Giants - good medicine for the Redskins?
The Redskins were 1-2 when they beat the star-struck Giants last time at the Meadowlands, and they went on to win four more games. The Redskins haven't been doing so well lately though, losing 3 out of their last 4 games, and they're looking to start out on a new winning streak.
After this game with the Giants, the Redskins face Dallas, Pittsburgh and then end their regular-season against Arizona. These are all winnable games for them, and it's hard to believe they can even take the Giants seriously after that first game between them. However, the Redskins will easily stay focused because of the playoff implications. They would also like to close the strange inner-division win-loss circle that has been developing. The Giants have beaten the Eagles twice, and the Eagles have beaten the Redskins twice, and if the Redskins win, they will have beaten the Giants twice.

Running or passing - choose your poison.
Quarterback Brad Johnson will be back for this game, and two big weapons for the Redskins on offense are running back Stephen Davis, and wide receiver Albert Connell. Davis is expected to return after missing the Eagles game with a fractured right forearm. He has 261 carries for 1,073 yards and 10 TDs. Leading receiver Albert Connell has 32 catches for 684 yards and 3 TDs, but looks doubtful for this game with a sprained right knee. That's fine. Given a choice, the Giants would rather defend against the run. Davis has a lot of heart, but playing injured with a heavily taped-up arm puts him at a distinct disadvantage, especially against the hard hitting Giants who are ranked 2nd in the league in run defense.
If the Giants can contain the run they will be lucky if Connell isn't in the game, but will still have to contend with wide receiver James Thrash who has 40 catches for 510 yards and 2 TDs. Throw in fullback Larry Centers with his 56 catches for 412 yards and 3 TDs, and tough veterans Irving Fryar and Andre Reed, and things get complicated real fast. Fryar is playing with a pinched nerve in his right shoulder, but he can handle that.

Another weakness.
The Giants are 7-0 in games where they've scored first, and 1-4 in games when they haven't. It would seem that things either work for the Giants from the onset, or they don't work at all. In the first halves of their 4 losses, the Giants have been out-scored 80-7. Much has been said about the abilities of offensive coordinator Sean Payton. Maybe he just appeared to be good, taking over those play-calling duties from an even lesser skilled Jim Fassel. It's either that, or the Giants just don't have the offensive talent to accomplish the task.
This one's really hard to figure. Everyone agrees that the front line is better than last year. The Giants easily have a better running game than they had, having added Heisman trophy winner Ron Dayne, and with Tiki Barber proving week after week that he's the team's most potent weapon. You could hedge on how well the receivers are doing this year. Although productive, there were a number of drive-killing dropped passes in those games the Giants lost.

Maybe it's the coaching.
Tight end Pete Mitchell proved to be a much needed resource last year, but has been used very sparingly to date. Sure he was hurt early on, but why wasn't such a sure talent involved in more games?
That makes you wonder about the coaching again, which also brings up the whole special teams issue. They've performed poorly, or one could say been allowed to perform poorly, all season long until punter Brad Maynard finally opened his mouth and drew lots of added media attention to an obviously bad functioning unit, coming off a terrible game.
Jim Fassel had to do something now, and he also assigned a few veteran players to help chip in on some plays and provide a serious attitude to the special teams unit. Wouldn't it have been a great coaching move on Jim Fassel's part if he had done something like this earlier in the season? Isn't it his job to jump on the weaknesses fast instead of letting them grow week after week until they hurt the team in the worst ways possible? The Giants spent time and money developing Bashir Levingston, but cutting him is a sure warning to others of what can happen if they screw up in a game. If Fassel had acted sooner, maybe Levingston would still have a job. Maybe special team's coach, Larry Mac Duff, would have more respect right now, if he in fact deserves it, and maybe the Giants would even have one more win.

