New York Giants 37 – Dallas Cowboys 7
Game Overview: This game was over by the end of the first quarter. Dallas lost a heart-breaker the week before against the 49ers and the three touchdowns the Giants put on the board against them in the first 15 minutes of the game took the life right out of them.
It’s important for Giants’ fans to keep this game in perspective. Dallas is not a very good football team. The Giants do not control their own playoff destiny and face a far tougher schedule than the other two NFC Wild Card hopefuls. The Giants will have to beat the Colts in Indy and then defeat the NFL’s best team in the finale to have any hope of making the playoffs.
There are two interesting trends with the Giants. Defensively, Defensive Coordinator Johnnie Lynn continues to use the blitz more and more – even when the Giants had a big lead, Lynn kept coming after them, sometimes leaving single coverage on WR Joey Galloway. Offensively, the Giants offense has become a fairly basic quick-tempo offense without a lot of movement. Fassel is repeating plays more and this is improving execution and creating an offensive identity for the team. The Giants don’t run the ball well straight ahead, but Fassel will spread teams out and use his athletic linemen to position block as the running backs search for holes – often on the backside of the play. It’s pretty darn amazing that the Giants have been as good as they have been on offense lately with only one productive wide receiver in the line-up. That’s a tribute to Fassel and his offensive coaches in designing plays for Amani Toomer, Jeremy Shockey, and Tiki Barber. This is a FINESSE offense that is starting to come into its own. Giants’ fans should not expect a POWER running game from this group – the personnel isn’t there for that. Fans should however appreciate that the Giants are one of the most well-balanced offensive teams in the NFL. They can hurt you with the run and the pass. FINESSE carries a negative connotation; it shouldn’t.
Special Teams: Matt Bryant was perfect on his three field goal attempts from 38, 35, and 31.
Kickoff coverage wasn’t real strong this week, especially early in the game. A contributing factor here were the very short kick-offs by Bryant. His kick-offs landed at the 14 (returned 19 yards to the 33), 12 (returned 33 yards to the 45), 15 (returned 30 yards to the 45), 5 (returned 28 yards – penalty brought this back to the 20), 9 (returned 18 yards – penalty brought this back to the 14), 17 (returned 18 yards to the 35), 7 (returned 20 yards – penalty brought this back to the 13), and 9 (returned 35 yards to the 44). That means Dallas’ average starting field position after a kick-off was almost the 30-yard line…that’s not good.
Making tackles on kick-off coverage were Marcellus Rivers (2), Ralph Brown (2), Delvin Joyce, Charles Stackhouse, Reggie Stephens, Kevin Lewis, and Wesly Mallard.
Matt Allen continues to stink as a punter. To be fair, after a horrible start, he started punting a bit better after Fassel screamed at him on the sidelines. Allen’s punts went for 14, 49, 41, 32, 38, and 23 yards. Returns went for 0 (punt went out of bounds), 10 (Omar Stoutmire making the tackle), 0 (fair catch), -2 (Stoutmire), 0 (fair catch), and 0 (downed). Obviously, punt coverage was good.
Last week, Delvin Joyce broke a big kick-off return; this week he broke off a big punt return. His punt returns went for 17, 5, 0, 8, fair catch, fair catch, 37, and fair catch. The 37-yarder set up the Giants’ final touchdown in the 4th quarter; on the play Wes Mallard made a killer block and Joyce broke two tackles. Ralph Brown is not very good at holding up opposing gunners.
The only kick returned by the Giants was returned by Daryl Jones for 10 yards to the 32 yard line.
The big snafu on special teams was giving up the onsides kick late in the contest. Penalties were also a problem. Kevin Lewis, Dhani Jones, and Reggie Stephens were all flagged with holding.
Defensive Line: The return of DT Cornelius Griffin (1 tackle) continues to make a big difference. While Griffin’s stats don’t reflect it, he was a factor on the pass rush, pressuring QB Chad Hutchinson both inside the pocket and outside when the quarterback scrambled. DE Michael Strahan (2 tackles) did not play in the second half after aggravating a neck injury that looked quite scary as he collapsed on the sidelines. Strahan’s pressure on Hutchinson right before halftime caused the quarterback’s deep pass to Antonio Bryant to be underthrown and easily intercepted by safety Johnnie Harris.
