Tampa Bay Buccaneers 19 – New York Giants 13
Game Overview: I admit it. I was wrong. I used to argue that coaching in the NFL was overrated and wasn’t as important as the personnel. And while I still think it is extremely tough to win in this league without quality personnel, good coaching can cover up for a multitude of sins. Look no farther than Bill Parcells or Bill Belichick.
Don’t get me wrong, the Giants have some glaring personnel holes that need to be addressed on defense and on the offensive line. And these holes have been a significant factor in the current 4-7 season. But this is not a 4-7 team personnel-wise. At this moment, only three teams in the NFC have a worse record than the Giants (Cardinals, Bears, and Lions). That’s disgusting!
Why am I so convinced that Fassel and his staff are the problem? Even a blind man can see that this is a sloppy, mistake-ridden team that plays undisciplined football. Love him or hate him, Parcells had it right this week when he said that the secret to success in the NFL is not beating yourself. Make the other team beat you, but don’t beat yourself. Do that, Parcells contends, and you will be a tough team to defeat. Jimmy Johnson basically said the same thing two weeks ago when he said that it was more important in football to find players who don’t make regular mistakes than to find players who make big plays. Parcells and Johnson are two men to be listened to.
The Giants have made stupid mistakes all year…the same mistakes. It’s the fault of the coaches that they haven’t either (1) taught the players to correct these mistakes, or (2) intimidated or benched the offending players. The veterans of this team don’t fear any repercussions for poor play. Worse, as the season has deteriorated, the passion has waned. The Giants are going through the motions and that is another indictment on the staff.
While I was getting my hair cut at the barber this past weekend, I was perusing and old Sports Illustrated from August with a feature story on Parcells. In great detail, the article pointed out how Parcells would focus on some real game situation in each practice and harp on the things NOT TO DO in each given situation. Doing those things was a sure way to get chewed out, benched, or cut. In one situation, coming off your own goal line, he said a successful possession was not driving 95 yards for the score, but picking up two first downs so you could give your punter more room to operate and regain field position. Above all, do not allow a sack, commit a penalty, or turn the ball over. Don’t do the things that make it easier for the other team to beat you. There was a special focus on special teams.
Compare that overall approach with that of the Giants who regularly allow pass pressure, commit killer penalties, and turn the ball over. The defensive schemes are not sound and special teams is still below average. Management deserves a huge share of the blame for the offensive line mess, but the coaching staff bears the largest burden for all of these other errors. Collins throws two stupid interceptions against Tampa? Well, these two interceptions may not have occurred if Collins had been properly coached up (and screamed at) to not throw the ball in those situations. Barber fumbles the ball in a key 3rd-and-1? Well, he may not have done that had he been benched earlier in the season. I could go on and on.
My main message to everyone from this point on is to not over-analyze the personnel on the Giants based on the last 8 games of the season. Some of these players will not be around in 2004, but those who are will respond much differently to good coaching, that is, coaches who are teachers who motivate and instill discipline. Collins, Toomer, Barber, Shockey, Strahan, Griffin, Allen, etc. will be far different performers under different leadership. You may think that is another case of me wearing rose-colored glasses, but in my heart, I know it is the truth.
The key is to find the right coaching staff and the right head man.
Comment on the Officiating: Losers whine about the officiating so I guess I’m a loser. But I am sick and tired of watching a Giants game and see the officiating so one-sided week after week after week. My biggest complaints in Tampa: (1) The face mask penalty on Keith Hamilton was incidental, not a personal foul. The refs handed Tampa Bay 4 points here. (2) The play where Toomer got separated from the ball in the endzone on 3rd down should have been flagged as a personal foul, blow to the head. For God’s sake, his helmet was knocked off on the play. (3) Michael Strahan was mugged on a few plays right in front of the officials and only one of these was flagged. (4) Strahan was falsely flagged for illegal use of the hands. (5) There was not enough evidence to overturn Amani’s 12-yard reception for a 1st down in the 4th quarter, yet the officials overturned the call.
