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.

SIZES HAVE INCREASED REMARKABLY -- BUT SO HAS SPEED,   
AND THE GIANTS WILL FACE A GIGANTIC DALLAS O-LINE SUNDAY

By DAVE KLEIN

Through the years, the sizes of players in the NFL have increased almost algebraically. They are bigger and faster, in concert, and present the kind of challenge to other players that wasn't even conceived of 25, 30, 35 years ago.

Sam Huff was a Pro Bowl middle linebacker for the Giants and is now safely ensconced in the Hall of Fame, yet he was 6-0 and 210. Today, even if he had the speed, he wouldn't even be a fair-sized safety.

Jim Parker, perhaps the best offensive lineman of his day (the 1950s and 1960s), a man who made the Pro Bowl at both tackle and guard in various years, is also in the Hall of Fame -- and he was 6-4 and 270. Good grief, there are tight ends bigger than that these days.

The first 300-pounder your faithful correspondent can remember is a guy named Milton Hardaway, who played offensive tackle for the Kansas City Chiefs in the mid-1960s. He wasn't very good, nor was he very memorable, but he certainly was big.

Defensive end Andy Robustelli, also a Hall of Fame Giant, was 6-3 and 230. Rosey Grier, one of the "big guys" on the defensive line, weighed 275-280 pounds.

The point is that the players are not only bigger and faster; they are far more sophisticated in what they learn to do and how they learn to play. It really isn't the same game you and I played in junior high school; somewhere along the way, it changed and we didn't.

The message here is that the Giants are going to face the Dallas Cowboys on Sunday in Giants Stadium, in a game that can mean everything to their hopes for a return to that post-season Promised Land. And they are going to face the biggest offensive line in captivity, according to gnomes in the Giants research department who came up with 1,637 pounds for the five starters -- tackles Flozell Adams and Marc Colombo, guards Cory Proctor and Leonard Davis and center Andre Gurode. Davis is the "big kid" of the quintet at 353 pounds; Proctor, a guard (normally a sub center) is the baby at 308.

"The thing is that they are big and good," says defensive end Justin Tuck, a mere 6-5 and 274. "You've got to stay low because if they can get up under you, they'll just root you out of there. That's their goal, and that's what we can't let them do."

Most football people insist that the games are won and lost "in the pits," on both sides of the ball. If the defensive line handles the offensive line, that team wins; if the offensive line plows over the defensive line, that team wins. The Cowboys are likely going to start two rookie cornerbacks and that can be catastrophic for the pass defense if the Giants' offensive line keeps the bruisers away.

It is a game played between the lines. The Giants have one of the top offensive lines in the league while the Cowboys' front seven is reputed to be among the NFL's best in that category. Weakside linebacker/sometimes defensive end DeMarcus Ware has nine sacks; he's the best of the Dallas front seven but the others are superb. Ware is going to be rushing at Giants' left tackle David Diehl, using his speed and quickness to control the more solid and slower Diehl.

But in the 3-4 formation the Cowboys usually employ, Ware is going to move around and shoot the angles from several different stances. He is a threat and the Giants know it; they have practiced offensive line techniques not normally employed to prepare for him.

It should be quite a game, remembering that last year after their eighth game the Giants were 6-2 and elated. If they show up 6-2 after the eighth game (that's the one on Sunday) they'll be severely disappointed.

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Now we offer the weekly feature, "Stats You Can't Find Anywhere Else," compiled by the increasingly-more-studious Aaron K. Enjoy, and remember that statistics tell a story, too, depending on how you read them.

GAME 7 STATISTICS
Giants 21, Steelers 14
Oct. 26, 2008

TeamGiants Note: The detailed statistics appear in the regular subscriber's issue and are not available here.

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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