Approach to the Game – Washington Redskins at New York Giants, November 17, 2002: Because the Giants dug themselves into a 5-4 hole by losing to teams such as the Cardinals and Falcons, every game from here on out is critically important. Odds are the Giants won’t make the playoffs, but they can make things a lot more interesting down the stretch if they beat the Redskins on Sunday in the Meadowlands.
The Redskins are a bit of a enigma and you really can’t tell what kind of game you will get from them week-to-week. At times, they look downright horrible; at other times, they look like a playoff contender. The strength of their team is the defense and this defense has been playing much better in recent weeks. Worse, Jessie Armstead’s Redskin teammates appear to be as fired up to help him beat his former team as he is. The Redskins’ defense is not the defense of the Jaguars or Vikings. They are now ninth in the NFL in total defense despite a very rough start to the season. Defensive Coordinator Marvin Lewis – who decimated the Giants’ offense in the Super Bowl – has his troops moving in the right direction. We’re going to get a much better feel for Head Coach Jim Fassel’s offense this week than the previous two weeks. Points will not come easy.
Giants on Special Teams: The big worry is the psyche of place kicker Matt Bryant. How mentally tough is Bryant and can he rebound from two poor games in a row? It looks like Chris Bober will be the new snapper on field goal and extra point attempts and Matt Allen will be his holder again. That should help. But Bryant still has to nail the ball through the uprights. There is a good chance this game will be decided by a field goal.
Allen says Head Coach Jim Fassel has told him he will be the punter this week. With Jacquez Green being waived, CB Champ Bailey will return punts. Bailey is a great athlete with a tremendous amount of speed. Allen needs to continue to punt for hangtime in order to help out his coverage team.
What the Giants desperately need to do is get their own punt and kick return game going. The Giants have been terrible at holding up opposing gunners on punt returns. Delvin Joyce has looked pretty good when given a chance. The problem is that his teammates are not giving him a chance. The kick return team continues to remain a joke for yet another year. Losing Tim Carter won’t help. The fact that the kickoff unit NEVER provides the offense with good field position is embarrassing. It’s also the type of thing that loses football games.
Giants on Defense: One of the reasons why the Redskins struggled offensively against the Jaguars last Sunday is that Steve Spurrier stopped calling running plays. He’s heavily criticized about that in the Washington press this past week. Usually when that happens, it means you’ll see a heavy dose of the run the following week. Will Spurrier do that or stick with his first love – the passing game? The fact that the Giants have struggled to defend the run in recent weeks makes me think he will do the former, but I honestly have no idea. Regardless, the Giants have to prepare for both.
Two things will help the Giants defensively this week: (1) they finally are not playing against a mobile quarterback, and (2) the interior offensive line of the Redskins has been shaky at times. The Giants’ down four will be able to rush the passer more aggressively this week (and they are coming off of a decent pass rush performance against the Vikings regardless). But the Redskins will most likely try to grind the ball out some. HB Stephen Davis (knee injury) should play this week, but he probably will be rotated with HB Kenny Watson. The trio on the spot will be DT Cornelius Griffin, DT Lance Legree, and MLB Mike Barrow versus RG Wilbert Brown, LG David Loverne, and OC Larry Moore respectively. This will be old style NFC East football when Davis gets the call. He’s a north-south runner who punishes people. Griffin, Legree, and Barrow will have to play a much more aggressive and physical game than they have in recent weeks.
The strength of the Redskin offensive line is their tackles. Both LT Chris Samuel and RT Jon Jansen have had their problems this year, but they are still very good. Jansen usually does a good job on DE Michael Strahan as does Samuels against DE Kenny Holmes. Both Strahan and Samuels need to play the run better as well. They need to stay disciplined in their gaps, play with leverage, and prepare for some smash-mouth football. Likewise, outside linebackers Dhani Jones and Brandon Short need to step it up against the run as well. Jones in particular needs to make more plays.
The run defense can be added by better run support from the secondary. This is the type of game where SS Shaun Williams can make an impact. He usually plays well against Washington. Both he and FS Omar Stoutmire need to start intercepting some passes.
You know all about Spurrier’s “fun-and-gun”. He loves to play multiple wide receiver sets and stretch the field both vertically and horizontally with the passing game. But out of these sets, the Giants need to be very careful about three things: (1) draws, (2) reverses, and (3) trick plays. Spurrier uses all of these quite a bit to slow down the pass rush. And you know he saw how the Vikings burned the Giants’ defense for 78-yards and a touchdown on a halfback draw last week.
