New York Giants 27 – Seattle Seahawks 24
Game Overview: It was a crazy game. Both defenses scored off of fumbles by the quarterbacks. Both Shaun Alexander and Ron Dayne broke off big touchdown runs. And for the second week in a row, Kerry Collins led the Giants on a last-minute, game-winning touchdown drive. Unbelievably, if the Ravens beat the Buccaneers on Saturday, the Giants playoff fate will once again be in their own hands. But the Giants have to win their next two games – starting with the Eagles at the Vet on Sunday.
Quarterback: Collins (30-out-of-47 for 338 yards, 1 touchdown, no interceptions) probably played his best game of the year. Not only did he lead the Giants on the game-winning drive with some superb passes, but his accuracy throughout the contest was much improved. What impressed me the most was the way he stood in the pocket this week and delivered the ball despite the oncoming defensive players – something he normally doesn’t do. Kerry’s confidence has to be surging after back-to-back comebacks. Let’s hope he can keep it up.
First the negative. Collins fell back into an old bad habit of staring down Tiki Barber or Greg Comella from the very start of the play when one of these two was the primary receiver. This lead opposing linebackers and defensive backs right to one or the other – resulting in no or little gain on the play. Collins did this a number of times. He must look off the coverage first before he looks in the direction of the back. The other negative on Collins is that he was extremely fortunate that his game-winning effort was not stalled due to two almost-interceptions. In the drive right before the game-winning drive, a pass over the middle intended for Joe Jurevicius should have been intercepted. So should have the pass intended for Jurevicius two plays before the game-winning throw. If those interceptions are made, the Giants probably lose the game. Also, those called rollouts are not working. Collins and the offensive line doesn’t look comfortable on these plays. Lastly, Collins continues to have some problems feeling pressure at times. While his fumble in the endzone was mostly the fault of the right-side of the offensive line, he needs to be more careful with the ball when the protection is breaking down.
But there was plenty of positives to write about. Except for a few plays (most noticeably a couple of deep throws), Collins’ accuracy was excellent and he made some superb throws against tight coverage where he threaded the needle. More than a few times did I catch myself saying aloud, “What a great throw!” One of these plays came in the second quarter when Collins hit Ike Hilliard over the middle for 15 yards on 3rd-and-10 from the Giants’ own nine-yard line. One play later, Collins deftly avoided the blitzing linebacker, stepped up and threw a 25-yard strike to Amani Toomer – a very pretty play. Collins’ passing was a big factor in the field goal drive right before halftime. He threw quick to Jurevicius for 14 yards, beating the blitz. On the very next play, he scrambled away from pressure and found JJ again – this time for 13 yards. Collins then hit Toomer on the very next play for 17 yards. Breakdowns by others (Glenn Parker, Toomer, and Tiki Barber) prevented the Giants from getting into the endzone – not Collins.
In the second half, the excellent throws continued. There was a perfect pass to Toomer for 21-yards, despite pressure in Collins’ face. Kerry then led the Giants on another field goal drive – including a 19-yard toss to Hilliard on 3rd-and-10 and a 12-yard slant to Toomer.
Then came “The Drive” – a 96-yard masterpiece resulting in a touchdown. With less than three minutes to play, Collins started things off with a 28-yard strike to Toomer down the left sideline, using a pump fake. He then hit Toomer for 11 yards before the two minute warning. Despite repeated breakdowns on the left side of the offensive line (mostly Parker), Collins then found JJ with a beautiful throw for 18 yards despite pressure. Then came two back-to-back seven-yard tosses to JJ and Hilliard despite more pressure. On the very next play, he fired a rocket to Hilliard between tripple-coverage near the goalline, but the ball was dropped. He then threw low to Hilliard over the middle, but the ball was caught for 18 yards. Three plays later, Kerry fired another very accurate pass to Hilliard for the touchdown with 20 seconds left in the game.
Wide Receivers: A very, very productive day. There were two drops: one by Toomer as the Giants were driving right before halftime and one by Hilliard between triple coverage, but other than that, it was mostly positive. Before I forget, I do want to make mention of some excellent run blocking in the game by the receivers – most noticeably by Toomer and Jurevicius.
Toomer (8 catches for 124 yards) appears to be coming on down the stretch. The slant pass was back in the arsenal and Amani made some big plays down the field. Hilliard (7 catches for 105 yards) was a difference-maker despite his painful toe. Again and again, he made clutch catches over the middle, including the game-winning touchdown. Jurevicius was back this week and was a factor, catching four passes for 52 yards, including two on the last drive.
