Sun Nov 3, 8:30 pm (ESPN) - Jaguars at Giants
What goes around....
If you think the Giants are catching a break, going up against the Jacksonville Jaguars (3 straight losses), you'll find yourself with a similar attitude that the Jaguars had last week when
they went up against the Houston Texans (5 straight losses). The Jaguars were favored by 11 points, the biggest margin a team was favored by in the NFL last weekend.
As you can guess from the way this is reading, the expansion Texans (2-5) got the first road victory in their franchise history by beating the Jaguars 21-19. They did it using a trick play
when the Jaguars were up 19-18. Dom Capers, former defensive coordinator for the Jags and now current head coach of the Texans, had his wide receiver Jabar Gaffney and cornerback Aaron Glenn
back deep to receive Chris Hanson's punt.
No one on the Jacksonville sideline noticed that the Texans' normal return man, Jermaine Lewis, wasn't on the field. Gaffney fielded the punt, reversed field about 4 yards, then threw a lateral
pass across the field to Glenn. He raced 47 yards to Jacksonville's 33. That play set up Kris Brown's game-winning 45-yard field goal. .
There's more....
To add further insult, former players from the Jaguars picked up by the expansion team had good games. The Jaguars helped solve their salary cap problems
by putting up Tony Boselli, Seth Payne and Gary Walker in the expansion draft. Boselli is out for the season with an injured shoulder, but Walker and Payne helped Houston manhandle Jacksonville's
offensive line. Walker had six tackles and Payne had two, and they held explosive running back Fred Taylor to 84 yards for an average of just 3.4 yards a carry.
It should be noted that there was a taunting sign in the northeast end zone that said, "All our Ex's play in Texas.'' (No, we don't know if there is a Jeremy Shockey Florida connection here).
Also, as Jaguars coach Tom Coughlin left the field, an irate fan spit on him and called his team pathetic.
Losing to a team that had dropped five in a row, had failed to win a road game, led the league in penalties, and had the worst offense in the league,
later led Coughlin to use the word "pathetic" to describe the game, the word obviously still in his mind from that fan who spit on him. "Someone said it was pathetic, and that's where we are
right now,'' Coughlin said, "It was pathetic.''
The Eagles.
We hate to bring this up after the Giants 17-3 loss last week in Philadelphia, but the Jaguars took a 28-25 victory over the Eagles a few weeks ago. At least the Jaguars don't feel they're
up to it now. "Where is the team that beat Philadelphia? That's exactly what we'd all like to know, including the players," Coughlin said as he reviewed his team's stunning 21-19 loss to the
expansion Houston Texans Sunday. "I'm sure they have the same kind of question."
After the Jaguars upset win over the Eagles on Oct. 6 for their third consecutive victory, they seemed poised for a playoff run. Now they've lost three in a row. Hopefully Coughlin doesn't
find "the team that beat Philadelphia" until after this Sunday night matchup.
The Giants have lost two straight, and both teams have the same 3-4 record. It's interesting to note that the loser of this matchup could end up with the same 3-5 record as the expansion team
Houston Texans. This if the fired up 2-5 Texans playing at home and listed as a favorite for the first time, pull off a win over the 0-7 Cincinnati Bengals.
The kicking game - Jaguars.
Jaguar head coach Coughlin has had no luck here. He looked at three kickers in training camp to find a capable replacement for departed free agent Mike Hollis (Buffalo). Now eight weeks later,
the search may still be on. Hayden Epstein won the three-way battle during training camp. He was 13-of-13 on PATs, but just 5-of-9 on field-goal attempts, with misses from 52, 43, 44 and 39
yards.
Coughlin had so little faith in him, that he went for it on fourth down four times, and wouldn't let Epstein try field goals of 29, 42 and 48 yards in the Jaguars loss to Baltimore. Hayden
Epstein was cut the Tuesday before the Houston game, and former Cowboys kicker Tim Seder was signed to replace him.
Seder missed a 50-yard attempt on the Jags' second possession Sunday, then a 34-yarder as time expired in the first half. He lost field position with short kickoffs, but did make a 34-yarder
in the third quarter.
The kicking game - Giants.
