie plate (I don’t have a barber’s dish) on my head, I board my faithful steed Roncinantes (‘96 Toyota Camry – 112,000 miles) and I ride through the countryside, fighting the giant evil (windmills) in Philly, surviving the stench of Delaware, paying bounty to the brigands of the toll routes in the forest of nothingness. And in a season of our discontent, I believe I may make it through.
So about the Carlyle and Kierkegaard statements? It seems to me that a lot of time has been spent in the corner lately discussing who is to blame, when did it start and already the Board is looking to next year. So both statements are germane. As a half-assed historian of Giants play, I can only offer you my observations, but they must be taken in a continuum as events have transpired, are transpiring and will transpire of which we have little knowledge. And events have and are transpiring which cannot be discussed openly. You may not like it, and my only comparison is this, that the NFL is akin in operations to the Company, only the oath of silence is unwritten, but break it, open yer yap, and don’t let the door hit you in the ass on the way out. BBI is lucky to have SOTI. SOTI speaks of contemporaneous events. Not in a harmful way, but by way of letting you, the fans, know what is up in parts of Giantdom. For his contributions, he gets pilloried, and pilloried by folks who pay nothing, contribute less and piss and moan about things of which they have very little knowledge. Obnoxious brats. A little aside here: my son recently came home and said his company gave the employees one of those personality-aptitude tests. He didn’t come out badly, but mentioned that his score indicated some degree of narcissism, in fact, he said everyone who took the test scored high in the narcissistic range. Most of the employees are young, so I laughed, and told him, yes, you might not like it, but this is the characteristic of your generation: the “me” generation; My opinion, My wants, MY needs. Narcissism is a term that wasn’t even on the personality profile of prior generations. Oh, we knew the term – but it was applied as code language among the aesthetes for someone who was a little, well, narcissism was too long, so the term was changed to gay. There is greatness to be harvested in this younger generation, if it learns to have a little respect to temper that narcissism.
Back to SOTI, an honorable contributor. SOTI gave you a peek into the dark corners. And it isn’t opinion. (Incidentally, several posters lately have asked who or what is SOTI. After detailed investigation, I have discovered that SOTI stands for Special Office of Technical Industry in Iraq – the Office responsible for biological and chemical warfare development – hmmm!!!) There is much happening in Giants’ land, and truth be known, if Mr. Rogers holds this thing together and actually leads this team to the playoffs, he should be “Coach of the Year”. For if there is a scintilla of truth behind the whispers, Coach Fassel is doing a hell of a job. Now, I’ll add a little to SOTI – don’t be surprised to find the Great Dayne wearing other colors next year. Not earth shattering, but just one of many things on the table, one of the whispers. Losing breeds whispers, and as always, check the source and consider the source.
Is a wholesale house cleaning in order? I think not. But if it is, then it must start with the front office. Most of the team has been savaged by the fans and the media; after all players play. But somehow the GM skates. He has made a series of blunders, has mismanaged the cap, signed people to outrageous salaries, made short term, tactical moves, with only one strategy in place, to win one Super Bowl, and yet he receives accolades while everyone around him is called inadequate. I’ll come back to this, but I think trying to replace 60% or more of an offensive line in one off season is quite foolish, especially if you go QB shopping, strip your last first round running back, change your tight ends and wave goodbye to your offensive coordinator – so although all of these are part of the whispers, I believe only some of them will actually happen.
Another aside. I have a lot of time in the car to make observations and do some thinking, and the Turnpike is a sociological goldmine. Other than the speeding jackasses who think going 85 to 90 in a Neon makes them Mario Andretti as they weave among the Sports Utes, the most noticeable thing these days is the amount of flags, bumper stickers and other patriotic decorations on our vehicles. The sociological part is that the most highly decorated machines are invariably driven by females. Also, women are big supporters of President Bush and more hawkish than males, at least that’s what some of the polls I have seen, said. So I thought about it for a while and it seems to be that the events of 911 have been taken more seriously by women, who view them as a violation. I bounced this off my wife and she almost shouted at me, “Of course, it’s a violation. Don’t you feel violated?” Well, in a sense I do, but more than that I feel shamed. There is a biological imperative here. Women, regardless of their stage of liberation, still look to men as protectors. And men, subconsciously pride themselves in that role. When our women feel violated, we feel shamed, then angry. So I don’t articulate my feelings symbolically; inwardly, however, I would take great pleasure in shoving a flagpole up ubl’s ass. Just an observation, from the road – not quite Kuraltian, but it helped to pass the time.
