Sun Oct
1, 1:00 pm (Fox) - Giants at Tennessee
Game 5 |
|
1st |
2nd |
3rd |
4th |
Final |
Giants |
0 |
0 |
7 |
7 |
14 |
Titans |
7 |
14 |
0 |
7 |
28 |
Giants
offense was barely on the field in the first half.
Titans
converted on nearly every 3rd down.
Thunder and Lightning combined for
1 yard on 8 carries.
Giants total rushing yards was 24.
Kerry Collins was intercepted 3 times.
Giants
fall to 3-2.
That
makes two losses in a row, Gamegirl.
"Yes,
and this one was worse than the last. You know you're
in trouble when our quarterback, Kerry Collins,
had better stats running than the "Thunder
and Lightning" running backs. A lot of the
players didn't look sharp in this game. I'm talking
Kerry Collins, Pete Mitchell, Amani Toomer, all
pretty important people for our passing game."
As
you said, the Giants didn't do much on the ground
either.
"I
don't know what's happened. Our defense was out
there most of the game, and unlike last year, this
time it was their own fault. It's not like they
stopped the Titans cold and then had to march back
on the field because the offense couldn't get anywhere.
The defense let the Titans kill them with all those
long drives. In the beginning I had a lot of hope,
because they kept getting Tennessee into 3rd down
situations, and correct me if I'm wrong, but doesn't
that mean that sooner or later they won't convert
one? It was ridiculous, and it didn't seem to matter
if it was 3rd and long or not. After a while, you
just sat back and wondered HOW they were going to
do it this time, not IF they were to do it, but
how, because you knew it was going to happen."
Tennessee
had long drives of 80, 98, 80, and 80 yards.
"Don't
even tell me that. I don't want to know anymore
about the numbers and time of possession and all
that. About the only thing I enjoyed this game was
watching Ron Dixon learn how to play football. It's
as if they took a fast kid right off the street
and told him to go play. He's exciting whenever
he's near the ball for a number of reasons. That,
and I'm starting to get a kick out of watching the
instant replay challenges. That's turned into a
real big joke this season."
Think
the Giants will be able to bounce back next game?
"You
asked me that last week, and I hope it doesn't become
a weekly question. Atlanta plays the Eagles later
so maybe I'll catch that game and I'd be able to
tell you later, but if you want to know right now,
any halfway decent team the Giants face will be
tough for them. It seemed like all the receivers
for the Titans were beat up, and we still couldn't
beat them.
We can pretend that the Giants just weren't lucky
in today's game. I mean they had some bad calls
against them, and dropped some passes here and there,
and drew a few penalties, all at bad times, but
look at the Titans. They made mostly all the plays
when they had to. They are a playoff caliber team,
and the Giants just don't seem to be one, at least
not right now."
What's
the fix for the Giants Mikefan?
"As
if it's that easy. I guess it starts with the defense
this time. As Gamegirl mentioned, and she hit the
nail right on the head, they have to let the Giants
offense get some playing time on the field. The
Giants left the field at halftime, not even knowing
what plays would work for them. I'm not saying that
the offense was blameless, but look how things went.
The Titans scored a touchdown on their first series
going 80 yards and chewing up about 6 and a half
minutes. Then it was the Giants turn on offense,
and they were 3 and out when they didn't make a
3rd and 2. The defense did real good on their next
series with Strahan getting a sack on McNair and
forcing them 3 and out. The Giants second offensive
series was Toomer all the way. He dropped a nice
long pass he should have caught, then took a quick
out for 4 yards, and the next pass was incomplete.
That was all the Giants offense for the first quarter
and they had the ball for about 3 minutes out of
15."
Then
the Titans completed that nice long drive.
"It
was 19 plays for 98 yards that took almost 10 full
minutes, most of it from the second quarter, and
now the score was 14-0. On their next offensive
series, the Giants feed the ball to Dayne for no
gain, pass to Mitchell incomplete, and then Collins
gets hit while throwing. They get the ball back
after Tennessee scores again (21-0), this time in
about a mere 5 minutes. With 2:16 left in the half,
Collins completes to Toomer for the Giants first
first down of the game.
Then he completely misses seeing that Toomer is
downfield in the clear, instead throwing an incomplete
pass to Hilliard. Next, Comella runs for 5 yards.
They botch the next handoff and that's it. Here
the Titans for some strange reason go for a 4th
and 6 and don't make it and the Giants get one last
shot from their own 29 with about a minute left.
Collins tries a pass to Joe Jurevicius
and they take the penalty on the Titans for a 1st
and 5. Collins arm is hit on his next pass attempt,
and then he gets intercepted on an overthrown pass
to Toomer on the next. All and all the Giants had
the ball for only 5:43 in the entire first half.
What would you work on at halftime? Some of the
stuff that didn't work, or the other 90 things you
haven't even tried yet?"
Anything
else?
"Sure,
I'd like to cover two things that Gamegirl mentioned.
On Ron Dixon's coverage, even though it hurt, it
was kind of funny to see him try to get every last
inch on trying to down a punt, only to blow it and
let the Titans get it on the 20. Ron got a bigtime
education on the sidelines by the head coach, and
the next time he had a chance, Ron showed he had
earned his 'Fassel PHD' on downing balls, because
he nailed it right on the Tennessee 2.
