Washington Redskins 35 – New York Giants 21
Game Overview: This game was pretty easy to break down. The Giants dug themselves into a big hole with a 14-0 deficit after a costly early turnover and a huge punt return for a touchdown. The Giants got themselves back into the game on the right arm of Kerry Collins, but then the defense fell apart in the second half against the 31st-ranked offense in the league.
This team continues to be haunted by major lapses on special teams that has had a direct impact in all three consecutive losses. Coaching? Personnel? Combination? Whatever – it hasn’t been fixed. The Giants have only themselves to blame here.
Quarterback: I was pleased with the game plan and the play of Kerry Collins (32-out-of-52 for 346 yards, 3 touchdowns, and 1 interception). The decision to go to the no-huddle and employ 3- and 4-WR sets seemed to help get him out of his funk and into rhythm with his receivers. Despite passing 52 times, Collins did not make any major mistakes throwing the ball; his only interception was a perfectly thrown pass that was dropped by Ike Hilliard. The biggest negatives on Collins was his involvement in two major snafus. The first being the fumbled handoff to Amani Toomer on the game’s second play that set up the Skins’ first easy touchdown. (However, it appears to me that Collins got the ball to Toomer). Second, Collins’ was unable to handle the pitch from Ron Dayne on the flea flicker that should have gone for a touchdown. While Dayne’s pitch was a bit errant, I felt Collins still should have been able to handle it.
Collins missed an open Amani Toomer on his first pass of the game. Then came the fumble on the reverse. On the next drive, Collins threw a nice slant to Ike Hilliard for a first down. He then found Tiki Barber for another first down on 2nd-and-7. Then came a pass to Greg Comella for another first. However, on 3rd-and-6, Barber dropped the ball over the middle. On the third drive, Collins’ arm was hit as he threw on 3rd-and-4. On the next drive, Collins’ was harassed again on 3rd-and-4 as the offensive line and backs didn’t provide adequate protection. On the fifth drive, after a first down, Collins overthrew Toomer deep on 3rd-and-6. The sixth drive was stalled by the mishap on the pitch back to Collins. It started off well with a 17-yard strike to Toomer. However, had Collins been able to handle the pitch and accurate throw the ball, both Amani Toomer and Ike Hilliard were open for a deep touchdown. At this point in the game, I’m yelling, “Same old crap from Collins!”
But Collins really came alive after this. He made a real nice play by side-stepping the rush on 2nd-and-10, standing in the pocket, and then finding Toomer for a first down. He then found Joe Jurevicius for 20 yards. After a pass interference call, Kerry threw a perfect fade to Toomer in the endzone over Champ Bailey for a touchdown.
On the next drive, Collins found Jurevicius over the middle for nine yards. After a quarterback sneak picked up the first, on 2nd-and-10, Collins made another excellent adjustment in the pocket when he rolled to his right and hit Hilliard short. Hilliard then turned this into a 27-yard touchdown with some nifty after-the-catch running. Redskins 17 – Giants 14 at halftime.
After the Skins scored on their first possession in the second half to make it 24-14, Collins got the offense started again with an 18 yarder of the middle to Toomer. He then found Barber for 24 yards on 1st-and-15. But the drive stalled when Barber dropped another pass and then Collins was sacked by Bruce Smith on 3rd-and-10. On 4th-and-5, Collins had no time again and the ball fell incomplete.
On the second drive of the second half, Collins found Barber for a first down on 3rd-and-9. Under pressure, Collins rolled out and hit Dixon for 17 yards. Then came a 10-yard slant to Toomer on 2nd-and-5. Another first down resulted after a 9-yard toss to Barber and a 10-yard out to Toomer on 3nd-and-2 (the later was a good throw in a blitz situation). Collins then made a wonderful play-action fake on 1st-and-goal for one-yard touchdown pass to Comella. Giants 21 – Skins 27.
The third drive started off with three straight completions to Tiki Barber for 7, 5, and 3 yards. Then came an 8-yard pass to Toomer on 2nd-and-7. After a draw, the drive stalled with two straight incompletions: a pass out of bounds and a 3rd-and-7 play where there looked to be some miscommunication with the receivers on the pass routes being run by Toomer and Jurevicius.
The Giants got the ball only one more time in the second half. On 2nd-and-10, Collins found Toomer for 16 yards. Then he threw a perfect deep pass over the middle to Jurevicius for 33 yards. This was a great pass where he lofted it over the corner and in front of the safety. Then came my only problem with Collins’ game – he made some questionable decisions to run the ball given the situation and lack of direct pass pressure. He also scrambled to his left on a play reminiscent of the final fumble against Philly. However, Collins redeemed himself with a perfect strike into triple coverage for what should have been a touchdown, but the receiver dropped the ball and it was intercepted.