In the first half of the game, I repeatedly saw DE Kenny Holmes (3 tackles, 1 fumble recovery for a touchdown), DT Lance Legree (3 tackles), and DE/DT Frank Ferrara (4 tackles) get effectively blocked at the point-of-attack on running plays. None of these three are very good run defenders and none of them consistently create pass pressure. Holmes did a great job recovering Hutchinson fumble and weaving his way through Giants and Cowboys on a 50-yard scoring run. Legree did do a nice job of playing down the line and allowing Michael Barrow to make a play on the backside against HB Troy Hambrick for a 2-yard loss in the 2nd quarter. Ferrara got a good pass rush from the DT spot late in the 2nd quarter to help force an incompletion on 3rd-and-8.
In the second half, Legree made a couple of plays. On Dallas’ first possession, he clobbered Smith in the backfield for a 2-yard loss (Kenny Holmes also got in on this play). Legree also did a great job (along with Mike Barrow) of reading the screen pass Dallas ran in the 4th quarter to nail that for a 2-yard loss. Ferrara continued to have problems against the run in the second half, but he did get another good pass rush from the tackle spot to force an incompletion on 3rd-and-13. DT Dwight Johnson and Holmes combined to tackle Hambrick in the backfield for a 3-yard loss in the 3rd quarter, but earlier on the drive Johnson and Ferrara got effectively blocked on a 9-yard run.
DE Byron Frisch saw quite a bit of playing time and came up with two sacks in the 4th quarter from the left end spot. One came on a nice inside move; the other he was unblocked. Frisch was not real stout at the point of attack, but he demonstrated fine hustle on two running plays, including one where he got in on the tackle on a sweep to the other side of the field.
Linebackers: MLB Michael Barrow (13 tackles, 1 sack, 1 forced fumble) probably played his best game of the season. Michael was all over the field and caused the key play in the game when he blitzed up the middle on Dallas’ second possession to force Hutchinson to fumble. The loose ball was returned by Holmes for a touchdown. On Dallas’ first possession, on 2nd-and-5, Barrow did a great job of playing off a block and chasing Emmitt Smith down on a run around right end. Before his sack on the second possession, Barrow aggressively attacked another play around right end, disrupting the blocking on the play. In the second quarter, Barrow chased down a Hambrick run around left end and tackled the runner for a 2-yard loss. He later had good coverage on Hambrick on a pass over the middle, limiting the gain to 2 yards. Then Johnnie Harris and Barrow held Emmitt to a 2-yard gain on a play where the right-side of the Giants’ DL had slanted too far inside. In the second half, Barrow caused an incompletion with another inside blitz. On the next play, both he and Dhani Jones did a nice job of filling a hole and stuffing Smith.
Brandon Short (4 tackles) got blocked effectively at the point-of-attack on Dallas’ first play (a 5-yard gain by Emmitt Smith). But later in the quarter, he made a heck of a play on 2nd-and-1 when pushed the tackle back into the backfield and blew up a Smith run around left end. This was a huge play as it turned a 2nd-and-1 into a 3rd-and-5 and forced Dallas to punt a play later. The unnecessary roughness penalty called against Short on the sideline hit was a terrible call.
Dhani Jones (6 tackles) was pretty active despite playing on a high ankle sprain. However, Dhani continues to have some problems shedding blocks at the point-of-attack. Dhani either has to shed blocks better or avoid them better. Often, he’s doing neither. At lot of Dallas’ productive runs not only came at the expense of Holmes, Ferrara, and Legree, but also Jones. Jones did a very good job of pressuring Hutchinson to help force an incompletion on a 3rd-and-8 play in the 2nd quarter (the same play where Ferrara got pressure). Dhani was also in Hutchinson’s face with Strahan on the play where the ball was underthrown and intercepted. Dhani’s run defense improved in the 3rd quarter. Jones did a good job of filling one hole along with Barrow and then he did a great job of playing off a block from the tight end and making the tackle at the line of scrimmage. On the next drive, he filled the hole again and then did a nice job covering Galloway on a crossing route and got a hand on the ball to cause an incompletion.
