Game Review: Washington Redskins at New York Giants, September 15, 1996

Washington Redskins 31 – New York Giants 10

Overview: The Giants are getting better, but they still are not playing good football yet. Their inconsistency on offense, defense, and special teams is killing them. The defense has played fairly well this year, but they need to play well for all four quarters. The offense has been pathetic and just when it looks like they will get something going, a dumb penalty here or some mental lapse there causes a breakdown that will halt a drive. With all the youth on this team, there should be more enthusiasm and hustle, especially on special teams. At 0-3, and their morale just about as low as it can possibly get, this team needs a win, and some confidence, desperately. As one watches the Giants, one gets the feeling it is only a matter of time before they will shoot themselves in the foot and lose yet another game. The players look like they expect the worst to happen. That attitude has got to stop now!

Quarterback: Inconsistency is Dave Brown’s middle name. At the start of the game, he looked nervous to us, like he was trying too hard not to make a mistake instead of going out there and just playing like he can. On his first pass play, he was pressured too quickly and threw what we thought was an ill-advised pass to Hampton on a screen (the pass fell incomplete). He then threw a really nice pass to Aaron Pierce where he stepped up into the pocket (finally!) and threw a bullet right on the money. The Giants came back with another screen that picked up good yardage but a holding penalty brought the play back and once again put the Giants into a long yardage situation. It is almost impossible to develop an offensive rhythm when you’re constantly in 2nd- and 3rd-and-long. Then Brown was pressured by Ken Harvey and threw a horrible pass into coverage which was picked off. When Brown came back into the game on his next possession, he tossed another ball on a slant to Calloway that should have been intercepted. Brown looked jittery to us — like he was feeling pressure that wasn’t there on some plays. We were just about to forever give up on Brown at that point, but what does he do but come back into the game and start moving the team in the second quarter with nice passes to the outside receivers. Indeed, all four top receivers were involved as Brown hit Calloway, Dawsey, and Lewis repeatedly on two back-to-back drives where he led the Giants into Skins territory. He also threw a really nice deep ball to Toomer, but Amani couldn’t make the play. The first drive stalled on Chris Calloway holding penalty, a batted ball on 3rd-and-two, and a missed field goal. Dave was impressive again on his next drive as he was “on” on most of his passes and he ended it by throwing a beauty to Aaron Pierce for a TD right before halftime. In the second half, Brown had a wide open Howard Cross on an intermediate route over the middle, but was hit as he threw and then was sacked on the ensuing play — thus negating excellent field position supplied to the offense by a turnover. Then on their second drive in the 3rd quarter, Brown threw three nice passes, two that were completed to Way and Calloway (the latter being near the goalline) and the third was knocked out of Calloway’s hands by Darrell Green in the endzone. On the 3rd drive, Brown looked sharp hitting Cross and Lewis, once again moving the team down the field, but he then underthrew a wide open Thomas Lewis on a flea flicker and the pass was picked off. Inconsistency! On the fourth drive, Brown tossed a 35-yard beauty to Calloway and then threw a nice out to Lewis. However, after a sack, he threw a terrible pass to Toomer that was picked off again in the endzone. Inconsistency! His final interception (his fourth!) was not his fault — the pass was perfectly thrown to Wheatley, but it bounced right off his hands and into Marvcus Patton’s hands (who Dave Brown had an on-going feud with throughout the game).

Running Backs: Just as in the first two games, the Giants just could not get their running game going in the first half. When they did get something positive, it seemed like there was a penalty on the play. For example, in the second quarter, Hampton picked up good yardage on a right side sweep, yet a holding call on the Calloway brings the play back. Keith Elias continues to hurt the Giants as he dropped a second quarter pass from Brown that was right on the money. Yet finally, in the second half, the Giants began to move the ball on the ground. On the second drive in the 3rd quarter, both Hampton and Wheatley drove the Giants down near the Skins’ goalline, running the ball both inside and outside the tackles. However, the Giants could only come up with three points on the drive. On the third drive of the half, Wheatley looked good on a right-side sweep. It really began to look like the Giants’ line and running backs were getting into a rhythm. However, the score at that point in the contest dictated that the Giants throw more than run the ball. Regardless, we are encouraged by what we saw in the second half. Wheatley did screw up royally when he dropped a pass from Brown that was picked off late in the game.