Focus on Kerry Collins.
Everyone would agree that the quarterback position is better off now with just Kerry Collins, rather than the seesaw mix of Kent Graham and Kerry Collins used last year. Kerry has completed 58.8 percent of his passes for 17 TDs and 10 INTs and has a passer rating of 82.4. That's the highest rating for any Giants quarterback since 1993 when Phil Simms was at 88.3. Simms threw for 21 touchdowns in 1988, and Collins has 17 so far, also has the most for a Giant quarterback since 1988.
Kerry Collins is good, and he was very effective last week against the Cardinals, making smart, accurate throws, and completing 20 of the 30 passes he attempted, for 232 yards and 1 touchdown, but he didn't complete a pass longer than 21 yards.
Collins has a real strong arm, and visions of overthrown passes reside in your mind from times when the Giants needed a big comeback completion the most. Kerry has to make more of those deep passes work. His passing rating is only 68.2 in the games the Giants lost, compared to 92.4 in the winning ones.
Despite the fact that Jim Fassel has made rash statements to draw all the pressure to him and off his players, the focus and Monday morning stories will be about Kerry Collins' performance in this game. It's the quarterback on the field who leads his team in comebacks and that hasn't happened at all for the Giants, unless you count overcoming an early first quarter field goal in the game the Giants won against Cleveland 24-3. If feeding the ball off to Barber and Dayne doesn't work, Collins will be called on to complete passes until it does. Hopefully he can step up this game and show that he wasn't just lucky early in his career, and is the kind of quarterback who can consistently lead a team to the playoffs.

Run Kerry run.
Eagles QB Donovan McNabb was a problem for the Redskins last week. He can really scramble, and he ran for 125 yards in the Eagles win over the Redskins. Linebacker LaVar Arrington suffered a first-quarter concussion, and while his presence for the entire game wouldn't have turned McNabb into a pocket passer like Kerry Collins, it certainly could have made a difference in the outcome of that close game.
Bruce Smith, Marco Coleman, Dan Wilkinson and Dana Stubblefield will enjoy facing a pocket passer like Kerry Collins after facing the likes of McNabb last week. Bruce Smith has 9 sacks so far this season, after recording 7 and 10 the two years prior with the Bills. He goes up against Lomas Brown, who injured his ankle in the first quarter of last week's Cards game. It's hard to feel confident that Brown playing at less than a hundred percent, will be able to stop Bruce Smith. Arrington should be back in the mix as well. Let's hope that if we see Collins on a roll-out or on the run, that it's more by design than in fear.

Giants receivers.
Who can Collins throw to this week? Ike Hilliard is still out, recovering from the bruised sternum and lungs he suffered in a collision playing against Detroit. Joe Jurevicius had his right foot stepped on near the end of practice on Friday and was in pain. Coach Fassel thinks like a coach and says Joe will be fine for the game. Ron Dixon played in the game last week for the first time after missing a few before that, recovering from an injury. Amani Toomer seems to have fully recovered from that mild concussion he suffered in the Rams game. Who knows? Maybe tight end Pete Mitchell could be of some use if the Giants actually decide to let some go his way.
For coverage, the Redskins put up cornerbacks Champ Bailey, Deion Sanders, and Darrell Green, which is an impressive force, especially when combined with good quarterback pressure from their front four.

Fassel's statement.
The coach went on record saying that the Giants would be in the playoffs. He didn't have to say anything at all, and the Giants would have beaten the Cardinals last game anyway. Now all the 8-4 Giants have to do is beat Washington, go on to beat the Steelers, Cowboys and Jaguars, and they win the NFC East. Fassel didn't commit to being the division champs, so all those wins aren't necessary, but beating 7-5 Washington is certainly the most important.

Injuries: GIANTS: OUT: WR Ike Hilliard (sternum/lung) QUESTIONABLE: RB Joe Montgomery (thigh); LB Brandon Short (ankle) PROBABLE: T Lomas Brown (leg); G Ron Stone (ribs).
Washington: OUT: T Ed Ellis (knee) QUESTIONABLE: RB Larry Centers (knee); WR Albert Connell (knee) PROBABLE: LB LaVar Arrington (concussion); DE Marco Coleman (shoulder); RB Stephen Davis (forearm); CB Darrell Green (calf); RB Skip Hicks (hamstring); G Keith Sims (Achilles); WR James Thrash (thigh).

Notes

Redskins are 7th in total offense, 15th in rushing, 7th in passing.
Redskins are 5th in total defense, 9th against the rush, 3rd against the pass.

Giants are 10th in total offense, 8th in rushing, 15th in passing.
Giants are 8th in total defense, 2nd against the rush, 19th against the pass.

Redskins have won the last 4 games against the Giants.
In those games, they have outscored the Giants 110-54.

Redskins Brad Johnson, has thrown 5 touchdown passes and only 1 interception, and has a compiled quarterback rating of 110 in his 3-0 wins over the Giants.

Brad Johnson is the first Redskins quarterback to beat the Giants 3 times in a row since Joe Theismann won 6 in a row from 1981-84.

Redskins won the last game 16-6 at Giants Stadium.
The Giants managed a late score with 2:25 remaining in the game.

Next Game
Dec 10, Steelers at Giants, 1PM CBS

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Last Week's review, Giants 31, Cards 7

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