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Giants - Titans
Game 5 preview

Sun Oct 1, 1:00 pm (Fox) - Giants at Tennessee

Adelphia Stadium
The Titans are 10-0 at Adelphia Stadium, going 9-0 last season and 1-0 so far this year. You can imagine how excited the Nashville fans are about this. Buffalo almost beat the Titans at home last year in the AFC wild-card game. Giants Center Dusty Zeigler was with the Bills last season, and remembers how his former team lost to a 75 yard kick return, when Titans tight end Frank Wycheck fired a pass across the field to wide receiver Kevin Dyson. Kevin went sprinting untouched down the left side into the end zone for a 22-16 Titans win. It all happened with 16 seconds to go at Adelphia Coliseum in Nashville, and the fans call it the "Music City Miracle".
Can the Giants make history by being the first team to beat the Titans in their own home? After last week's performance, maybe you have your doubts, so let me remind you of a recent Giants victory that might have slipped your mind. Not that long ago, in week 15 of the NFL season the 5-8 Giants were about to face a team that had beaten some pretty impressive competition. In fact they had beaten ALL the competition to the tune of being 13-0 with only three games left to play.
Right, now you remember. It was 1998, and the undefeated Denver Broncos were coming to the Meadowlands for a pitstop on their way to an unbeaten season. The Giants, lead by quarterback Kent Graham at that time, beat the Broncos and finished the season up at 8-8. The depressed Broncos lost the next game to a Miami team, who had a need to further protect the record set by the '72 Dolphins, and then finished at 14-2, beating the Seattle Seahawks. The Broncos ended up winning the Superbowl that year, beating all the teams in post season with lopsided victories, including Miami 38-3, and John Elway retired on top of his game. In his career he accomplished just about everything a quarterback can in football, with one big exception. He couldn't get past the 5-8 Giants that week to lead his team onto an unbeaten season. So this week the 3-1 Giants, armed with better weapons than they ever had in 1998, play the 2-1 Titans. We'll see what happens in Adelphia Stadium.

What signs start to tell you that you need a new Quarterback?
Before everyone gets too excited, we're not saying that Collins isn't the man. Now back to the question. Redskins quarterback Brad Johnson was really on the spot after three games, with the knock being that he wasn't able to throw deep. His longest pass completion was only 26 yards, but then Brad showed his stuff against the Giants, completing 14 of 20 passes, including those all important long bombs of 53, 48 and 46 yards, burning the Giants for big plays in that Redskin win.
A quarterback who can't throw deep, is a quarterback that can't take you to the Superbowl. Remember former Giants' quarterback Danny Kanell? The Giants needed him to throw deep to take pressure off the running game. He couldn't do it. When they forced him, he threw interceptions, and he was gone. Kent Graham took over and was better, but couldn't do the things downfield like Collins can, and so he too was soon gone. Now everyone will be watching this game against the Titans to see if Kerry Collins can really do it big time.
Kerry had been in a comfort zone the first three games, handing off the ball, controlling the defenses with a two headed running game, catching them by surprise with some passes here and there when opposing teams went all out to stuff the run. Most all of the passing was done from the commanding position of being in the lead. In the first three games, the Giants got out in front and stayed there for the entire game. Also, the Giants caught Arizona, Philadelphia and Chicago at the right time, either plagued with injuries or not playing their best.

Then came the Redskins
The Redskins came to town and the Giants literally ran into a brick wall. Kerry Collins and the rest of the Giants looked like they were in a daze last Sunday as they kept banging up against that wall. It grew higher and higher as the Redskins scored points and they weren't able to throw over it. The Giants haven't taken many shots down the field so far this season, because they haven't had to. They even seemed to resist doing it, and after they fell too far behind, they couldn't do it.
Wake up Kerry Collins and the rest of the Giants. Your comfort zone is gone. You'll be facing tougher competition this week. Just staying in the middle lane has worked and gotten you this far, but you've just been cut off and passed by the Redskins as they veered out into the left lane, flipping you the long deep bird as they did so. Luckily for the Giants, Kerry Collins has all the skills he needs to pull out and keep up with aggressive NFL traffic. The Giants just have to let him take off that old-man driving hat he's been accustomed to wearing and go full bore with that high-octane arm of his.

