The Giants revived their running game in the 24-17 win over Jacksonville.
For the first time since 1999, the Giants' running game produced a season-high 177 rushing yards on 35 rushes, for an average of 5.1 yards per carry. That's not a mistake, and it's worth repeating - an average of 5.1 yards a carry. Ron Dayne had his highest number of carries (13) and yards (52) and first downs (5). He also had two runs on 1st and 10, that he took for 8 and 9 yards.
Tiki Barber came away with his first 100-yard game, 101 yards on 19 rushes, and Tiki also caught 4 passes for 62 yards. All this came about because head coach Jim Fassel took over the play-calling, or because the (3-5) Jaguars are really slumping (Jaguars have allowed a 100-yard rusher now in four of their past five games).
You'll note that Fassel, so totally fed up with the offense, didn't take over the play-calling the week earlier against the (6-2) Eagles. BTW, feel free to root for the Jaguars to turn things around, because they face division rival Washington this week and the Cowboys two weeks after that.

Heap on the praise.
If you think Jim Fassel should be praised for getting the Giants going, how about some for you fans? That's right, the fans deserve to get some credit. For the past two years, how many conversations have you heard of, or been involved in, concerning how predictable the Giants offense had become?
Come on fans, give yourself a good long pat on the back. You noticed the problem and have been screaming for a change for a long time now. It's just unfortunate that it took so long for the Giants to see it and do something about it

Problem noted, what's the cure?
It would be great if the problem and the cure were all figured out in just one game. The offense sure looked good last week, but now that other teams know what's coming, will it be as easy? Also, in enjoying the offensive outburst, it was easy to overlook that the Giants were up by 24 points in the third quarter, and the game ended 24-17. Thankfully, the Giants recovered the Jaguars onsides kick after their last touchdown, and everyone got to go home with happy thoughts.
The Giants aren't out of the woods just yet, except for their schedule. In their next five games the Giants face four opponents, Minnesota, Washington (twice), Tennessee and Houston - whose defenses rank in the bottom 10 in points allowed.

The aftermath.
Fassel felt he had to do something after seeing his team score seven touchdowns in seven games. Sure it's good that the coach did something, but why did he wait so long, and do it in the manner he chose? Fassel said he offered suggestions to Sean Payton, but did not feel it was appropriate to undermine his authority. So instead, he takes the guy's job away.
"You give a guy a job, you cannot tell the playcaller what to do and how to do it," Fassel said. "I could have total disagreement on everything as long as we are successful - [when] we [were] not having success, that prompted the change." That sounds like an answer, but isn't there some kind of middle ground here?

The good coaching award (?)
Is it good coaching to take a really long time to recognize a serious problem with your team, and then go about fixing it while destroying someone else's career? I'm just asking this question, actually, a two-parter, because it should be voiced. The answer to the first part is an obvious "No", and for the second, I'll resort to bad form by answering with another question. Isn't there some sort of middle ground?
Can't a head coach sit down with his offensive coordinator and say that since things haven't been working out for a while now, (Sorry, but I just noticed after 2 years), and I need to have a heavy hand in the next game? I need you to run a series of plays I've come up with, and if it works, let's go with it. Then we can sit down and see if we can incorporate these things into the upcoming games.

All or nothing.
Fassel has confirmed that he will call the plays for the remainder of the season. He's in his glory right now with last week's success.
"What I did was go back to my basic beliefs as a coach," Fassel said. "I probably put in four, five, maybe six plays and things that I wanted to differently. I just have a philosophy about how I want to attack somebody. And I laid it out how we were going to attack them."
We're left to guess that Sean Payton wouldn't put up with something like that, not even for a one game look-see with his career on the line. The head coach and offensive coordinator couldn't sit down together and come up with a new offensive plan to suit playing against the Jaguars. Couldn't this fairly new offensive coordinator have been quietly shown the errors of his ways, been mentored, and left to grow in his position? After all, what does the word 'coach ' mean? I'm sure everyone working directly under 'coach' Fassel feels real warm and cozy right now for the way this one played out.

