KERRY Collins threw late, threw into coverage, effectively threw whatever momentum the Giants gained in the last two weeks, if not the season, away with two critically-timed interception
Responsibility was shared by Tiki Barber, with fumbles that destroyed two drives, with Amani Toomer on a key late first-half drop, with missed tackles and a numbing number of offensive line penalties, by a Falcon pass rush, sometimes only bringing three, that forced the Giant quarterback often to unload early and erratically.
But two interceptions, one when the Giants had a chance to go up at the half, another that set up the Falcons’ putaway score, were on the quarterback, and who had a bad day that probably numbered Jim Fassel’s days.
You can read the writing on the wall for the coach now a lot more clearly that the quarterback seemed to make reads into a two-deep zone by the worst pass defense in the league during the entire long day, one of the longer ones in Giant history. He completed 25 of 40 passes, most of them dinks, had a rating of 54.4, was outplayed by third-stringer Kurt Kittner.
“It was embarrassing,” said Collins. “I was embarrassed by the way I played, by the way we played as an offense.
“[The rush] was a little bit of a factor. But that doesn’t have anything to do with the turnovers and penalties and the things that really hurt us today.
“You have to come back from it. It’s only as demoralizing as you let it be. Do we want Jimmy to get fired? No. Are we a long ways from there? I think so. I believe in the character of the guys on this team.”
We all knew the Giants had been repeatedly, uncannily, capable of not being able to get out of their own way. But it didn’t seem possible that they could play down far enough to keep the worst pass defense in the NFL and a third-string quarterback in yesterday’s game let alone win it by 20.
Yet, there was Barber fumbling again with the Giants set up for a sure field at the Atlanta 24 in the first. There was Toomer dropping a ball that would have set the Giants up inside the 10 in the final minute of the first half, two plays before Kerry Collins was late in delivering a ball for Carter in the end zone that Bryant Scott intercepted.
“I was trying to be aggressive,” said Collins. “I hit Amani on the sideline earlier against the same coverage. I thought we needed a spark, it would go a long way towards getting us in the right direction.
“It’s a fine line and I walk it sometimes. There are times I make plays because I am aggressive.”
At least it was still tied until the Falcons drove 77 yards in nine plays, one of which Warrick Dunn ran out of William Joseph’s grasp for a first down at the seven. And it was still in reach, down 14-7, until Collins, in another of a numbing number of out-passes, telegraphed one that was picked off by Todd McBride and returned to the 8-yard line.
“They brought one more, he was coming free and he read me and stepped in front of the pass,” said Collins. “I should have thrown it away. I worry about those type of interceptions, I don’t worry about the ones like right before halftime.”
“They played a lot of zone. There wasn’t a lot in the middle of the field. I did have some opportunities. We were running the ball good. That will affect what you do from a passing standpoint.”
“We all understood [Fassel] and listened to him. We knew. He shouldn’t take it personally. I believer there was effort out there today.”
You don’t get any points for that, now when it doesn’t turn into points, not when the quarterback doesn’t make plays.