Giants on Offense: If this wasn’t the team I loved, I’d be laughing my ass off. My God, how many times can you possibly keep shooting yourself in the foot? How can you not watch this mess and come to the realization that this team has no direction?
As I mentioned in my game preview, the Tampa defense, which is predicated on rushing the passer gave the Giants’ inexperienced (Allen, Diehl, and Lucier) and banged-up (Petitgout – back injury that apparently has nagged him all year) problems. So what do the Giants do but throw the football 34 times (63 percent of the offensive football plays)? And then the same problems appear: penalties on the offensive line, pass pressure, dropped passes, stupid throws into coverage, and impotence in the red zone. In the first half, the Giants fumbled away one pitch, committed three false starts, had one drive stall at the Tampa 12-yard line, dropped an 80-yard touchdown pass, and fumbled the ball away at the Tampa 17-yard line when Collins got nailed from the blindside. In the second half, the Giants had a drive stall at the 12-yard line again, threw an interception into the end zone, fumbled the ball on 3rd-and-1, threw coverage for an easy interception, and lost 9 yards on the attempted gain-winning drive with two minutes left. The Giants did not pick up one 1st down in the entire 4th quarter! Go back and re-read this paragraph…look at the significance to all these mistakes and keep in mind that this was a 4-point football game in the 4th quarter. The Giants – once again – beat themselves. What did Parcells say?
Quarterback: Collins (18-of-34 for 160 yards, 0 touchdowns, 2 interceptions) played poorly. Yes, his cause wasn’t helped by two dropped touchdown passes by Amani Toomer (one coming off a huge hit) or sometimes shoddy pass protection. But Collins has to be smarter with the football, especially in tight situations in close football games. He tried to get the ball to Ike Hilliard from 31-yards out after running to his right out of the pocket and throwing on the run. This isn’t conducive to throwing an accurate pass and his throw was intercepted in the end zone. Trailing 17-13 with less than 4 minutes to play, Collins’ first pass of the Giants’ fourth drive of the second half was intercepted and returned to the New York 32-yard line when he threw an ill-advised pass to a well-covered David Tyree. Dumb throw in a crucial situation.
In the 1st quarter, Collins was fortunate that a slant pass to Toomer was not intercepted as Toomer wrestled the ball away from the corner. Two plays later, Collins threw an inaccurate pass as he didn’t set his feet properly in a situation where he wasn’t pressured (when a QB doesn’t set his feet properly, the throw is often inaccurate). These are the type of fundamentals with Collins that have deteriorated as his trust in his offensive line has deteriorated. In other words, Collins is a bit gun shy at times. That said, Collins did make some nice throws on plays where he was under pressure and threw an accurate ball despite not being able to set up properly…and it’s only Collins’ amazing arm strength that allows him to do that. When Collins makes these kind of plays, what often is ignored is that he made a play despite a breakdown in pass protection. But the reverse also happens. Because Collins often is wary of the pass protection, he sometimes doesn’t step up into the pocket and drifts backwards. This puts more pressure on the offensive tackles as they don’t expect Collins to drift that far from the pocket. It’s hard to blame Collins though because the interior pass protection in recent weeks has been very inconsistent and a free man is often coming right up the middle.
In the 2nd quarter, Collins badly missed Toomer on a post route that should have resulted in an 18-yard yard touchdown. Kudos to Collins for showing some savvy and toughness on his 22-yard scramble right before halftime.
Wide Receivers: One of the reasons the Giants are struggling offensively this year is that Amani Toomer (4 catches for a measly 34 yards) is not playing well. Toomer had one touchdown reception knocked out of his hands with a huge hit. He later dropped what would have been an easy 80-yard score down the middle of the defense. This was a game-changing drop and the kind of play that loses you football games. On 3rd-and-1 on the Giants’ first drive when New York was moving the ball, Collins threw deep and Amani cut his route off short. Someone screwed up on the play and it cost the Giants dearly as Toomer was wide open. Good news with Toomer? His run blocking was better this week and he made a hell of a play when he wrestled the ball away from the corner on a slant pass that could have given the Bucs the ball at the Giants’ 10-yard line.