The back-ups saw some playing time in the 4th quarter. I was pretty discouraged when I saw both Wes Mallard and Nick Greisen get easily blocked on a Hambrick run around left end. However, on the next play, Greisen (along with Frisch) held Hambrick to a 1-yard gain around the right side. Later in the drive, Mallard did a good job of shooting a gap and holding Hambrick to another 1-yard gain (Frisch was pursuing from the backside on this play). It looks to me that Mallard’s game is going to have to be based on beating the block, rather than tacking them on. Kevin Lewis had problems at the point-of-attack as well, but he did a nice job in coverage on a few plays in his direction.
Defensive Backs: It was great to have both Wills back in the line-up, but it stunk to see Will Peterson forced to leave so early with a neck stinger. Hutchinson was only able to throw for 161 yards despite the fact that Dallas was playing catch-up from the get-go. Part of this had to do with the ineffectiveness of Hutchinson and the receivers (bad passes, dropped passes), but the Giants also did a good job of covering in the secondary. The Giants did catch a break late in the 2nd quarter when on a play where Lynn decided to rush three, WR Ken-Yon Rambo was left wide open in the zone on 4th-and-8, yet Rambo dropped the ball.
Before he left, Peterson had very good short coverage on an incomplete pass to TE James Whalen in the first quarter. On the very next play, Peterson combined with FS Omar Stoutmire to prevent a first down on a 3rd-and-7 toss around left end that had surprised the rest of the defense. On the play where Peterson was hurt, he got a big hit on a short completion to Whalen.
On Dallas’ third possession, Hutchinson spotted WR Joey Galloway all alone with Will Allen and threw up a deep pass in that direction. However, Allen stayed right with Galloway (and actually had better position on the ball) and knocked the pass away. Allen was beat by Galloway over the middle in the 2nd quarter, but Galloway dropped the ball. Allen lucked out again on the next drive when Galloway got a step on him on a deep post pattern, but Hutchinson overthrew the receiver. Later in the same quarter, Allen had Galloway all alone again and again Hutchinson tossed up a deep ball; Allen had great coverage on him and the pass fell incomplete. On the down side, Allen missed a tackle on a short completion to Galloway right before halftime that turned into a 30-yard reception. But that was Galloway’s only catch of the game. Allen was also a factor in Shaun Williams’ interception as he cut off Galloway from the spot on the field the pass was thrown to. Kudos to Allen for doing a number on Dallas’ most dangerous receiver.
Ralph Brown (4 tackles) was playing too soft on a 14-yard Bryant completion in front of him in the 2nd quarter. He gave up a 12-yard completion in front of him late in the 4th quarter, but that’s when he should have been playing soft with a 37-0 lead. Jason Sehorn (3 tackles), back in his nickel spot, had good coverage on a pass intended for Rambo late in the 2nd quarter. In the 3rd quarter, he got his hand on a ball intended for Bryant over the middle. In the 4th period, Jason did a great job of reading a quick pass to Rambo; he jumped in front of the receiver and was poised to intercept the pass and return it for a TD, but Griffin batted the pass down at the line of scrimmage. Sehorn struggled at right corner late in the game when he first got beat by Reggie Swinton for a 14-yard pass to the Giants’ 10-yard line and then got beat by Bryant for a 9-yard touchdown two plays later. Reggie Stephens got beat over the middle by Rambo for a 23-yard gain on Dallas’ last possession.
Stoutmire (5 tackles) made a heck of a play chasing down the aforementioned 3rd-and-7 toss from his deep safety spot. Shaun Williams (5 tackles, 1 interception) had an active day despite suffering from back spasms. On the play mentioned above where Short shoved the tackle back into the backfield, Williams came up from his strong safety spot to help finish off the play for a 4-yard loss. On the next drive, Williams made a great play by tackling Bryant on a WR-reverse for a 10-yard loss; it was a big play because much of the rest of the defense had been fooled. In the 3rd quarter, he picked off a pass from Hutchinson.
Johnnie Harris (2 tackles, 1 interception) played quite a bit, including in the first half when Williams was ailing. He nailed Smith near the line of scrimmage on a safety blitz. On Dallas’ last drive before the half, he made an outstanding open field tackle on Joey Galloway, perhaps saving a touchdown. Three plays later, he intercepted an underthrown pass near the goal line.
