Approach to the Game – New York Giants at Indianapolis Colts, December 22, 2002: The Colts are 9-5 and have won five out of their last six games including a very impressive 35-13 drubbing of the Eagles in Philadelphia, a 23-20 victory over the Broncos in Denver, and a 28-23 come-from-behind win against the Browns in Cleveland. They are a good football team that is beating other football teams with winning records. The 2002 Giants, on the other hand, have yet to defeat a team with a winning record, though they came close against the 49ers and Titans.
The Giants don’t have much of a shot at the playoffs, but whatever little shot they do have depends on them winning on Sunday in Indianapolis. Lose and the season is most likely officially over.
Giants on Special Teams: Returner Delvin Joyce is really coming into his own, but he is “questionable” with a shoulder injury. He is likely to play, but it is unknown how much the injury will affect his return game or whether another hit will quickly send him to the sidelines. On punt returns, the Giants are still not doing an exceptional job of holding up the opposing gunners; that’s why Delvin is still calling for so many fair catches.
The Giants need much better kick-offs from Matt Bryant, who rested his tired leg some this past week, and better punts from Matt Allen. The last time Bryant kicked in a dome, against Houston, he missed a 33-yard field goal that cost the team the game. Since then, he has kicked exceptionally well.
Let’s hope the Giants can get a big play or two out of their special teams this week – blocking a kick or getting a big return.
Giants on Offense: The defense of the Colts is not exceptional, but they don’t give up a lot of points (18.3 points-per-game) and they have some very good players in the front seven.
This is a game where I think the Giants really need to get their ground game going. Indianapolis has a few players who can really get after the passer, but they are a bit undersized up front and the defensive line has some injuries (all are expected to play). Former Giant Chad Bratzke (6 sacks) has spent time both at left end and left defensive tackle. He’s contending with a leg injury, but is fired up to play against his old team. Bratzke, if you remember, is an all-hustle-type with fine quickness, but he’s not a real stout player against the run. With DT Brad Scioli (shoulder) set to return to left defensive tackle this weekend, Bratzke most likely will be moved back to left end where he will battle RT Mike Rosenthal. Bratzke will be a real challenge for Mike to say the least. The other end is impressive rookie Dwight Freeney (10 sacks and an incredible 7 forced fumbles). Freeney is undersized, but exceptionally quick. With Kerry Collins’ propensity to fumble, Luke Petitgout needs to keep Freeney away from his quarterback. “He’s fast,” Offensive Line Coach Jim McNally says of Freeney, who has 8 sacks in his last 7 games. “He’s like a running back out there.”
Making things tough for the Giants too is that the Colts like to move their defensive linemen around. Sometimes Freeney lines up left with Bratzke on the right. Sometimes Bratzke plays tackle, leaving Scioli (7 sacks) outside. “You never know what you are going to get with us because we like to change it up,” Bratzke says. “I think teams need to be concerned and need to be alerted to what we are doing.”
“They’re going to be the best pass-rush team we’ve seen, no question about it,” McNally says. “I thought Tennessee was going to have the best defensive line we’ve seen because they’re really good, but I think these guys might be (better).”
“We’re going to have to match their speed and intensity,” Rosenthal says. LG Jason Whittle, who has been hampered a great deal with hand and knee injuries, will be another lineman on ths spot. Obviously, a great way to keep a great pass rush off your quarterback is to run the ball. This is what the Giants need to do or they will be in trouble. Tiki Barber got snubbed by Pro Bowl voters so I expect a big week out of him. But the Colts will no doubt look to stop the run first and foremost, then attempt to get after Collins. If I’m Fassel, I cross the Colts up by passing early to get the lead, then hit them later with the running game – just like the Giants did last week against Dallas.
The real play-maker in the Colts’ linebacking corps is Mike Peterson. He’s a fine cover linebacker who also leads the Colts in tackles; most likely will often be lined up on Jeremy Shockey or Barber.
This is a game where the Giants need a great effort from Kerry Collins. He’s been real good at protecting the football in recent weeks and the Giants need that to continue. Collins could really improve his standing around the league if he somehow manages to out-shine Peyton Manning. Protect the football, move the football, and finish drives with touchdowns.