It’s sad to note that the gimpy Ike Hilliard (4 catches for 43 yards) was the Giants’ most productive wide receiver of the night in terms of yardage. I did think Hilliard should have caught Collins’ 2nd-and-11 pass from the Tampa 19 in the 3rd quarter.
David Tyree actually started opposite Toomer. He only caught 3 passes for 23 yards. The good news was that two of the receptions were 3rd-and-6 conversions for first downs.
Running Backs: Fassel only called 13 running plays for Tiki Barber (for 55 yards, 4.2 yards-per-carry average). That’s a bit strange. Tiki had some decent runs when called on to run between the tackles (an outside runs didn’t work against this quick defense as I said in my game preview). Barber had a really sharp 20-yard draw play right before halftime. The problem was that Barber was responsible for two fumbles (one that was lost). He dropped a pitch from Collins on the second drive of the game (when the Giants were moving the ball again) and Tampa recovered. Late in the game, he fumbled the ball on a crucial 3rd-and-1. That fumble was recovered by the Giants, but they failed to pick up the first down. Like Collins and Toomer, Tiki is part of that triumvirate that was supposed to be so deadly this year – yet all three of these players are not performing up to expectations. Part of that is the fault of the offensive line, but these players deserve a big share of the blame as well.
Tiki also had a team-high five catches for 34 yards. His blitz pick-ups were sound.
Dorsey Levens was once again not utilized (1 carry for 2 yards). FB Jim Finn continues to do mostly positive as a lead blocker. He’s almost always in the right position, but sometimes he gets overpowered by linebackers and this gums things up on the inside running game.
Tight Ends: Contrary to popular belief, Marcellus Rivers and Visanthe Shiancoe are doing a reasonable job as blockers for the running game. Marcellus is a good position blocker and Visanthe has some power in his game. Shiancoe, however, was flagged for a legitimate holding penalty. Late in the game, Rivers missed a block on a blitzing Buccaneer on the play where Toomer’s reception was overturned.
While Visanthe did not have a catch, Rivers caught 2 passes for 26 yards (including one pass for 18 yards).
Offensive Line: Readers may often get confused about my game reviews where I critique the offensive line. I often say that the performance was mostly positive, with a few breakdowns by some of the players. However, when you add up all of these individual breakdowns, you can see why the Giants are having trouble sustaining drives. The good news is that many of these young players are really playing better than could be expected given their inexperience. But the expected growing pains are still frustrating. David Diehl looks like he has a bright future in the league. Wayne Lucier is playing well for a 7th rounder and might have a solid future as a starter if he can get a lot stronger in the offseason. Ian Allen has done pretty darn well since his opening day problems against Rams’ DE Leonard Little. But all are still making the kind of mistakes that one would expect in first year starters. Also what is hurting is that LT Luke Petitgout has been apparently playing with a back injury all season. That does not excuse his 13 penalties this year however.
The biggest problem for the Giants was DT Warren Sapp, who was giving the interior trio fits most of the night. For some strange reason, Lucier was often called to block him one-on-one while Bober helped out Diehl with McFarland. Lucier usually got eaten alive in these situations, including on the play where the ball was knocked out of Toomer’s hands in the end zone. Lucier was beaten by Sapp for a sack in the 2nd quarter on a player where Collins fumbled the ball and recovered. In the second half, Diehl had problems with Sapp when Sapp played over Diehl’s head. And in some instances, Sapp got through the double-team support from Bober. This is why Kerry had no confidence in stepping up into the pocket. Diehl got beat on the play where Collins was flushed to his right and threw that ill-advised pass to Hilliard in the end zone.