Quarterback: Kerry Collins (13/27 for 190 yards, no touchdowns, no interceptions) was very effective early, missed some chances later, then sat down for the day. Collins set the tone on the Giants’ opening drive as the Giants came out throwing, going a methodical 4-for-6. He hit Daryl Jones for 12 yards. Then he side-stepped the rushing end and hit Amani Toomer in the hands, but Toomer couldn’t hold on. Then he passed to Toomer for 14, Toomer for 7, and Tiki Barber for 13. On 2nd-and-goal from the 1-yard line, he slightly overthrew Toomer on a fade pass. On the next offensive possession, Collins’ completed both of his passes, including a beautiful 10-yard out pass to Toomer as he was hit while he was throwing. On the next drive, despite pressure, Collins threw a very good deep pass to Toomer that was completed for 33 yards. Collins then stood tough in the pocket with a blitzing safety about to smash into him and completed a pass to Dan Campbell for 6 yards. However, the Giants had to settle for a field goal on this possession as Collins and Bober botched the snap on 3rd-and-2.
The Giants stayed aggressive on two late possessions in the 2nd quarter, but one of Kerry’s passes was batted at the line of scrimmage, and a poor blitz pick-up by Ron Dayne contributed to a slightly errant pass to Daryl Jones. Toomer then dropped a ball and Barber lost a yard on 3rd-and-1. And Fassel kept it going to start the 3rd quarter. Collins hit Shockey for 17 on the first play of the second half. Then found Barber for a 30 yard catch-and-run. Shockey then dropped the third pass in a row. On 3rd-and-7, Collins just missed connecting with Toomer near the goal line and the Giants settled for a field goal.
Before he was pulled, Collins got a little sloppy. A blitz forced him to rush a throw that was errantly thrown to Shockey and hit S Roy Williams in the back. And Collins threw two passes that should have been picked off, but both were dropped (though to be fair, on the former, it was a free play as the Cowboys had jumped offsides). Collins threw a perfect deep strike to Amani Toomer that was completed for 29 yards (and if the refs had not screwed up by blowing the whistle prematurely, it should have been a 66-yard touchdown pass). However, on the next play, Collins badly overthrew an open Toomer over the middle.
Jesse Palmer (3/4 for 30 yards, no touchdowns, no interceptions) saw his first regular season action as a Giant. His first pass was completed to FB Charles Stackhouse over the middle for 10 yards on 2nd-and-7. A 2nd-and-11 throw to Daryl Jones was thrown in the dirt. On 3rd-and-11, he did a great job of getting rid of the ball quickly in the face of a blitz and hit Dan Campbell for 14 yards and a first down. On 1st-and-goal from the 9, his pass to Toomer was off the mark, but Toomer made a great adjustment and came down with the reception. On the next play, Ron Dayne scored to increase the Giants lead to 37-0.
Wide Receivers: Amani Toomer (6 catches for 99 yards) has really, really stepped up his game. Long-time readers know that for years I’ve been calling for Toomer to make plays when he was either covered by the opponent’s best corner or double-teamed. And that’s exactly what Amani is doing now. It’s absolutely incredible that the Giants are moving the ball through the air as Toomer the only wide receiver on the field who concerns the defense. Toomer caught two passes on the Giants’ first scoring drive and craftily created separation by pushing off in the end zone on the overthrown pass from Collins. At the beginning of the 2nd quarter, he caught a 33-yard deep pass, setting up the first field goal in the game. In the 3rd quarter, he made a spectacular, one-handed grab of a 29-yard deep pass from Collins. Toomer wasn’t touched and had the presence of mind to get up and run another 37 yards for the touchdown, but the refs screwed up and blew the whistle too soon. In the 4th quarter, Toomer made another great catch – this time on a pass thrown behind him and too high from Jesse Palmer for 6 yards down to the 3-yard line. My only criticism is that he dropped two balls that hit him in the hands. They were tough catches, but I thought he should have had them.
The Giants need more productivity from the other receivers. Daryl Jones caught the first pass of the game from Collins for 12 yards, but was shut out after that. He had a chance for a big play in the 2nd quarter, but an intermediate strike on a slant was slightly thrown behind him. Derek Dorris has been the Giants’ third receiver for a few games now and he still doesn’t have reception.
Tight Ends: Jeremy Shockey (3 catches for 28 yards) had a very quite game as a receiver, but he really had a good game in the blocking department. More and more, the Giants are becoming comfortable leaving him alone to block the defensive end on outside running plays (like the Giants do with Dan Campbell). Both Shockey and Campbell got great blocks on Ron Dayne’s easy 4-yard touchdown run in the 1st quarter. Dan Campbell had 2 catches for 20 yards, nearly matching Shockey’s productivity. Shockey had a nice 17-yard reception on the first drive of the second half, but then dropped a pass to help stall the drive.
