Defensive line depth might be New York Giants' biggest step
Surplus of talent evokes memories of Cowboys' model for success in 1990s02:18 PM CDT on Thursday, August 20, 2009
I remember talking with friends on the Buffalo Bills coaching staff before the 1993 Super Bowl against the Cowboys. They were more concerned with the Cowboys' two backup defensive tackles than they were about the starters.
Tony Casillas and Russell Maryland were the starting tackles and the backbone of a unit that led the NFL in both defense and run defense. Jimmie Jones and Leon Lett were the backups, but when they hit the field, chaos ensued. Both were big, mobile pass rushers who lived in the offensive backfield.
The Triplets got all the hype and publicity in 1992 as the Cowboys stormed their way to a first Super Bowl championship of the decade. But the silent hero of that season was the deepest, most talented defensive line in the NFL.
The Cowboys sent eight linemen at offenses in waves: tackles Casillas, Maryland, Jones, Lett and Chad Hennings; and ends Charles Haley, Tony Tolbert and Jim Jeffcoat. They smothered the run, forcing offenses to become one-dimensional, then stormed the pocket.
When Jones and Lett took the field for the Cowboys, their speed and mobility was a shock to offensive linemen who had settled into a rhythm against the more methodical play of Casillas and Maryland.
That's the benefit of defensive line depth. By rotating linemen, a defense can always have fresh bodies and fresh looks on the field. Offenses generally don't rotate blockers. The five starters play every down. So in the fourth quarter, when the game is on the line, it's fresh defensive legs versus tiring offensive legs.
But stockpiling defensive linemen like the Cowboys did back then is difficult to do. Those quality big guys are tough to find. The New York Giants, though, appear to have done so in 2009.
The Giants fielded one of the best front fours in the NFL last season in ends Justin Tuck and Mathias Kiwanuka and tackles Barry Cofield and Fred Robbins. New York finished in the top 10 in both run defense and sacks.
The Giants have doubled the quality up front this season. Pro Bowl pass rusher Osi Umenyiora returns after missing the entire 2008 season with a knee injury. The Giants also signed two free agents, tackles Chris Canty and Rocky Bernard. Canty started 16 games for the Cowboys last season; Bernard 15 for the Seahawks.
A lack of depth took a toll on the Giants last season. Robbins finished the season playing with two broken hands, and Cofield limped through December on a bad knee. Kiwanuka, starting 16 games for the first time in his career in place of the injured Umenyiora, ran out of gas.
Through the first 12 weeks of the season, the Giants allowed opposing rushers only 85.4 yards and seven touchdowns while amassing 36 sacks for an 11-1 start.
But in the final four games, the Giants allowed 127.0 yards and seven touchdowns rushing while collecting only six sacks. New York lost three of its final four games and then bowed out as the NFC's top-seed with an opening-round playoff loss.
Depth won't be a problem this season. Tackle Jay Alford also returns, giving the Giants eight players with starting experience up front.
The quality of both the defensive line and the team was why Bernard and Canty were willing to surrender their NFL starting positions to sign with the Giants as backups.
"They told me we're going to be a dominant defensive line and we're going to come at offensive lines in waves," Canty said. "We're going to take advantage of mismatches and move guys around.
"What they have, what they've done in the past and how they play on tape was a big selling point for me. Watch some of their games last year and the Super Bowl. You see how fast they play. I wanted to be a part of that."
I visited both the Giants and Eagles last week. The Giants are impressive up front on their two lines. The Eagles are impressive with their stable of offensive playmakers. My guess is I'll spend a lot of Sundays this season at NFC East games.
Now, let's take our weekly spin around the NFL.
QB Michael Vick has won 57 percent of his career starts in the NFL. He's even better if you subtract the Philadelphia Eagles – which he has done by signing with the NFC East team. Although Vick has a career 38-28-1 record, he is 1-3 against the Eagles and 4-5 against the NFC East.
Now that Vick is in the NFC East, having signed last week with Philadelphia, let's take a look at his history in his new division. He has spread around his success with one victory apiece against Dallas, New York, Philadelphia and Washington: .
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Eagles coach Andy Reid says the first thing Michael Vick needs to do in his return to the NFL is get himself into football shape. He's had a two-year layoff since last playing in 2006. That's a long time to be idle. Players return all the time from a one-year injury absence. But there aren't many who sit out two seasons for any reason and make it back.
But Reid has full confidence that Vick can – a confidence reinforced from past experience. Reid has been around several men who became productive football players after two-year absences.
"I went to Brigham Young," Reid said. "I saw kids go on two-year [church] missions all the time and come back. There's a time period it takes to get back into the swing of things. He's going to have to go through that process to get back onto the field. But he knows that and completely respects and understands that."
During my stop at the New York Giants training camp in Albany last week, I visited a sports bar called Graney's Pub & Grille. The food was superb for pub fare and everywhere you look, there were flat-screen televisions. Thirty-six of them.