Which, of course, does tie into the Giants’ season. I recently was discussing the season with the father of a player. A lot of the conversation was brought about by The Corner and the reaction to SOTI. We batted around the emotional content of the discussion and some of the bads of the season, i.e., bad management, bad coaching, bad playing and bad karma. The karma part is funny to me, as I am a firm believer in Giants’ karma, good and bad. If you saw the Monday night game, Dan Fouts mentioned how much football players are tuned in to karma. The discussion turned to the need “to get a life.” And then, that father discussed the “good” of the season:
Here’s the good from this year:
The team showed tremendous support and resolve for the victims, families, volunteers, police and fire, of 911. Their tireless support, goods purchased, money donated, visible wear, and time donated, have been a tremendous show of character and dedication. The team has been an inspiration of good athletes and better human beings who show compassion for their fellow man. NO Super Bowl will ever be bigger than that.”
Thank you, Geno. Because that says a lot about the season and what these “young” men have been through. Yes, I know, the hard asses among us will answer with their showing up at the job every day and doing their thing. Yeah, yeah, yeah – and they haven’t been affected? Not so. We have all been affected, but most of us are not performers on a very visible stage; and most of us are not the idyllic personification of valor and toughness that these young footballers are.
Which leads to some other thoughts about the season and earlier conversations about following the Giants. I know, for me, the ebbs and flows of my life have been tuned to the successes and failures of the Giants. It’s not just a game. Somehow, it has become the archetype for my existential voyage through the ‘short, nasty and brutish’ travels of Hobbes. It again struck me as funny how even General Stufflebeam’s flea on a dog, ubl, in his now famous tape, referenced 911 in terms of a soccer match. The banality of it all; it brings to mind Kurtz in Apocalypse Now, through Conrad, “the horror, the horror.” It dishonors the game, but it puts it squarely before us. UBL dreams of a soccer match, while his forces are pounded into annihilation by the joystick and video game American fighter pilots. Something to think about. As my Navajo friends told me, life without bonding, the hunt, defending and celebrating, is not life for men So the game becomes larger than itself. It keeps us from becoming l’etranger, or in the words of Aldous Huxley “Eyeless in Gaza.” Camus was so full of ennui that he backed his car off the edge of a cliff just to find out what was on the other side of life. The game, football, soccer, whatever, has become for man, the palliative that keeps us sane in a world not really made for us, at least until evolution teaches us all how to speak with the affectation of Harvard Professors. The sociopaths corrupt the ritual, the sanctity. Many years ago there was a motion picture, THE TENTH VICTIM, with Marcelo Mastroianni. The sociopaths were weeded out. They were given a list of 10 names to hunt and kill – other sociopaths. If they succeeded, they would receive 1 million dollars. The rub – they were on the lists of 10 others. And if they killed an innocent, they were taken into custody and vaporized. Very interesting.
Another discussion on the email raised the question of whether I would follow the Giants if they moved, ala the baseball Giants and Dodgers. Well, the Memphis Giants do not do much for me, sad to say. I had an interest in the SF and LA teams for a short while. When the players I knew left, so did that interest. So add to the game, the locale, the Olive Tree in Thomas Friedman’s book, THE LEXUS AND THE OLIVE TREE. The Giants set my place in the universe. No matter where I go, or where I am, in my heart is the Giants and the New York Metro area, growing up, family, tradition; the Sacred and the Profane. It is the Kierkegaardian statement above. Example: I’m in the locker room talking to Dhani Jones as he struggles with the clasp on his chain. I tease him about wearing a chain and tell him that when I was a young man in Newark, chains were for fighting. He asked me a little about that and I told him of rumbles with as many as 40 of us fighting, swinging bicycle chains, car aerials, rubber hoses, bats and zip guns. He asked me if I had ever been hit by a bat and I told him, yes, I had that dubious distinction. A full swing across the chest. He asked if I felt it in the heat of battle, or did the pain come later. I told him that the pain was immediate; there was no delay when hit by a bat swung hard. I also told him about a fight I was in where I was dodging a lead pipe, but I had the knife. We grappled and fell through a plate glass window onto a showroom floor. Not a scratch on either of us and as the police sirens got near, away we went. I told him about the Aztecs, the Romans, the High Hats and the El Diablos, and how the Town Councils all banned wearing athletic jackets with gang names on them. Yet we were all Giants fans. There was never a battle on Sunday afternoons.
So I could never follow the Giants if they moved. It would be a disassociation, a broken connection, a surrender. That’s why I feel so bad for fans of the Baltimore Colts and the Cleveland Browns. Fans in Baltimore have got to feel like abused children who have grown to be molesters themselves. And they imitate art by becoming Poe’s Ravens and enjoying football “Nevermore”.