There was one poorly designed play where Marcellus Rivers was called upon to block a defensive end all by himself in pass protection. Collins was under immediate pressure and the pass was thrown incomplete on 3rd-and-3.
Offensive Line: An excellent all-around game. The line gave up no sacks (though part of that is due to Kerry Collins’ ability to get rid of the ball quickly) and Barber and Dayne gained 161 yards on the ground combined. This is not a smash-mouth group that gets a lot of movement at the point-of-attack (though they did some of that against Dallas this week), but they are pretty good athletes who angle and position block better and better as they gain experience. Probably the guy who had the roughest time out there was RT Mike Rosenthal, who was hampered by injury. He got beat a couple of times on the pass rush and Dayne may have a bigger run on one of his carries in the 2nd quarter had he sustained his block longer. He also missed a block on a Dayne run in the 3rd quarter that would have picked up more yardage. Rich Seubert was flagged for holding and Jason Whittle for a false start.
It is interesting to note that the Giants used OC Omar Smith as a blocking tight end down on the goal line this week. He got a good block on Tiki Barber’s 3rd-and-goal touchdown run.
Running Backs: Tiki Barber didn’t have a lot of carries (11), but he did a lot of damage (81 yards, 1 touchdown). Tiki is playing the best football of his life as a runner and he credits it due to his increased patience as a ball carrier. Tiki’s most productive runs come on cutbacks. Fassel has realized this and is calling for more plays where the offense spreads out the defense and allows Tiki to pick his spots with more open field to work with. Five of the Giants’ first six plays were pass plays designed to get the defense to back off the line of scrimmage. Even the sole running play came on a play where the Giants’ OL were in a pass blocking set (love it). After the first six plays, Tiki then ran for 8 yards around left end, 4 yards up the middle, 1 yard up the middle, and 1 yard off left tackle for a touchdown. On the next possession, the Giants simulated a run to the right; Tiki then cut back to the left behind a good block from Luke Petitgout, broke two tackles and sprinted down the left sideline en route to a 60-yard gain. Barber had a very nice 30-yard catch-and-run at the beginning of the second half to help set up a field goal. Tiki’s blitz pick-up on LB Kevin Hardy in the 3rd quarter was lacking and led to an incompletion.
Ron Dayne (19 carries, 80 yards, 2 touchdowns) was pretty good in relief of Tiki. What stood out was that Dayne did a good job of finding and picking his hole, keeping his feet moving, and running with some power after contact. That has not always been the case with him. After Tiki’s 60-yard run in the 1st quarter, Dayne cutback to his left for a 4-yard power run off left guard. On the next play, he ran threw a huge hole for a 4-yard touchdown. Two drives later, Fassel decided to feature Dayne in a big way. Dayne got the ball on five straight carries for 6, 6, 3, 4, and 2 yards. He was pretty impressive on this drive except for on the last run, the 2-yard gain on 3rd-and-3, I thought he missed a big opportunity by not spotting a sizeable hole to his left for what may have been big yardage. (Also, if I were Fassel, I wouldn’t have been in such an obvious run formation given the down and distance in this situation). Later in the 2nd quarter, Dayne wasn’t able to get a good block on the blitzer and this contributed to Collins’ pass to Jones being off-the-mark.
In the second half, Dayne continued to run hard. He had two tough back-back-runs off left guard in the 3rd quarter for 5 and 8 yards. Then the Giants’ last touchdown drive of the game in the 4th quarter, Dayne carried the ball for 2, 10, 3, 5, -1, and 3 yards. On the -1 run, Petitgout missed his block. On the other runs, including the 3-yard touchdown run, Dayne demonstrated fine power.
Charles Stackhouse did a pretty good job as a lead blocker this week on the plays where I kept an eye on him. He had one catch for 10 yards.
One of Those Beautiful Days
by David Oliver
You know the kind I’m talking about; the days when the NY Giants unleash all the potential and just wallop some team that needs it. It happens every couple of years, last being the shellacking of the Vikings. Of course, it doesn’t get better than plastering the Redskins, the Cowboys or the Eagles. In this year of wondering greatly, the Giants have 8 wins thus far, 2 each against the Cowboys and the Redskins. A split with the Eagles won’t be so bad if the Giants can get past Indianapolis this Sunday.
