New York Giants 29 – Minnesota Vikings 17
Game Overview: Why did the Giants look so much better on Sunday in beating the previously undefeated Minnesota Vikings? The simple answer is that they finally put a decent point total on the scoreboard. The Giants scored 29 points on Sunday – in their three previous losses, they scored an accumulated total of 26 points.
But why did the Giants score more points?
- The Giants stopped turning the ball over (only one turnover).
- The Giants made big plays in the passing game
- The makeshift offensive line played better than expected.
- The defense forced a turnover deep in Viking territory, providing the offense with an immediate scoring opportunity.
These four points were critical on Sunday and they will be critical to success or failure of the remainder of the Giants’ season.
Giants on Offense: Last week in my game review of the Giants-Philadelphia contest, I pointed out how turning the ball over, not making big plays in the passing game, and an inability in overcoming negative plays on long drives was sabotaging point production. Let’s compare that to what transpired this week. The Giants had four offensive possessions in the first half:
- 1st Drive: This was a very sharp, very crisp 6-play drive that went 76 yards and resulted in a touchdown. While there were no big pass plays in this drive, the Giants picked up sizeable chunks of yardage (13, 16, 17, and 19 yards on the last four plays) and never faced a third down situation. There were no penalties and no negative yardage plays on the drive.
- 2nd Drive: This was a 13-play drive similar to recent Giant drives in previous games that stalled. There were two negative yardage plays that the Giants were able to impressively overcome (a holding penalty on Luke Petitgout and a 4-yard loss by Tiki Barber). The Giants drove from their own 19 to the Viking 9-yard line and should have scored an easy touchdown. Kerry Collins had Jeremy Shockey wide open near the goal line but chose to throw the ball back late over the middle of the end zone. The drive ended with an interception.
- 3rd Drive: This was another sharp looking drive. The Giants moved 54 yards in 7 plays with the big plays being a 21-yard pass to Tiki Barber and a 30-yard strike to Tim Carter. This drive should have also resulted in a touchdown as on 3rd-and-goal, Collins had Shockey again wide open (this time in the back corner of the end zone), but threw behind him. Instead the Giants settled for three points.
- 4th Drive: This was an 11-play, methodical affair that the Giants somehow managed to squeeze in 1 minute in 35 seconds right before halftime. Most of the pass plays were of the short variety, though there was a 22-yard pass to Amani Toomer. Collins did hit Toomer deep right at the goal line from 38 yards out on the very next play, but Toomer dropped the ball. There was also a terrible non-call by the officials as Tim Carter was mugged near the goal line with 15 seconds left before halftime. This play should have given the Giants the ball on the 1-yard line. Still, the drive was successful as it ended with a field goal.
So in the first half, the Giants were never stopped by the Vikings and never had to punt. If Collins (who otherwise played well) had hit the wide-open Shockey in the red zone twice, the Giants would have led 24-10 at halftime. In addition, if Toomer does not drop the deep pass or the officials do not screw up near the end of the half, the score could have been 28-10. As it was, the Giants led 13-10.
The Giants had seven offensive possessions in the second half:
- 1st Drive: This was an impressive drive that should have resulted in a touchdown. It started off with a huge pass play: a 51-yard flea flicker from Collins to Toomer. Three plays later on 3rd-and-8, Collins hit Toomer in the end zone from 19 yards out, but Toomer dropped the ball. Giants settle for 3 points and go up 16-10, but they should be leading 35-10 at this point.
- 2nd Drive: This drive was sabotaged by two penalties on Luke Petitgout. It looked like the Giants were on the move again with a big 27-yard screen pass to Barber. However, Petitgout was flagged with holding on this play. Two plays later, Luke committed a false start infraction and the Giants were facing a 2nd-and-21 at their own 9-yard line instead of having a 1st-and-10 on their own 47. The 2nd down pass was deflected and Tiki dropped a 3rd-and-21 screen pass.
- 3rd Drive: This drive ended prematurely when Dorsey Levens dropped a 3rd-and-2 pass from Collins.
- 4th Drive: Giants had two chances to move the ball on this possession due to LB Wes Mallard’s first down carry off the punt block. The Giants went 3-and-out as Collins missed Hilliard, his 2nd down pass was tipped, and a 3rd down deep pass to Toomer was just tipped away at the last moment by the corner. After Mallard’s carry continued the Giants’ possession, the Giants picked up a 1st down on a Barber run. But then Collins was sacked for the only time in the game. On the next two plays, a jumpy Collins was inaccurate on his 2nd- and 3rd-and-long throws.
