Giants 31 Saints 38
Empty red seats served as evidence; those who had come had seen enough to know they could leave early and miss nothing of importance. There was no reason to stay around and view the closing moments of the inevitable.
“That was nice,” Brian Williams said.
The Giants center did not mind finishing up his workday with Giants Stadium half-filled and no great drama waiting to be played out. This time, the Giants left nothing to chance, dominating completely with their first, and only, complete victory of the season. Yes, they do have an offense, at least they did yesterday.
Thanks to a first-half eruption capped by two touchdowns in 63 seconds and one incredible last-second Hail Mary from Kent Graham to Joe Jurevicius, with an assist from Amani Toomer, the Giants finally put together a true feel-good performance on both sides of the ball in a blowout 31-3 pummeling of the lowly Saints.
“They got their job,” Williams said of the defense, “and we got our job and we both got our jobs done.”
That had not happened at any time this season, leaving the Giants not only feeling better about themselves but also rising in the NFC East, otherwise known as the equal-opportunity division. The Giants at 4-3 are one-half game behind the Redskins and Cowboys (both 4-2) for first place heading into next Sunday’s game in Philadelphia.
“It would be great to be 5-2 but we’ll take 4-3 right now,” said Kent Graham, who played his best game of the season.
As badly-needed as the overwhelming victory was, it was also costly. Three defensive starters, linebacker Jessie Armstead (bruised ribs), free safety Percy Ellsworth (sprained foot) and tackle Robert Harris (sprained ankle) are all hurting, as is Ellsworth’s backup and the team’s nickel back, Shaun Williams (pulled hamstring).
It’s almost definite that Harris and Williams won’t play next week. In addition, rookie running back Joe Montgomery made his offensive debut and gained his first career touchdown on a spinning, tackle-breaking 12-yard run, but he won’t be able to build on his first game in the near future. He fractured a bone in his left foot and will be out 3-4 weeks, putting the still-struggling running game in critical condition.
“It’s part of the territory,” said Armstead, who vows to play against the Eagles. “When you’re in a war you know you’re going to lose some comrades. If you lose ’em you got to keep moving on.”
Sorting out the wounded will be this week’s task. Watching film of the demolition of the Saints (1-5) will be this week’s enjoyment. The defense and special teams did all the work in a 13-10 squeaker over the Cowboys, but everyone got into the act to easily slap New Orleans with its fifth straight loss.
“I guess we are the elixir that makes everybody happy,” Saints coach Mike Ditka said. “When we show up everyone else seems to get better.”
Graham (19 of 29, 239 yards, 2 TDs, 1 INT) survived a brutal first possession – he was sacked three times – to trigger a 24-point first half, which isn’t bad for a team that hadn’t managed an offensive touchdown in 11 consecutive quarters. Graham scrambled six yards for the first Giants TD, but not before Jim Fassel got creative with a double-reverse that Ike Hilliard took 24 yards.
Leading 10-3, the Giants took command with a late first-half flurry. Graham, who usually throws the deep ball extremely well, lofted a picture-perfect floater to Toomer, who had a step on cornerback Tyrone Drakeford and ran under the pass for a 27-yard touchdown with 1:03 left before halftime.
That’s when Ditka, who’s been criticized this season for sloppy clock management – the Saints have blown four fourth-quarter leads – messed up. New Orleans took over on its 33-yard line with 57 seconds left, and when Lamar Smith was hauled down by Michael Strahan for a five-yard loss, it figured the Saints would simply run out the clock. But Ditka called a time out, which played right into the Giants hands. Two Billy Joe Tolliver incompletions later, the Giants had the ball back with 32 seconds to go.
Backed up on their own 22, this also looked like the time to go conservative, but Fassel went for broke. The Giants reached their own 47 and on their final play did what they practice every Friday, the play that is often used and almost never works. This time, it worked.
Graham got the ball where he wanted it, five yards into the end zone, high enough for a jump-ball situation. Just like they practiced, Toomer went up for the ball, leaped with safety Sammy Knight and deflected the ball backwards, where Jurevicius was positioned at the back of the end zone to make it 24-3 after a 53-yard scoring play.
“I was kind of shocked,” Toomer said. “I was like ‘What just happened?’ I couldn’t believe it. I looked around, saw no flags and I just had to jump on him.”
Such displays of joy have been rare around the Giants and their offense, which was successful on 10 of 17 third-down conversions and scored the most points for Fassel’s team in more than a year. The running game, fueled by Montgomery and Leshon Johnson, was not overly effective (37-106) but this still was a quantum leap forward.
As usual, the Giants on defense were stifling. Prize rookie Ricky Williams (24-111) did impress the Giants but he was a one-man band, as Tolliver (14-33, 176 yards) tossed three interceptions and was absolutely dreadful.
“Not bad, it feels pretty good,” Fassel said of the rare display by the offense. “We needed something like that, no question about it.”