Giants QB Kerry Collins had 3 TD passes.
Ike Hilliard had 5 catches for 110 yards and 2 TDs
Ron Dayne had a 50 yard run.
Rams QB Trent Green had 4 TD passes.
Rams QB Trent Green had 54 yards rushing.
It was the most by a Rams QB since Roman Gabriel ran for 57 in 1967.

There goes the four game winning streak.
"I was really disappointed. The Giants couldn't raise their game for the Rams. I thought they had a real chance at winning this game the way they had been going, but everything went wrong right from the start. I didn't see the Giants doing any of the things on the field I heard they would be doing. There was no ball control, and it was like we were behind from the first play of the game and never caught up."

St. Louis ran up a 14-0 lead by the end of the first quarter.
"Yes, the Rams were able to turn it into their kind of game. You could forget about holding this to some low scoring game. What happened to our defense? There were times when I thought we were going to be able to turn things around, like when Ron Dayne had that long 50 yard run. That was very exciting! The Giants got a touchdown off that drive in the second quarter, and we were only trailing by 7. Then the Rams scored twice more. The Giants came out strong in the second half with two quick scores, but that's the closest we came to turning it around. I don't know what happened. Tiki was in the fray making plays as usual, and Ike Hilliard looked good catching the ball. I guess we just can't keep the good things going, or maybe the Rams are just too much for the Giants."

Giants are still in first place in the NFC East.
"Yes, that's about the only thing that takes some of the edge off a long drive home. We're still ahead of the Eagles and Redskins. Let's hope it lasts for awhile longer."

The Giants lose to another "good" team.
"That's a rap that sure seems to fit. Jim Fassel looks at it this way. He says, 'We've played three teams, two of them were in the Super Bowl last year and the other one is supposed to win it this year.' Maybe he has a point. Let me see now, next game is Detroit, and then Arizona. Let's say the Giants beat those teams. Then if they lose to the Redskins, a "good" team, they face Pittsburgh, Dallas and Jacksonvillee after that, and can go 11-5 on the season. Thank you schedule makers."

Rams QB Trent Green had a good game against the Giants.
"He sure did, Trent completed 27 of 45 passes for 272 yards and 4 TDs. The Giants didn't think he would run against them and didn't protect against it very well. He managed to pick up 54 yards rushing and even ran one in for a touchdown. I'd say he did pretty good for himself.
Kerry Collins on the other hand, threw 2 INTs that led to touchdowns, and overthrew some open receivers deep down field. It was like he was afraid of getting another INT and just heaved it. Unfortunately, all the receivers don't have Ron Dixon's speed, and he wasn't playing."

What happened here?
"Tiki Barber said it best, 'We never got the chance to do what we wanted to do. We wanted to run the ball, control the ball, and make some big plays. That all went out the window when we're down, 14-0.'
I think the Giants can use that same line for their other losses as well. The Giants are not a come from behind team, and quite frankly, I wasn't happy with some of the play calls they ran right from the start."

Which ones?
"Well, for example, on the Giants very first drive, they got the ball deep in the hole, with a 1st and 10 on their own 2. Ron Dayne ran for 2 yards and it was 2nd and 8. Instead of working their way out, they went for the big play, and Kerry Collins overthew a long deep pass to Hilliard. That wasn't 'Giants football', that was the Giants trying to play 'Rams football', and it didn't work. Kerry's next pass to Toomer was expected by the Rams defense, and Toomer was hit while catching it, and it was fumbled over to them. They brought it down to the Giants 1 yard line.
That play essentially knocked Toomer out of the game. He suffered a slight concussion when he fumbled, came back, but didn't play in the second half at all. That one catch was all he had for the whole game.
Another thing I didn't like was when they settled for a field goal early in the second half. They started off the 2nd half real strong, with a 3 play, 47 yard touchdown drive to make the score 28-14. The defense (Ryan Phillips) comes up with a big interception on the Rams first play, and the Giants have it on the Rams 11 yard line. Three plays later, it's 4th and 2 at the Rams 3 yard line. I couldn't believe it when they went for the field goal. Sure, that made the score 28-17, but come on. This wasn't one of those games where 3 points would mean anything. If the Giants don't make the 2 yards or get a touchdown on fourth down, let the Rams start the next drive on their 3 yard line. Don't we trust our defense to handle a team on their 3 yard line?"

Anything else to add?
It didn't help near the end of the first half that Ron Dayne failed on 3rd-and-1 and 4th-and-1 at the Rams 40. Luckily after the Rams took over, and picked up some yards, their field goal attempt was no good, wide left.
Special teams coverage allowed a 39-yard punt return by Az Hakim to the Giants 27, that set up a touchdown.