Vikings offense - Moss.
Randy Moss leads NFC wide receivers with 53 catches, one behind Rams RB Marshall Faulk for the overall NFC lead. He had a big game last year against the Giants on a Monday night where he hauled in three touchdown passes and finished with 10 catches for 171 yards. Moss ticked off some of the Giants by showboating after several receptions. Of course, the Giants are forgetting that the game before that one they thoroughly trounced the Vikings in front of a national audience in the 2000 Championship game,

Vikings offense - Culpepper.
Daunte Culpepper has made some bad decisions which has led him to a league-high 14 interceptions. That along with his five lost fumbles, accounts for 19 of the Vikings 24 turnovers. Just last week against Tampa Bay, trailing by two touchdowns, and despite being completely outplayed, the Vikings had just recovered a surprise on-side kick with a couple of minutes left in the third quarter. On the very next play, from their own 46, Culpepper dropped back and, with hard-charging Simeon Rice hanging all over him, instead of throwing it away, threw the ball directly to Warren Sapp of the Bucs. Sapp was as surprised as anyone.
"I don't expect that," noted Sapp, a 303-pound defensive tackle. "I got to catch that one. That's too easy."
Later on in the fourth quarter, Culpepper threw behind Randy Moss and the pass was picked off, killing the Vikings chance to come back in the game which they lost 38-24. Backup quarterback Todd Bouman almost made it into the game last week, and is a possibility if Culpepper continues to struggle.

Better late than never.
The Vikings' first-round pick (seventh overall in the draft), OT Bryant McKinnie, finally agreed to terms this week, ending a 98-day holdout, and will play 15-25 plays Sunday. He has been impressive in his first practices, and with starting left tackle Lewis Kelly and starting left guard Corbin Lacina hobbled by injuries, they'll be glad for whatever this rookie can do. Being absent from training camp and the first nine weeks of the season, is no help, but McKinnie has talent.
The massive 6-8, 344 pound McKinnie never gave up a sack at the University of Miami, not even even in practice. Still, veteran defensive end Lance Johnstone was able to give the rookie known as "Big Mac" a nice NFL welcome. "I got by him once, but the running back came in to help him out," said Johnstone, who leads the team with five sacks. "I just wanted to scare him."
Johnstone noted that McKinnie has a lot of potential and his conditioning was much better than he expected. "He doesn't look like he missed half the season, so I think he'll hold up. He's not as rusty as you would expect."
Later on, McKinnie offered his perspective on his playing time. "I think I could do more than 25 plays," he said. "If we do about 75 plays, I can probably do about 45 of them." He should spend that time in his first NFL game going up against Giants DE Kenny Holmes who pounced on a Mark Brunell fumble last week.

Vikings defense.
The Vikings have a strong run defense that is tough up the middle, but they would love to be faced with the problem the Giants are having. How do you fit three top notch corners, Jason Sehorn, Will Allen, and Will Peterson all on the field at the same time? Minnesota instead is ranked 31st in pass defense in the NFL, allowing 294 yards per game.
Cornerbacks Corey Chavous and Eric Kelly were benched in the third quarter of the 38-24 loss at Tampa Bay on Sunday. They will be in the lineup on Sunday against the New York Giants who will field speedsters Ron Dixon and Tim Carter, with team leading Amani Toomer on the other side. Toss in a little Tiki Barber, and a dash of Jeremy Shockey, and these guys will have their hands full.

Notes.
Giants haven't intercepted a pass in five straight games, and have created the fewest turnovers in the league with eight.
Vikings have nine takeaways to go along with a league-worst 24 giveaways and a league-worst minus-15 differential.
Vikings 24 turnovers have resulted in 98 points for the opposition.
Michael Strahan has sacked 45 different QBs in regular-season games in his career, but not Daunte Culpepper. He did sack Culpepper in the 2000 NFC Championship game.

Next Game
Nov. 17, Washington at Giants 1:00pm

Last Game review, game 8 - Giants 24 - Jaguars 17

Stop in and visit "Mike's Keys to the Internet" at  www.myhost.com/miked

Website by Mike