Offensive Line: I don’t think this group played a very good game. Many of the pass protection problems came as the result of poor blitz pick-ups by the backs, but there were enough breakdowns in pass protection by the linemen to be disconcerting. Run blocking was even worse with the Giants not able to generate much movement against Seattle – except for the one big 31-yard run by Dayne for a touchdown.
In particular, I thought Glenn Parker played a poor game. His crappy pass protection on the game-winning drive could have cost the Giants the game. I had him down for three missed pass pro blocks. Earlier in the game, there was a play where both Lomas Brown and Parker looked incompetent as all hell allowing both rushers to crash into Collins. I had Parker down for at least three more instances where his poor pass protection helped to disrupt the play. He continues to look too slow on the pull as well. The right side was steadier, but both Luke Petitgout and Ron Stone got beat badly in pass protection on the play where Collins was sacked and a touchdown resulted. The most disappointing aspect of the game was the fact that the entire line was not generating much movement when it came to running the ball. The low-point came on the failed quarterback sneak. Luke Petitgout probably did the best job and Ron Stone occasionally got some movement – but the rest of the group was pretty disappointing. I have no qualms with the Giants getting rid of three-fifths of this line when the season is over. I’d build around Petitgout and Zeigler.
Tight Ends/Fullback: I saw Dan Campbell miss one block pretty badly that led to Dayne getting clobbered at the line of scrimmage, but aside from that, his run blocking was pretty strong – including the Dayne TD where he was used as a lead blocker. He also looked pretty darn good on his 16-yard reception on the Giants’ first possession. Howard Cross blocked well except for one play where he was used as a lead blocker out of the backfield. His block at the end of the line sprung Barber on one 13-yard jaunt.
Greg Comella (4 catches for 17 yards) is going to get killed unless the Giants stop running that stupid quick pass to him to the right flat. As I said last week, it’s fooling no one right now. I saw one strong lead block from him (coming off of the goal line in the fourth quarter). Greg dropped a pass over the middle.
Halfbacks: Not much productivity except for Dayne’s superb run for a 31-yard touchdown. On the play, Dayne (7 carries for 42 yards) showed good vision as he cut the play back to the weakside and power as he carried a man into the endzone on his back. He had another nice-looking 7-yard run on the Giants’ first possession in the second half – but the rest of his runs were stymied with poor run blocking (even on the play where the announcer said Dayne missed a hole). Dayne badly missed a blitz pick-up too when the onrushing linebacker beat him to the inside.
The guy who really disappointed me was Tiki Barber (12 rushes for 47 yards, 6 catches for 24 yards). Not so much because of his running (there wasn’t a whole heck of a lot of room), but because of his crappy blitz pick-ups. He almost got Collins killed on a few occasions as he really struggled with picking up the linebackers, especially Anthony Simmons. Tiki also did a real bad job of reading his blockers on the screen pass early in the fourth quarter. The play should have resulted in a first down and could have resulted in a touchdown had Barber stayed with his three blockers.
Defensive Line: The right side of DE Kenny Holmes (2 tackles) and DT Keith Hamilton (4 tackles, 1 sack) had some problems in the first half (as did the linebackers to that side), but these guys really shaped up in the second half and shut down Seattle’s running game after an ominous start. Holmes, Lance Legree, Brandon Short, and Michael Barrow all got blocked successfully on Shaun Alexander’s long touchdown run in the first quarter. When Seattle did test the left side of the defense, there was not much movement as Michael Strahan (5 tackles, 1 sack, 1 fumble recovery for a touchdown) and Cornelius Griffin (9 tackles) were active against the run. Griffin, in particular, seemed more animated this week – perhaps his ankle is finally improving a bit.
As for the pass rush, it was not consistent, but it had its moments. Again, the right side was less productive. Holmes got close on a couple of occasions, but that was about it. Hamilton had a sack, but was kept remarkably quiet by a rookie. Griffin had a few very good pass rushes in key situations (i.e., the 3rd-and-1 pass on the Giants’ 2-yard line in the second quarter, the 3rd-and-10 pass play in the 4th quarter where Hasselbeck was forced to throw it away). Strahan had a number of these kind of timely pass rushes too. The big play was his fumble recovery and score. He also had a hustle-type sack at the very end of the first half when he chased down the quarterback as he scrambled to his left.