So what do these Giants of ours need? What is the glue that forges the bond of success? We like to talk about the importance of the QB, those multi-million dollar Superstars; we talk about wide receivers with speed and tight ends with hands and powerful, speedy running backs. I had a couple of experiences when I was younger which made enough of an impression on me to establish what is important on a football team. I had just started a new job and coincidentally a new Agency head came on board. He was a very recent Governor of Nebraska. Well, I had a very good friend at work. We were practically inseparable. He was a vowel from Brooklyn and we were about the same size. I weighed in at about 255; he was maybe 10 pounds lighter. Our boss was taking the Governor around for introductions, but as we were young and not important, the boss saw no reason to waste time on us. However, we were rounding a corner in the hallway one day and the boss and the Governor came around the other way, moving quickly. The boss barely acknowledged us, but the Governor whistled, stopped and called to us to hold up; then he looked us over and told the boss, “Boy, would I love to have these two for a pair of pulling guards at Big Red.” Well, we could have been a pair of pretty boys and the Governor wouldn’t have given us a second thought. But Nebraska, even then, was about football, and the Governor knew what made a team move. Not much later I was extended an invitation to work out with a team in the powerful, almost all-black industrial League in Washington. A tough brand of football with a lot of ex-black school players – the MEAC-types: Florida A&M, South Carolina State, Howard, many Big Eight players and some Big Ten guys. There weren’t many white guys in that League, but they recognized the value of a 255 guard. I was a little long of tooth, even then, so I declined, but those two incidents stuck with me. You build a successful offense with the road graders. Knowledgeable football people, who played the game, know that instinctively. Today you start with the left tackle, but if you go on the ground, you go behind the guards. It’s something the current Giant leadership seems to have forgotten.
I’m not dodging the issue. There was a game on Sunday. It was a three quarter yawner. What do you want to hear? Kerry threw the ball repeatedly at everyone’s feet. When he did elevate, pop, off it bounced, sort of like magnetic polarity at work. But there were positives. Glenn Parker and Luke Petitgout had good games, so did Lomas Brown. KC had time. He still rolled when he didn’t have to move and looked like a rookie. But on two drives, he showed that flash – the coach killer flash. He hit Dixon in stride for a score and then marched the team downfield for the winning score. He did get lucky once when he tried to force the ball into Amani in the right corner of the closed end zone, where Amani was at least double covered like a blanket, maybe triple covered. Then it struck me; here I was watching Daryl LaMonica, who when he had to “manage” a game, failed in football, but who, when given the opportunity to go vertical became a star. Kerry has no sense of game management, but like LaMonica, if he is put in a situation where he is allowed to go vertical, he will move a team. Sunday also clarified for me what JF means when he talks about “managing a game”, a term I hate because it is clinical, sanitized. But he is right: a QB today, maybe forever, has to know the game, feel the game, control the tempo. That’s what made Bart Starr great; it’s what made Joe Montana great; it made countless other, less than strong-armed QBs great. And it’s the quality for which JF is still in his search mode.
I spent a little time with Jason Whittle after the game Sunday. It was an interesting discussion, so I’m going to do it here in Q-and-A form for you:
Me: Jason, there are lot’s of rumors about line changes next year. Are you ready to step up?
JW: I definitely want to come back. Yes. I feel that I’m capable; whether the Giants want me to or whatever their plans are, I can’t control that.
Me: What’s your status?
JW: I’m RFA after this year. I like it here. I like the guys on the team; I like the guys I play with.
Me: How about the next 3 weeks. What’s the mood?
JW: We just have to go out there and play hard. People talk about playing for pride, or this, or that. We may not be in the playoffs, but it’s still football and it’s still an opportunity to go out there and play. Any time you get a chance to go out there and play a game you’ve been dreaming about playing since you were 5 years old – if you can’t get up to play football, and I don’t care what your record is, then you’ve got issues…
Me: Tell me about the game – what it means to you?
JW: The game to me is something I’ve always enjoyed. Ever since I can remember, all I’ve wanted to do is to play football – now that I’m doing it, it’ s a dream come true. It’s a physical game, you’re out there, lot of people think you go out there on Sundays and play the game, and like, the rest of the week, what do you do. There’s a lot of preparation that goes into it. We’re practicing…your body…it takes a toll on your body, but at the same time it’s well worth it.
Me: Tell me about the preparation. How many hours a day?
JW: We’re here from 7AM to 4PM. Then, usually, 30 minutes to an hour and a half watching extra film at home. Not every day. Wednesday, Thursday are the real work days. Maybe 20 years ago, in football, you didn’t have to take work home with you like now. It’s not something you can forget about. You can’t just put in your time here and then forget about it the rest of the time. You have to be constantly preparing and thinking about what you have to do for the game. The defenses don’t just line up in a 4-3 or a 3-4 and let you block them. They are constantly bringing things and you have to be prepared .