Giants head coach Jim Fassel signed experienced punter Tom Rouen this week. In his long career with the Broncos, Rouen has 641 punts for an average of 43.9 yards, and this season, he has 29
punts for a gross average of 42.7 yards. Special-teams coach Bruce Read said that current punter, Matt Allen has "done what we wanted, but has been inconsistent." Read said. "He's had some
short punts that have rolled a few times, so we've gotten more lucky than good at times."
Meanwhile, Matt Bryant has been gold for the Giants. Bryant has made all 11 of his FG attempts this season. He's the NFL's only perfect field goal kicker with more than one attempt this season.
In fact, the Giants beat Seattle 9-6 on Sept. 22, doing it all with three field goals from Matt Bryant. Tom Coughlin are you reading this?
Jim Fassel.
No one has spit on the Giants head coach yet, but the word pathetic could easily be applied to the game they played last week. Aside from the defense giving up 299 rushing yards, the offense
grows weaker. Getting only one field goal against the Eagles marked the second time this season that the Giants played a game without scoring a touchdown. Fassel in an effort to avoid fan
spit, and more important maybe losing his job at the end of the season, has decided to take over the play-calling from offensive coordinator Sean Payton. "I am not going to sit still
and watch us score one touchdown a game,'' Fassel said, holding an umbrella. (OK, so added in the umbrella part).
Fassel has his work cut out for him. Ike Hilliard is out for the season after suffering a dislocated shoulder in the Eagles game. Hilliard had 27 catches for 386 yards and a team-high two
touchdown receptions. He stands at third in the NFC with 12 third-down receptions for 176 yards.
Sean Payton.
When Sean Payton took over the play calling, the Giants scored 41 points and gained 490 yards, still the highest regular season output in Fassel's 5 1/2 years. Now the Giants cannot score
points, and they make a lot of mistakes. Is it Sean Payton's fault? We seem to remember a game where the Giants were down 6-0 and had the ball with a fourth and one at Seattle's one yard line
with 20 seconds left to go in the half. Most head coaches would go for the field goal here, since that would help close the gap, and remember, if you don't make it, you don't benefit by trapping
the other team with lousy field position, because the half will expire. The Giants failed to score or make the first down. Was that Payton's fault?
We do know Payton was one of the trio involved with what we call "The Three Stooges Play". That came about in the following game against Arizona. The Giants were up 7-0, and they
got the ball at their own 32 yard line, after the Cards missed a field goal, but with only 14 seconds left in the half. Fassel decided they should run a play, which was a mistake. Payton came
up with a play, and Kerry Collins made a bad pass which resulted in an interception, and suddenly Arizona had a tie game. Three bad decisions in a row, and the Giants lost that one 21-7.
Player mistakes.
Now, in the Atlanta game, the Giants are making their last big drive to tie up the game, and faced with a 4th down and 3, Collins hits Dixon with a 19 yard pass. Ron catches it, and then as
he's going down, doesn't cover up, and the defender swats the ball away at the Falcons 17 yard line. The Giants lost that one too. Was that Payton's fault?
Last week, Charles Stackhouse caught a pass, was hit at the one yard line, and fumbled the ball out of the endzone which gave it to the Eagles and killed a drive that could easily have put
the Giants ahead 10-9. Was that Sean Payton's fault? It was his play calling that got them down to the 1 yard line. There are more examples, but now, coaches decisions, play calls and player
mistakes aside, Jim Fassel is taking over.
Giants on defense.
Last week was the first time the Giants played without Keith Hamilton, out for the rest of the year with a torn Achilles' tendon. Giving up those 299 yards on the ground is a testament to
Hamilton's absence, and the Giants had better learn fast how to play against the run without him. This week they face Jaguars running back Fred Taylor, who has already rushed for 681 yards.
Taylor pulled a "Shockey" before the final game of the 2000 regular season. He made some harsh comments about the quality of the Giants' defense. Taylor came in with nine consecutive
100-yard rushing games but other than an early 44-yard touchdown run, he was held to 13 carries for 52 yards and was knocked out in the second half of the game with a knee injury.
Next Game
Nov. 10, Giants at Minnesota 1:00pm
Last Game review, game 7 - Giants 3 - Eagles 17
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