Linebackers: Michael Barrow (11 tackles, 1 sack, 1 forced fumble) was all over the field. He had some problems in pass coverage (unlike him), took the wrong angle on Alexander’s long TD run, and missed a tackle on Alexander in the backfield that led to an 8-yard gain. But he made plays all over the field. There were a few plays where he shot the gap and slammed Alexander in the hole for no gain or a loss. His sack of Hasselbeck led directly to a touchdown. Brandon Short (3 tackles) and Jessie Armstead (7 tackles) were too quiet. Armstead in particular was rarely heard from and gave up a big pass play to the fullback for 35 yards in the 4th quarter.
Defensive Backs: CB Jason Sehorn (4 tackles, 2 passes defensed) was burned deep early in the game for what should have been a touchdown, but the ball fell incomplete. After that, he played a bit too soft for my liking – allowing a couple of easy completions underneath. Jason did make a nice play in the endzone saving a touchdown in the second quarter. I thought he picked off the ball there despite what instant replay ruled. He dropped an easy pick at the end of the first half on a Hail Mary. Will Allen (2 tackles) got burned deep for a 42-yard gain. Aside from that play, he kept his opponent fairly quiet. He knocked one sideline pass away intended for Korey Robinson by coming over the top just at the right moment. Will Peterson (2 tackles) made a nice play in run support and had tight coverage on Darrell Jackson on a 3rd-and-4 attempt that fell incomplete in the 4th quarter. Dave Thomas sealed the game with a interception.
Shaun Williams (12 tackles, 1 pass defensed) was the other big defensive star of the game. The Giants played him closer to the line of scrimmage this week in order to defend against Alexander. Williams thrived in that role – adding fuel to the fire for those who want to move him to strong safety. Williams was all over the field against the run and made some big-time hits against the pass – including a very timely smack of Bobby Engram on 3rd-and-6 that forced a punt.
Sam Garnes (6 tackles) was OK. He missed a tackle on Alexander on Seattle’s first TD drive, but did a good job staying at home on the very next play on an end-around. On Seattle’s next drive, he clobbered Alexander on a 3rd-and-10 run and held him to four yards. But Garnes also got flagged with a dumb personal foul penalty that gave the Seahawks a first down on what would have been 2nd-and-20. Garnes did finish up with another key run defense play on 3rd down – stopping Alexander for a two yard loss on 3rd-and-five right before New York’s game-winning drive. If Seattle converts there, they win the game.
Special Teams: Kick-off coverage was alright (for this group). Seattle’s kick returns went for 28, 22, 26, 21, 24, and19 yards. Punt coverage gave up one big return (22 yards) and that is not acceptable; however, punt coverage was hampered on this play by Rodney Williams’ line drive punt. For his part, Williams had a decent game with a number of punts inside the 20 yard line. However, he does remain a bit inconsistent. PK Owen Pochman’s kick-offs were ordinary. PK Morten Andersen was perfect on his two field goal attempts.
The big problems on special teams were the three personal foul penalties (Frank Ferrara, Kevin Lewis, and Thabiti Davis), the atrocious blocking on punt returns (Tiki was only able to manage one decent return), and Ron Dixon’s mistakes on two kick-off returns (fielding a kick that was about to go out of bounds, and fumbling away the second half kick-off). When the Giants do return kick-offs, the men doing so (Dixon, Omar Stoutmire) look unsure of themselves.
Seahawks Will Be Sleepless This Off-Season
by David Oliver
It was another of those games the Giants have played all year. They lost the close games to the Rams and Eagles and won against the Cardinals and Seahawks. But for a total dufus loss against the Cowboys, life would have been much easier. We are all euphoric as the Big Dog is still in the hunt – don’t ask me how. This team could easily have gone 6-and-10; just as easily 10-and-6; now hovering between 9-and-7 and 7-and-9. The margin for error is that thin. We are all along for the ride. BB56 and the chorus rooting for Kerry Collins; Old Timer cussing Coach JF; Rocky T rooting for the Giants but hoping they don’t win out and make his predictions look bad. The stats men are combing the sites looking for positives, or at least explanations; on and on, we each have our own little nuances. But it comes down to this: beat the Eagles this week.
You read the reviews and everyone says the Giants have a two player offense, Kerry and Tiki; the Giants are inconsistent; the Giants are______(fill in the blank). Then there is mighty Philly – and they have like how many offensive threats – Donovan McNabb, period, finito, absoluto. They can’t win at home, have been given an open door, were handed a present by the Giants early, and they still can’t get out of their own way. Enough Eagles for right now.