- 5th Drive: Excellent 6-play, 80-yard drive that resulted in a touchdown. The big pass play on the drive was a 46 yard catch-and-run by Jeremy Shockey. The Giants overcame adversity on the next play when an 11-yard touchdown run by Tiki Barber was called back due to a holding penalty on Wayne Lucier. That said, the Giants were lucky that an offsides penalty on the Vikings gave them a second chance at a 3rd down play. Barber scored from two yards out. Giants go for the 2-point conversion, but Collins doesn’t step into his throw and Hilliard can’t hold onto a pass that hits him in the hands. Giants lead 22-17.
- 6th Drive: The defense finally gives the Giants the ball deep in an opponent’s territory with a turnover. The offense takes advantage on 3rd-and-7 as Collins hits Hilliard from 14 yards out to make the score 29-17 with 3:44 left to play.
- 7th Drive: Giants are merely trying to run out the clock here. After Tiki picks up one first down, the Giants manage to force the Vikings to use all their timeouts and leave only 28 seconds on the clock.
The Giants had seven drives, but really were only trying to score on six of them. Two of the six resulted in a touchdown. Another resulted in a field goal (and should have resulted in a touchdown had Toomer held onto the ball). The second and third drives of the half were halted not by the Vikings, but by the Giants own mistakes. Had the Giants not blown their three extra touchdown chances in the first half and another in the second half, the Giants would have won this game 49-17. Excellent game play by the Giants, so-so execution by the skill players (most notably Collins and Toomer).
Quarterback: Kerry Collins (23-of-39 for 375 yards, 2 touchdowns, 1 interception) played impressively in the first half except for his two bone-head plays in the redzone on the second and third drives of the game. As previously mentioned, he missed a wide-open Shockey for what should have been an easy touchdown on a rollout to the right, but instead tried to hit Toomer late over the middle. The pass was intercepted. Up to this point, Collins was a perfect 9-for-9 for 113 yards and a touchdown. The second bonehead play was not lofting the ball up into the corner of the end zone to Shockey on 3rd-and-goal at the end of the third drive. For some reason, he threw the pass badly behind Shockey. The Giants should have had 14 more points, but instead settled for 3. Other than that, Collins made smart decisions in the first half and led an offense that moved the ball up and down the field, practically at will.
In the second half, Collins started things off with his 51-yard deep pass to Toomer off a flea flicker despite double-coverage. Three plays later, he threw a perfect pass to Toomer in the end zone, but Toomer dropped the ball. The second drive of the half ended didn’t go anywhere because of mistakes by Petitgout and Barber. The third drive ended prematurely because of a dropped pass by Levens. Collins was at his best and worst on the fourth drive. On 3rd-and-10, Collins was pressured by a free blitzer and forced to scramble to his right. Despite this, he threw up a perfect deep pass to Toomer. Unfortunately, the corner made an excellent play on the ball. The Giants got the ball back on Mallard’s first down run. Collins got sacked, and was far too jumpy in the pocket on his next two pass attempts to Ike Hilliard. He had Hilliard open down the middle on both of these plays, but Collins did not step into his throws. On the next drive, Collins stood in there far tougher on the 46-yard play to Shockey. DT Chris Hovan was coming right at Collins full speed off a stunt, yet Collins stood there, delivered the ball, and took his shot (Hovan was flagged for roughing the passer on the play). After a penalty, Collins’ 19-yard play action pass to Shockey put the ball on the Minnesota 2-yard line. The Giants lucked out when the 3rd-and-2 pass attempt to Shockey fell incomplete as the Vikes were flagged for being offsides. On this play to Shockey, it was either a terrible throw by Collins or miscommunication between Collins and Shockey. Collins made what should have been an easy catch by Hilliard on the 2-point conversion attempt more difficult as he unnecessarily threw off his back foot on the play. Still, the ball hit Hilliard in his hands. Collins finished his day on the next possession as he hit Hilliard from 14-yards out for a touchdown.