H-Backs/Tight Ends: Aaron Pierce made a couple of nice plays in the first half when he caught a big third-down reception from Brown on the Giants’ first drive. He also made a nice catch on Brown’s TD throw right before the half. The Giants tried to get the ball more to Cross in this game, but it only resulted in one reception in the 4th quarter; he was wide open on a play earlier in the 3rd quarter but the ball was batted away.

Wide Receivers: It finally dawned on Calloway that the season started and he made a number of nice catches during the game. However, his holding penalty on Hampton’s sweep really hurt the Giants and stalled their first good drive of the game. In the second quarter, Thomas Lewis made a nice catch-and-run and Dawsey caught a pass from Brown over the middle. Amani Toomer continues to show rookie jitters. Brown’s deep pass to him was right on the money, but he didn’t play the ball correctly or come up with the reception. Calloway made a great block on Hampton’s long run in the 3rd quarter. Quite a few people, including ourselves, have been criticizing Lewis due to his injuries, but he’s one of the very few guys on the team who looks like a dangerous runner after the catch.

Offensive Line: Inconsistency is also their middle name. Like Brown, they did not start well. Williams and Zatechka had problems with Sean Gilbert and Greg Bishop was beaten cleanly by Ken Harvey on Brown’s first interception. In the second quarter, the line played much better and Brown was given decent pass protection. The biggest breakdown in that quarter was DE Dexter Nottage’s play against Gragg on 3rd-and-two where Nottage batted the ball down; Gragg is a big guy, he shouldn’t let a smaller guy push him back into the pocket like that. During the first offensive drive in the third quarter, Gragg was AGAIN pushed back into the pocket by the SMALLER Sterling Palmer; Palmer deflected a pass that would have gone to a wide open Howard Cross. On the next play, Stone was beaten by Dexter Nottage. These guys must play better! However, on the following series, the offensive line drove the Skins off the ball as the running game came alive and Brown had more time to pass the ball. The line did settle down in the second half and the pass protection for the most part was solid, but they did have some breakdowns. Gragg and Stone did not handle a Redskins’ stunt well late in the 4th quarter and Brown was sacked. They are improving, but their mistakes are still hurting the team.

Defensive Line: The defense played well in the first half, but they did not in the second half as the big Redskins line began to dominate and punish them. In the first half, Keith Hamilton was the star of the line as he regularly shut down the inside running game of the Skins and exerted a good pass rush on many downs. Chad Bratzke also played the run surprisingly well. Indeed, it was Robert Harris and Mike Strahan who had more problems on their side. Harris in particular did not have a good game. His absolutely stupid roughing the passer call kept a Skins’ drive alive and was directly responsible for three points. He also did not play the double-team well on running plays. Ray Agnew also continues to disappoint and left the game hurt in the second quarter. In the second half, the Redskins began to dominate the line of scrimmage, and in particular by running counter trey against the left side of the Giants defense. Harris, Strahan, and Widmer couldn’t get off their blocks quickly enough and Terry Allen made the Giants pay. The focal point of the Redskins’ attack was against Harris and he just did not play up to the challenge. The Giants later inserted rookie Bernard Holsey, but he didn’t have any more luck that Harris. To make matters worse, RT Ed Simmons largely controlled Strahan in the second half, though Strahan did pick up a sack in the 4th quarter off Simmons. When he played, we thought Cedric Jones did a better job playing off blockers; he didn’t make any plays, but the Skins usually ran the ball to the other side when he was in there.

