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
EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. - - You may have been wondering, along with hundreds of thousands of other Giant fans, why there has been such little usage of rookie running back Brandon Jacobs.

He has carried the ball 12 times in the four games played so far and gained 60 yards. That's 5.0 per carry. He has converted on four of six third-and-one opportunities.He has scored two touchdowns.

"He is a force," said tight ends coach Mike Pope yesterday, on that one magical day during the season when the media was allowed to speak to the assistant coaches, however contrived the opportunity.

And why would the tight ends coach be asked about Jacobs. Well, the questioning began this way: "If you had Brandon Jacobs to work with, could you make him a good tight end?"

"Hey, first of all he's bigger and faster than the tight ends we have here," Pope said. "He is a legitimate 6-4 and 265 points. And he’s fast. Oh, yeah, he's very fast. He has great hands, too. He catches everything and makes it look easy. He is definitely a force, but I wouldn’t want him to be a tight end. He is one big running back and I would like to watch that develop."

But when, coach? Pope smiled.

"Can you imagine when it's really cold up here?" he said. "When nobody wants to tackle something that big and strong? Look forward to it."

A chance meeting with Jerry Reese, the team’s director of player personnel, shed more light on this unlikely running back.

"What made him a fourth round draft pick?" he was asked. He stopped and smiled, clearly enjoying the chance to talk about a successful lower round selection.

"Well, he came from a junior college," he said. "Then he went to Auburn and transferred. Then he goes to Southern Illinois and becomes part of a three-man rotation in the backfield. So people wonder, why didn't he start if he's that good? The answer, we think, is that the other two guys were seniors, had been there all along and the staff wasn't just going to sit them down and play Brandon all the time."

But Jacobs did carry the ball 159 times at SIU for 922 yards and 19 touchdowns. "Yeah, and he left Auburn because he was playing behind Ronnie Brown [the second overall draft pick this year] and Carnell Williams [the fifth overall pick]," Reese reminded.

General manager Ernie Accorsi said it best - - "No one would have blamed Red Grange if he transferred out of that kind of situation."

Some scout said recently that the Jacobs draft was an example of 31 stupid teams and one blindly lucky one. Reese smiled. "This isn't an exact science," he said. "Drafting can be very confusing. And I guess there were 31 stupid teams and one very lucky one concerning [New England quarterback] Tom Brady, right?"

Yeah, right.

Offensive coordinator John Hufnagel was also asked about Jacobs, and he smiled, too. Funny thing, coaches who get to talk about this man-mountain smile a lot. "As he matures, we would definitely like to get him into the game a little bit more," he said. "He has been very good running the football, especially when we need the tough yards. His maturity will continue and we can get him on the field more. You have a good running back in him already. We'll develop ways that we can use him more as the year goes along."

Yeah, and as it gets colder and tackling a man that big and that fact becomes a more dismal prospect, and when fingers and hands are numb and it hurts with every contact.

Somebody then said that a few scouts who have watched him (no doubt while salivating) suggested he runs too high. Hufnagel smiled again. "We are working on him to get his pad level down, and that’ll come."

On the other hand, it's probably asking a lot for a 6-4 player to run especially low. It would be well to remember that running backs like Eric Dickerson and Ottis Anderson ran high, too. Dickerson ran like that all the way to the Hall of Fame, and Ottis is going to get there soon, too.

EXTRA POINTS - - The Giants lead the league in scoring with 136 points, nearly 35 per game. ... They have, on the other hand, surrendered 98, almost half of them (45) in the one game against San Diego. ... Still, they are giving up an average of 425 yards per game, and that’s absolutely embarrassing. ... "I am concerned with the entire defense," said coordinator Tim Lewis. "I am concerned with everything about the defense. You have to try not to put guys in jeopardy but we still have to make the plays, like interceptions and fumble recoveries."

Lewis did strongly hint, however, that right cornerback Will Peterson (lower back/transverse process) might not be around for a while. ... "There is not much choice," he said, "but to prepare for the loss of Will Peterson."

Surprisingly, the Giants have a plus-10 in the giveaway/takeaway chart, by far the best figure in the NFL (Atlanta is next at plus-4) and second in the NFL (Cincinnati has an astronomical plus-17). ... The Giants have eight interceptions (they had 14 all last season) and six fumble recoveries (they had 14 last season). ... The Giants' all-time team record for points in a season was set in 1963 with 448, but it should be noted that teams played only 14 games then. ... They scored over 40 three times, over 30 seven times -- but had only 98 points after the first four games.

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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