Me: Take an average play, for example, you guys are calling a Tiki sweep – he’s going left – What are your responsibilities?
JW: It depends on what defense they’re in. There are 15 different defenses they can be in?
Me: Who calls it?
JW: Pretty much the center calls if it’s an over or under, but everybody does, or most guys should, recognize, well, they might not know the coverages, but they know what the front 7 or 8 are doing, and obviously, the center calls most of it; but if he’s (my man) in a 3, which is an outside shade, you’re working by yourself, unless he slants in, then you have to work with the center. If he’s in a 1, which is an inside technique, then you’re giving a hand to the center, and you’re pulling also; there are 4 or 5 different sweeps, the toss sweep, the toss crack, the toss back crack; these 3 are run all different ways; if you’re on the backside or the bend, then you’re pulling and going. We’ve got to get that backer and if it’s the crack back, or regular crack, then you’re turning what we call a queen block. There’s a lot of stuff involved. It’s a very mental game.
Me: There has to be a lot of instinct involved?
JW: Absolutely. There are so many plays, you don’t have time to practice it all; you’ve got to get in your book; you’ve got to be prepared. In practice, there is no way you are going to get to see all the looks.
Me: Several weeks ago, during a Rams game, the commentators said that the Rams put in 30 new plays a week. How many plays a week do you guys practice?
JW: We usually have in about 20 different types of runs and 25 or 30 different passes. They’re not all new; there are adjustments on each play. Each week on Wednesdays, we install the basic offense, the basic run and pass plays; on Thursdays we install the nickel packages, the third downs and anytime we’re in 11 personnel or 200, we install that; the short yardage and goal line on Friday, oh, yeah, there are another 12 to 15 plays there.
Me: Tell me a little about the difference in blocking for Tiki and Dayne?
JW: Tiki is obviously a little quicker. Ron seems to cut it back a little more, he’s more of a pounding back. Ron needs to get the ball 20-25 times a game to get himself going. He’s a big, bruising back; that’s his running style. Tiki, he pops it, he runs really hard. Tiki is an all around great back and Ron will be, too, when his time comes.
Me: How about the hurry up offense? Are there differences in assignments?
JW: Lots of differences. We’re in a whole different blocking system. We’re not identifying the Mike, we’re identifying someone else. It’s something that we work on a lot and it’s something our offense seems to do well. Ever since I’ve been here, our offense seems to move the ball well in hurry up, and some of that is the way the defense plays you. Obviously, when you’re in a two minute situation, the defense is in more of a prevent, and we seem to play better like that.
Dan Campbell expressed very similar thoughts to me. He told me he felt like as if he had “arrived”. He told me, “I’m pretty confident in my abilities now in the passing and the running game. I just want to do whatever I can to help this team, to help us win.” I teased him about catching that kickoff and he laughed and said, “Yeah, what was everybody saying, he’s gonna drop it?” I told him it happened to fast for anyone to react like that but I wanted to know if he was going to ask for some time running back kicks.
I also talked to Kevin Lewis about the erratic special teams and he told me that they worked hard, you have to work hard on specials because it’s all aggression. He told me sometimes the adrenalin kicks in and a player over-commits. He said they were all frustrated because it’s a different break down every week.
Finally, I had a few minutes alone with Coach Payton. I asked him why the team did so well in the two minute offense and he corrected me by telling me “that wasn’t a 2 minute drill.” So I went Q-and-A with him:
Me: Okay, so it’s a little time left drill?
Coach: We were huddling, we stayed in our base, but we got close to using it as a 2 minute drill. We stayed in our base, huddling and under center. We had two time outs and we were fortunate. Not having those two time outs, we would have been in a two minutes.
Me: Tell me about the defense. It didn’t look as if the Cards went prevent?
Coach: What they did is they played coverage. They sat in a shell, or cover 4, and kind of kept it in front of them. There wasn’t a lot of tight bump and run, and we made some plays. We completed a slant, we hit Hilliard on an inside seam, Tiki broke a run and we hit Tiki again under coverage and in the end, the guys we wanted to see make plays did that for us. It was good to see Amani come back after the first half, where he had struggled a little. They stayed in a similar coverage scheme of 4 deep, which is what they do, and they gave us one pressure. We went to a no back snap once and we got blitzed and threw to Hilliard hot. When you look at film with the team, it’s pretty much what they like to do; they’ll pressure you a little bit, then stay in coverage, so technically, it was a 7 man box with a 2 deep shell.
