Sun Nov 21, 4:15 pm (FOX) - Atlanta at Giants.
Atlanta at Giants.
Come Monday, the Giants will be either an exciting 6-4 team with playoff prospects, or a hum drum 5-5 team struggling through a season of ineffectiveness, bad play and bad luck for injuries
sustained. That Chicago game was brutal for the Giants. They lost defensive starters Michael Strahan and Keith Washington for the season, and Luke Petitgout sustained a (lingering?) concussion.
True, some of the Giants losses could be attributed to injuries, but to be fair, in winning the Giants crossed paths with a few teams at just the right time as well. Even that doesn't always
pan out. The Giants lost their last two games to an Atlanta team playing without quarterback Michael Vick, who missed those games with injuries.
Michael Vick.
It's way safe to say that there's no more mobile quarterback playing today than Michael Vick. He happens to be the Falcons' leading rusher, with 536 yards on 74 carries for a 7.2-yard average.
Michael Vick currently ranks 7th in the NFC in rushing yards on just about half the attempts of those named ahead of him, and his average per attempt is the best in the entire NFL by 2 yards
and more once you get past number 3 on the list. As far as passing goes, Vick has thrown 7 touchdowns and 7 interceptions.
He
has a strong arm but because he uses his legs so much, he doesn't pull the trigger like the other quarterbacks do. Vick is ranked with the least passing attempts (190) and completions (110)
in the NFC next to Brian Griese who's played in only 5 games and has a much higher completion ratio.
The Giants may have gone about things all wrong in drafting for a quarterback this season. If Tiki Barber could learn to go from being one of the top fumblers in the league to where he is
now (zero fumbles lost) maybe he could also learn to become a great running back-passer like Michael Vick. If the Eli Manning project doesn't work out, maybe the Giants should quit all the
pretense and just snap the ball to Tiki up front. In fact the biggest drawback to having Tiki play the quarterback position, is that he wouldn't have himself to throw to. (Tiki - 36 catches
for 436 yards and 1 TD)
Giants offense.
What's good? What's bad. Having Kurt Warner sacked so frequently makes you wonder where the problem lies. You see Kurt searching and searching for the wide receivers to break free. Is it their
fault for lack of separation? Every season it seems the Giants bring out a fresh young speedster to compliment Ike Hilliard and Amani Toomer, who's usually effective for a while and then gets
hurt.
Is the problem the offensive line? Some are young and inexperienced, shuffled into unfamiliar positions. Left tackle Luke Petitgout has had lingering effects from a concussion, Center Shaun
O'Hara has been in and out with a bad ankle.
Is Kurt Warner the problem? They say of the 24 sacks he's had in the past four games, 14 were the result of hits taken four seconds or more after the snap.
All we know is that this Sunday the Giants get to figure out at least one piece of the puzzle when Eli Manning steps in.
Eli Manning.
We're hopeful that Eli Manning will get the ball off faster and buy his offensive line more time, rather than the other way around. We're hopeful he can bring the line some measure of confidence
as they struggle with a blitzing Atlanta defense. We're hopeful that Eli's young eyes will spot the slim wide receiver separations that Kurt Warner was so desperately searching for while holding
onto the ball way too long.
It would be nice if Eli could complete 16 first downs passing and throw at least 1 touchdown pass like his brother Peyton did in his debut game against Dan Marino. It would be even nicer if
he threw for 21 completions for 302 yards like his brother did in that game. It would be great if he didn't also throw 3 interceptions like his brother did in losing to the Jimmy Johnson coached
Dolphins back in 1998. We are asking a lot now aren't we?
Atlanta's defense.
Atlanta’s defense is ranked 21st in the league, and while they are extremely good against the run (4th), they are ranked 30th against the pass. That could work out good for the Giants, because
Tiki can run against the best, and Eli Manning can use any break he can get in his first NFL start. It is worrisome though that Atlanta is ranked 2nd in the league in sacks with 27 and that
the Eagles, Ravens and Steelers are all tied for 1st with 28 sacks and on the schedule in the next 4 games.
The Atlanta defense broke down recently when they allowed Kansas City to score 8 touchdowns on the ground and set a new NFL record in a 56-10 loss. The week after, against the Broncos, Jake
Plummer threw for 499 yards against Atlanta, but his team still lost 41-28 when Michael Vick took over the game with 252 yards passing and 115 rushing ( both season highs). Last week Atlanta
scored on their first 3 possessions for a 17-0 lead and went on to beat Tampa Bay 24-14.
Last week - Arizona 17 Giants.
Once Arizona figured the Giants out, it was all over. The Giants blew a 14-3 lead and Kurt Warner was sacked 6 times. At those rates, if the Cardinals were
somehow allowed to play the Giants for every game of the season, defensive end Bertrand Berry, who had 4 on his own, would have easily bypassed Michael Strahan's NFL season sack record of
22.5 with about 42 more, and Emmitt Smitt would have scored 32 rushing touchdowns.
Notes.
In 2002, Michael Vick's first season as a starter, he was injured and couldn't play against the Giants.
Backup Doug Johnson led Atlanta to a 17-10 win, sparking an 8 game unbeaten streak that got the Falcons to the playoffs.
In 2003, Michael Vick missed the first 11 games after breaking his leg in the preseason.
Kurt Kittner completed just 9-of-23 passes for 65 yards, but with Warrick Dunn's rushing and 4 Giants' turnovers, Atlanta won 27-7.
Atlanta is first in the league in punt coverage, allowing only 4.1 yards a return.
Atlanta tight end Alge Crumpler is the Falcons' leading receiver, with 35 receptions and a career-high 559 receiving yards.
Crumpler is averaging 16 yards per catch and is tied with WR Peerless Price for the team lead.
Next Game
Nov 28 - Eagles at Giants at 1PM.
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