Sun Dec 23, 1:00 pm (CBS) - Seattle at Giants
They called it like this.
"The Seahawks weren't perfect, but they were pretty close in dominating the Cowboys 29-3 on a rainy, windy day. They committed no penalties or turnovers, scored a safety and limited the Cowboys to 218 total net yards.
In his first start in two months, Ricky Watters rushed for 104 yards and a touchdown and gained 34 more yards on five decisions before leaving with an ankle injury. "When the rain started, I had a feeling the ball would be in my hands more," Watters said. "I'm glad that I'm finally able to contribute to the team on the field."
Unfortunately, Watters is out for the remainder of the season with a broken ankle. That's the bad news for the Seahawks. The good news, is that Shaun Alexander is there to replace him. The Giants had their choice last year. They could have taken Shaun Alexander or Ron Dayne in the draft, and they chose Ron Dayne over Shaun Alexander.
Shaun Alexander is getting press like this.
Alexander has won two AFC Offensive Player of the Week awards, ranks fourth in the NFL in rushing and second on the Seahawks in receptions. In his first start of 2001, Alexander exploded for 176 yards and two touchdowns on 31 carries. He followed that up with a 142-yard, two-touchdown performance. However, he is most notorious for his 35-carry, 266-yard, three-touchdown
game against division-rival Oakland. Alexander has already rushed for more 100-yard games than Watters attained all last year, leaving fans and critics wondering how he does it. Clearly the future running back of the Seahawks is Alexander.
Ron Dayne is getting press like this.
He’s the first-round pick, and nobody around the team calls him “No Gain Dayne.” That’s just the fans, more and more all the time. The Seahawks took Alexander with the 18th overall pick in 2000 after the Giants chose Dayne at No. *11. The Giants strongly considered Alexander, but felt his style was too similar to Tiki Barber's. Dayne had the better rookie year, rushing
228 times for 770 yards while splitting time.
This year, Shaun Alexander has the better stats. Head coach Jim Fassel puts it this way. "I look at a guy over a period of time. Ron Dayne brings us a different dimension than Tiki Barber. Tiki Barber and Alexander are similar - you have to know what your personnel is. That's why I don't believe in taking the best guy on the board. "That doesn't fit the puzzle in today's game. If the best
player on the board is a clone of Tiki Barber, do you want two of them? I'm not justifying it, but I'll still stay with Ron Dayne."
If Shaun's so good, why back to Watters last week?
The Seahawks have 13 rushing touchdowns, and 12 are from Shaun Alexander, but last week Watters got the start. Mike Holmgren put it this way, "Well, a couple of things. (Watters) had come off an eight-, nine-week rehab and was healthy. He'd been playing very, very well before he got hurt. He was our best offensive player prior to his being injured. And,
I tried to split time in the game previous, against Denver, and it didn't work. And, thirdly, I thought he was more of an asset in our passing game right now. Ricky definitely helped us win that ballgame."
It's interesting to note that Holmgren had problems trying to split time between Alexander and Watters. The Giants have the same problem using both running backs Tiki Barber and Ron Dayne. Holmgren also will do anything that will help his team's passing game which is ranked 28th in the NFL, and that meant going back to Watters.
Ricky Watters will be missed.
"Ricky is real emotional, and he gets guys going," quarterback Matt Hasselbeck said. "It's almost contagious, it's infectious, and I think it helps our team.". Unfortunately, Watters cracked a bone in his right ankle during Sunday's 29-3 victory over the Dallas Cowboys in his first start since missing
10 weeks with a cracked bone in his right shoulder. It was probably his final game for the Seahawks, because he's 32 and becomes an unrestricted free agent in March.
The Seahawks have became more run-oriented without Watters in the game. Shaun Alexander gained 954 of his 1,036 yards and scored 11 of his league-high 12 rushing touchdowns while starting in eight games when Watters was out. Hasselbeck said. "It just makes us a different style of team."
That means at least 25 to 30 carries a game for Alexander,and probably less than 25 to 30 passes for Hasselbeck -- as opposed to the 60-40 pass-to-run ratio that is the norm in Holmgren's version of the West Coast offense.
Where the Giants stand.
Looking for a wild card, the Giants have the tie-breaker advantage over the Saints, so you want New Orleans to win at Tampa Bay on Sunday. The Giants can be eliminated Sunday if they lose to Seattle and the Bucs beat the Saints. If that happens, the best the Giants could do would be to tie the Bucs, but the Bucs would win the tiebreaker
against the Giants based on a better record in games against common opponents. It all starts with beating a hot Seattle team that's coming off a 29-3 win over the Cowboys. Then the Giants travel to play first place Philadelphia, and finish up with the Packers at home. The Giants get the edge against the Seahawks, because with a healthy defense, they can stop any team's running game, and
Seattle's passing game is weak.
Where the Seahawks stand.
They have hope because of the opposition they'll face. They have the 6-7 New York Giants on Sunday. Then they play the 5-9 Chargers in San Diego, and go on to host the 4-9 Kansas City Chiefs on Jan. 6. Seattle's last three games are against teams with losing records and a .359 winning percentage. Three wins and finishing with a 10-6 record, likely
means a wild card spot for Seattle.
Seahawks on the move.
The Seattle Seahawks, the only team to switch conferences, will move to the NFC West from the AFC West, to join the Arizona Cardinals, relocating from the NFC East. The other two teams in the NFC West in 2002 are St. Louis and San Francisco. This week some players toured the locker rooms and adjoining facilities at the new Seahawks stadium.
Nearly double the size of the Kingdome locker rooms, the new stadium's facilities span 16,000 square feet. The stadium features modern amenities and separate lockers for both football and soccer home and visiting teams. "When you go into new stadiums, if everything is done properly, then it's a boost for your organization," said free safety Marcus Robertson. "Coming from a situation that
I was in Tennessee where we did the same thing there and moved into a new stadium, it just changed the whole morale of the team.". The $450-million stadium is scheduled to be completed in August.
Notes:
Seahawks offensive lineman Chris McIntosh was one of the blockers who allowed the Giants' Ron Dayne to set the all-time college rushing record at Wisconsin.
Giants' defensive tackle Cornelius Griffin and Seattle's Alexander won an SEC title together in 1998 at Alabama.
Giants expect to have both Jurevicius and RB Damon Washington back for this weekend's contest with Seattle.
Seahawks RB Ricky Watters is out for the season with a broken right ankle.
Michael Strahan's split sack with Brandon Short increased his league-leading total to 17,which is the second-highest single-season total in Giants history. Lawrence Taylor is first with 20.5 in 1986.
Strahan has 79 career sacks, one-half behind Leonard Marshall for second place on the Giants' career list..
Giants at 6-7, are 3 games behind the first-place 9-4 Philadelphia Eagles in the NFC East.
Next Game
Dec 30, Giants at Philadelphia 4:00 PM.
For those very organized fans.
If you use a Palm Pilot and want to keep the Giants schedule, and actually the whole NFL schedule on it, there is a free download available here at PFL.
Last Week's review, game 13 - Giants 17- Cards 13
|
