San Francisco 49ers 31 – New York Giants 7
Overview: This game was a lot closer than the final score would indicate and if the Giants would have been able to generate any positive offensive consistency, the Giants may have had a legitimate shot at the upset. But once again, the same old breakdowns occurred: the offense could not pick up first downs, the defense gave up the big play, and the special teams did not stand out.
Quarterbacks: Kent Graham (21-41, 237 yards, 0 touchdowns, 1 interception) is an improvement over Danny Kanell. Whether that will true in the long-term is a matter open for debate, but Graham is at the very least giving his receivers a shot to make plays down the field. Graham is a fairly accurate deep passer and threw some nice looking long passes to Ike Hilliard (3) and TE Andy Haase. He also just missed connecting with Joe Jurevicius and Amani Toomer for big plays as well. Another big change is that Graham wears his heart on his sleeve. He’s an emotional guy and tried his best to get his offensive teammates pumped up (only Ike Hilliard seemed likewise fired up). The Giants don’t have enough of this fire in their bellies and we hope the draft/free agent newcomers the Giants bring aboard in 1999 have more of this quality.
Graham’s biggest weakness remains his overall accuracy, especially on short throws. Indeed, it is painful to watch him try to hit a running back on a swing pass. He also badly overthrew a wide open Chris Calloway on a play that resulted in an interception. A completion there would have probably given the Giants another score. He also should have given Joe Jurevicius some better opportunities on his passes to him in the endzone in the fourth quarter.
I doubt Graham is the answer because of inaccuracy. But if he can improve in this department, he may be holding onto the starting job a lot longer than some think.
Offensive Line: A mixed bag here. Honestly, their inconsistency is extremely frustrating. The good news was their run blocking was fairly strong. The Giants rushed for 120 yards on the ground — despite being behind the entire second half. But there were too many blown assignments, especially on runs to the outside. However, where the line really struggled was in pass protection. Once again, Giant quarterbacks didn’t have enough time to set up in the pocket. The 49ers gave the line problems with blitzes and with just rushing the down four. Scott Gragg’s poor block led directly to Graham’s fumble in the first quarter. Junior Bryant gave Ron Stone problems (Stone was also flagged for a false start). What makes all of this so exacerbating is that at times during a game, these guys play well. But playing well in small spurts is not enough.
Wide Receivers: Ike Hilliard finally had the kind of game we have been waiting for. Hilliard (6 catches for 141 yards) caught two huge passes for 50 and 48 yards (I can’t remember a Giant receiver who caught two 45+ yard catches in one game) and probably could have had an even bigger night if the offensive line had given Graham more time. Graham is starting to become comfortable with Hilliard and that is obviously good news for the team. The only real negative is that he should have scored on the first play of the game. Chris Calloway (5 catches for 45 yards) had his typical yeoman-like game. Joe Jurevicius (1 catch for 7 yards) played a lot, but Graham kept just missing him. He also inexplicably dropped another pass — Joe’s hands are MUCH better than that. Amani Toomer (2 catches for 14 yards) dropped a pass and seems to be fading — although he made a great deep catch that was ruled out-of-bounds.
Tight Ends: Surprisingly, TE Andy Haase played quite a bit and made an excellent 27 catch — an athletic, over-the-shoulder play DOWN THE FIELD, something Howard Cross doesn’t do. Cross blocked well but was a non-factor in the passing game.
Halfbacks/Fullbacks: FB Charles Way (6 carries for 53 yards, an 8.8 yards-per-carry average) played his best game of 1998. He ran with power and determination, something I haven’t seen since last year. HB Gary Brown (15 carries for 56 yards, 3.7 yards-per-carry average) ran the ball well up the gut. His touchdown run was all attitude. But he didn’t receive much blocking when running to the outside. HB Tiki Barber (2 carries for 9 yards, 4 catches for 13 yards) made a highlight-reel type catch for short yardage. He was very sure-handed catching the ball all night. Perhaps he is finally coming out of his slump.
Defensive Line: The ends had their moments. DE Michael Strahan picked up two more sacks and seemed to be one of the few players playing with emotion. DE Chad Bratzke also picked up another sack and is having a career-year. However, the 49ers were the first team I’ve seen all year successfully run on Strahan and none of the four down lineman did a great job of containing Steve Young on his scrambles (5 carries for 62 yards). DT Keith Hamilton seemed lost trying to tackle him on a couple of occasions. He had only one tackle in the game. Robert Harris has been too quiet in recent weeks. Hamilton and Harris need to play better (though to be honest, the guards of the 49ers are the strength of their line). DE Cedric Jones and DT Christian Peter saw significant playing time and didn’t play poorly. Both got good pressure on one play. DT Bernard Holsey was crushed by a double-team on HB Garrison Hearst’s 70-yard touchdown run.
Linebackers: WLB Jessie Armstead played well at times and flashed some of last year’s superb play. He only had four tackles, but was an emotional leader on the field. However, it seemed to me that he was the one responsible for covering TE Irv Smith on his TD catch. Armstead was also handled on Hearst’s TD run. MLB Corey Widmer and SLB Marcus Buckley didn’t play well, especially against the run. Widmer seems to fading. Buckley is a liability against the run — but we all knew that. Scott Galyon saw a decent amount of playing time, but didn’t make much of an impact.
Defensive Backs: Conrad Hamilton had his worst game as a Giant. The 49ers made it obvious that they were targeting him all night and Hamilton could not respond. Conrad missed a crucial tackle on a short pass to Terrell Owens that allowed him to go 79 yards for the score. But he also was exposed on slants all night. Hamilton seemed very timid to me and played far too off the ball. On the other hand, Phillippi Sparks (10 tackles) played another good game. Part of that was the 49er interest in going after Hamilton, but Sparks did a good job against Jerry Rice (3 catches for 25 yards) and that is no easy feat. SS Sam Garnes was invisible. FS Tito Wooten continues to disappoint. He dropped an easy interception, tried to tackle with his shoulders repeatedly, and took the wrong angle and missed badly on Hearst’s TD run. S Shaun Williams was burned badly on a crucial third down play that set up the 49er’s score right before halftime. CB Carlton Gray was strong for most of the game except for one big faux pas when he allowed Terrell Owens to pick up 24 yards on 3rd-and-33 — a play that allowed the 49ers to kick a field goal.
Special Teams: Not good at all. Brad Daluiso missed badly on one field goal and had another blocked. Brad Maynard seems to be kicking too many line drives again down the middle of the field. Coverage was not strong and R.W. McQuarters had too much room to run — his 26-yard punt return helped to set up the 49ers’ third touchdown (as did Shaun Williams bone-headed late hit). Amani Toomer has regressed to his old days…he’s afraid to run the ball up the middle. David Patten couldn’t break a return.