The Seahawk game was a narrow thing. Again, it seemed as if the Giants didn’t want to win. I said before the game that the defense had to score for the Giants to win; and the defense scored. Still it took another long drive, with Kerry throwing to Ike and Amani leading the way. This is another of those officiating crews with their collective heads up their butts. Strahan was mauled several times – no flag; Joe Jurevicius (JJ) was totally mauled in the end zone – no flag; Frankie Ferrara was pushed out of bounds on a kickoff – penalty flag. I’ m standing right there, almost parallel to the official who tossed the flag, watching his eyes and the play. I see a swarm of players heading our way, blocking, pushing; 4 or 5 go out of bounds and bump the ball carrier. The official sees only the numbers and the line – he wasn’t watching the play. He stood on the line and saw the bump, but not the push. Why am I taking so much time on this. It is just an example of selective enforcement. Watch tackles grab Strahan around the neck – I guess this is now a legal move. Watch the contact on JJ – even in real time, it was flagrant. Is it one game, one crew, one team. No. This year, several crews have done an unbelievably poor, almost bush league job of calling a game. Labor problems, egos, or just a desire to control the sport? I don’t know, but I don’t like it-it is too selective and ruins the continuity of the game.
Time of possession was just about equal – the game was just about equal. After all, it was sudden death. Shaun Alexander fooled the Giants D twice – otherwise he was held in check. Ron Dayne answered once, otherwise he sat on the bench; although Tiki did not get many more carries. This was an aerial game for the Giants. Kerry threw 47 times and connected on 30 for 338 yards. Toomer and Hilliard actually had 15 catches between them; Tiki added 6, JJ and Comella 4 and Dan Campbell had a big one for 16 yards. I asked him in the locker room, who was that wide receiver wearing #89? He laughed and said, “Yeah, who was that guy. He shows up every once in a while.” He also told me that they were working on getting him more into the rotation. He told me that, “There were quite a few plays in for me today and I can think of 2 or 3 that we got blitzed. When that happens, if they stay in a regular shell, a regular defense, I’m one of the first reads. But there are also better reads to be had on a shift, and it worked out that we hit the hots and you keep on moving. That first read was one of those things and Kerry got comfortable with the fact that if they do that, I know Campbell is going to be open right there and he threw it to me and it was a big play.”
We continued on and I mentioned to him my conversation with Coach Payton last week about the defenses. I told him that the Seahawks did not go soft out there and he agreed. Dan said, “The good thing about that is Payton made some good calls. They’re not going to go soft, he started reading that, he was feeling it and he had some really good plays in there. Those little ones to Joe and Ike, those were perfect plays to be in there. You want to bring it, here, we’ll throw it right there, and then hit a big one. It just worked out great. The team played together, we never said die, we went out there and stuck it out to the end. We won.”
There were some common refrains in the locker, such as, we’re not as bad as people say, we fought this thing through, we played as a team. That’s important to note when you roll up 337 yards passing. That means the line is blocking, the QB is tuned in, the receivers are focused and the backs are doing their job. As Lomas Brown said, “All we had to do was give Kerry time. We knew our receivers could get open and we knew he could get the ball to them.” Lomas is always trying to figure out where the team is and why. He expressed the view that the team fell victim to being the hunted and not being ready for it. He said, “Last year, it wasn’t like that for us. No one gave us respect, so it wasn’t like that. After the Super Bowl year, we had a target on our backs. I think it took us a little time to realize that and to play like it. Now, over the last couple of weeks, not only because of that, but also because of the urgency of the situation we are in, lose and you go home, now it’s bringing out the best in this team, and this is what we had in us the whole time. It just seems like it took something to bring it out of us. Better it happened now and for us to get on a roll and really try to do some damage.”
Sam Garnes had some similar comments when I talked to him about the secondary. He talked about how they “went through some struggles, but we haven’ t played exactly terribly. We had some let downs here and there. We don’t think we are bad and we’re going to start getting some breaks sooner or later. It takes a while to gel; you just have to forget about everything going on around you and go out and make a play.” I asked about the relationship between himself and Shaun Williams and he told me, “We know each other. Come this part of the season, you’re going to see us make a lot of plays.” And I asked him about the youngsters. He said, “The Wills. I love them. They are going to be great players. The focus and preparation they have, I love them.”