The Colts’ secondary is average at best. It’s too bad that Amani Toomer is the only receiver on the roster doing anything. He got a Pro Bowl snub as well so he should be motivated. Daryl Jones needs to step it up and make some plays. Tony Dungy is a big fan of the 2-deep zone and this is a coverage that a good tight end can exploit. The big worry with Shockey is the artificial turf. Every time he plays on it, he re-aggravates his toe injuries. Shockey needs to cut out the dropped passes, make a game-breaking play or two, and get into the end zone. He only has one touchdown this season and that came in week two.
To me, the offensive keys to this game are Collins and the offensive line. The Giants win if they play well, lose if they don’t.
Giants on Defense: The good news for the Giants is that Edgerrin James doesn’t look like the same back as he used to due to injuries. He’s still a big load however and the Colts will test the Giants’ weakside run defense (Kenny Holmes, Lance Legree, Dhani Jones). The Giants will also see much of reserve James Mungro who has good speed and burned Philadelphia with some explosive runs right up the gut. While contending with Peyton Manning and Marvin Harrison, the last thing New York needs is for Indianapolis to get its ground game going. My old mantra holds true again – stuff the run, get after the passer.
Up front, Holmes will battle Tarik Glenn, one of the better (and biggest) left tackles in the league. RT Adam Meadowns is a better pass blocker than run blocker. DT Cornelius Griffin faces huge RG Ryan Diem (6-6, 330lbs). LG Rick DeMulling will line up over DT Lance Legree’s head. The Giants need big efforts from all four down linemen, both in terms of stopping the run and getting after Manning. The more the Giants have to bring up support to help these four, the more dangerous the situation against Manning.
Manning is so tough not only because of his physical skills, but because he is such a smart quarterback. The coaches allow him to change the play at the line of scrimmage and he’s so good at reading defenses (and the blitz) that he often burns his opponent with a last second change. This is how he killed the Eagles in Philadelphia. Manning spotted the blitz coming (and the Eagles do a great job of disguising their blitzes) and hit the hot receiver over and over again for huge plays. That’s why the Giants have to be very, very careful with their blitzes and attempt to do a better job of mixing things up than the Eagles did. “We can’t show our hand until we absolutely have to,” says SS Shaun Williams. “We have to play with his head as much as we can. We have to line up like we’re playing one coverage, then switch to another. Sometimes we have to line up in one coverage and stay in it, otherwise our bluffs will not work…We’ll mess with his mind as much as we can, but he’s a hard guy to mess with. He studies a lot of film and knows what he’s doing all the time.”
Now that all said, Manning is also quite capable of stinking up the place on the field. I’ve seen him blow games in the clutch when the pressure is on. The Giants need to play sound pass defense and make everything difficult for him. Make the Colts drive the field, don’t give up any cheap scores. At some point, Manning is likely to screw up. Manning is excellent at seeing the entire field and will hit the open receiver is a guy is left open. Don’t make it easy for him.
Manning will try to fool the Giants. Some of his audibles are fake audibles designed to get the defense to change their set. Some are the real deal. It will be MLB Michael Barrow, who calls the Giants’ defensive audibles, who he will match wits against. And the Colts are using more and more of the no-huddle offense. This makes it difficult for defenses to audiblize. “It puts you more in a stationary defense – not a lot of dog and blitzes and stunts because it’s hard to get all those calls in,” says Fassel.
The other big problem is WR Marvin Harrison, one of the very best (if not the best) receivers in football. Harrison is like a very fast Ike Hilliard with better hands. He’s a great route runner, can get open with his quickness or speed, and can take it to the house on any play. Making things very tough is that Manning and Harrison have a great rapport with each other and they can improvise on the fly. “Harrison is phenomenal,” CB Will Peterson says. “You look at him on film and Peyton Manning obviously know where he’s going to be and Harrison knows when Manning is going to make the throw. It’s going to be a tough challenge for us.”
“Harrison and Manning are on the same page all the time,” says CB Will Allen. “The guy (Harrison) makes plays. Their offense is keyed to him. They get him the ball. That’s it, really. He’s not afraid to go across the middle. He has the speed to stretch the field. He’s a complete receiver all the way around.”
Receivers Reggie Wayne and Qadry Ismail are factors in the passing game as well. Both have more than 40 catches. But the one guy who really worries me is TE Marcus Pollard. He’s not much of a blocker, but he is a threat in the passing game and runs like a big wide receiver. He will put a lot of pressure on the Giants’ coverage schemes. Heaven help the Giants if Pollard is left all alone with Brandon Short.
The Colts will put the ball up in the air a lot. This is the kind of game where Peterson, Allen, Williams, and Omar Stoutmire can really shine. The onus will be on them to make plays.