Wide Receivers: Everyone contributed for a change and everyone made big plays. Ike Hilliard stood out with his 9-catch, 100-yard, 2-touchdown performance. His first reception was a 19-yard touchdown catch where he caught a short pass off a pick by Marcellus Rivers, made a tackler miss, and then weaved his way to the end zone. Hilliard was instrumental on the field goal drive right before halftime, catching four passes for 33 yards. The biggest being a 3rd-and-4 reception deep in Giants’ territory. Minnesota had just scored to tie the game and if the Giants were forced to punt here with over a minute to play, it may have been the Vikings with the halftime lead instead of the Giants. My only negative on Hilliard was that the 2-point conversion pass – albeit slightly off the mark – hit him in the hands. Hilliard made an excellent adjustment on the ball for a 14-yard touchdown to seal the game with less than 4 minutes to play.
Toomer only caught three passes, but these three went for 23, 22, and 51 yards. The 22-yard play was key on the Giants’ field goal drive right before halftime, as Toomer broke a tackle to pick up extra yardage (though it would have been nice if he could have gotten out of bounds on the play too). However, Toomer dropped two passes that should have resulted in touchdowns. The first came right before halftime as Collins threw a strike from 38-yards out. The ball clearly is dropped by Toomer before the safety comes over to hit Amani hard. There was contact with the cornerback on the play, but this is a catch a receiver of Amani’s ability should have made. Toomer did make a very difficult catch despite double-coverage and contact on the 51-yard flea flicker at the beginning of the 3rd quarter, but then screwed up again when he dropped what should have been an easy 19-yard touchdown three plays later.
Tim Carter is quietly seeing more and more action in his direction and this was the most impact he has made in a game thus far in the season. In the first half, on New York’s second drive, Carter caught a 15-yard pass to get the Giants out of a 2nd-and-14 hole. On the next drive, had made a real nice over-the-shoulder catch on a 30-yard deep fade that moved the ball to the Minnesota 3-yard line. On the next drive (right before halftime), Carter short-armed a ball over the middle as it looked like he was just a tad nervous about getting hit. On the Giants’ last offensive play of this drive, Collins threw deep to Carter. The corner was forced to hit Carter without looking back for the ball. Pass interference should have been called and the Giants awarded the ball at the 1-yard line, but no flag was forthcoming.
Also important to note was that the blocking of the wide receivers was very good in this game. Barber picked up 13 yards on the first drive behind good outside blocks from Hilliard and Toomer. Hilliard also got a good block on an outside run two plays later that picked up 17 yards.
Tight Ends: Jeremy Shockey only caught three passes, but they went for a total of 81 yards. On New York’s first drive, Shockey out-fought the safety in a jump ball situation for an impressive 16-yard reception. Surprisingly, Shockey’s next catch didn’t come until the 4th quarter, but it was a big one. He caught a short pass from Collins and turned it into a 46-yard rumble by breaking two tackles and powering his way to extra yardage. Two plays later, his 19-yard reception off of play-action placed the ball at the Minnesota 2-yard line. Both plays were instrumental in the Giants taking a 22-17 lead with 5 and half minutes left in the game.
Shockey’s blocking was inconsistent this week. He got a good block on the end on Tiki’s 17-yard run on the first drive of the game. But on the next possession, he couldn’t sustain his block on the defensive end and Tiki was stuffed for a 1-yard gain. Two plays later, Shockey got a good block on a 9-yard effort by Barber. But two plays after that, Shockey was shoved back into the backfield by the defensive end and into the pulling guard, leading to a 4-yard loss. In the second half, his blocking deteriorated further. He didn’t sustain his blocks well at all on a Barber run on the second drive of the second half or a Levens run on the third drive. And on the 4th drive, he had two poor back-to-back pass blocking efforts, the first leading to a pressure on Collins and the second contributing to the only sack the Giants gave up. He did have a good run block on an 11-yard run by Barber on the fifth drive.
Marcellus Rivers didn’t catch a pass this week, but he had two nice blocks on key running plays. The first was on Tiki’s 2-yard touchdown run; the second was on Barber’s 12-yard run when the Giants were attempting to run out the clock.
Running Backs: It looked like Tiki Barber (20 carries for 75 yards and a touchdown; 5 catches for 47 yards) was going to have a big day on the ground based on the first series of the game. On this drive, half of the Giants’ six offensive plays were rushing attempts by Barber that picked up 6, 13, and 17 yards. The first came off right guard while the latter two were outside runs to the left. But the blocking was not as good on Tiki’s next three runs near the end of the 1st quarter on New York’s second drive as his attempts went for 1, 9, and -4 yards (with Shockey blowing his blocks on two of these efforts). But Tiki made a big play on this drive by making a 12-yard catch out of the backfield on 3rd-and-10. On the Giants’ next possession, it was becoming increasingly evident that the Minnesota linebackers were having problems covering Tiki as he picked up 21 yards on pass from Collins.
