The Bears, who cares - easy win for the Giants right?
The unbeaten Giants at 2-0 are playing the winless 0-2 Bears. Last week, Chicago was embarrassed and shut out 41-0, by Tampa Bay, while the Giants were easily handling the Eagles 33-18 in their own stadium. This game against the Bears should be a cakewalk, a simple tune-up on the road to a real football contest next week. The Giants face off against their division rivals, the Washington Redskins who were favored to win the NFC East and who stand currently stand at 1-1.
But wait a minute, the odds makers favor the Bears to win this game. Sure the Bears beat the Giants in preseason, but the Giants were winning before the regulars left that game. What's up here?
Well, it has to do with playing styles. The Bears use variations of the run and shot, and spread the field. Tampa Bay was able to use just their front four to apply pressure on Chicago quarterback Donovan McNabb, leaving them in good position to play a two-deep zone behind them. You might have noticed that the Giants use more players up front, and rely on man to man coverage. That's dangerous against the Bears. Head coach Jim Fassel says, "They're going to try to make the quick throws. They're going to try to spread you out, create matchups, make you miss tackles and make big plays out of it. It's a different challenge."

The Bears, home at last.
This game will be the Bears home opener, and they will be ready to go head to head against the Giants. They opened the season with two road losses, 30-27 at Minnesota and 41-0 at Tampa Bay. No team wants to be sitting with an 0-3 season start, and they will go all out this game as their season hangs in the balance.
They were competitive in losing their first game, and in the second, the Bucs defense forced four turnovers to help build a 20 point halftime lead. The Bears let down after that, allowing the Bucs to score on five of their last seven possessions. Tiki's brother Ronde, a cornerback for the Bucs, had 5 tackles, 2½ sacks and one forced fumble, besides a fumble recovery for a touchdown in that game.
Meanwhile, things have been just a little too easy for the Giants this year sitting at 2-0, so you have to be concerned about team attitude. It doesn't help that the Giants have been hearing all about the Redskins for way too long now and could be looking ahead to their game next week. They'll have to pay attention as Chicago plays their spread-the-field offense, with three and sometimes four wideouts. If you look past special teams, the next weakest link on the Giants is their lack of depth and experience in the secondary. The Giants defense will have to stay focused and not let Chicago find any weak links they can keep hitting. This is the biggest area of concern.

The leading running back for the Giants last year.
I know. You can't get the names Ron Dayne and Tiki Barber out of your head, and why not, together these two have the Giants leading the NFL in rushing after two games, this, after averaging 88.1 per game in 1999, for the Giants worst rushing season since 1953. Anyway, if you think hard, you'll remember it was Joe Montgomery who lead the Giants with 348 rushing yards last year, playing with cracked ribs when the Giants needed him to. This year, although healthy, Joe hasn't set foot on the field, being declared inactive for both games. What's happened?
It didn't help Joe that Ron Dayne was selected as the number one draft pick for the Giants. Jim Fassel might be a little gun shy about not starting front office selected talent, after letting their hand-picked favorite quarterback Kerry Collins sit on the bench most of last (losing) season, in favor of Kent Graham.
Ron Dayne gained 50 yards last week on 21 carries for a 2.4 yards per rush average, and many times, the first tackler was able to bring him down. Ron's total average is higher at 2.9 yards per carry, when you add in what he accomplished against a banged up Arizona defensive unit. The plus side for Ron Dayne is that he's still new, and should learn to hit holes and break tackles better as time goes on.

Getting on the field.
Meanwhile, Joe Montgomery averaged 3.0 last year for the Giants, and is known as a back who gains the majority of his yardage after contact. Joe earned his shot last season only after the Giants lost Gary Brown to injury, weren't satisfied with LeShon Johnson's numbers and Sean Bennett didn't prove out. Joe did his running between injuries, behind an inferior offensive line, and without the new game plans, which include some Tiki Barber razzle dazzle distractions. The downside for Joe Montgomery, who spent his childhood in the projects outside of Chicago, and played for Ohio State, is the question of his durability. He would have a lot of local fans cheering for him if he plays this weekend on the road against Chicago.
The Giants claim that Joe has been on the inactive list because he doesn't contribute enough on special teams. One might wonder if is Jim Fassel hoping to avoid some potential controversy here. Also, if he sits Ron Dayne and Joe is more productive on the field, will he have his rookie Heisman trophy winner pouting, and wishing he was somewhere else?
The players are the talent, and the coaches are supposed to have the know-how to squeeze every ounce of that talent onto the playing field. For whatever reason, Jim Fassel never managed that with his 1995 1st round draft pick, Tyrone Wheatley. Tyrone was here when the Giants needed a good running back. Now Tyrone is playing for Oakland, and last year averaged 3.9 yards a carry on 242 attempts for 936 yards.

