| | | | | | | | Tuesday, October 23, 2001
MNF Past, Present and Future: Week 6
By George Hill and Malibu Kelly Hayes
Special to ABC Sports Online
Monday Night Football's spotting and statistical gurus, George Hill and Malibu Kelly Hayes, view the game from a unique perspective, which the duo will share each week on ABC Sports Online, giving an in-depth preview of the upcoming MNF game by looking at the matchup from the past, present and the future. Here is the latest installment, leading up to this Monday's game between the Philadelphia Eagles and the New York Giants (ABC, 9 p.m. ET).
The Past: A look at some past performances on MNF by this week's teams.
The Present: The next layer looks at some of this Monday's key performers.
The Future: Chat with George and Kelly this Monday at 3:30 p.m. ET. Click here to send in a question.
Monday Night Past
Although this is one of the most storied rivalries in the history of the NFL, dating back to 1933, the Eagles and Giants will be meeting for only the sixth time ever on Monday Night Football. Philadelphia leads the MNF series 4-1.
That lone Giants victory took place in Philadelphia (as had all the previous five matchups), on Oct. 2, 1972. Both teams entered the game winless at 0-2 (stop us if you have heard this one before). Quarterbacking for the Giants was Norm Snead, a former Eagle, who had been acquired from the Minnesota Vikings in an off-season trade for QB Fran Tarkenton. For the previous five seasons, Giant fans had witnessed the scrambling exploits of Tarkenton, a future Hall of Famer and future Monday Night announcer (1979-82).
|  | | After being traded from the Giants, Fran Tarkenton led the Vikings to three Super Bowls. |
Across town -- this was the days before the Meadowlands -- the Jets featured another future Hall of Famer and future Monday Night announcer (1985) -- Joe Willie Namath -- the preeminent quarterback in the game at that time. Snead was not as dynamic as his predecessor or his cross-town counterpart, but his substance made up for anything he lacked in style. Coming back to haunt his former team, Snead was 12-of-19 for 164 yards and three touchdowns, leading the Giants to a 27-12 win.
Having an even bigger night that Monday was running back Ron Johnson. The Eagles must have thought Johnson was Thunder and Lightning all rolled into one. He caught all three of Snead's TD passes, and rushed the ball 36 times for 128 yards and a fourth touchdown. His four touchdowns were the most ever
scored in a single Monday Night game, a record he shares with five other players, including Eric Dickerson, a Hall of Famer, and current MNF sideline reporter.
That season, Snead led the league in passing and guided the Giants to an 8-6 record, finishing over .500 for only the second time in nine years.
The Present
|  | | Strahan |
GIANTS DE MICHAEL STRAHAN
In a performance that harkened back to the days of Parcells and Belichick, the Giants defense held the mighty Rams to a paltry 15 points last Sunday. The defense played well enough to give the Giants a monumental victory, but alas, fell one point short thanks to the mistakes of the offense.
No one played more prominently than Michael Strahan, who in just five games has earned himself a Pro Bowl berth. Strahan ran over and around a demoralized Ryan Tucker to capture four sacks, force a fumble and totally disrupt Kurt Warner and the Ram offense. It will go down as the defensive performance of the year and places Strahan among the upper echelon of defensive ends.
Strahan has 8.5 sacks in his last three games and has twice been named the NFC Defensive Player of the Week. Last season marked the first time in four years that he missed out on a trip to Hawaii. Prior to the opener, he told the Monday Night crew that he felt the reason for the snub was his slow start last year and he vowed to rectify that.
So far he has done just that.
Strahan dominated in his last appearance against Donovan McNabb and the Eagles. He had four tackles, two sacks and forced a first quarter fumble. On Halloween in 1999, Strahan intercepted Doug Pederson and returned it 44 yards to give the Giants a 23-17 overtime victory.
|  | | Staley
|
EAGLES RB DUCE STALEY
If the Eagles are going to beat Giant defensive coordinator John Fox and his G-Men, they are going to need to establish some semblance of a ground game. Last year in three losses to New York (including the playoff game), Philadelphia was able to "grind out" an average of just 62 yards rushing per contest.
Of course, in the final two of those games Duce Staley was missing in action with a foot injury. The ex-South Carolina Gamecock has also missed the last two games the Eagles have played, due to shoulder injuries. This week it is time for Staley to help "shoulder" the load.
Help, because he will be splitting time on Monday with rookie Correll Buckhalter, the rookie from Nebraska who leads the Eagles in rushing with 285 yards.
Staley was originally a third-round draft choice of the Eagles in 1997 and came on strong in his second season to rush for 1,065 yards and then followed with 1,273 yards in 1999. With his future looking bright, Staley was off to his best start last season before going on the injured reserve on Oct. 10.
He looks to restart his career, even if it means sharing time with Buckhalter. A strong performance is needed if the Eagles hope to get the N.Y. Giant monkey off their backs.
|  | | Toomer |
GIANTS WR AMANI TOOMER
Quick. Who holds the New York Giants' record for most receptions in a season? Yes, it is Amani Toomer, who caught 79 passes in 1999 and then followed that up with 78 last season. This year, with 21 catches in his first five games, Toomer is not on track to duplicate his record-breaking season yet. But then again, he has yet to face the Eagles.
In Toomer's last two regular season starts against the Eagles, he has ripped them up with 16 receptions for 188 yards and two touchdowns. In 1999 he had an eight-catch, 123-yard performance against them. This week, Toomer will be facing two quality corners in Bobby Taylor and Troy Vincent, but Toomer is familiar with both of them.
Toomer has benefited from the emergence of Joe Jurevicius, who is tied with Toomer for the team lead in receptions (21). The 1-2 punch, coupled with the return of Tiki Barber, could prove to be the difference in this game as the Giants go for their ninth straight regular season victory over Philadelphia.
Monday Night Future
With first place in the NFC East at stake, there are three big questions for the New York Giants. Can they bounce back from the devastating one point loss they suffered last weekend to the St. Louis Rams? Can their eight-game regular season win streak -- nine if you count the playoffs -- against the Eagles continue? And can they spoil Donovan McNabb's Monday Night debut?
McNabb, who is on the cusp of NFL super-stardom, will be bolstered by the return of Duce Staley, even if it is only on passing downs, where Staley's skills as both a blocker and a receiver will be invaluable against the aggressive Giants defense.
Against the Rams, the Giants sacked Kurt Warner six times and hit him another 16 times. It was a punishing performance. However, McNabb will not be as easy to nab as Warner, and we expect the Eagle star to shine on Monday Night. Even though they are playoff bound, look for the Giants to lose by three, 24-21, to go to 3-3 for the season.
MNF Past, Present and Future with George Hill and Malibu Kelly Hayes appears each Friday on ABC Sports Online.
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