This next review comes from a Week 16 game at Indianapolis in 2002, the first time they would face Peyton Manning. The Giants looked like they were dead in the water at 6-6 after back to back losses to expansion Houston Texas and a horrible home loss to the Titans in OT.
Then, typical of Jim Fassel teams, they caught fire in December, and the Giants would go on to beat Washington and Dallas heading into this game in Indy. The Giants would need to win their last two games, at the Colts and then at home to the top seeded Eagles. They also would need another loss by the Falcons or Saints, both teams had begun collapsing late in the season.
This game featured Kerry Collins' perfect passing rating game, throwing 4 TDs, including 3 to Amani Toomer, one of them being a perfectly thrown 82 yard TD on a flea flicker. This also was the game in which Jeremy Shockey famously ran over a Colts defender, looking like a combination of Bavaro and Mike Ditka. Tiki Barber would also run for 2 TDs in a game that looked like a blowout and then turned into a shootout, with the Giants eventually winning 44-27.
I wanted to get this review in before camp started. Once training camp opens, with plenty of Giants news, I will probably take a break from the reviews, though I will see if I can get in the 1986 Giants @ Redskins game done before the season starts.
Enjoy!
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That flee-flicker to Toomer was an amazing throw by Collins. Really showed what kind of an arm he had. He barely stepped into the throw and got it downt the field to Toomer.
I remember thinking during this game that I had never seen a Giants offense as potent. It was weird seeing us just light it up offensively like that through the air. I grew up on Giant offenses that were usually run oriented and not very good so I almost couldn't believe my eyes when we had Toomer really emerge as one of the better WR's in football (totally got snubbed this season) and had weapons like Shockey and Barber.
Collins will never be Eli but when Collins was on, he threw some amazingly accurate passes. The throw to Hilliard streaking down the seam in the 2001 NFC Champ game was fucking gorgeous. You couldn't have ran right next to Ike and placed that ball any better.
I only really caught the tail end of the Simms era... not that we were an offensive juggernaut then, either. But I spent most of my childhood/teenage years watching Dave Brown, Danny Kanell and Kent Graham. Some absolutely pitiful offenses.
The Giants having something resembling a pro bowl WR was completely foreign to me until Amani Toomer hit his peak.
Thanks again for another great review. I love being able to see these old games, really wish I taped all those from the 80s on
The offense in both of those games looked great, making big plays all over the field with their skill guys. However, the Colts game had a few red flags
- Bober's long snaps were poor on almost all of the extra point attempts, and caused a miss by Bryant in once case
- Matt Allen as a punter was mediocre at best, and he had several poor punts in this game that put the Colts in good field position
- The Giants defense, with a big lead, had 2 cardinal sins. They got no pressure on Manning, and also allowed Wayne and Harrison to run free right through the middle of the defense for easy scores, particularly with Sehorn, Stoutmire, and Williams out of position and make up alot of ground on the scoreboard very quickly.
This was a 30-6 game at the start of the 4th quarter. With just under 5 minutes to go, the score was 37-27 and the Colts had all the momentum, until Fassel made an aggressive play call and decided to go for the throat and call for a pass to Toomer for his 3rd TD rather than run the clock which finally put the game away.
In San Francisco, they weren't so lucky, and we all know about Trey Junkin and "bummer".
This was a typical Fassel, Giants type game. Just when you think they're dead they pull out a stunner. The Fassel-led Giants just couldn't stand prosperity.
Also, not to be a dick, but by 2002 Armstead was a Redskin.
The Colts' "rally" came afterward.
And then just when thing seemed too good to be true, the 49ers playoff Meltdown happened. That game tramatized me. I still get worked up if I start to think about it too long
Filth, yes it was Gibson or something and he said Shockey was no Tony G, then he plowed him over. Can't wait to read the review. Love old game talk.
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Also, in the Shockey-bulldozer replay, Collinsworth commented on the Giants' quick rhythm on offense -- keeping the defense on their heels. THAT would be nice to see, too.
The often thrown around phrase was he "simplified" the offense and threw out the plays that didn't work. However, while that might have been true, what looks like happened was really a bigger hit on Collins than Payton. Payton's offense, as we've seen more since he took over with the Saints, was a high octane, big play offense, with a number of options. But we've heard rumblings about Collins' problems reading defenses, incorrectly calling audibles, etc. I think Toomer actually mentioned it in an interview on BBI last year. Essentially, Fassel stripped down Payton's offense, took out several of the reads and relied on Toomer, Shockey, and Tiki to make the plays and literally not allow Collins to audible at the line and run the play that's called, good or bad.
The Giants offense really hit it's stride late in the season...which is also when that Giants offensive line, with a bunch of undrafted free agents really gelled and became a strong unit. I always thought Payton got screwed by Fassel with that decision. But when the Giants won their last 4, Fassel got all the praise and Payton joined Parcells in Dallas the next season.