Approach to the Game – Philadelphia Eagles at New York Giants, December 28, 2002: Once again, it’s been wild and crazy ride. July and August in Albany seems like an eternity ago. At that time, fans were pondering the Michael Strahan-Tiki Barber-Keith Hamilton feud that was supposed to tear the team apart. The Giants were going to lose Strahan next offseason as he was going to be an unrestricted free agent. Kerry Collins was going to be one too and was asking for Brett Favre money. There was the loss of Ron Stone, Lomas Brown, Glenn Parker, Greg Comella, Joe Jurevicius, Morten Andersen, Jessie Armstead, Sam Garnes, and Emmanuel McDaniel. Jeff Hatch, who was counted on to provide depth at tackle, never practiced and was placed on IR. Jason Sehorn was nowhere near 100 percent as he was still recovering from offseason knee surgery. No one knew when Dusty Zeigler would come back from the same offseason surgery (and he never really did). Everyone was worried about the hamstring injury Tiki Barber had suffered in the preseason and the toe he hurt against the 49ers. The kicking game was a mess. The Giants realized at the last minute that Rodney Williams was never going to develop any consistency. They waived him a week before the season started and signed Matt Allen. Owen Pochman was placed on Injured Reserve and the “camp fodder” kicker, Matt Bryant, appeared to be the only available option. Daryl Jones was returning punts and didn’t look good and there seemed to be a new kick returner every week. The long snapper, Bob Jones, wasn’t very good at his specialty. Luke Petitgout was moved to left tackle and nobody knew if he would be able to handle the position; the rest of the offensive line was made up of no-name low draft picks or rookie free agents (Rich Seubert, Chris Bober, Jason Whittle, Mike Rosenthal). Everyone predicted disaster there. There were new starters at weakside linebacker, free safety, and fullback.
The Giants out-played the 49ers in the first game of the season but lost a heart-breaker because they could not score enough points in the Red Zone – the start of what would become a constant theme for much of the season. There were only 8 offensive touchdowns in the first 7 games of the season. The Giants won an inspiring game against the hated Rams in the second game of the season in St. Louis when that team still had all its weapons and beat Seattle at home the following week. At 2-1, it looked like the Giants faced an easy stretch against the Cardinals, Cowboys, and Falcons, but only managed to win one of those games. Then New York got dominated by Philly as the Eagles ran up and down the field on the Giants, amassing almost 300 yards on the ground.
The Giants were 3-4 and headed south in the standings. And the injuries were mounting. Jeremy Shockey was a shell of his preseason self due to two painful toe injuries. Keith Hamilton was lost for the season with an Achilles’ injury. At wide receiver, first Ike Hilliard (chest) and then Tim Carter (Achilles’) were done. Ron Dixon seemed to be coming on, then hurt his knee and was never really a factor for the rest of the season. Injuries forced guys such as Will Peterson, Will Allen, Michael Barrow, Kenny Holmes, Cornelius Griffin, and Chris Bober to miss important games. The Giants had to rely on players such as Dwight Johnson, Lance Legree, Frank Ferrara, Nick Greisen, Kevin Lewis, Ralph Brown, Johnnie Harris, Tam Hopkins, and Daryl Jones to start. In desperation, the Giants were signing guys off of the street: Matt Allen, Tony Simmons, Herman Moore, Derek Dorris, Ian Allen, Barrett Brooks, Ross Kolodziej, Byron Frisch, Reggie Stephens, Kato Serwanga, Johnnie Harris. Giants were dropping like flies and there were so many injuries that fans became accustomed to and even expected bad news after every game.
Fassel took over the play-calling and the Giants’ fattened their win column with three wins in a row over the Jaguars, Vikings, and Redskins. The Giants were 6-4 and things were looking up again. An injury-riddled team headed to Houston and lost an embarrassing game to the expansion Texans. But with a 12-point lead in the 4th quarter against the Titans the following weekend, it looked as if the Giants would redeem themselfs until an unbelievable collapse appeared to have ended their season. Now the defense – the historical stalwart of the franchise – was failing them. At 6-6, there were too few games left, too many teams ahead of them in the standings, and too many question marks. Their season was obviously over…any fool could see that. Fassel was doomed this time. Nothing could save his job now. Nick Saban was to be the next head coach.
But wait…then came one of those December runs that Jim Fassel has become famous for. An injury-riddled Giants team composed largely of second- and third-teamers beat the Redskins. And then two offensive explosions did in the Cowboys and Colts and the Giants found themselves just one-game shy of a 10-win season. With the Falcons and Saints choking, the Giants controlled their own playoff destiny again.
