Approach to the Game – New York Giants at Houston Texans, November 24, 2002: It just astounds me when I see posts in The Corner Forum that say the Giants should beat this team or that with no problem. Either these people have short-term memories or have not gone through the pain and suffering of watching the Giants play for very long. So let’s get this out of the way now:
THE GAME ON SUNDAY WILL BE VERY CLOSE AND IT IS NOT A GIVEN THE GIANTS WILL WIN.
The Texans beat the Jaguars once this season and only lost to them by a field goal last week. They have beaten Dallas and lost to the Bills by only a touchdown. Two weeks ago, they almost beat the Titans in Tennessee. That means their last two games were very close contests. The Texans are playing better football right now.
Meanwhile, the Giants are coming off of an emotional divisional game and playing an expansion team on the road. That spells one word – “letdown”. I’ve seen it over and over again – too many times not to forget. Moreover, injuries are a huge factor with the Giants right now. Defensively, the blitz happy Dom Capers will severely test new center Jason Whittle and new right guard Tam Hopkins. Offensively, the Texans are not quaking in their boots over the prospect of facing Kenny Holmes, Lance Legree, and Dwight Johnson on the defensive line. On special teams, the Texans loaded up on special teams specialists in their inaugural season so that area will be a tough test for New York.
The Giants had better to Houston ready to play or they are going to leave the city with an embarrassing loss.
Giants on Special Teams: Jermaine Lewis is the Texans’ punt and kick returner. Remember him Giants’ fans from Super Bowl XXXV? He’s the guy who returned the kickoff for a touchdown after Ron Dixon’s return touchdown. Throughout his career, Lewis has proven to be one of the most dangerous returners in the game. Needless to say, the Giants’ coverage units need PK Matt Bryant and P Matt Allen to launch some very high kicks so they can get down there to surround Lewis.
Delvin Joyce broke a couple of big punt returns last week, but that won’t be easy in this game as Chad Stanley is having an exceptional season as a punter.
Giants on Defense: Let’s be honest. The Giants’ front seven doesn’t scare anyone right now. DE Michael Strahan is a stud, but DE Kenny Holmes, although not playing poorly, is certainly not the kind of guy who keeps left tackles awake at night. And the Giants start two no-name back-ups at tackle this weekend – Lance Legree and Dwight Johnson. Both of these guys might as well paint a bull’s-eye right on their chests. Houston hasn’t run the ball well this year, but they won’t be intimidated in running up the gut on the Giants are at Holmes and WLB Dhani Jones. I expect Dom Capers to play it conservatively on offense by running the ball and relying on his defense and special teams to make the difference in the ball game. Keep rookie quarterback David Carr in manageable down-and-distance situations. That’s what I would do.
Thus, in my mind, the success of the Giants’ defense depends on stopping the run. If Houston is able to get to 2nd-and-6, 3rd-and-2 on a consistent basis, the Giants may be in trouble. But if the Giants can keep Carr in 2nd-and-long and 3rd-and-long, then the chances of him making mistakes increase. It’s all about the running game this weekend.
The Texan receivers are decent. Corey Bradford caught 3 passes for 111 yards against the Giants last season when he played for Green Bay. Bradford is a deep threat. Jabar Gaffney is a rookie, but he is one of those silky smooth receivers out of Florida in the Ike Hilliard mold. Billy Miller has 26 catches at tight end. The Texans also like to throw to HB James Allen out of the backfield (27 catches). Linebacker coverage on both of these players will be instrumental.
Giants on Offense: I’ve got a few worries here. For one, QB Kerry Collins hasn’t looked real sharp to me for two weeks in a row. Many of his passes have been too inaccurate. The other problem Collins has is a new center as Jason Whittle replaces the injured Chris Bober. The center-quarterback exchange is harder to master than most think and I would not be shocked to see one or two fumbled exchanges this weekend. Also, with Whittle at a new position and Tam Hopkins starting for the first time at right guard, Dom Capers’ blitzing schemes (which are difficult for a veteran line to master) will likely cause all kinds of confusion for the offensive line. Capers knows Collins. He knows that Collins doesn’t respond to pressure. It doesn’t take a brain surgeon to know that the blitz is coming in a big way on Sunday from a variety of locations. The ability of Collins’ to remain poised, make the correct decision, and delivery and accurate pass under duress will be everything in this game. If offensive line, tight ends, and backs can give him a little time and Collins delivers, then the Giants could break off some big plays. The important thing is to not turn the ball over. That is what Capers is counting on.
Houston employs a 3-4 defense and this is the same style of defense that Atlanta used to give New York so much problems. The big difference in the two is that Houston will blitz more from a variety of spots. That’s why you see a guy like nickel backer Jeff Posey with 6.5 sacks, ILB Jamie Sharper with 3.5 sacks, and OLB Kailee Wong with 4.5 sacks. Sharper and ILB Jay Foreman are the leading tacklers in the middle against the run. This is a linebacker-centric system. Keith Mitchell is the other starting outside linebacker.
Giants’ fans may be familiar with much of the Houston secondary since starting corners Aaron Glenn and Marcus Coleman came from the Jets in the Expansion Draft. Aaron Glenn is a very good player. As the left corner, he normally lines up over the “Z” receiver so Daryl Jones may have yet another tough opponent to face this weekend. This match-up makes sense to the Texans size-wise too since both guys are shorter. The bigger Coleman will likely receive double-team support from the safety against Amani Toomer. The Giants need Toomer to have a big game. How much of an impact Herman Moore will have remains debatable. He’s still learning the offense and may not have much left in his gas tank.
Luckily for the Giants, they have two quality receivers in TE Jeremy Shockey and HB Tiki Barber who can present all kinds of problems for defensive coordinators.
The Giants will make life much easier for themselves if they can run the ball. Expect Houston to run blitz a lot in order to prevent that. I might take some shots early, then come back to the running game. Tam Hopkins is more of a power player at right guard than Whittle, so he may help the strongside running game. But Hopkins isn’t very mobile. I would advise against pulling him much.