Wide Receivers: Mostly positive though there were some costly mistakes. What I liked about the game plan was the decision to spread the Skins out and attack their corner depth. But the receivers also made plays against starters Champ Baily and Darrell Green too. Amani Toomer’s big day (9 catches for 109 yards and one touchdown) was marred by the botched wide receiver reverse, but he otherwise played well (though someone ran the wrong route on the 3rd-and-7 play in the second half). Ike Hilliard (2 catches for 40 yards, 1 touchdown) made a highlight-reel run-after-the-catch when he bounced off two tacklers and sped past a third for a 27-yard touchdown. However, he had three drops that I counted, including what should have been a touchdown pass that could have cut the lead to 35-28 with four minutes left in the game. Joe Jurevicius (6 catches for 77 yards) was productive and had a big 33-yarder down the middle of the defense. With the Giants using 4-WR sets, Ron Dixon finally saw some action. He had a 17-yarder, but also was flagged for offensive pass interference late in the game.
Running Backs: The Giants didn’t run much in this game. For one, they fell behind early. Secondly, I think they made the correct decision to be aggressive and attack Washington with the passing game. If it had not been for some costly breakdowns in execution, this strategy would have been very successful. Tiki Barber (7 carries for 14 yards, 9 catches for 74 yards) had a bigger day as a receiver. I really liked the effort he showed on a 3rd-and-9 play to pick up a first down when he dove for the sticks. However, Tiki had two costly drops. Moreover, like last week, he didn’t look to me like he was making the right decisions on blitz pick-ups. Perhaps the mistake was with Lomas Brown or Glenn Parker – but I think it was Tiki. The other thing that is bothering me about Barber is that he is not making any big plays for touchdowns – yet he is being paid as a top play-maker. Time to get rolling Tiki.
Ron Dayne’s stats (8 carries for 19 yards) are a bit misleading. He carried the ball successfully in many short yardage situations and had a real nice run on the Giants’ last TD drive where he bulled his way down to the one-yard line, carrying two men on his back. He continues to move his feet upon contact such as the 3rd-and-1 play that he picked up for a first down. This was something he had a problem with last year. On the fifth drive of the first half, he had two very nice back-to-back runs: (1) he did a good job of bouncing a run outside on 2nd-and-3 for nine yards; (2) he showed some nifty feet on an inside run for six yards.
Greg Comella (5 catches for 29 yards and one touchdown) performed well as a short receiver.
Offensive Line/Tight Ends: I thought the blocking of the tight ends (Howard Cross and Dan Campbell) was strong, but the work of the offensive line left much to be desired. I saw too much standing around from Ron Stone who played another poor game against DT Dan Wilkinson. LG Glenn Parker didn’t have many chances to pull, but when he did, he failed miserably again. I have not been impressed with the play of RT Luke Petitgout this year. He’s in a slump and its hurting the team.
Parker just seems to be losing what little mobility he had. It’s just not the pulling, but when he is asked to go out and engage a linebacker at the second level (I saw one play where Arrington simply stepped over a diving Parker). On a crucial, 3rd-and-4 play in the first half, Stone missed his block on Wilkinson (and it looked to me that Tiki missed the blitz pick-up) and Collins was forced to throw early. The nice bounce out run by Dayne came behind solid blocks from Dusty Zeigler and Howard Cross. On the next play, Dayne picked up 6 yards behind Petitgout and Cross. But Stone and Petitgout got stymied on the next play and Dayne lost yardage. Lomas Brown got flagged for holding and had some problems with Bruce Smith, giving up one sack and another big pressure. On the 4th-and-5 play, Petitgout’s man got immediate pressure on Collins and forced a quick throw. In the second half, Stone continued to struggle with Wilkinson. Dayne’s run down to the 1-yard line came behind quality blocks from Dan Campbell and Lomas Brown.
Defensive Line: The defense was OK in the first half, but really fell apart in the second half. The pass rush was lacking throughout – aside from some late noise from Michael Strahan – and the run defense was pathetic at times. Much of the blame for both the poor pass rush and run defense must go to the defensive line. Kenny Holmes (no tackles) was terrible. LT Chris Samuels owned him and Holmes was never a factor in the game. What’s worse, his run defense was absolutely embarrassing on the Skins’ last drive to run out the clock. Holmes is going to have to play Samuels twice-a-year so he had better figure the guy out by next season.