Giants secondary
Giants cornerback Dave Thomas will be on his toes this game. He was with the Jacksonville Jaguars last year, and they finished the regular season at 14-2. Those two loses came at the hands of these very same Titans. Then in post season play, after the Jaguars beat Miami 62-7, they lost once again to the Titans in the Conference Championship game. Three big losses, all in one season, all to the same team.
Last week the Redskins had success and opened up the game when they started throwing to Dave's side of the field, and he's out to show this week that it's the exception and not the rule. Dave said, "The secondary has to play as one, and that's what didn't happen. We weren't on the same page, and just having one guy out of place can make it really tough."
You can't be totally sure from that statement if he was talking about himself or free safety Shaun Williams. On two of Washington's big plays, Shaun was in the wrong position. He also could have come up with the ball for a possible interception on another play. Working as a starter for the first time this year, Shaun had three nice games, and learned some lessons last week. Shaun says, "Any time you have a subpar game, you want to go out and perform well the next time you have a chance. This week his plan is to "stay deep and make plays.".

This week's competition.
The Giants might be lucky, once again hitting a break by playing a team that's hurting. Titans quarterback Steve McNair looks to be back in the starting lineup for Sunday's game against the Giants. McNair's last start was Sept. 10, when he bruised his sternum against Kansas City. He was effective last week coming off the bench for Neil O'Donnell (neck injury), and in the final minutes against Pittsburgh, directing a game-winning drive. Both Steve McNair, and Neil O'Donnell were listed as questionable this week but they practiced every day, and O'Donnell (three interceptions last week), should be McNair's backup.
With both quarterbacks on the mend, the Titans will be anxious to keep pressure off them if possible and feature running back Eddie George. Giants
linebacker Mike Barrow and Eddie George were teammates with the Houston Oilers back in 1996. In case his teammates are unaware, he's educated them as to just how effective George can be. Here are some game notes on Eddie George, a big running back who just keeps coming at you. The Titans are 14-0 in the regular season when he has at least 27 carries a game. They are 18-5 when he gains at least 100 yards.
This season he has only 191 yards rushing on 65 carries, averaging only 2.9 yards per carry. Some of that is due to the fact that there is a lack of a big downfield passing threat, and defenses play the run against the Titans. They've lost top wide receiver Kevin Dyson for the year because of a knee injury, and Yancy Thigpen should miss this game against the Giants after aggravating a hamstring pull on Sunday. Tight end Frank Wycheck, a favorite main target for McNair, will probably not play because of a concussion. Expect Pete Monty to get some extra playing time to help cover the run, and Jason Sehorn will most likely baby-sit Carl Pickens, the Titans' most dangerous deep receiver.

Giants need to go deep
The Titans probably were happy to review the game tapes and see how the Giants were beaten last week by Washington exploiting their secondary. The Giants likewise
need to supplement the running attack and short passing game with some big passing plays to keep defenses honest. Wide receiver Amani Toomer will be all too glad to see the Giants take more shots downfield. He's their big-play receiver, and he averaged 15 yards per catch last year, but is averaging just 9.1 yards per this season. Thanks to ball control, his longest reception is 25 yards. Toomer says, "We've used the passing game to supplement the running game, but I think we have to throw more 20-yard routes, that type of thing, to loosen up the DBs."

Notes
Titans are 10-0 at Adelphia Stadium, going 9-0 last season and 1-0 this year.

Injuries
Giants - Out: CB Ralph Brown (kidney). Questionable: CB Andre Weathers (knee). Probable: K Brad Daluiso (back).

Tennessee: Out: WR Kevin Dyson (knee); DE Byron Frisch (ankle). Questionable: S Blaine Bishop (neck); LB Greg Favors (ankle); DE Kenny Holmes (back/ankle); DE Jevon Kearse (quad); QB Steve McNair (chest); QB Neil O'Donnell (neck); DT Joe Salave'a (neck); WR Yancey Thigpen (hamstring); TE Frank Wycheck (concussion).

Next Game
Oct 8, Giants at Atlanta 4PM FOX

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, Washington 16 - Giants 6

NFC East - after Week 4
Team W L T PCT PF PA Home Road AFC NFC DIV Streak
NY Giants 3 1 0 .750 74 57 1 - 1 2 - 0 0-0 3 - 1 2 - 1 L1
Washington 2 2 0 .500 67 65 1 - 1 1 - 1 0-0 2 - 2 1 - 1 W1
Philadelphia 2 2 0 .500 83 60 0 - 1 2 - 1 0-0 2 - 2 1 - 1 W1
Arizona 1 2 0 .333 51 81 1 - 1 0 - 1 0-0 1 - 2 1 - 1 L1
Dallas 1 3 0 .250 96 135 0 - 2 1 - 1 0-0 1 - 3 1 - 2 L1

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