Ian Allen had a mostly positive game, but he and Diehl still struggle at times with the stunt. That will come with experience. Diehl gave up a pressure on the play where Rivers picked up 18 yards. Petitgout gave up a crucial sack to DE Simeon Rice on the last play of the half where Rice forced a fumble. This play cost the Giants 3 points.
I don’t want to give the impression that it was a jail break. There were many plays where the offensive line did a reasonable job in pass protection against a talented defensive front – especially in the first half.
Penalties remain a problem as Diehl was flagged with two false starts and Petitgout with one. Two of these penalties helped to halt promising drives. Diehl also got beat by Sapp on Tiki’s 3rd-and-1 running play where Tiki fumbled (Sapp caused the fumble).
The nadir for the offensive line came on the last “drive” of the game. With the Giants trailing by 4 points and needing to drive 88 yards in 2 minutes, the offensive line completely fell apart. Petitgout gave up one pressure to Rice on 1st-and-10. On 2nd-and-10, Lucier gave up a quick pressure by McFarland. On 3rd-and-10, Sapp split both Lucier and Bober to sack Collins for a 9-yard loss. Collins never had a chance on these plays.
Giants on Defense: When asked why he didn’t activate DT William Joseph for this football game, Fassel responded, “William has to show me that he can play better, he just hasn’t had the production in the game. When you get done with a game, and you always need to relate it to how many plays; you can’t compare production if one guy played nine plays and the other played 59 plays, but those nine plays you need to do some things; tackles and other than that.”
Fassel is an idiot. He’s got veterans all over this defense constantly making mistakes that are costing football games and players such as DT Keith Hamilton who are playing extremely poorly, yet he deactivates his talented 1st round draft pick in favor of Frank Ferrara, who wasn’t even in football a few days ago? And his explanation isn’t logical. How many defenders on this starting defense make plays despite the fact that they see 55-80 snaps a game? How is Joseph supposed to get better when he only sees a handful of plays or none? What kind of example does it send when you reward players such as Dhani Jones and Shaun Williams (before he got hurt) who are constantly losing football games, yet they continue to remain in the starting line-up? Frank Ferrara? F*ck you Fassel!
Incidentally, the Giants did blitz quite a bit with both linebackers and defensive backs. However, the blitzers are still not getting there.
Defensive Line: The defensive line played their best game in weeks. Michael Strahan (4 tackles, 1 sack, 1 pass defensed, 1 fumble recovery) was the focus of double- and triple-teams early in the game. But he still made a number of plays, especially in run defense. He also got some pass pressure despite some obvious holding. The other end, Keith Washington (4 tackles, 1 sack), played pretty well. He got a couple of good pass pressures and a sack. Washington was pretty stout in run defense.
Inside, Keith Hamilton (6 tackles) played one of his better games of the season. No, he wasn’t stellar, but he looked a bit like the Keith Hamilton of old as he got a couple of pass pressures and made some plays in run defense. What I liked was that Keith was hustling on plays away from him. Hammer was flagged with a 15-yard face mask penalty inside the 5-yard line when it looked like the Giants’ defense had forced Tampa to settle for a field goal. But I thought the penalty was iffy at best and certainly not the 15-yard variety. There were a couple of decent runs by the Bucs in the 2nd quarter where Hamilton was run on, but nothing like horror show of recent weeks.
Speaking of hustle, Cornelius Griffin (6 tackles) is playing at a very high level right now. His pursuit on outside running plays is highly commendable and it is on these plays where Griffin flashes his amazing athleticism. Griffin is also playing pretty strong at the point-of-attack. For example, he is the guy who made the play on the 4th-and-inches effort by Tampa near the end of the game that failed. Griffin also got some key pass pressures including forcing an incompletion on 3rd-and-2 from the Giants’ 3-yard line and beating a double-team on the play where CB Frank Walker scored. Griffin was a big factor in causing this turnover to happen.
As for the reserves, DT Lance Legree (2 tackles) did a decent job and got one good pass pressure. When DE Osi Umenyiora (0 tackles) came into the game, the Bucs ran right at him and Hammer with some success. Osi still needs to be less aggressive moving up the field at times as the opposing offenses simply run in his vacated gap. But Osi did get one very good outside pass rush where he forced an incompletion and a penalty.