The Giants really missed Keith Hamilton inside as Cornelius Griffin (2 tackles) and Lance Legree (4 tackles) were pushed around quite a bit in run defense and made little noise on the pass rush. The Giants needed Griffin to step up his game in this contest and he failed.
Michael Strahan (4 tackles, 2 sacks) picked up two more pelts. He didn’t apply consistent pass pressure however, and had a few lapses against the run. Yet, he was one of the few who played well. He combined with Griffin and Sehorn to stuff HB Stephen Davis behind the line on one play and immediately followed that up by not being moved out of the way on another run in his direction. One of his best plays came during a zone-blitz where he dropped into coverage, yet was nifty enough to almost tackle the back for a safety in the endzone on a swing pass.
Linebackers: The only guy I came away impressed with was Jessie Armstead (2 tackles) and unfortunately he was lost in the second quarter. Jessie tackled Davis in the backfield on the second defensive play of the game. On the next drive, his solid coverage on the tight on 3rd-and-2 forced a punt. Two drives later, he also had good coverage on the running back on 3rd-and-10, forcing another punt. On the play before he was hurt, Armstead shot the gap and nailed Davis for a five yard loss.
Despite a couple of big hits, MLB Mike Barrow (4 tackles, 1 sack) was shielded too effectively on too many running plays. Of course, he didn’t have “Hammer” in front of him to protect him and that hurt. Still, he didn’t make enough plays as Davis and Carter ran too successfully right up the gut. SLB Brandon Short (3 tackles) was a non-factor. He, like Holmes, played some embarrassing run defense late and was flagged with a somewhat questionable late hit on the quarterback.
Dhani Jones saw extensive action once Armstead left and was up-and-down. He ran himself out of the play on Carter’s big run right before halftime (though Griffin and Legree got pushed out of the way on this play too). But he followed that up by showing some good closing speed on a blitz. Jones got burned by the tight end deep in the third quarter but was lucky that the pass was dropped. He later had good coverage on Carter on 3rd-and-7 to force a punt.
The linebackers or safeties screwed up a couple of times as TE Zeron Flemister was left all alone in the flat a couple of times.
Defensive Backs: Despite popular belief, Jason Sehorn (4 tackles, 1 pass defensed) has never been to the Pro Bowl. Sehorn can have amazing games such as the playoff games against the Eagles and Vikings last year. But it is games such as the Super Bowl and what happened against the Redskins on Sunday that keep him from Hawaii. Facing a 3rd-and-19 with about seven minutes in the game, and only trailing the Skins by 27-21, Sehorn allowed Michael Westbrook to get behind him for a 76 yard touchdown pass. In my book, a corner should NEVER let a receiver get behind in on 3rd-and-19 – and especially given the tight situation the Giants were in. Plus, keep in mind the Giants’ offense was successfully moving the ball at this point in the game. Sehorn had kept Westbrook largely quiet for most of the game, but this one play is the one that will be remembered.
Sehorn had also missed an easy sack earlier in the game. He did make a heck of a play defending a pass intended for Rod Gardner on 2nd-and-11. Kevin Lockett beat Sehorn for 21 yards on a catch in the second half too.
Will Peterson (5 tackles, 1 pass defensed) had a bit of a rough game. On 3rd-and-6 inside the redzone on the Skins’ first possession, Peterson got easily beat to the inside by Gardner for a touchdown. Peterson looked like he was expecting inside help from the safety on the play. Whether he was supposed to have this from Shaun Williams or not is unknown. Then early in the third quarter, Peterson fell for the fake on the toss back to the WR on the WR-pass as his man got behind him for an easy touchdown (it looked like Shaun Williams got burned here too). In the 4th quarter, Peterson got beat deep, but the pass was off and the WR could not adjust in time.
As you can tell, Shaun Williams (9 tackles, 1 sack) didn’t have a stellar game. He made some plays near the line of scrimmage in run defense and also picked up a sack. But he also missed an easy sack on the first defensive play of the game and missed a tackle (along with Sam Garnes) on Carter’s big run right before halftime that set up a field goal. He also couldn’t get over in time to help out Sehorn on the 76-yard touchdown pass.
SS Sam Garnes (5 tackles) was too quiet.