That’s where we stand now. One regular season game left. The Eagles need to win the game in order to attain home field advantage in the NFC playoffs – in other words, to stay out of Green Bay in January. The Giants need to win or pray the Panthers upset the Saints in order to accomplish what few thought they could do before the season started – make the playoffs. These Giants were supposed to be a last-place team in the NFC East. Philadelphia was supposed to win the division and the Cowboys and Redskins were supposed to fight it out for the second spot.
How will it all end? Will this be a Cinderella-season or will the Eagles and Saints finish officially what started back in July so many weeks ago? It’s been quite a ride…quite a story. Let’s turn the page and find out what happens next.
Giants on Special Teams: Why have the Eagles been winning so many games even with their injury situation at quarterback? One big reason has been the play of their special teams. Brian Mitchell remains one of the league’s most dangerous punt and kick returners and many of the Eagles’ wins have been sparked by his big returns. The Giants kickers and coverage units will be on the spot.
Message to Delvin Joyce and his blockers…if you’re going to break one for a touchdown, this would be the ideal spot to do so.
Giants on Defense: The first game against the Eagles may have been close on the scoreboard heading into the 4th quarter, but it shouldn’t have been. The Eagles dominated the Giants on both offense and defense because they controlled both lines of scrimmage. The Giants gave up 299 yards of rushing. 299 yards. Yes, Donovan McNabb was responsible for 111 yards, but Duce Staley rushed for 126 yards himself. And Staley is running better now than he did when the Giants first played them. The Eagles are now like the Giants’ teams of late 1980’s/early 1990’s…they are a power running team that plays good defense and special teams; and they don’t turn the ball over. That makes them very difficult to beat.
The fans will be jacked up waving their towels to and fro; the Giants’ defensive players have been preached to all week, “Stop the run, stop the run, stop the run.” So what you are going to have at the start of the game is a VERY aggressive and determined defense. Philadelphia head coach Andy Reid, an excellent game-day tactician as a play-caller, knows this. I guarantee that many of the offensive plays in the Eagles first two offensive series will be misdirection or trick plays. Reid will expect the Giants to be super-aggressive and will use that against them. Watch out for flea flickers, wide receiver reverses (a Reid favorite), screens (ditto), draws, etc. Reid will look for the knock out punch early…get up early, take the crowd out of the game (and get them booing), and then come back to the power running game. This is what is coming…as I said, I guarantee it. How well the Giants weather this early storm will be crucial…perhaps even decisive. I’m worried because I expect Reid to out-coach Defensive Coordinator Johnnie Lynn here.
Once the game settles down, it all comes down to the line of scrimmage…the Giants’ defensive line and linebackers versus the Eagles’ blockers on the offensive line, tight end, and fullback. In October, Philadelphia dominated. Will they do so again? The focal point most likely will be right-side and right-middle of the Giants’ defense. Pro Bowl LT Tra Thomas and physical LG John Welbourn versus DE Kenny Holmes and DT Lance Legree, respectively. That looks like a huge mismatch for the Giants. DT Cornelius Griffin will face Pro Bowl RG Jermane Mayberry and DE Michael Strahan battles it out once again with RT Jon Runyan. Runyan gets a lot of bad press in his battle with Strahan, but he is a good right tackle who gives Strahan problems at times. He’s very mean and physical. Both Strahan and Holmes have to be very wary of reverses coming in their direction…very wary.
The linebackers must play a physical game against the run. But they also must be smart and be on the look out for Eagle deception…especially early. Be too aggressive and misdirection will take them right out of the play. When the run does come right at them, Dhani Jones, Michael Barrow, and Brandon Short need to do a good job of slipping blocks and making hard, sure tackles. They also need to do a good job of covering TE Chad Lewis (41 receptions). Reid loves using Lewis against the Giants. In the big game late last year at the Vet, Lewis was the center piece of the Eagle attack early in the game. And Lewis has been able to make big plays against Barrow. Another area where the linebackers need to play it smart is guarding against the screen pass. QB A.J. Feeley does not have a strong arm. What Reid likes to do is take a shot deep early to get the defense to back up and then everything else is either a run or a short pass, including an inordinate amount of screen passes. I watched the Redskins get burned over and over again on the Eagle screen pass for big yardage. Duce Staley has 48 receptions on the year and HB Dorsey Levens and FB Cecil Martin have to be watched as well. Rookie HB Brian Westbrook is speedster who Reid likes to create mismatches with. There will be a lot of pressure on the linebackers both mentally and physically in this game.