In the second half, Barber picked up 27-yards on a screen play that was called back, but I thought Barber should have stayed right behind his two big blockers in front of him instead of taking the ball to the sidelines. In my view, he might have gone all the way had he done that (though the penalty still would have wiped out the play). A few plays later, Tiki dropped a 3rd-and-21 screen pass that might have picked up a sizeable chunk of real estate. Barber made a great run on his 2-yard touchdown effort by stretching out in order to get the ball over the goal line as he was being tackled.
Dorsey Levens (5 carries for 7 yards; 1 catch for 6 yards) was a non-factor this week. His drop of a 3rd-and-2 pass from Collins in the 3rd quarter ended a drive.
As I’ve mentioned previously, FB Jim Finn isn’t a very big or powerful player and he rarely gets movement on his lead blocks. But Finn usually gets good position blocks and this sometimes helps to open things up for Barber. This is what happened on Barber’s first carry of the game, an 11-yard effort by Barber in the 4th quarter, Tiki’s touchdown run that was called back, Tiki’s touchdown run that counted, and Barber’s 12-yard carry when New York was running out the clock.
Offensive Line: The starters from left to right were Luke Petitgout, Wayne Lucier (who played with a 102-103 degree temperature), Chris Bober, David Diehl, and Ian Allen. This is a VERY inexperienced group with Lucier playing at new position, Bober moving back to center, and Ian Allen only receiving his second start in the NFL. Everyone had to get used to new flankmates. The surprise was that this group played extremely well, especially given the situation and the quality of the opponent.
Pass protection, while not perfect, was pretty darn good. The Vikings did blitz quite a bit, but you couldn’t tell by the way the linemen, backs, and tight ends picked it up. Collins was only sacked once and this came on a play where there was confusion between RT Ian Allen and TE Jeremy Shockey (Allen looked like he was expecting help from Shockey, who just stood there). Ian Allen was left one-on-one most of the game with DE Kevin Williams but stymied the impressive rookie. There were a few plays where Allen gave up some pressure, especially on stunts where both Allen and Diehl looked confused. Williams also got close to Collins on Toomer’s 23-yard reception and Barber’s 21-yard reception in the 2nd quarter. But that was about it. Allen also did a decent job on his run blocks the few times the Giants ran in his direction (such as the Giants’ first offensive play).
David Diehl rebounded nicely off an up-and-down performance against Philly’s Corey Simon last week. He got a good run block on the Giants’ first play too. A few plays later, his pulling effort helped to spring Tiki for a 17-yard gain around left end. His pass protection was excellent for the most part as he was also mainly left one-on-one with the tackle over his head. As I mentioned above, he and Allen need to work on picking up stunts as their problems there were more mental than physical. Diehl did give up a pressure on Tiki’s 21-yard reception in the 2nd quarter and a 3rd-and-18 pass attempt to Hilliard in the 4th quarter..
Wayne Lucier played a good game against an outstanding opponent (Chris Hovan), but he received a lot of help from Chris Bober, when possible. Kudos to Lucier for playing sick. My only negatives on Lucier in the first half was his 5-yard false start penalty and giving up a pass pressure on the last drive of the first half on a pass to Toomer that fell incomplete. Lucier did have some problems on the Giants’ 80-yard touchdown drive in the 4th quarter. He missed a block on a Barber run that got stuffed for 1-yard. Hovan came free on a stunt on the 46-yard pass play and I think it was Lucier who should have picked him up (Collins took a big shot on this play). And it was Lucier who was flagged for holding on Tiki’s touchdown run that was called back.
Bober played well with only a couple of negative plays that I saw. He got pushed into the backfield on a Barber run up the gut that lost 2-yards on the first drive of the second half. Bober and Lucier both got beat by Hovan on the short pass completion to Levens in the 3rd quarter.