Special Teams: This area continues to haunt the Giants. Rodney Williams’ low, line-drive punt right to Eric Metcalf was as much to blame for the long punt return for a touchdown as the coverage men. Williams later shanked an 18-yarder. Rodney has had a direct role in each of the two recent losses. Emmanuel McDaniel screwed up downing the ball at the one-yard line by stepping into the endzone.
Morten Andersen kicked a ball out of bounds and this set the Skins up in excellent field position on their first TD drive of the second half. Kick-off coverage was pretty strong (for the Giants). Marcellus Rivers made a nice tackle.
Kick returns remain below average as Ron Dixon and his blockers can’t seem to get into sync. Barber had one good punt return for 17 yards. Other than that, opposing gunners were too often in his face right away (I spotted Emmanuel McDaniel not even getting a hand on his man on one occasion).
Jack Golden and Omar Stoutmire were flagged for personal foul penalties on specials. Unacceptable.
Offensive Line Review
by Chris Jacobs
You’re Only as Good as Your O-Line
Instead of giving every player a specific evaluation and grade this week, I thought I would just try to talk about what is wrong and how it can be fixed. I mean lets be honest, none of them played very good. And when they did start to get on a roll there would be a total collapse. Dayne picks up about 12 yards on 2 consecutive carries and then on the next play there is a total breakdown, no one blocks and Dayne gets thrown for a 2 yard loss. Great, 3rd- and-7 again. It’s the inconsistency that is killing this team and it all starts up front.
I’m going to start with Dusty Ziegler because he is probably the most consistent player right now. While I didn’t get a chance to really break down the first four games I didn’t really notice any poor play from him. I like the way he gets out on linebackers and surprisingly he is really good at pulling. I particularly like the play where he pirouettes to pause the LB’s and then leads Dayne on a sweep. His one weakness, and it has shown in all four games against Washington. He struggles against big guys. It showed a little against Denver too. But with Stone next to him to help it usually doesn’t hurt in pass protection, but when he needs to drive a guy out of there to open a hole it hurts. Which is one of the reasons why they had 1.9 yards per carry on Sunday. It was also obvious they had more success running outside.
Glenn Parker’s game has regressed so much, I really do think that he’ll be benched soon. I didn’t get a chance to tape the Saints game, but I know they had success running the ball with Jason Whittle in there. I don’t know if missing camp hurt him but he just can’t move anyone anymore. Last season he would do a good job of pulling up into the hole and sealing off the backer, this season he just can’t seem to get there. One thing that I have noticed is that opposing defenses are blitzing a lot on running downs. The Giants like to do a lot of pulling and angle blocking when they run the ball, and the best way to disrupt that is to send guys full speed into the backfield to disrupt it. I’ve seen plenty of that so far this season and it’s working. The problem is they don’t have the type of line (on the left side at least) that can drive guys off the ball, which makes it difficult to adjust.
I really love Lomas Brown, part of that love comes from the great dislike I had for Oben. Anyway, his run blocking is total crap. He’s great at influencing the DE upfield to take him out of the play but if he needs to drive a guy off the ball forget it. I have also noticed that he’s not been as effective getting out on linebackers as he has in the past. On Sunday there was an opportunity for a big gainer but he just fell at the backers feet in an attempt to cut him (very Gragg-esque) and the guy makes the tackle. All he had to do was get in his face and Tiki could have cut left and there was no one there. To summarize, pass blocking OK, run blocking bad. I try to read every Giant thread in The Corner Forum and I notice much complaining about special teams and why the starters don’t play more. Well Ron Stone gets hurt Sunday on an extra point. I know you can only have so many linemen on the sidelines and you’re not going to put the old men out there for that so I understand, but it’s annoying from a fans standpoint to see a Pro Bowl guard get hurt on specials. Maybe I’m trying to give him and excuse for playing such a terrible game, but he wasn’t playing that well before he hurt his leg. Big fat ass Dan Wilkinson was driving him backwards on pass plays too many times for my liking and on running plays where he needed to get to a backer it didn’t seem that there was a tremendous effort here and there. Was he taking plays off because he’s pissed he didn’t get a contract extension? Or is he really hurt? (Again the inconsistency is killing them.) Luke had a pretty good game, he’s not really as dominant as we all hoped when the Giants spent a first round pick on him however he still has a job, unlike Aaron Gibson who many of us (including myself) had hoping the Giants would draft that year. He has been one of the more consistent players on offense this season and many may disagree but I really think he’s the left tackle of the future for this team. My only criticism is he tends to come off the ball too high at times. But all in all he’s solid.