And there is the moron Frank Ferrara. He gets in the game and promptly screws the pooch by committing an incredibly stupid roughing the passer penalty on a 3rd-and-1 pass that fell incomplete. That was Frank’s great contribution of the night…geez, I guess Fassel made the right decision to activate him instead of Joseph.
Linebackers: Mike Barrow (12 tackles) had a mostly positive performance. Where Mike flashed to me was the way he constantly made plays against the run on the sideline, demonstrating range that I thought had dissipated. Where Barrow has some problems is on running plays right at him. Barrow did miss one tackle on a short pass to the back, but he also forced an incompletion on the tight end with a big hit.
WLB Dhani Jones (5 tackles) doesn’t make any plays. He needs to go.
SLB Brandon Short (6 tackles) made a nice play early in the game when he came up fast on the back to cause a loss after a reception. He looked good overpowering the back on a blitz in the 1st quarter, but smacked the quarterback in the head for an obvious roughing the passer penalty. On the very next play, he stuffed an inside rushing attempt. Late in the game, Short was flagged with a 5-yard face mask penalty.
Defensive Backs: Will Allen (6 tackles, 1 fumble recovery) did a really nice job on the dangerous Keenan McCardell when left one-on-one with him. McCardell only caught a few short passes on Allen in these situations. Frank Walker also did a fairly good job on Joe Jurevicius, including coming off another receiver to pickoff a pass and return it 53 yards for a touchdown. Walker was not perfect as Jurevicius did catch a couple on him, and Walker missed a tackle on Jurevicius. Walker was also beat by WR Charles Lee for 20 yards and was lucky a deep pass to Lee later in the game was overthrown. But Walker plays with cockiness and has a nose for the football. He almost intercepted another pass intended for Jurevicius earlier in the game.
As for the safeties, FS Omar Stoutmire (6 tackles) played one of his better games. He made a good tackle on the tight end in the open field on Tampa’s first drive to force a punt. In the 2nd quarter, he absolutely crushed McCardell on a post route to force an incompletion. SS/Nickel Back Ryan Clark (5 tackles) got beat on a crossing pattern early in the 2nd quarter for 9 yards on 2nd-and-12. Late in the game, he was lucky that a deep pass to the halfback was ruled out-of-bounds as he was cleanly beaten on the play. S Johnnie Harris (3 tackles, 2 forced fumbles) made a real impact by stripping away two footballs that were recovered by teammates.
The Giants’ biggest problems came in the following three areas:
- The Giants’ zone coverage continues to present problems as receivers are getting too wide open in many of these situations For example, the 13-yard reception by McCardell on 3rd-and-9 in the 2nd quarter, the 22-yard reception to Joe Jurevicius in the 3rd quarter on 2nd-and-5, and the 23-yard reception to Michael Pittman on 2nd-and-7 on the same drive.
- There were two identical plays where McCardell played outside on the left and Jurevicus played the slot inside of him. At the start of the play, Allen was over McCardell and Clark was over Jurevicius. But as Jurevicius ran down the seam and McCardell cut underneath him, but Allen and Clark went with Jurevicius and left McCardell wide open. I don’t know if the problem was with Allen or Clark, but someone screwed up twice.
- The big 53-yard touchdown pass to Charles Lee. Everyone in the secondary screwed up on this play. Frank Walker got beat initially as Lee was his responsibility. As Lee crossed the field after the reception, running away from Walker, Stoutmire missed his diving tackle attempt. Will Allen took the wrong angle on Lee and didn’t break down properly. And Ryan Clark missed his tackle attempt. Bad play all around.
Special Teams: It looks like Fassel finally decided to make a move to Delvin Joyce in the second half of this football game. Way to figure out a personnel move that everyone on the planet knew you should have made weeks ago Jim!