Petitgout didn’t play one of his better games in pass protection and I wonder if his foot bothered him more than is being let on. While he was steady for the most part against two quality pass rushers (Kenny Mixon and Lance Johnstone), there were times when these two got too darn close or hit Collins (especially on the last drive of the first half). Petitgout was flagged with two holding calls, including a very costly one that brought back a 27-yard screen play to Barber. Two plays later, he was flagged with a false start. Both penalties sabotaged the drive.
My biggest complaint about the line? They had problems creating movement on running plays inside the 5-yard line.
Giants on Defense: Heading into this game, the only really worrisome guy to defend on the Vikings was WR Randy Moss. And it was Moss who presented the Giants with most of their problems on Sunday. In the first half, Moss caught 5 passes for 121 yards and a touchdown. In the second half, the pass defense on Moss tightened up substantially as Moss caught only 2 passes for 4 yards (and a touchdown). Ironically, according to Head Coach Jim Fassel, it was when Moss was double-covered, rather than left all alone with CB Will Allen, that most of the problems resulted.
One thing that didn’t make much sense to me were the zone coverage plays where the linebackers had the responsibility to cover Moss. On Minnesota’s first drive, Moss got open against Dhani Jones for 17 yards on 3rd-and-10. On the Vikings’ next drive, Moss beat Mike Barrow on a crossing pattern for 26 yards on 3rd-and-8. I also didn’t like the way the Giants played Moss on the drive right after the Giants took a 29-17 lead. A form of “prevent” is very appropriate in this situation as the Giants had a 12-point lead with 3:33 left to play. However, when Moss ran a fly pattern on 3rd-and-15, Will Allen was (de facto) the only one covering him because for some reason the Giants had Mike Barrow covering Moss short and FS Omar Stoutmire was late to arrive on the scene. This pass was almost completed and would have made the game uncomfortable. Moss is the only one who can beat the Giants in this situation and the Giants almost let it happen. Then on 4th-and-15, Moss got open in the zone between Allen and Ralph Brown on the sidelines, but the pass was poorly thrown. This play reminded me of the pass completion that set up the field goal that sent the Cowboy game into overtime.
Defensive Line: DE Michael Strahan (6 tackles, 2 sacks) continues to play very well. He now has seven sacks in his last four games. On Minnesota’s second drive, Strahan hit QB Daunte Culpepper just as he threw the ball, resulting in an incompletion. On the Vikings’ first drive in the 3rd quarter, Strahan tackled HB Onterrio Smith for no gain, but on the next play, Smith got around him for 8 yards. Later in the quarter, Strahan got fooled badly on a 5-yard run by Culpepper on 3rd-and-3 when Strahan, for some reason, thought the halfback had the ball and lost contain. It was in the 4th quarter where Strahan really made his presence felt. The Vikings, leading 17-16, had driven to the New York 28 yard line. They were already in long distance field goal range. On 1st-and-10, Strahan pursued the halfback down the line and smacked him from behind on a 2-yard gain.. On 2nd-and-8, Strahan played off a Mike Rosenthal block to sack Culpepper for a 1-yard loss. On 3rd-and-9, Strahan ran over the tight end to sack the quarterback for a 5-yard loss. The Vikings – now at the 32 yard line – punted.
I thought DE Kenny Holmes (2 tackles, 1 sack) played much better this week. On the Vikings’ first possession, his did a great job of playing off a block by the tight end and stuffing HB Moe Williams on a 3rd-and-4 draw play. In the 3rd quarter, Holmes sacked QB Daunte Culpepper for a 4-yard loss while Culpepper was attempting to scramble away from him.
Keith Washington was inactive this week and Osi Umenyiora (3 tackles) played. Osi is learning. If you’ve read my game reviews since the preseason, you know my one nitpick with him was not playing disciplined football on the backside of plays. This left him vulnerable to misdirection such as reverses. Well, on Sunday, Osi expertly sniffed out a reverse to Randy Moss and made a solid, open field tackle for a 12-yard loss. On the very next play, he combined with SS Shaun Williams to clog up a Moe Williams run that went nowhere. However, Umenyiora had some problems with running plays at him on a drive in the 3rd quarter. There were two plays where the Vikings picked up 7 yards on each by running right at Osi.
DT Cornelius (1 tackle) was forced to leave the game in the 2nd quarter with a high ankle sprain injury. DT Lance Legree (3 tackles) played in relief and was awarded a game ball after the contest. Legree made two nice plays on a Viking drive in the 2nd quarter. First he stuffed a run up the middle for no gain. A few plays later, he was the only defensive linemen to read a screen pass and hustled to the sideline to limit the back to an 8-yard gain. In the 3rd quarter, there was one 6-yard run by Williams up the gut on a play where Legree got crushed by the double team.