The place was packed with Giants fans the night I was there except for one solitary soul who walked around wearing a "Cowboys Football" T-shirt. Turns out it was the owner, Mike Graney, a diehard Cowboys fan. But he's beyond that. He's also in his fourth year as a season-ticket holder for the Cowboys. He's paying the big bucks for a pair of club seats. He plans to attend four of the home games in the new stadium this season. For the other four, he'll stay home, work the bar and make sure "the Cowboys are on the biggest screen," he said.
Our Buys, by Joe Drape
Drape, a sportswriter for The New York Times, moved from Manhattan to Smith Center, Kan., in 2008 to document the local high school football team as it pursued a fifth consecutive perfect season, a fifth consecutive state title and a state record for consecutive victories.
Drape detailed how Smith Center (population 1,931) embraces football and its football team, thus the title of the book. He lays out the town's concern for the team's various streaks heading into 2008 because it was supposed to be a rebuilding season.
Then Drape explains how coach Roger Barta annually builds a work ethic in the summer that raises the level of expectation in the fall – and why he can turn a bunch of inexperienced players into overachievers as he did in 2008. It's a light, breezy, entertaining read.
JEROME HARRISON, HB, Cleveland Browns
The Browns appeared to steal Harrison in the 2006 NFL draft. Harrison won the Pac-10 rushing title in 2005 with 1,900 yards for Washington State, then gave the NFL a 4.47-second time in his 40-yard dash. But he slid to the fifth round, where Cleveland claimed him.
In three seasons with the Browns, Harrison has started only one game. He has only 77 career carries but is averaging 5.8 yards per carry with a 72-yard touchdown run last season against Buffalo. Try as he might, though, Harrison couldn't seem to impress coach Romeo Crennel enough to gain his confidence and any sort of commitment.
But that's going to change under coach Eric Mangini, who came over from the New York Jets.
"I really like him," Mangini said. "We looked at him in New York the same year we drafted Leon [Washington]. If you look at their college stats, they're almost identical. If you look at their pro stats, in terms of average per catch and average per carry, they are again very similar.
"I don't know why he didn't get more involved here in the past. But he's been great since I've been here. He's done everything we've asked. That will translate into more reps."
Washington himself tumbled to the fourth round of the 2006 draft. Both Harrison and Washington are small (5-9, 200-pound range), which explains their slide. But the Jets gave Washington 298 carries over the last three years and 108 receptions. Mangini's history with Washington will benefit Harrison.
Punters Sam Koch of the Baltimore Ravens and Hunter Smith of the Washington Redskins were talking before the preseason opener last weekend, and Smith commented he was glad to be out of the AFC. Smith left the Indianapolis Colts for the Washington Redskins in free agency this off-season.
Koch is starting to realize in his fourth year with the Ravens what Smith came to realize in his 10 years with the Colts. It's tough to get any sort of recognition in the AFC.
Koch set franchise records for both punting average (45.0 yards) and net average (39.9 yards) in 2008 and also led the AFC with 34 kicks inside the 20. But he didn't get a sniff in the Pro Bowl voting.
Hawaii remains the domain of Oakland's Shane Lechler, who has gone to six Pro Bowls. Lechler set an NFL record with a 41.1-yard net average in 2008. San Diego's Mike Scifres also cracked 40 yards with a 40.9 net and he's never gone to a Pro Bowl, either. He's been a three-time alternate behind Lechler. They finished 1-2 in the voting again in 2008. That doesn't leave much voting support for Koch – or any other AFC punter, for that matter.
TE Jeremy Shockey's first season in New Orleans was one he'd rather forget. For the first time in his seven-year career, he failed to score a touchdown. Shockey scored seven TDs in his best season with the New York Giants and two TDs in his worst. His 50 catches were the most in the NFL by a player who failed to score a touchdown in 2008. His 9.7 yards per catch also was the second-worst average of his career.
■ With the departure of Brian Dawkins, Andy Reid now has a team that is completely his. Dawkins, who left the Eagles for the Denver Broncos in free agency this off-season, was the last player from the Ray Rhodes Era. The two longest-tenured Eagles now are QB Donovan McNabb and K David Akers, who both arrived in Reid's first season in 1999.
■ The Detroit Lions have not won a regular-season game since 2007. But the Lions have built a league-best five-game winning streak in the preseason over the last two years.
■ Baltimore's lowest moment of this decade came in the 15th week of the 2007 season. Cleo Lemon passed for 315 yards, including a 64-yard touchdown pass to Greg Camarillo in overtime, to give the Miami Dolphins a 22-16 victory over the Ravens. It was Miami's only victory of 2007 and snapped a season-opening 14-game losing streak. Guess who the Ravens signed last weekend? Lemon.
I'm having a hard time getting into HBO's Hard Knocks with the Cincinnati Bengals this summer.
Rick Gosselin shares his NFL analysis Wednesdays through Fridays on the NFL blog.
Rick Gosselin is the author of GoodFellows, the story of Detroit's surprisingly successful St. Ambrose football teams of the '50s and '60s.