Kick returns: Mitchell returned the opening kick-off 24 yards and returned another 23 yards after it was pitched back to him. On his first return, he mishandled the ball. Delvin Joyce returned a second half kick-off 36 yards.
Punt returns: Mitchell returned one punt 10 yards and Joyce returned one punt 8 yards.
PK Matt Bryant’s kickoffs were better this week but still not good, landing at the 9, 12, 9, and 11. Kick return coverage was respectable – returns went for 18 yards (Wes Mallard making the tackle), 14 yards (Darnell Dinkins), 17 (Nick Greisen and Jim Finn), and 18 (Wes Mallard and Kevin Lewis). Bryant’s onside kick at the end of the game didn’t even go 10 yards.
Jeff Feagles punted 5 times for a 42.2 yards-per-punt average and two punts landed inside the 20-yard line. The Giants gave up one return that was too long (14 yards – tackle by Delvin Joyce and Wes Mallard). The other punt returned only went for 2 yards (tackle by Darnell Dinkins). Kato Serwanga and Delvin Joyce did a good job of getting down the field and forcing fair catches.
Bryant made both of his 30-yard field goals.
Osi Umenyiora came damn close to being the hero of the game when he almost blocked a punt with less than 4 minutes to play and the Giants trailing by 4 points.
It’s Time for All the Clichés
by BBI Reporter/Photographer David Oliver
The fat lady hasn’t hit the high note yet but her tonsils are in full warble. The evening began on an ominous note when I noted one of Coach Fassel’s personal friends and his Priest along the sidelines. It ended when I caught a glance of Coach as he left the locker room after the game.
I have spent a lifetime looking into people’s eyes and assessing their state of mind. When your life, or the life of your friends or your child depends on a quick, accurate assessment, you either become adept at it, you don’t survive or you find something else to do. I have watched Coach since he arrived, just as I did Coach Reeves and some of Coach Handley. The look in Coach’s eyes as he walked out of the locker room told a tale. Although his friend told me he remains positive, there was no optimism in Coach’s eyes. What I saw was disappointment, embarrassment, confusion, and anger. New York has defeated another coach.
There is nothing left here but the final farewell press conference. For me, as a fan, as a Giants’ fan, as a man who has lived a lifetime making emotional investments in this organization, it is another sad day. I cannot gloat over the demise of a man who I willed to succeed. In over 40 years, only two have not been defeated; George Young and Bill Parcells. Even here, in the end, George Young was not the same as at the beginning, weakened by illness and a titanic struggle with Bill Parcells. In the end, the Giants had neither man. Now, as the past is barging over the broken bones it is clear that there will be no more recovery here for this coach. Next year, we will start all over.
It’s hard to report on a losing effort by a losing team; harder still to go into a locker room after such a game. They just want to shower, dress, get on the bus and head for home. I didn’t want to take Tampa Bay shots, I couldn’t find much good to shoot when the Giants were on offense. After the game I went into the Tampa locker room to talk to Lomas Brown, Jason Whittle, and Roman Oben.
As far as the game, there was plenty of emotion on both sides of the ball, but there was a marked difference in bench demeanor between the teams. The Giants coaching staff, for the most part, remains calm, teaching, quietly encouraging their young charges. The Bucs bench is a whirlwind. They are the World Champs. Coaches are shouting instructions, the players are up and jumping, jabbering like escapees from an asylum, having fun. The records were the same at the start of the game, but Chucky patrols his area like Julius Caesar. He is animated, involved, snapping orders in every direction. I listened to him telling Derrick Brooks, “We’re going to blitz here, but don’t let them know it, do it this way, tell everybody.” Warren Sapp is demonstrative, he is in the game, on his feet, his demeanor infectious. Simeon Rice is clowning, sophomoric, as if he is telling GM Accorsi “here is what you could have had.” But there isn’t a scintilla of doubt on this bench. Even with the game close they know they are going to win. The Bucs are the best 4-and-6 team I have ever seen.