Where do these quarterbacks come from?
The Giants spent the first game chasing Arizona Cardinals quarterback Jake Plummer, and then elusive quarterback Donovan McNabb. Now, they will be trying to contain Cade McNown, who rushed 10 times for 87 yards against the Minnesota Vikings, and 5 times for 49 yards against the Bucs.
Defensive tackle Keith Hamilton says, "You have all these guys who are mobile now. There's not a lot of Drew Bledsoes and Dan Marinos anymore." Jim Fassel says he isn't looking for an all out pass rush against the Bears. He wants "lane integrity" against scrambling quarterback Cade McNown, who leads the Bears in rushing yardage.

The Giants defense.
Chicago has yet to establish a good running game, and just as other teams did against the Giants last year, defenses can just sit and defend against the pass without honoring the run. The Giants have the NFL's 3rd best rushing defense, having limited opponents to 99 yards rushing. Last week, Duce Staley of the Eagles, coming off a big 200 yard plus week, was held to only 11 yards on 7 carries. Of the 99 rushing yards given up by the Giants, 63 were by opposing quarterbacks. Cade McNown leads the Bears in rushing with 136 yards on 15 carries.
Last week against the Eagles, the sacks were from the the front four, and there was good pressure up front with the defensive linemen hitting Donovan McNabb 12 times. The Giants can use all the pressure they can get to keep McNown from exploiting their secondary. Sometimes the Bears will line up with an empty backfield and four or five receivers, which means the Giants will take linebacker Ryan Phillips and a lineman off the field and add extra defensive backs.
Jim Fassel said that because of the way Chicago plays, his young defensive backs are going to be on the field a lot more. "If the Bears think one of those guys is inexperienced and they can pick on 'em, they'll do it. I think we're going to have to improve on our open-field tackling and have great pursuit to the ball."

The Giants offense.
After two games Tiki Barber is leading the NFC in rushing with 240 yards on just 24 carries. His 294 total yards from scrimmage rank 3rd behind the 331 yards that both the Rams Marshall Faulk and the Eagles Duce Staley have. Chicago's first round draft pick, Brian Urlacher, will get his first NFL start. Barry Minter, the Bears starting MLB, has an injured back, and Urlacher will play for him. The Giants have the NFL's No. 1 rushing offense, and even without rookies starting for them, the Bears rank 30th against the rush.

Kerry Collins is fourth among NFC passers with a 95.6 rating, and many feel, that he is playing better than he has in his career, including the season he took the Panthers to the NFC Championship. Kerry will have tight end Pete Mitchell to throw to in this game. Pete is coming off an injury and starting in his first regular season game. Last year he caught 58 passes for 520 yards, and that was with the old offense and old gameplan. Collins might need a tight end to throw to since the Bears defense held Vikings Pro Bowl WRs Cris Carter and Randy Moss to just 6 catches for 115 yards combined in Week 1. Then they held the Bucs Pro Bowl WR Keyshawn Johnson to 2 catches for 32 yards in Week 2.

Injuries
GIANTS - Doubtful: CB Andre Weathers (knee).

EAGLES - Out: LB Rosevelt Colvin (knee), RB Ty Hallock (abdominal strain), WR Marty Booker (shoulder) and S Shawn Wooden (hamstring).
Questionable: LB Barry Minter (back).

Notes
Bears lost to the Bucs last week 44-0.

Bears were shutout for the first time in 11 years.

Bears have won 13 of past 16 home openers.

Bears QB Cade McNown has led club in rushing for 2 consecutive weeks.

Bears RB James Allen is averaging 7.1 yards per carry, 15 for 107.

Bears and Giants met last in 1995, Bears won 27-24 at Giants Stadium.

Giants are 9-11 in Chicago and 0-4 in the postseason.

Chicago leads the overall regular season series, 25-16-2.

Giants Tiki Barber rushed for a career-high 144 yards last week.

Giants Tiki Barber has the fewest carries among the top 23 running backs in the NFL, but leads the league with 240 yards.

Next Game
Sept 24, Washington at Giants, 8PM FOX

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Last Week's review, Giants 33 - Eagles 18

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