There were several highlights in the Cowboy game, including a decent lead in time of possession, a very nice difference on the scoreboard, a continued improvement in the Red Zone (50%) and Goal-to-Go (100%) efficiency, the running of the Great Dayne, the appearance of Jesse James Palmer, the instrumental play of a number of substitutes, a crazed performance by Michael Barrow, and another decent outing by KC (not wonderful as he did drop one, was not as sharp as last week and had a rating of only 71.5 – we have high standards here at BBI, you know). Nevertheless, there is always room for improvement, as the third down efficiency remained a woeful 18%, the kickoffs are a little short and the punting, well the punting is, uh, not good.
The running game is coming along nicely. Ron Dayne got some extended playing time and responded with a 19-for-80 night; he ran hard, he ran smart, he got into the end zone twice. Tiki was Tiki with 11 for 81, with the damage done by his 60 yard sprint down the sidelines. The young offensive line appears to be coming into it’s own. There are some holes now opening reminiscent of the first year with Parker. The holes are on both the right and left sides, which indicates a lot of improvement by Mike Rosenthal, and more quality by Jason Whittle than many on BBI are willing to recognize. This game is not to be taken lightly. Dallas has a defensive front seven, which, although not as big as the Redskins, is considerably faster. Watching these guys warm up, I thought our offensive line would have a lot of trouble. Ellis, Glover and Ekuban are no scrap heap players and Coakley and Nguyen are fast backers, with Roy Williams bringing some hit to the secondary. The backers and safety accounted for 22 tackles; the front four had 13. The Giants were able to exploit the speed of the front four by pushing the ends out and containing the middle. Glover received kudos from the Giants O line – how did New Orleans ever let him get away?
It was interesting to watch this game unfold as many of the BBI mantras came to be: play Dayne, come out aggressive, use an aggressive defense, pound the ball in the red zone – so who says we don’t know what we are talking about? The Giants scored so early, so fast that the Cowboys went into shock and didn’t recover until the 2 minute warning in the game. At that point, they realized Coach Campo wasn’t coming back and probably realized a lot of them would be leaving on the same train. In truth this was a game pitting a group of under-achievers (Cowboys) with a lot of talent, against a group of over-achievers (Giants) with suspect, or young talent. It turned out to be a no-contest, which leads to some off the board contemplation.
Let’s look at the game in the context of some pressing questions.
Is there any form taking shape to the Coaching scenario: Is Coach Fassel a good Coach, a mediocre Coach, better as a Coordinator? There is no conclusive answer here, yet. Great Coaches are apparently measured by a surplus of Ws. Coach Fassel is headed in the right direction, but last year’s record is a handicap. One thing is certain, the Dallas game ensured that he will not have another losing season this year. Conceivably, these Giants could go 8-8, the old kissing your sister thing, but that is better than 7-9 or 6-10. Compared to Coach Campo, whose talented team does not seem to be responding, Coach Fassel appears to be getting the most from his players. There is always a reticence in the locker room to openly discuss any Coach, so it is unlikely that any reporter will get a good Coach, bad Coach answer to a direct question. What I have gleaned from my conversations with the players is that there may have been some early season frustration with the lack of aggressiveness in the offensive scheming, but even that was tempered by the acknowledgment that the players were not executing. The flip side of that coin is that after a good game, as the last 2 weeks, the players are Spartan in their comments on the positive side, preferring to say things such as, “we did our jobs”, “guys stepped up”, “all three teams executed like it was planned”. Implicit in those comments is the acknowledgment that the Coaches, as a collective group, had the team prepared. To a person, what the players will say is that Coach Fassel is professional, he treats them as professionals, and his message is that whoever is on the field, he expects them to do the job. There is a sub-theme here in that Coach Fassel and his staff are making it fun, or keeping the fun in the game for these players, which is an important ingredient, not to be taken lightly.