The Giants come out ramped up. They played hard. But there is a fragility on this team. They are pressing and pressing badly. Bad things happen to a team the presses. Once again the yellow flags flew nine times for 71 yards. This is Giants’ football from the 1970’s, in the game for 55 minutes, just enough to really break our hearts.
But the most telling difference between these teams is at the quarterback position. In a man-on-man QB challenge, Kerry Collins would probably best Brad Johnson a larger percentage of the time. They are two big, strong quarterbacks, known as pocket passers. On a football field Monday night, one demonstrated that he can be a good passer with an impenetrable cordon around him. One passes from the pocket, the other is a captive of the pocket. Both are clumsy at times, both fumble the ball. But Kerry Collins demonstrated once again that he has no sense of the pocket. His mechanics have gone south again. Johnson fumbles and jumps on the ball; Collins fumbles and has no idea where the ball went. Johnson feels the pressure and gets the ball out; Collins has no idea of the pressure and can’t find a receiver. Three was a telling play reminiscent of the end of Dave Brown’s tenure in New York. Brown had a streaking Thomas Lewis (now there was a combo) wide open. The ball never got there. Thomas Lewis looked down, picked up some grass, threw it, and just kept walking. It was near the end of the game. Monday night, Collins had a streaking Hilliard breaking open. The ball never got there. His shoulders slumped, he looked up, and just kept walking. It was near the end of the half. It was set, game, match.
I have no explanation for Kerry’s regression. It is not totally the fault of the offensive line. They cannot be held responsible for his mechanics or lack of ability to feel pressure. To say he is a pocket passer, well, as the kids say “whatever”. He is not part of the solution. He has become a liability through inconsistency and ritual regression. Sean Payton is gone; Coach Fassel is almost gone. The mechanical arm is just that and little more. Another game with a rating of 43.3. Can anyone say Dave Brown?
Tiki’s body has absorbed too many hits, although he had only 13 touches; Dorsey Levens had one carry; Amani had a pass bounce off his hands as he was running downfield two steps behind the defender and he was stripped in the end zone on a vicious hit – but an All-Pro has to get that TD; Ike had a decent game; Tyree is proving that he is a receiver. There simply is no replacement for Shockey.
The defense held the Tampa runners under 100 yards. Brad Johnson was harried and Strahan and Washington each had a sack. But Johnson’s 91.8 quarterback rating got the job done. McCardell was a workhorse with 9 catches for 83 yards, but the real damage was done by Lee whose 53-yard touchdown catch really hurt. Jurevicius had a big 22 yard grab and Pittman had a 23 yarder. The Giants’ secondary did not shine, even with Walker’s interception and TD return, his score kept the Giants in the game.
Michael Barrow had 12 tackles, several of them hard, big-time plays. Griffin, Short, and Allen had 6 apiece as did Walker and Stoutmire. Ryan Clark and Dhani Jones each had 5; Strahan and Washington 4. The defense played an intense game. In the end, however, Tampa had the ball for an overwhelming 37 minutes. The Giants’ offense flopped. Tampa’s defense is good, but the Giants’ defense matched it. The Giants’ offense flopped. End of story.
Lomas Brown: Wearing his Super Bowl ring, proudly showing it to Pat from Inside Football and me, telling us it took him a long time to get it and he’s wearing it proudly. I’m happy for Lomas – a fine athlete; a decent human being; one of those players I call friend. I teased him about having a lot of love for Tampa and he said, “Oh yeah, they gave me something I had never gotten before. They took me to a place I had never gotten.” I then asked if he had a little love for the Giants and he told me, “Oh yeah, oh yeah, oh yeah. Oh yeah, I’ve got to, you know, the Big Apple, I’ll still got a lot of players over there.” I asked him about the Giants young line and he said, “Well, you know what, they play hard…they play hard because they have a great coach in McNally over there. They’re going to get better, but you know, it’s hard, keep rotating linemen and they have to develop consistency over there.”