How do you fix the running game? As I mentioned earlier teams have been run blitzing to disrupt the timing of the blocking schemes. When you do a lot of pulling and trapping timing is key and everything just seems to be off a little bit. I don’t think Glenn Parker can be that much slower than last season, there just always seems to be a guy in the backfield every time he tries to pull up into a hole and seal a backer. So what do you do, you can’t scrap he entire playbook and start from scratch at this point. Obviously there has been talk about play calling and execution, my opinion is that they need to mix it up a bit. Throw from running formations, on running downs. How about a draw? I haven’t seen one of those in a while. I was glad to see a fade in the redzone, and a waggle, both of which went for TD’s. A couple of those against Philly and they would have won that one. The bottom line is that they relied on misdirection and deception to be successful running the ball last year, and with the current state of the O-Line that’s the only choice they have. It’ll be interesting to see what they do in the coming weeks.
To the Redskins…
by David Oliver
To the Redskins, was how my son welcomed me home Sunday night. “How could they lose to such a crappy team?” Good question. My mailman, Sam, a Redskins fan, was far gentler on Monday. As he pulled his truck to the box across the street, he said, “They came out flat.” Good observation. The Giants have done everything we asked over the past 2 weeks. Last week, they went to a ground game, and dominated. Yet they lost. This week, it was an aerial attack, with Amani catching 9 balls. And yet they lost again. They have benched Dave Thomas, as we requested, and Will Peterson has been burned in crucial situations. They didn’t re sign Ryan Phillips, so we now have more speed at strongside. Yet the level of play remains about the same. There are only 2 things left to do to satisfy us: bench half of the offensive line and throw to the tight end. I guess they will try that this week and the season should be about over (grin).
A lot of you saw the game this week, so my review will be a little different. Below, I will lead with some quotes from individual players, then analyze their performance individually. Finally, I will conclude with some observations by unit.
Will Peterson: “They ran on us, they passed on us, they came out and played ball.” “Caught us in a couple of pass situations”, “got good field position”, “double-move type deal”, (the almost interception) “that kind of hurt us because of the next play…I feel responsible for that, you have to make that play.” “Our offense moved the ball really well, so that was a stop we had to make and we didn’t make it.”
Observations: I really like this kid, He is unflappable. He doesn’t hide, he answers the tough questions, he’s got game. Notwithstanding all these positives, he is a rookie and he will get beaten. But then, look at poor Andre Dyson (Titans) and what happened to him Monday night. Will Peterson was beaten badly on the first TD pass, and he should have made the INT. But, in fairness, there aren’t many who would have. The pass was dropping quickly, had just sailed over traffic. Will dived for it and it bounced off his arms. He has been waiting all season for the opportunity to make a play; this was it; he came up wanting. But he didn’t duck, and he didn’t wither. I’m not sure how much help he will be in the run game. He comes up and has no fear, but Stephen Davis simply pushed him aside on one off tackle gallop. Then again nobody tackles Davis without help. Will had 5 tackles, which was second most on the team.
Jessie James Palmer: “There is a lot to learn, it’s good that I’m out there, just paying attention to Kerry, Sean Payton, Coach Fassel and Jason (Garrett).” “We pretty much had a good grasp on what we thought they would come out and do. We moved the ball really well.” “I think every player wants to play. I’m still learning, I’m still in a developmental stage.”
Observations: For all those BBI‘ers who want Jessie in there next game, hell, he’d love to get a few plays under his belt, but don’t look for him to be a starting QB any time soon.
Brandon Short: “I’ve got to get better, got to improve, got to make a play somewhere to help this team win.” “Every game I get more comfortable; every game I’m learning”; “got to do something to help this team win, to help US win, an interception, a sack, a fumble recovery, something, just got to make plays”; “yeah, we know, you are fans, you know it’s all (expletive deleted)”.
Observations: Short is improving game by game. Coach Fox is cutting him loose a little more every game. He has speed and good field experience. All he needs is experience. He is tight right now, as are all the young guys on the team, each wanting badly to do something to prove their worth. Short is very active on the field, although he does get lost on occasion in the receiving-coverage game. He will make that play soon.
Lance Legree: “Davis ran the ball pretty well; he hit some seams on us”; “different pace to the game, you just have to be more focused before the play, it’s more mental”; “I played alright, but I should have done better.”