DT Keith Hamilton (no tackles) didn’t make much noise. It is important to note that he only has 15 tackles and no sacks on the year. Hamilton forced an incompletion on a 3rd-and-6 pass in the 3rd quarter. Hamilton also got a pressure late in the 4th quarter when the Vikings were trailing 29-17. On the drive where Strahan took charge, the Vikes were able to move to the Giants’ 28-yard line because they were able to run right at Keith Hamilton. For some reason, the Giants had flip-flopped Hamilton and Legree. Hamilton got creamed on Moe Williams’ 38-yard run. On the very next play, Hamilton literally got knocked on his ass on a 10-yard run by Williams. Both plays were embarrassing for this once proud warrior. The commentators incorrectly stated that it was Legree who was being run on – it wasn’t – it was Hamilton.
DT William Joseph (no tackles) played a few plays, but did not stand out. He got easily pushed back by blockers on 5-yard run up the middle in the 3rd quarter.
Linebackers: I thought Mike Barrow (9 tackles) played well. He nailed HB Onterrio Smith on a right-side sweep for a 3-yard loss on the game’s second offensive play. In the 2nd quarter, he did a good job of sifting through the traffic to nail Moe Williams in the hole on a 2-yard gain. Barrow had a big hit on Williams in the hole on his 3rd-and-1 carry in the 3rd quarter and Williams barely got the first down. A few plays later, Barrow launched himself at Smith on the goal line, stuffing him for a 1-yard gain.
SLB Brandon Short (6 tackles) did a good job of smacking Smith in the hole and limiting him to a 2-yard gain on the Vikes’ first drive.
Dhani Jones had a quiet 6-tackle performance. He did, however, pick up a sack by knocking the ball out of Culpepper’s hands on one pass rush. A few plays later, he stuffed Williams in the hole on a 1-yard gain. Jones got easily blocked on Williams’ 38-yard gain where Keith Hamilton got crushed. On the following 10-yard run, both Jones and Mike Barrow really misread the direction of the run and were nowhere near the focal point of the play.
Defensive Backs: As I stated in my preview, the Giants left Randy Moss alone with CB Will Allen a great deal in the game. Moss actually did most of his first-half damage when (1) he was covered by a linebacker in a zone, or (2) double-covered by Allen and a safety. When Allen was left alone with Moss, he did alright for the most part (except the second touchdown reception where Allen should have fought better for position in front of Moss).
“I thought Will did a good job,” said Head Coach Jim Fassel on Monday after the game. “Actually, if you want to know the truth – when he was one-on-one with Randy Moss, he played him better than when we had him double-covered. On the (first) touchdown he was supposed to be double-covered and when he was by himself he did a better job than when we called to bracket him or he had help. Even the one that they threw down the middle to him, he should have had help from both safeties and both safeties were way too wide. So when he had him one-on-one by himself, I thought he did a good job.”
Allen did a great job of ripping the ball out of Moss’ hands on a 3rd-and-20 deep throw that was almost completed. On this play, I was disappointed to see that Omar Stoutmire was late to provide help to Allen. Allen was at the center of the action on the Vikings’ sole TD drive in the first half. Allen was beat on a 10-yard out by Moss. Then Allen did a great job of tackling the tight end in the flat for a 1-yard gain. Next came the two big pass plays to Moss. The first was a 35-yard gain down the seam. This is the play Fassel talked about where the safeties were too wide and didn’t help out like they should have. On the next play – the 33-yard touchdown pass, I think Shaun Williams was supposed to help out on Moss (and Omar Stoutmire was late again in getting over). After these plays, Moss was held very quiet. “We didn’t really make any adjustments,” said SS Shaun Williams. “He caught us on a couple big plays, kind of hit us in a weak spot in our coverage a couple of times. Besides that, we just stuck with our game plan, we just executed better in the second half.”
The only play Moss made in the entire second half was the 1-yard touchdown reception where Allen had good coverage, but didn’t position himself in front of Moss in order to make a play on the ball. Allen also got flagged for defensive holding on Moss early in the 3rd quarter. Allen played Moss tightly on the aforementioned 3rd-and-15 deep pass late in the 4th quarter. However, Allen’s swipe at the ball missed; the Giants were fortunate that Moss was distracted by the swipe and dropped it.