Coach Lynn told me he felt good for Dave Thomas, getting in there and making a play. He told me, “We’re talking about who’s got to go in, who is coming out. It’s got to be Dave. We’ve got to put him back deep and let him do it. With all the things last year and this year, for him, it says something about him; doesn’t complain, takes care of business, does his business…tremendous, tremendous person.” So I asked him what about the Eagles game and he told me, “Don’t know yet. I’m going to get another corner ready to go. That’s the way it goes.” And then, just as Garnes, when I asked about the secondary play, he told me “They’re shaping up. We’re not where we’re going to get, yet. They’re coming together a lot better and a lot faster than I thought; it’ s getting better. We’ve had some bad games and stuff like that, but it hasn’t been all us. I think we’re getting better and we’ll do a better job.” His answer about the Wills, “Love them, love them.” Boy, there ‘s a whole lot of love around here for the Wills.
Lomas also told me a little about the difference from three weeks ago: “Right now we have so much confidence. I just think we’re a confident team. We’re playing well right now and we have a bunch of confident guys and we know that we’re not out of the game.” And then the bottom line: “It’s amazing what wins do for you. Wins will make a team that’s not as good play a lot better than they are. For us, it gives us a certain amount of confidence that we know we can go out and beat anybody. All we had to do was to go out there and execute and stop shooting ourselves. We had to stop making mistakes, stop turning the ball over and doing things to hurt ourselves.” And then I asked the question about feelings- did he feel like it was coming to them, and he answered, “Well, yeah, I think it is, really. This is the stretch run. We have two games left. Everybody should be able to lay it out on the line for two games. Two games, two games, you’ve got 6 months to think about it.”
The line did its job. There wasn’t much running, but the Giants almost equaled the Seahawks. In the passing game, Kerry was given his pocket. There were a few missed assignments, such as the strip in the end zone. Antonio Cochran had a clear shot at Kerry, who, of course, had no idea he was about to be hit. For the most part, it was as efficient as the line has been this year. Luke has been noticeable in elevating his game since the Oakland game. He is functioning on instinct now, reacting to the defense better and locking up his man. It’s nice to see.
Amani was all smiles in the locker, as well he should have been. He and Ike had very good games. For JJ, it was a good game that could have been great, if the refs gave him that call. It’s one of those games that will make him missed if he is not re-signed. Dixon almost had one and shows enough speed to be dangerous if he can ever get out of the doghouse.
On the defensive side of the ball, the day was Shaun Williams’. Twelve tackles, 10 unassisted, several very nice. Barrow contributed his usual double digits and Griffin had a very good game with 9 tackles. They contained Alexander except for the one jaunt around the left end (offense) and the short pass – both costly. Jessie had 7 tackles, and Barrow, Hammer and MS contributed sacks with that very nice TD run by MS.
Special teams did not hurt the Giants this week. Rodney had several booming punts and Mort hit a couple. Frankie Ferrara told me that the Seahawks Specials “were the best all year. For the games I was in, these kids brought it, they came down there hard. I busted two helmets, maybe three – one I kept telling them it needs a little more air, so he was putting in air and the air wasn’t working, there was no air in there. I busted the top. They brought that one out and got me another one, the mask went on that one, it bent, it was all scuffed up; here, (showing me), here’s blood on this one.” Frank told me he watches a lot of film, “Wwatching film by myself. As my experience grows, so does my talent. I really focus in on special teams, that’s my responsibility right now, the kickoffs, I watch a lot because they always scheme in cross blocks, this block, that block.” I asked him if he was having fun, he’ s always so animated. He told me, “I’m having a blast. I’m having a great time. You have to play with that excitement, that passion, that enjoyment, that’s what makes you the player that you are, you have to play this game with passion. It’s a tough business. You’re as good as your last play, that’s it.”
I asked them all about the Eagles game. To a man, they said they were looking forward to it. But Sam Garnes said it best, when I asked him about it. He told me, “This will be a game that Giants’ fans are accustomed to, a backyard brawl, one of those games you look forward to playing in when you are a young kid.”
There you have it. The things that were missing in the middle part of the year, what I will call the 911 tariff – expectation, excitement, passion, confidence, they are all back. We haven’t seen a real pretty win yet, but each player I asked acknowledged that they feel “it” is coming to them. That karma thing. We’re on the edge of our seats. It’s show time. Remember, guys, like I said last year, the meadowlands is Newark, and Newark doesn’t take crap from Philly. Go Giants.