|
Giants
- Dallas
1999 Game 16 - 4PM ET
Somebody's
gotta make it
Do the Giants deserve to be in the playoffs?
"Somebody's gotta make it," Armstead
said. "If you make the top six teams no matter what the circumstances,
you were better than the other guys that didn't make it."
If you ask Percy Ellsworth, he'll come back at you.
"If
you were judging it by past playoff teams and everything,
then no," Ellsworth said. "If you're judging it by this year
with all the parity that's in the league, then definitely
so. We've beaten some teams [Bucs, Bills] that will go to
the playoffs. There's so much parity in this league that any
team that finishes 8-8 in this year's league deserves to go."
Head Coach Jim Fassel says, "I want to beat Dallas. If it
leads to a playoff spot, wonderful. If it doesn't, we'd better
go out and play."
Cowboys
owner Jerry Jones thinks his Cowboys should be the "Somebody's
gotta make it" team. He called in 20 players on Monday,
and spoke with them about it.
Deion Sanders said, "That was good. I enjoyed it. I like to
see Jerry like that. If that speech didn't encourage us to
go out there and play, especially us million-dollar players,
something is wrong. It was harsh. It was stern."
Giants
owner Wellington Mara addressed the Giants at their team meeting
on Wednesday morning, and that was truly a rare occurrence
for him. Fran Tarkenton was the quarterback last time he did
it.
Keith Hamilton said, "You could hear a pin drop" when Mara
began to speak.
If you value your job and you value being here, you're going
to go out there and do the very best you can because it didn't
seem like he was joking to me.
I have a tremendous amount of respect for the man. He lives
and breathes football and I know he's trying to assemble a
crew of guys to whom it means as much, too."
Fans on the message boards who say that their teams should
lose for the opportunity of securing a better draft pick are
a bit off track as to what these teams really have their minds
set on.
Some of these message boards are The
Giant Insider, Cowboy
Insiders, Silver
Star Forum.
In
case you're feeling low about how your team did this season,
let's wrap up this section by mentioning that only 5 of the
15 NFC teams have winning records so far, and after Sunday,
it could go down to just 4.
The
Playoff picture
So
what we have here is two 7-8 teams, encouraged by their very
concerned owners, fighting it out for the wildcard spot.
There won't even be much of a chance for the Giants to get
a wildcard opportunity If the Cardinals can't find a way to
beat Green Bay in the earlier game that day.
By the way, the Cardinals haven't beaten the Packers in Green
Bay since 1947, and if Green Bay wins, the Giants will have
to beat the Cowboys by 56 points more than the Packers' margin
of victory.
Dallas controls their own destiny. They win, and they're in.
As for who they would play, it will be either the Buccaneers
in Tampa or the Redskins in Washington. It will be the Bucs
if they beat the Bears on Sunday in Chicago.
Wildcard or not, it's the first game of the new century for
each team to win or lose.
One team will get into the playoffs with an 8-8 record, and
one will end their 7-9 season, losing their very first game
of the new millennium.
Last
time
The Giants beat the Cowboys earlier this season on Monday
night football. They held Emmitt Smith to 26 yards on 22 carries,
for a 1.2 yard average. The recap of that game is here at
Giants 13
- Dallas 10.
Tiki Barber racked up 231 all purpose yards in that game.
Last week
Emmitt Smith played a big part in the Cowboys loss
to New Orleans last week. Emmitt had 110 yards on 23 carries
for his eighth 100 yard game of the season, but his fumble
in the 4th quarter was returned 58 yards to give New Orleans
a 31-24 lead.
Then, the Cowboys had a shot on the Saints 6 yard line with
1:14 left, but Aikman was picked off in the end zone. It was
the second straight week that Aikman threw a 4th quarter interception
in the end zone.
The
Giants were outplayed in their 34-17 loss to the Minnesota
Vikings, a game that held playoff hopes for them. Owner Wellington
Mara felt there was a lack of desire by the players in that
game, and that's why he decided to address the team for the
first time in 30 years, message being "Shape up or ship out."
He promised to give input on every player during off-season
meetings, and while he said he might be talked out of getting
rid of players he wanted to jettison, he would have to be
convinced. Mara said he was, spurred by the empty seats in
our stadium early in the 4th quarter. "That shows we're
not giving fans what they want."
This
week
As long as we're mentioning some big names for Dallas, you
might as well know that Deion Sanders, used lately as a third
down receiver, might be more active in that role for this
game against the Giants.
Toss in Jason Tucker, who came up big last week with 7 receptions
for 128 yards, and Raghib Ismail, 3 catches for 28 yards,
and the Giants secondary will have their work cut out for
them.
Since the NFL was concerned about the Y2K issue, every team
playing on the road this weekend had to leave on Friday.
The Giants had an extended road trip, spending New Year's
Eve away from home.
Giants RB Joe Montgomery hasn't practiced this week but is
still expected to start despite sore ribs. Look for Sean Bennett
to get some playing time in his place.
The Cowboys secondary has been surrendering big plays the
last two weeks, and the Giants have been very successful with
their passing game. Amani Toomer is 2 receptions and 62 receiving
yards short of becoming the Giants all time single-season
leader in both categories.
Notes
Cowboys
on offense: 18th in total offense, 7th in rushing, 24th in
passing
Cowboys
on defense: 8th in total defense, tied for 7th against the
rush, 12th against the pass.
Cowboys
are the most penalized team in the league with 129 for a league
high 1,140 yards..
Cowboys
have a 6-1 record at home.
Cowboys
have lost 8 of their last 12 games.
Giants
on offense: 17th in total offense, 24th in rushing, 9th in
passing.
Giants
on defense: 12th in total defense, 11th against the rush,
15th against the pass.
QB
Kerry Collins is 3-0 against Dallas from his days in New Orleans
and Carolina.
Next
week and so on
January 8-9 -- Wild Card Weekend.
January 15-16 -- Divisional Playoffs.
January 23 -- Conference Championships.
January 30 -- Super Bowl, Atlanta.
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Previous
Stories
|
1999
NFC EAST - Week 16
|
| Team |
W |
L |
T |
PCT |
PF |
PA |
Home |
Away |
AFC |
NFC |
DIV |
Streak |
Washington |
9 |
6 |
0 |
.600 |
422 |
367 |
5-2 |
4-4 |
1-2 |
8-4 |
5-3 |
W1 |
NY Giants |
7 |
8 |
0 |
.467 |
281 |
332 |
4-4 |
3-4 |
2-2 |
5-6 |
3-4 |
L2 |
Dallas |
7 |
8 |
0 |
.467 |
326 |
258 |
6-1 |
1-7 |
1-3 |
6-5 |
4-3 |
L2 |
Arizona |
6 |
9 |
0 |
.400 |
221 |
333 |
4-4 |
2-5 |
0-4 |
6-5 |
5-3 |
L3 |
Philadelphia |
4 |
11 |
0 |
.267 |
234 |
326 |
3-4 |
1-7 |
1-3 |
3-8 |
2-6 |
W1 |
|
The 1998 Roster