E-GIANTS
Dave Klein was the Giants' beat writer
for The Star-Ledger from 1961 to 1995.
He is the author of 26 books and he is one of
only four sportswriters to have covered all the Super Bowls.
Dave has allowed TEAM GIANTS to reprint some of his articles.

By DAVE KLEIN
WHEN AN OFFENSE HAS A WEAK LINK THE GOOD COACHES CAN COMPENSATE

Ask most Giant fans to identify the key to this season's offense and chances are they'll pick one of three choices -- who replaces left tackle Luke Petitgout, who replaces running back Tiki Barber and will Eli Manning ever ascend to the levels anticipated for him?

Well, before you get fixated on one choice, let's do a little history lesson which involves wandering down the Giants' memory lane. If you are unforgivably young, check with your father (dare I say grandfather?). In 1961, the Giants were being led by a new head coach, Allie Sherman. They had a great season, led as they were by a newly-obtained veteran quarterback named Y.A. Tittle and a newly-obtained veteran wide receiver, Del Shofner.

The running game was ordinary at best, featuring aging Alex Webster, younger but equally plodding Phil King and a little-used future star named Joe Morrison.

The Giants approached the final game of the season with a 10-3 record (they only played 14 games in those years), tied with the Philadelphia Eagles, a situation that seems to have always been in place, you know?

The nightmare was that "Big Red" (Webster) and "The Chief" (King) both came up hurt for the final game against the Cleveland Browns in Yankee Stadium. What to do? What to do?

Sherman had to sell his idea to his assistant coaches, but ultimately they agreed. He was going to use the short pass instead of the run; sideline passes, mostly, three and four yards downfield. It didn't matter much if any additional yardage was gained. The completion would set up a second-and-seven, second-and-six, and suddenly the Giants were in a passing mode.

It worked. The game ended in a 7-7 deadlock -- "a tie for Christmas," as one of the local newspapers so cleverly headlined -- while the Eagles lost and finished at 10-4 to the Giants' 10-3-1.

It was on to the NFL championship game, a 37-0 horror show against the Packers in Green Bay, but a championship game nonetheless.

Basically, Sherman replaced the running game with the pass. He had the passer to do it and he had the receivers to do it and it worked.

How does this apply to 2007, an astonishing 46 years later? If the Giants have trouble with Manning stepping up, they are going to use the short passes to tight end Jeremy Shockey and reserve running back Reuben Droughns. They are going to send wide receiver Amani Toomer (if he's healthy) or one of the younger ones (Sinorice Moss and rookie Steve Smith) out on shorter routes, those little circle patterns out of the backfield and the equally short flare patterns to the sidelines.

You cannot successfully defend that unless you give up cornerbacks, and once you do that, the ever-increasing presence of the 6-4, 260-pound Brandon Jacobs is going to wreak more and more havoc.

Football is all a replacement game. Plug in the run for the pass. Plug in the pass for the run. Make it work. This is not a one-man game. It is a game played by 11 at a time, and often the sum of the parts is what counts, not the individual quality or skill sets of a few.

Oh, and you might concern yourselves with a fullback, too, since veteran Jim Finn is gone for the season and likely for his career.

EXTRA POINTS -- Former Giants' linebacker Dhani Jones will sign a one-year contract with the New Orleans Saints, almost certainly for the veteran minimum salary. ... The 29-year-old former sixth round pick out of Michigan in 2000 played in all 16 games for the Philadelphia Eagles last season with 55 tackles and 21 assists. ... He was waived by Philadelphia after the draft.

In must be some sort of concerted campaign. ... In the last few weeks, interviews with tight end Jeremy Shockey and former Pro Bowl linebacker Carl Banks have offered praise for the new starting running back, Brandon Jacobs, while former Hall of Fame running back Frank Gifford has "guaranteed" that Eli Manning will be "a better quarterback than his father [Archie]." ... He didn't go so far as to say he'll be better than his older brother, however.

Defensive end Michael Strahan was talking about challenges. ... "There are a few facing me this season," he said, "and that energizes me. First, there is the challenge of playing well on what was a bad foot after 15 years. I'm older. It is probably not going to be the same as if I was doing this 10 years ago. Then there is the challenge of pushing myself. I always have done that and now there is more at stake. What? Well, Mathias [Kiwanuka] is going to be a linebacker this year, not a defensive end. I think that's a great idea. He is very athletic and he can make a difference on this defense. So my challenge is to help him however I can."

It was pointed out that years ago defensive end Leonard Marshall and linebacker Lawrence Taylor played on the same side and just blew up most offenses. As the head coach then, Bill Parcells, said: "If they are on the same side of the line, who are you going to block? Whichever guy you choose, you have just made the wrong decision."

Finally, does Strahan feel that getting the all-time team sack record (he is currently tied with L.T. at 132.5) is a challenge? "Nope, the sacks will come if I play well. That might be the easy part."

Check out Dave's website at E-GIANTS where you can subscribe to his newsletters which run much more frequently than what is available here.
- Team Giants

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