The Redskins recently signed WR Willie Jackson (who was cut by the Falcons). He’s a solid veteran who runs good routes. He, along with WR Rod Gardner, are probably the Skins’ most consistent receiving threats. But the Giants could see a lot of Derrius Thompson, Chris Doering, and Darnerien McCants too. This is the kind of game where Will Peterson and Will Allen can really shine. There will be some passes thrown in their direction. If they want to truly be considered two of the best, they need to make some plays on the ball and pick some passes off. This will be a big game too for nickel back Jason Sehorn and possibly dime back Ralph Brown.
Spurrier likes to throw deep, but he also likes crossing patterns and wide receiver screens. Obviously, the key is not to give up a big play. Make the Redskins earn it.
Do not underestimate QB Shane Matthews. He is not very mobile and he lacks a strong arm, but he is comfortable in Spurrier’s system and he has looked very sharp at times. The key is to get in his face and force him to make some bad decisions. Mathews has taken a lot of shots this year and hasn’t always responded well. Ideally, it would be great if the Giants could get enough pressure with their down four to create problems. But that would depend on both Strahan, Holmes, and Griffin on having monster games. Look for the Giants to blitz, but they need to be careful. There will likely be a lot of receivers on the field and if the Giants don’t get there, a big play could result.
Giants on Offense: The Redskins’ usual defensive tactic against the Giants is to load up against the run and dare their wide receivers to beat their corners. They did this when Ike Hilliard and Amani Toomer were both healthy and starting. Obviously, don’t expect a change on Sunday.
With eight men in the box, how do the Giants attack the Redskins? Do they play strength-on-strength and attempt to run the ball? The interior duo of DT Dan Wilkinson (who will be lined up over Jason Whittle) and DT Daryl Gardener (who will be lined up over Rich Seubert) is big and strong. The ends – Bruce Smith (versus Luke Petitgout) and Renaldo Wynn (Mike Rosenthal) – are not as impressive. The linebackers are all very active and are the top three tacklers on the team. LaVar Arrington (8 sacks) is a punishing hitter who sometimes has problems at the point-of-attack. Jeremiah Trotter was always a nightmare for the Giants when he was with Philadelphia. And Jessie Armstead will be seeking his revenge against his former team. Word has it that Jessie’s new team wants to win as much for Jessie as anything so expect a fired up defense. I think the Giants need to use this aggressiveness against the Skins by using misdirection and crossing them up with the unexpected. Take a little steam out of their charge. Reverses, screens, draws. I also firmly believe this is the opponent who the Giants need Jeremy Shockey to step up and do the most damage against. In fact, I think in order to win this game, Shockey must come down with at least 6-7 passes. With the receivers having their hands full, the Giants need to attack the linebackers and SS Ifeanyi Ohalete in coverage. Tiki Barber obviously must be a factor here. Passes to Shockey and Barber – that’s the route I would go.
If Fassel wants to play it conservatively (wait for the Skins to implode) and run the football against a defense waiting for the ground attack, running off tackle may be the route to go. Pound the ball at LaVar. Or pound it at Bruce Smith. I think running left on the Skins at Smith might be a good strategy.
Normally, CB Fred Smoot would be lined up over Amani Toomer. It will be interesting to see if the Skins keep CB Champ Bailey on him. Regardless, the Skins’ corners are damn good coverage men. This is the kind of game where Amani Toomer usually disappears against quality opposition. It will be especially hard on Amani as there is a good chance he will be doubled quite often. If Amani wants to make a name for himself, he needs to make plays in such a situation however. Rookie Daryl Jones will really be on the spot. If the Redskins keep Bailey in his normal position, then Jones will be facing one of the NFL’s elite corners. The good news is that Bailey doesn’t have much film on Jones and there is a chance Jones could surprise him. But the odds will be stacked against him.
What about the newcomers Herman Moore and Tony Simmons? Both don’t know the Giants system and therefore it would be risky to play either other than a snap here or there. Not only do Moore and Simmons not know the Giants’ terminology, they don’t know the offense and don’t have a rapport with QB Kerry Collins. In addition, routes change based on pre-snap reads by the quarterback and receivers. If the quarterback and receivers are not on the same page, it might be six points the other way. It’s far more likely that Derek Dorris is activated this week and sees some action. The Skins cut him, so let’s see if he can make them pay.
If I’m Fassel, I use my three tight ends more than I use the three new guys. Dan Campbell is becoming more productive in the passing game and Marcellus Rivers looks to me as if he is finally comfortable with the Giants’ offense. My message to the tight ends? Listen to what CB Fred Smoot says:
They have a solid tight end as well in rookie Jeremy Shockey. But we have two good cover safeties in Ifeanyi Ohalete and David Terrell. So tight ends don’t pose as big a threat to us.
Go get ’em guys!