Stats

Passing
Giants - Kerry Collins 17-34 for 240 yards, 3 tds, 2 INT.
Rams - Trent Green 27-45 for 272 yards, 4 TDs, 1 INT.

Rushing
Giants - Ron Dayne 9-66, Tiki Barber 9-61, Ike Hilliard 1-8.
Rams - Justin Watson 17-62, Trent Green 6-54, Tony Horne 1-9, Torry Holt 1-7, Trung Canidate 2-5, Keith Lyle 1-4.

Receiving
Giants - Ike Hilliard 5-110, Pete Mitchell 3-33, Tiki Barber 4-32, Joe Jurevicius 2-31, Amani Toomer 1-20, Greg Comella 2-14.
Rams - Torry Holt 8-86, Isaac Bruce 4-75, Ricky Proehl 6-53, Az-Zahir Hakim 2-39, Tony Horne 1-6, Justin Watson 3-5, Trung Canidate 1-4, James Hodgins 1-3, Roland Williams 1-1.

Interceptions
Giants - Ryan Phillips 1 for 10.
Rams - Dexter McCleon 1 for 2, London Fletcher 1 for 12.

Kickoff Returns
Giants - Ron Stone 1 for 40, Omar Stoutmire 2 for 43, Bashir Levingston 4 for 87.
Rams - Tony Horne 4 for 106.

Punt Returns
Giants - Tiki Barber 1 for 16.
Rams - Az-Zahir Hakim 3 for 92.

Fumbles lost
Giants - Amani Toomer.

Opponent's fumbles recovered
Rams - Dexter McCleon 1.

Missed field goals
Rams - Jeff Hall 47.

Tackles-assists-sacks (unofficial)
Giants - Sam Garnes 8-2-0, Michael Barrow 7-1-0, Shaun Williams 6-2-0, Jessie Armstead 6-1-0, Jason Sehorn 5-0-0, Dave Thomas 5-0-0, Keith Hamilton 2-3-0.5, Christian Peter 3-1-0, Michael Strahan 3-1-1.5, Emmanuel Mcdaniel 3-1-0, Ryan Phillips 0-2-0, Pete Monty 1-0-0.
Rams - London Fletcher 7-0-0, Dre Bly 5-1-0, Keith Lyle 4-2-0, Devin Bush 4-1-0, Grant Wistrom 3-2-0.5, Dexter Mccleon 4-0-1, Mike Jones 3-0-0, Jeff Zgonina 1-2-0, D'marco Farr 1-1-0, Ray Agnew 0-2-0.5, Leonard Little 1-0-1, Jacoby Shepherd 1-0-0, Lorenzo Styles 1-0-0, Matt Bowen 1-0-0, Kevin Carter 1-0-0.

Net yards rushing
Giants - 135
Rams - 141

Net yards passing
Giants - 213
Rams - 256

Time of Possession
Giants - 23:20
Rams - 36:40

Scoring:

1ST QUARTER:
STL - Roland Williams 1 Yard TD Pass from Trent Green (Jeff Wilkins Extra Point), 10:33. St. Louis 7-0
STL - Torry Holt 5 Yard TD Pass from Trent Green (Jeff Hall Extra Point), 1:55. St. Louis 14-0
2ND QUARTER:
NYG - Tiki Barber 13 Yard TD Pass from Kerry Collins (Brad Daluiso Extra Point), 12:42. St. Louis 14-7
STL - Ricky Proehl 8 Yard TD Pass from Trent Green (Jeff Hall Extra Point), 5:43. St. Louis 21-7
STL - Trent Green 18 Yard TD Run (Jeff Hall Extra Point), 2:41. St. Louis 28-7
3RD QUARTER:
NYG - Ike Hilliard 46 Yard TD Pass from Kerry Collins (Brad Daluiso Extra Point), 13:58. St. Louis 28-14
NYG - Brad Daluiso 20 Yard Field Goal, 11:34. St. Louis 28-17
STL - Jeff Hall 50 Yard Field Goal, 7:20. St. Louis 31-17
STL - Isaac Bruce 34 Yard TD Pass from Trent Green (Jeff Hall Extra Point), 2:24. St. Louis 38-17
4TH QUARTER:
NYG - Ike Hilliard 34 Yard TD Pass from Kerry Collins (Brad Daluiso Extra Point), 8:26. St. Louis 38-24

Notes:

LG Glenn Parker suffered a pulled calf muscle in warm-ups and did not play.

Amani Toomer missed the second half with a concussion.

Jim Fassel was 1 of 2 on replay challenges.

Giants converted on only 2 of the 12 third-down situations.

Despitea 50-yard run, Ron Dayne gained only 16 yards on his other 8 tries.

Giants held the Rams to a season-low 256 passing yards.

Next Game
Nov 19 , Detroit at Giants 4PM

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

Website by Mike