Jason Whittle: Jason told me he had a banged up shoulder but it was coming along. I asked him if he talked to Rich Seubert and he laughed because they are friends. I told him Rich was on BBI all of the time and he said, “Oh, I’ll bet he is saying we need Rich Seubert back” (laughing). I asked him for some observations about the game and some of what he said was surprising. He first observed that both teams were similar. “They’ve lost some close ones, we’ve lost some close ones; both of our seasons could have been totally turned around if one or two things had gone differently. To play the way that we did and get the win, it felt good. Obviously it was a must win.” I asked him if he had seen any of the Giants’ offensive line and he said a little bit, but in fairness, when the Giants’ offense is on the field, the opposition is on the bench going over plays with the offensive line coach. I asked him about the defense and he was all praise, especially for the line veterans and noting, “The linebackers are running well…in the secondary, I know there have been a lot of injuries…They’re a good defense. They held us to 17 points.” I asked him if he thought the Giants run a “read and react” defense and he said, “Who, the Giants? No, no, they’re not a ‘read and react’ defense. They brought some heat on us, and we knew they would. We haven’t had a lot of heat since the San Francisco game. We were ready for it.” I asked him if there was any talking going on and he laughed and said, “Oh, a little bit, a little bit.” He said it brought back a lot of memories. I didn’t remember that he and Roman Oben had played together for several years. He told me he and Roman were good buddies and lived near each other and Joe Jurevicius lived pretty close.
Roman Oben: “Cleveland offered me just enough money that I couldn’t turn it donwn. It was for 3 years and we were supposed to be winning after three years. But we lost and the coach got fired. Butch Davis came in and he had his own ideas, his own guys. I never changed the way I was, the way I prepared. I look at guys I came in with…guys who have had the security of playing on the same team for eight years, which is a rarity now in the league. Keith Hamilton is that kind of guy. You kind of miss that. You kind of miss the guys who you were with when you came out of college. Once you leave that team and go to that second and third team, you’re kind of like a veteran who is there to help them win in the short term. Hopefully, after 5, 6, 7 years you develop. Some things you miss, but it’s part of the business and you accept it as reality.”
On the ring, he told me he was happy to have it, but he talked about progression, about the coaching change from Dan Reeves to Coach Fassel and how Tampa players had been through it, how guys like John Lynch had worn the orange helmets and that the ring meant a lot more to those guys. “It was different for them than for me winning it. You take it as reality and you move from there.” We talked about career longevity and how he was injured in Cleveland. He had the same microfracture surgery as Dusty Zeigler and Jason Sehorn. He is now in his 8th year and he is taking it one year at a time, telling me, “I would like to play as long as Lomas.”
Pat asked him about the surgery and I said he appeared to have come out of it better than the other guys. He told me, “Believe me, my feet and legs are not where they were” and your body has to learn how to adjust. I asked him if it was a mind-over-matter thing and he told me it was, that you just had to learn to play with it.
We discussed home and I told him I lived in Virginia and he reminded me that he was from DC. Of course, I mentioned St. Albans School and quickly reminded me he graduated from Gonzoga – “a good Jesuit education.”
For me, it was great seeing these guys. Lomas, Jason, Roman. Throw in Stoney, Lurch, Mike Rosenthal – that is one hell of a deep line. I ended the evening by telling Chris Bober that I didn’t want to be visiting him in someone else’s locker room next year. As he was heading for the bus, he looked back and he said, “Talk to the General Manager.”
Well, that’s it guys. The more I learn about this game, the less I know. There are a lot of ex-Giants around the league. These are a lot of ex-everyteams around the league. Some of the guys who have departed I never got to know. Those I did, I mostly miss. The mantra on BBI is “Sayonara, don’t let the door hit you in the ass!” I can’t subscribe to that theory, except in the case of the rare player like Dave Brown. I like these guys. They can all play football. In the final analysis it comes down to a combination of talent, coaching, and management. In the final analysis, today’s game is all about “Talk to the General Manager”. Are you listening Mr. Accorsi?