My own assessment is largely irrelevant. Of course, I am more generous in recognition following a victory, particularly a lop-sided smashing of a rival. I am less inclined to be generous after a devastating loss, often occasioned by close to the vest, play not to lose, passive-aggressive Coaching. I have seen the man, like some Presidents, age faster than he should. This is not an easy job and we are not easy fans to mollify. To all appearances, he is a decent guy. When he is relaxed, he has an easy-going, almost playful manner. When tense, well, if looks could kill, three quarters of the NY Media would be underground. He has his favorites, but who doesn’t; he is a somewhat diffident disciplinarian, often seeming to pick on lesser players. This year he seemed to develop a little “it’s not my fault” attitude, but he got over that quickly enough.
Similar to Coach Mariucci, he is being measured in the wake of a legend. Coach Walsh on the left coast, St. Bill in NY. And it is tough to wear a legend’s boots. Should Coach Fassel stay in NY as long as Shula was with the Dolphins or Noll with the Steelers, we will probably look at his tenure as the Golden Age of Giants football. But that won’t happen. If I can see the aging, his wife surely can. What I can envision is Coach Fassel heading elsewhere, of his own volition. Should Arizona make him an offer, well, the desert climate is mighty attractive; and 8 wins in a year would not be considered a defeat. In fact, a couple of trips to the playoffs would make him a celebrity. NY is a challenge; if you have an ego, it is a lesson in deflation; it is physically and mentally wearing, not to say emotionally. Even St. Bill packed it in twice. So let’s wait until the off-season and revisit this question.
Did the Dallas game shed any light on the operations end? I have never been a fan of the GM. I think he simply has no handle on the salary cap and his drafts are crap shoots. Having said all that, when you look at what he has done this year in picking up players who have been released by others or out of the game, he hasn’t done badly. Compare him to GM Butler and he looks like an average football man; compare him to Jerry Jones or Brown, or Snyder and Co., he looks like a blooming genius. His dogged pursuit of Penn State Alums brought Brandon Short and Kerry Collins, but also Bob Jones. His insistence on KC is akin to George Young favoring Dave Brown; of course, one was pathological, the other just, well, questionable. I think the offseason will shed some light here also. Luke Pettigout will be a difficult signing, and we all know how EA feels about offensive linemen; will he have enough money to go into the free-agent market; and this is an important draft year for him. Win or lose, EA, like Allie Sherman, will always stick in my mind as the man who jettisoned Jessie Armstead, just as Allie did with Sam Huff.
How about the question of talent? Are the Giants talented, semi-talented, or mediocre? In light of the Dallas game, we can have some interesting debate here. Dallas is a “talented” team, or a “talent-laden” team. A huge offensive line, Emmitt Smith, a defense chock full of prominent names, and now, finally, a promising QB. They have been beaten twice this year by a team that even John Madden called mediocre. Yet, the fact is that the Giants do have a POTENTIALLY devastating offense. Barber, Dayne, Shockey and Toomer are excellent skill players. The QB is somewhat enigmatic, seemingly unable to come up big for big games, but statistically sound. The defense has Strahan and Barrow, two up-and-coming corners, a safety who appears to be coming into his own, a developing strongside linebacker. Almost every player on the field on the defensive side of the ball made a contribution against Dallas, led by Barrow’s 13 tackles and a forced fumble. Jones had 6 tackles, Stoutmire and Williams each 5, and Harris in for Williams 2 more; Short, Frisch, Brown, and Ferrara each had 4 tackles and Sehorn, Holmes, Legree had 3 each. This was good stuff. So, although the team is not talent-laden, it has enough star quality performers to be considered talented. The Super Bowl year got an assist from cast-offs Brown and Parker. This year a large group of unheralded players are stepping up and providing an assist. Frankie Ferrara, Byron Frisch, Ralph Brown, Delvin Joyce, Johnny Harris, Kevin Lewis, all have contributed and appear to be showing more each game. Both the defensive and offensive fronts need some bolstering before this unit will be considered s talented by the mavens. This is within reach if the GM does his stuff.
I talked to a couple of guys in the locker room, and one in particular knocked my socks off. Tony Simmons, a wideout who has not found a place yet started talking and we went on for quite a while. Simmons is an engineer. When I told him I was a lawyer who had worked with a lot of engineers, the conversation went to life outside the locker room. He lit up and told me he wanted to be a construction engineer and he got great joy out of the mechanics of big projects. We talked fiber optics, satellites, right of way pipelines. He was so animated, I had a little laugh to myself. All the enthusiasm of youth, as he went on, I felt pretty good about the future; once again the Giants have uncovered a gem, as a contributor in life, if maybe not as a football player. But we did talk a little football.