Me: You have almost two full seasons behind you. Do you feel you have learned a lot?
Coach: Certainly have learned a lot. I think the challenges are every thing that the sport creates; the challenges are certainly not when you’re winning, but when you’re losing. Getting up at 5AM, being in here and working until midnight; it’s hard to do and it’s challenging. Today it was good to see it finally come through, even though it didn’t go the way we wanted. There are a lot of things that we’ve got to correct, and at the same time, it was good to see, in the end, our guys contribute. I don’t know if that happened a year ago, where we came back to win a game. As a coordinator, I feel more experienced by having learned a lot more and all the things that have to be done the right way. The fine line between winning on offense and not winning and our players are starting to see some of that now. You can’t drop the ball, you can’t miss an assignment, you’ve got to get the right read, and all those things; those are things that we’ve got to do to be efficient, and when we do that we’ll be fine.
Me: Are the players responding?
Coach: I think so. When you put it in their laps, it’s still Tiki making a play, it’s still Amani making a play. It’s easy to take a guy out, but in the end, those are the guys that won for us a year ago. And they realize that you just can’t roll out there; you’ve got to make some plays. Last year everyone was hungry, everyone was excited about the direction we were heading and if you think the rest of these teams are just sitting around waiting for you to do it again; well, you’ve got to keep that hunger and that energy about what you do and your livelihood. This stuff is what we do.
Me: Are you ready for the next level?
Coach: That’s a good question. This might not be the answer you want. I think I have a great job right now with the NY Giants. We’re in the midst of building a new house out there in Wayne. I think the ownership here, the Head Coach have been awesome to me. I haven’t actually gone out and looked at any other job. My job is to beat Seattle and next week it’s going to be beat Philly. I don’t have time to read an article, or get on the internet, or do any of that stuff. Last year, when some of that came up, I emphasized that when the season ends and all that stuff arises, that’s fine, but I’ve never been a big scoop guy and I’m probably a little bit more of a hermit than I am a guy that gets out there and knows exactly what’s going on. I’m happy right now with what I’m doing. Certainly, I want to be happier. We need to improve and our guys know this.
Me: Are you in a positive mood about Seattle?
Coach: I think so. We’ve got a great roll of film to put on. If we play like we did in that last drive, there’s no reason why we can’t pick up a little of where we left off a year ago. We’re not going to be able to stroll on out there and let it happen. We’re playing against another good football team. In the end, there are about 3 or 4 teams in this League who are good enough to play bad and win; there are 3 or 4 teams that if they play well, they still might not win; there are about 20 teams that have to play well or they won’t win. We have to play well.
All year there have been undertones of under-performance. No one will point fingers, no player is being called out; but it’s there. The players have discussed it, now the coaches are pretty open about it. In the corporate world that often leads to change. We have been forewarned that we might see such change. I just hope the tree is pruned correctly.
The game itself was a microcosm of the Giants year. Botched plays, a team putting out effort, but without a rudder. A racehorse burst of offense, which covered up one defensive flub. The Cardinals had an overwhelming advantage of time of possession, so they should have won going away. What happened? Well, the Giants defense, led by the linebacking corps, stopped them. Imagine, 39 tackles by linebackers. But the film will also show this: Tiki – 85 yards rushing; Tiki, 5 receptions for 35 yards. Ike had 4-for-41 total yards with a long of 14, but a critical one and Amani only 3-for-32, with the TD. Dixon had a nice 26 yard TD reception.
The Giants had 11 possessions, the longest being 3:39, the final TD drive. The game was difficult to watch, difficult to photograph because a lot of the play was in the middle of the field, and a lot was scrum action. I concentrated on the line play, and the line held it’s own against a pretty weak defense.
But, for me, this is the playoffs. The Giants are playing every game in sudden death mode. One loss and it’s shut down time. Each week’s win keeps hope alive. I just don’t want to be sitting there at the end of the Packers game, watching some other two teams play, hoping one loses, so the Giants can get another week. This is lemonade time, enjoy it.
Christmas is coming up. Eric will be partying through the Holidays, so I won’t get a report up Monday (as if I ever do). But I want to wish you all, whatever your religion, whatever you celebrate, Peace and Joy. This is a tough time for a lot of folks. Already last week, there was a suicide of a spouse who lost her husband in the Towers. If you know someone with such a loss, reach out. If you are someone with such a loss and you need help, just come on in – we will find a way to help. If you need to talk to someone, one-on-one, I’ m here for you. If you are in the D.C. area and you need a hug, I’ll come (except for you Joey – you can call, but no hugs). Don’t be alone. You are among friends. Go Giants. Amen.