Observations: Legree filled in capably for Hammer and had 4 tackles. Again, as a rookie, he needs experience. The seams came after Jessie went out, but it wasn’t just Lance. Grif was pushed around a little bit also. The impressive thing about Lance is that he never quits on a play and doesn’t take plays off. He is always trying to get a hand on the ball carrier, a little piece of every play. It is situations such as this that expose the lack of deep depth. Grif and Lance needed a rest and Ross Kolodziej doesn’t appear to be the man. With another year under his belt, Legree will not need a breather. His demeanor is quieter than Christian Peter, but he plays every bit as intense. His low center of gravity makes him a handful for the offensive line, so he gets more into the ball carrier.
Kerry Collins: “I don’t think we got too fancy; we came into the game saying we were going to throw the ball”; (on the hand off to Toomer) “I think I hit his elbow, I’ll have to look at the tape. I don’t know if it was a bad hand off or if he didn’t get it, if he didn’t get his arms open wide enough”; “I hope this is a wake up call for us, because if we think we’re just going to step on the field and win because we went to the Super Bowl last year, games like this are going to happen all year long; if we think we can come out and win games like last year, I don’t think it’s going to happen. We just did our thing a little bit and last year we ended up winning games. I don’t think that’s going to be good enough this year.”; we’re searching for an identity (on offense)”; “I’m more concerned with our attitude and the way we came out today; we were just sluggish and it took us forever to get into it; took us to get into the 2 minute situation before we finally started doing something with the ball”; “we have to come back; that’s how it is in this League. It’s a tough League. Things have been pretty good and easy around here ; it’s going to test our character, but we’ve got the guys that will be good leaders and will exhibit the right attitude; we just need to keep working, throughout all the criticism we’re going to get, everything about what we think is the way to play; we’ve got to take an honest look at ourselves and what we’re doing right now isn’t going to get it done” (I asked if he expressed himself this way to the team) “I do. Myself, as a leader, and everybody else in that locker room who are leaders, we’re the ones who are going to have to step up and get this right…talking isn’t going to get it done, it’s going out there and doing things we need to do, that we’re not doing right now”; “I’m concerned; I’m not desperate or throwing in the towel, by any means, but we’re going to have to change some things”.
Observations: That about says it. Kerry has a pretty good grasp on what is happening. For those who keep saying he is a dim light bulb, I don’t get it. He’s articulate, he’s factual, he never ducks. It is a little too much like a Rumsfeld Press Conference, but he is just a low key kind of guy. It’s that fire thing. How did he play Sunday? A lot better than the previous Monday. He ran with more purpose, if not skill, when he had to. The pass to Ike was a good pass. He gave Comella an opportunity to get in space before passing to him and he even had a masterful play fake on the goal line. The guy hits 32-out-of-52 passes for 346 yards, with a rating of 92.3. Not bad (except that Banks had a rating of 127.1 – gag, gag).
OVERALL ANALYSIS – Just as Kerry said, the O came out sluggish, put the D in a hole with the early fumble. The D would have held with Jessie in there. This is another game that got away and as my son asked “to the Redskins?”
I paid very close attention to Glenn Parker and he did the best job on the line of pass blocking. He got in front of his man and used good technique. Don’t count him out just yet. Bruce Smith had 1 sack and three tackles – Lomas did his job. Kenard Lang was also held in check, although he had 2 passes defensed. LaVar Arrington is coming into his own. He made 8 tackles and was a force all night. Amani had 9 receptions, several over the middle. The problem with the O is that Tiki also had 9 catches, and that is a problem. Everyone has seen tapes from last year. The dump off pass to Tiki in the left flat isn’t a surprise any more and teams are dropping a linebacker into the flat to cover Tiki. JJ and Comella did their job, Ike made some really nifty moves on his TD run, but he didn’t bring in the big one. The running game was basically non-existent.
On defense, Jessie’s absence should put to rest the Jessie calls on BBI. Davis is a back that takes two men to tackle. Jessie is involved in a lot of that stripping the blocking on run plays which allows the linemen and safeties to do the hitting. Jason Sehorn had one very good play, one very bad play and a bunch of average coverages. But there seems to be a communication problem between Jason and Shaun Williams. One goes for the tackle, one for the interception and a bum like Banks completes a 76 yarder. Michael Strahan was held in check until the end when he went berserk. He was having a bad time with Rasby and ultimately he lost his cool. He got a nice take down, but JF pulled him from the game before something happened.
Special Teams- Hopefully the new kid will run down field and hit someone. One more time – a boomer will not be a directional kicker. A kick into the end zone is better than a shank. Kick the ball – run down under it – tackle the ball carrier. Kickoffs are still a problem. OK, Jim, fix it.