We still do not know if Will Peterson (knee) will play. And even if he does, he hasn’t practiced in weeks so how rusty will he be? Regardless of who plays, the last thing the Giants want to do is play too soft in the secondary. While the Eagles will throw deep, most of Feeley’s throws will be short or the dink-and-dunk variety. Play too soft and you make things too easy for him. Get in the face of the receivers and make Feeley make good throws into tight quarters. If he does that, kudos to him. But don’t make it easy. Because this is a “West Coast Offense” and most of the passes will be short, tackling by the secondary will be crucial. The guy who has given the Giants a lot of trouble in the past is WR James Thrash. I would expect CB Will Allen to cover him much of the time. If WR Todd Pinkston (toe) can’t play, then former 1st rounder Freddie Mitchell will start with Antonio Freeman maintaining his role as the third receiver. If Peterson doesn’t play, Ralph Brown will be on the spot again as the nickel corner.
Giants on Offense: Don’t fool yourself into thinking that the Giants will be able to move the ball well against the Eagles. The Eagle defense is a well-rounded defense with no glaring weaknesses. The Redskins, Cowboys, and Colts have good defenses; but the Eagles have a great defense. They have three defensive backs who have made the Pro Bowl and have to feel pretty comfortable that they can take WR Amani Toomer out of the game, even with one-on-one coverage. They also believe that SLB Carlos Emmons and WLB Shawn Barber will do well in coverage on TE Jeremy Shockey and HB Tiki Barber, respectively. They may be right. Even if Shockey presents problems for Emmons, Defensive Coordinator Jim Johnson does have the luxury of putting the strong safety on him as both corners and the free safety are Pro Bowlers. The Giants will need a monster game from Toomer, Shockey (who has the flu), and Barber in the passing game. Does anyone expect Daryl Jones to do anything against Troy Vincent or Bobby Taylor? I didn’t think so. This is where not having Ike Hilliard or Ron Dixon will really hurt.
I don’t think the Eagles have a lot of respect for Kerry Collins and based on the October game, they shouldn’t. Collins has responded well to pass pressure most of the season, but he looked scared as hell the last time these two teams played. He was jumpy in the pocket and his accuracy was terrible. These are the kind of games that good teams need their starting quarterback to play well in and make big plays. Things will not be easy for Kerry at all. The Eagles will blitz him unmercifully and his receivers will be tightly covered. He needs to play a near perfect game.
The other guy who I think needs to play exceptionally well is Tiki Barber. Not only as a runner, but as receiver out of the backfield. With so many passes being thrown to Toomer and Shockey, Barber has become more of an after-thought in the passing game. I think Tiki needs to have a bigger role here this weekend and the Giants need him to respond appropriately.
What will be decisive is the turnover battle. The Eagles thrive on turnovers. The Giants can’t afford to play it too conservatively (don’t confuse great Eagle defense with Giant offensive conservativeness either), but the Giants must hold onto the football. No interceptions. No fumbles.
Lastly, we come to the offensive line. This is the other big line of scrimmage battle. This unit, along with the tight ends and backs, has done a good job of picking up the blitz in recent weeks, but the Eagles probably have the most complicated blitz packages in the NFL. And they also have very good players. The Eagles lead the league in sacks (55) and 3rd down defense (29.9 percent). That is a function of the pass rush. LT Luke Petitgout will have his hands full with Pro Bowl DE Hugh Douglas. DT Corey Simon is a nightmare to block and beat-up RG Jason Whittle will need help. That will make it easier for the Eagles to blitz up the gut. N.D. Kalu is a dangerous situational pass rusher. The Giants will need one of their best pass blocking effort of the season. They can also aid their own cause by being more aggressive and physical in the run blocking department for Tiki Barber and Ron Dayne.
“I think one thing this defense does, or doesn’t do, is give up big plays,” Collins says of the Eagle defense. “Usually, you see a defense and they give up a big play some of the time. These guys, you just don’t see anybody get past them. Obviously, their secondary is playing great. They are athletic. Their linebackers are making plays all over the field. Their defensive line is probably the most improved part of their defense. There is not a weakness on this defense. You have to be patient. You can’t expect to get a lot of big plays. You just have to be patient and put some drives together.”
The Eagles are the best team in the NFL. They play football in a consistently domineering fashion and their record proves it. I expect them to be Super Bowl champions in a month. The Giants will need their best effort on Saturday to beat them.