It was a mistake, an honest mistake, a mistake Amani Toomer owned up to, blamed himself for, let everyone know he was at fault. This is the way it is around the Giants. Players on the offensive side of the ball take great pains to describe how they botched this play or blew that play.
Toomer’s blunder came at a critical moment, with 4:05 remaining in a game against the Cardinals, with the Giants trailing by 11 points and facing a fourth-and-8 from the Arizona 10-yard line. Jim Fassel could have trimmed the deficit to a workable eight points – a touchdown and a successful two-point conversion – by opting to kick a chip-shot field goal. Fassel, though, had such little confidence in his offense that he figured the Giants were never going to get this close again. Of course, he was correct.
On the last-gasp play, Kerry Collins noticed that the Cardinals’ safety was moving toward the middle, which called for a sight adjustment at the line of scrimmage. He figured Toomer would see the safety and make the same sight adjustment, which should have been that Toomer run a quick slant to the inside rather than take his route outside.
Toomer did not spot the safety and ran his original route. Collins made a quick throw that appeared to be to no receiver, as both Toomer and Ike Hilliard were actually running away from the ball, which fell harmlessly in the end zone, ensuring that the Giants would get no closer in their 14-3 loss.
“It was my fault,” Toomer said. “I messed up on the outside. Those type of things will kill you. I was supposed to run a slant, he threw the ball right up there expecting me to do the right thing and I didn’t. I take all the blame on me.”
It is comforting that Toomer is a stand-up guy about these things, but the Giants are longing for a time when someone on their offense can speak volumes about good plays made and not about bad plays that lead to failure. The Giants headed into last night’s key contest against the Cowboys at Giants Stadium once again sagging on offense, and there wasn’t exactly an outpouring of positive vibes that this was the week for the offense to show what it can do.
Going in, there was no reason for the Giants’ defense to squirm, as that unit certainly looked to match up quite well with a depleted Cowboys offense that was set to play for the first time without top receiver Michael Irvin.
For this Monday Night Football matchup, Fassel decided Kent Graham gave him the best chance to win, one week after watching Kerry Collins do nothing to help his case in his Giants’ starting debut at Sun Devil Stadium.
Patience is growing thin in the Giants’ locker room, with defensive players steaming about the complete non-support by the offense. In past years, there was a definite rift between offense and defense, and that same damaging reality is getting closer and closer with this year’s teams. If there was a humiliating performance by the offense on national television against the Cowboys, it certainly seemed likely that an eruption could follow.
What was keeping some semblance of sanity alive within the defense was the memory of last season, when Fassel inserted Graham in at quarterback for Kanell and Graham ignited a spark in the offense during a 5-1 finish to an 8-8 season.
“That’s the only thing that gives you hope,” defensive end Michael Strahan said. “Had it been in the past, they had never turned it around it would be killing you. If things had never changed, ever turned around or got any better I think there be a lot of dissension. Right now, since we know what can happen, that’s what gives us hope.”