Linebackers: Jessie Armstead did not have a good game. He dropped a sure interception and TD in the first quarter — the type of play that if he had made, could have been the momentum changer the Giants needed, and not just for the game, but for the entire season. Moreover, Jessie had trouble covering Brian Mitchell on passing plays and he missed a huge tackle against Terry Allen on Allen’s big run in the first quarter that helped to set up their first TD. On the same drive, Corey Miller couldn’t keep up with TE Jamie Asher and a perfect pass from Gus Frerotte put the Skins in business on the Giants’ five yard line. These two plays were really the only big breakdowns the Giants’ defense suffered in the first half, but they were directly responsible for seven points. Meanwhile, we thought Corey Widmer did a decent job filling gaps and stuffing the running game in the first half, but did not play as well in the second half. Indeed, Widmer misread too many plays where Allen or Stephen Davis cut back against the grain. Against the run, Armstead was blown back on a number of plays and Miller was practically invisible for the entire game.

Defensive Backs: Our biggest problem with the defensive backs is that the safeties never seem to be around the ball or make plays (like Vencie Glenn did last year). Tito Wooten is very fast, but he always appears in the picture too late. Jessie Campbell plays the run very well, but he just doesn’t make any game turning plays. Like Armstead, he had his big chance in the 3rd quarter when he made a great read on a 3rd-and-2 play action pass where he should have intercepted the ball and scored, and brought the Giants within three points, but he dropped the ball. It’s these types of mistakes that are killing the Giants. We thought it was interesting that Percy Ellsworth saw so much playing time in this game. We think this says a lot about what the Giants’ coaches think about Percy; we also think it says a lot about what they think of Wooten, Campbell, and Young. Ellsworth looked good defending one running play, then looked foolish trying to tackle Allen on another. Maurice Douglass looked good on a blitz but whiffed on Frerotte (Hamilton picked up the garbage sack). He also looked silly trying to defend a running play late in the game where he took the wrong angle on the running back. The guy is the most overpaid performer (or should we say non-performer) on the team. Sparks, Sehorn, and Randolph played well most part. Sehorn did look bad missing a tackle on Allen (the same play where Armstead missed him), Randolph was out-muscled by Westbrook on one play, and Sparks was too aggressive and was called for a pass interference penalty on the Skins’ second TD drive. Regardless, the Giants CB’s did not lose this game as the Skins WR’s were not a factor. In fact, Sehorn made what we thought was his best play ever in a Giant uniform early in the 3rd quarter by sticking to Westbrook like glue on an out pattern and intercepting the ball.

Special Teams: The good news is that Wheatley looked good returning a couple of kick-offs and the Giants largely kept Brian Mitchell in check on kick-off returns. The bad news was just about everything else. The Giants (and Special Teams Coach Joe DeCamillas) were burned badly on a fake field goal; Frerotte, the holder, hit a wide open receiver for a long TD on the play. The “drive” was also set up by a long Brian Mitchell punt return. Brad Daluiso missed a very makeable field goal; he has not played well since the mid-point of last season. Remember, PK Olindo Mare is on the practice squad and we wouldn’t be surprised to see Daluiso waived if he continues to struggle.

Coaching: Again, we had a problem here or there with some of the play-calling, but we don’t blame the play-calling for the loss. The Giants passed on first down, they ran screens, Wheatley saw more playing time, they threw deep, and the Giants ran a flea flicker — this was not the “simple” game plan we (and the press) were led to believe that we would see. Sure Reeves could have run the ball instead of passing it near the goalline, but if the play works, no one would be complaining. That play didn’t cost the Giants the game. The Giants are just not executing well enough on offense and defense. Brown looks great one moment and horrible the next, same with the offensive line. Armstead and Campbell drop sure TD’s — that’s not Reeves’ fault. Reeves has a nightmare situation on his hands now. He has a very young and impressionable team that doesn’t really believe it can win (regardless of what they say to the press). Talent-wise, with respect to the majority of the league, the Giants are not that bad; but if you don’t believe you will win, you won’t. Let’s hope Reeves has some black magic up his sleeve.