Based on my comments above, you can tell that I don’t think the safeties played very well in the first half of the game. Fassel clearly singled them out on the two big pass plays on the Vikings’ touchdown drive in the second quarter. However, they more than likely were part of the Moss solution in the second half, though Stoutmire was inexcusably late on the 3rd-and-15 deep pass to Moss late in the 4th quarter. Both Stoutmire and Williams each made a nice play in run defense in the first half. Stoutmire was flagged with an illegal use of hands penalty in the 3rd quarter. He also took a terrible angle on Moe Williams on the latter’s 38-yard run. Shaun Williams knocked away a pass to Moe Williams late in the game.
CB Ralph Brown kept his man quiet the entire game except for two plays: a 16-yard reception by Nate Burleson in the 2nd quarter and a 32-yard gain by Burleson in the 3rd quarter. The latter play set up the Vikings’ sole score of the second half. On the play, Brown got knocked off balance and fell to the turf when Burleson gave him a shove beyond the 5-yard chuck zone. This type of play happens all of the time, but technically, offensive pass interference should have been called. I would have also liked to have seen Brown pay more attention to Moss on the 4th-and-15 pass that fell incomplete late in the 4th quarter.
Rookie Frank Walker, playing in his first game, made a huge play by jumping on an out pass intended for WR Keenan Howry late in the 4th quarter. This occurred on Minnesota’s first offensive play after the Giants had taken a 22-17 lead. The turnover in this spot led to another touchdown three plays later, sealing the win. Walker also supplied good deep coverage on a 3rd-and-4 pass attempt near the start of the quarter intended for Howry. After the Giants took the 29-17 lead late in the 4th quarter, Walker made a nice sure tackle to keep Howry in bounds and keep the clock moving after a 7-yard reception.
Reserve safety Johnnie Harris made an interception on the Hail Mary at the end of the game.
Special Teams: The big play special teams play of the game was the blocked punt by the Vikings. The Giants were trailing 17-16 near the start of the 4th quarter and Jeff Feagles was punting from the NY 12-yard line. Wes Mallard missed his block on the Viking rusher who got to Feagles. Ironically, however, Mallard showed the presence of mind to pick up the ball and advance it 20 yards for a first down. The Giants did not score on this drive, but the turnaround prevented the Vikings from taking even a bigger lead at a crucial point in the game. But don’t lose sight of the fact that, in reality, it was a bad play by Mallard that created the situation in the first place. Also give credit to rest of the Giants who immediately turned around to block other Vikings for Mallard.
Feagles punted three other times: for 49, 42, and 53 yards. Punt coverage was average. Returns went for 11 yards (Kato Serwanga making the tackle), 0 yards (fair catch), and 7 yards (Kevin Lewis and Serwanga). Brian Mitchell missed a tackle on the 11-yard return. Kato Serwanga was down in a hurry to force the fair catch.
PK Brett Conway was a perfect 3-for-3 on his field goal efforts, connecting from 20, 44, and 37 yards out. His kickoffs were much improved this week, landing at the 7, 4, 3, 7, 15, 8, and 7 yard lines. Kickoff coverage was good. Minnesota returns went for 20 (Nick Greisen making the tackle), 19 (David Tyree and Kato Serwanga), 18 (Johnnie Harris), 0 (returner went out of bounds), 12 (Kevin Lewis), 18 (Wes Mallard), and 23 yards (David Tyree). Tyree did miss two open field tackles this week however.
The punt and kick return games remain a problem. I still remain convinced that more than half the problem is the blocking for the return men. Brian Mitchell looks like he is regressing as a punt returner. In the 1st quarter, he let one punt bounce right in front of him. This rolled for a lot more yardage. Luckily for him, the Vikings were offsides. On his next chance, with little blocking, he only managed a 2-yard return before fumbling the ball (fortunately it bounced out of bounds, but the Vikes had a shot at it). On this play, Serwanga was flagged with an illegal block as well. Two other punts were fair caught; another was a touchback.
Kick returns continue to be disappointing. Delvin Joyce returned two kickoffs – one going for 17 yards and the other for 24 yards. Wes Mallard was flagged with an illegal block on the latter. Brian Mitchell’s sole effort only went for 16 yards.