The last thing, is that I'm getting suspicious about
the way the refs seem to blow all these replay challenges.
You would almost think it was a plot to prove how
the replay challenge doesn't work, so they can get
rid of it and stop being second-guessed. They mostly
don't overturn calls and make the poor teams lose
their timeout. Then later in the week, they apologize
for blowing it. - 'Oh well, too bad, sorry guy that
you lost your timeout as well as not getting that
touchdown call. Sorry you had to dig yourself out
of that hole, Jim Fassel. Sorry, Bill Cowher'. Teams
are becoming afraid to use it. How long before they
scrap the replay challenges? Am I the only one who
suspects this secret plot? Maybe I can I get onto
the X-Files after Mulder leaves?"
Stats
Passing
Giants - Kerry Collins 17-37 for 197 yards, 3 INT.
Titans -Steve McNair 24-35 for 293 yards, 0 INT.
Rushing
Giants - Kerry Collins 3-19, Greg Comella 1-4, Tiki
Barber 5-2, Ron Dayne 3- (-1).
Titans - Eddie George 35-124, Steve McNair 4-21,
Rodney Thomas 4-6.
Receiving
Giants - Amani Toomer 5-81, Ike Hilliard 4-59, Tiki
Barber 5-49, Joe Jurevicius 1-6, Pete Mitchell 1-1,
Daniel Campbell 1-1.
Titans
- Derrick Mason 6-103, Erron Kinney 5-60, Eddie
George 4-52, Frank Wycheck 5-42, Carl Pickens 1-15,
Chris Sanders 2-14, Rodney Thomas 1-7.
Interceptions
Titans - Denard Walker 1 for 4, Samari Rolle
1 for 21, Dainon Sidney 1 for 19.
Kickoff
Returns
Giants - Ron Dixon 5 for 135.
Titans - Derrick Mason 1 for 27.
Punt
Returns
Giants - Tiki Barber 2 for 18.
Titans - Derrick Mason 2 for 11.
Fumbles
lost
Giants - Kerry Collins.
Titans - Eddie George.
Opponent's
fumbles recovered
Giants
- Jason Sehorn.
Titans - Marcus Robertson.
Tackles-assists-sacks
(unofficial)
Giants - Jason Sehorn 8-1-0, Cedric Jones 7-0-0,
Ryan Phillips 7-0-0, Sam Garnes 6-1-0, Michael Barrow
4-2-0, Shaun Williams 3-3-0, Keith Hamilton 2-4-1,
Pete Monty 5-0-0, Jessie Armstead 3-2-0, Christian
Peter 3-2-0, Emmanuel Mcdaniel 3-0-0, Reggie Stephens
2-0-0, Dave Thomas 2-0-0, Cornelius Griffin 1-0-0,
Ryan Hale 1-0-0, Michael Strahan 1-0-1.
Titans - Randall Godfrey 6-0-0, Marcus Robertson
6-0-0, Perry Phenix 3-1-0, Denard Walker 2-0-0,
Jason Fisk 1-0-0, Jevon Kearse 1-1-0, Blaine Bishop
1-0-0, Keith Bulluck 1-0-0, Keith Embray 1-0-0,
Henry Ford 1-0-0, Kenny Holmes 1-0-1, Dainon Sidney
1-0-0, Eddie Robinson 0-1-0.
Net
yards rushing
Giants - 24
Titans - 152
Net
yards passing
Giants
- 191
Titans - 284
Time of Possession
Giants
- 17:14
Titans - 42:46
Scoring:
1ST
QUARTER:
TEN - Frank Wycheck 14 Yard TD Pass from
Steve McNair (Al Del Greco Extra Point), 8:35. Tennessee
7-0
2ND QUARTER:
TEN - Eddie George 7 Yard TD Run
(Al Del Greco Extra Point), 8:48. Tennessee 14-0
TEN - Derrick Mason 29 Yard TD Pass from
Steve McNair (Al Del Greco Extra Point), 2:54. Tennessee
21-0
3RD QUARTER:
NYG - Ike Hilliard 14 Yard TD Pass from Kerry
Collins (Jarod Holmes Extra Point), 5:25. Tennessee
21-7
4TH QUARTER:
TEN - Frank Wycheck 3 Yard TD Pass from Steve
McNair (Al Del Greco Extra Point), 12:26. Tennessee
28-7
NYG - Daniel Campbell 1 Yard TD Pass from
Kerry Collins (Jarod Holmes Extra Point), 1:02.
Tennessee 28-14
Notes:
Titans held the Giants to just 2 first downs
in the first half.
Titans
RB Eddie George had his first 100-yard rushing game
this season.
Titans
were the only team without an interception this
season, but got three against the Giants.
Titans
broke the record of 9 consecutive victories to open
a stadium set by the Dallas Cowboys at Texas Stadium
in 1971-72.
Titans have won 11 in a row at home, if you include
last season's wild card victory over Buffalo.
Next
Game
Oct
8, Giants at Atlanta 4PM FOX
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