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 five sportswriters to have covered all the Super Bowls.
Dave has allowed TEAM GIANTS to reprint some of his articles.

By DAVE KLEIN
Back in February, and then all through March and up until a few days before the NFL draft, the rumor mill repeatedly ground out one name - - Will Allen, cornerback of the Giants.

There were, let's see, about half a dozen teams rumored to be interested in him. St. Louis was one. Arizona. Indianapolis. San Francisco. One or two more.

Finally, Giants' general manager Ernie Accorsi had about all he could take, and he made a curt announcement: "We have had no conversations with any team about Will Allen," he said. "No team has asked about him or his availability."

Hey, now we know why. Or did you miss watching him Monday night?

Through the years, the Giants have had cornerbacks who played deep off their man. You know, on third and five they were eight yards away. On third and nine, maybe 12 yards back. It's important to get a little room, to cut in front of a guy, to make sure he doesn't get behind you. Like that. You know?

But Allen has refined it to an art form. He plays too far off a receiver, especially a good one, and then he doesn't cover him much anyway. Monday night he was the primary cover corner on Joe Horn, and Little Joe caught nine passes for 143 yards and a touchdown - - the New Orleans Saints' only touchdown of the night in the Giants' 27-10 victory.

The week before, he had primary responsibility on Arizona's Larry Fitzgerald, and boy-oh-boy, did he hold him harmless. The second year kid was so tied up and befuddled he only managed to catch 13 passes for 155 yards and a touchdown - - the Cardinals' only offensive touchdown. Imagine what he might have done had he not had the unfortunate luck to draw Allen.

Yesterday, somebody asked Giants' head coach Tom Coughlin what he thought of his secondary, in light of the victory and the fact that the Saints were limited to 72 yards on the ground.

"Well, you can't be happy with 375 passing yards," he said, quite correctly. "Nothing can make that palatable. I don't see how you can be pleased. Yes, we have got to work better on one-on-one coverage. We have got to do a better job with our pressure package coverages and maybe make more plays. It seemed as if he [Saints' quarterback Aaron Brooks] had some time, he was able to develop and produce and we have got to do something about that."

Seemed like he had enough time? Yeah, that's a safe statement. Maybe the coach missed watching Brooks sit down, make a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, eat it and then stand up and complete another one to Horn.

So finally somebody asked why rookie Corey Webster was in at Allen's position in the second half, but then was taken out and Allen put back. "Why was he in? We substituted him in there," Coughlin said. "I told you he was going to have opportunities to play [meaning Webster]. We were trying, we liked to get him in there with the ones [that's the starting unit] and he did play regularly in the dime package. So he had an opportunity and he played pretty well with it."

And why, oh why, did he come out? When he crossed the field on one particular route, we thought he was limping a little and so we put Will back in the game at that point in time. Corey made a nice play in the end zone with the ball, knocking it down. But we did pull him because we thought - - I was trying to find out if it was his thigh, or whatever. But evidently it wasn't. He didn't think there was an issue."

This needs to be translated a bit. Coughlin put Webster in the lineup because he is eventually - - sooner than later - - going to be the starter. Allen will be the nickel back, and he will be part of the dime package, and when there are three wide receivers he will maybe be the third corner. Of course, there is Curtis Deloatch, and he has played very well when given the chance.

"There are times," Coughlin added, "when we have three or four cornerbacks on the field at the same time." This is probably to mask the fact that Webster was in and Allen was out, at least for a while until it seemed the LSU rookie had pulled a muscle.

Next year? You know, those trade rumors might just pop up all over again.

EXTRA POINTS - Coughlin said the injury sustained by placekicker Jay Feely, a strained back, wasn't serious. … "He seems to be doing well, he was sore but they didn't think it was anything serious. He was part of that group as a safety to recognize the reverse [on the trick play with the opening kickoff, a reverse that created a Saints' fumble and a recovery on the 10-yard line by free agent rookie linebacker Chase Blackburn]. But I think we're better off keeping his nose out of there unless he absolutely has to make the play."

The fumbled kickoff (by Fred McAfee) was forced by linebacker Nick Greisen and recovered by Blackburn. ... It was one of six turnovers the Giants recorded on the night - - three interceptions and three fumble recoveries. ... The Giants have five interceptions in two games, and had 14 all last season. ... Their 69 points over the two games leads the league in scoring.

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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