I asked him what he thought about the organization and he told me, “They are very classy; they help their players out and do what they’re supposed to do; and the players respond.” I asked him if he was focused and he said, “Very focused. I’m on a team that wants me (this sentiment has been relayed to me by a number of players)…can’t let go…this is it…for me, it’s not like the last straw, BUT, it’s one of those things; it’s a great opportunity, a great team, I like it here and it’s close to my home.”
I next asked him what has been holding him back; that he hasn’t seemed to live up to his potential. His answer: “It’s not that anything held me back. I was young at my position. I came from a school that ran the ball, that’s what we did. I wasn’t a polished receiver; I was a complete receiver in that I could run routes, catch the ball and block, and what I was known for was, really, blocking, because I was a big receiver, but I was still young at my position. As time passed, I got better at route running, then I started understanding the game, just a lot more…so now I see stuff and it’s like ‘that’s why they do this’, and I can pick it up quicker and quicker, and it’s like ‘now I’m understanding this stuff’, but before, I was like a kid, ‘I want to play, I want to play’; now I understand, I’ll grow and mature into the game, now I understand things.”
We went on to discuss his experience in the Euro League and he said, “I really liked it over there. That’s when I really matured. I had to become a leader and I’m not the type of leader, like I’m not out there jumping around telling everybody what to do; I’m just going to do my job, ‘ya’ll see me, that’s what I do.’”
So I asked him, as a newcomer, what does he see in this team. He responded, “Spirit is great. Most people at this time, they get to the point of saying ‘we lost this person, or this linebacker’; some teams, they probably give it up. But this team, it’s like “NO”. Coach Fassel even said it, ‘I don’t care who is out there, they step up, we make plays, we come together as a team, and we win games.’ That’s what you want. You want to be on a team like ‘I don’t care what time it is, I don’t care how many points are on the board, it’s not over until we say it’s over’; right now, that’s our motto, ‘it’s not over until we say it’s over.’”
I specifically asked him, as well as others, if Coach JF had stepped it up. His comments echoed several, so I’ll use his answer as indicative of what has been expressed to me. He said, “He’s stepped it up, like we know what we’re supposed to do, be professional about it and most importantly, have some fun. Sometimes, some coaches, they kind of forget that part. It’s a fun game. It’s still fun for me. I’ve been on teams that take the fun away from the game a little bit because it’s like work, work, work. It’s like wait a minute, I’ll work, but the game is still supposed to be fun. When I went to Europe, the Coaches out there, they made it still fun for me so I wanted to play more and more because it was so much fun. I wanted to go out and practice and have fun. Practice was no big deal to me, it was like ‘when do we go to practice.’ It feels like I’m back into that mode again. It’s fun to just come and play and do your job. I understand it’s a job, but it’s still fun; if the games stay fun for me, I know I can play well.”
This is very much he attitude in this locker room. There are a lot of young guys and it’s important for them to have fun. The coaching staff appears to have found some magic here and is taking the pressure off these kids. I talked to Reggie Stephens and Delvin Joyce and there was more excitement. Reggie told me it’s been interesting because in practice, sometimes he gets his reps, sometimes not, then all of a sudden you are in there. Having been in the system and knowing the nickel, dime and corner has helped him and he plays specials because the coaches know he can play specials well. This week a couple of guys went down and Reggie found himself as the gunner. His assessment – he did a pretty good job, and “all you can do is build from those things.” I asked him about Delvin Joyce and he told me that Delvin is something special. He said, “We block for the guy; we put it on our shoulders to block for him. We hate it when he gets hit; we don’t want him to get hit, not just take a free shot, you have a block and often you have to stay on your block a little longer because Delvin stays alive.” Oh, by the way, Reggie did mention that it “was good to see the offense just go down there and score points.”
I asked Delvin if he was aware of his teammates’ attitude. He smiled and said, “Yes, I rely on help from my teammates. There are 11 guys on the field, the same guys.” He said that everybody was coming together and the attitude is “they take care of me, I’m going to reciprocate by trying to make something happen.”
There you have it. A very big win over Dallas. A very satisfying two week stretch. Say what you will, I’ll take those 2 wins anytime. Now, if they can somehow get 2 more…