Seattle at New York Giants, Week 5
With the Seahawks still welcoming back their fleet of injured wide receivers, and the Giants playing without their malcontent army of one, one would expect a rather straight-ahead ground attack from both teams on Sunday.
Seattle likely will see the return of wide receivers Deion Branch (out since last January with a torn ACL in his left knee) and Bobby Engram (who hasn't played this season because of a broken right shoulder suffered in the preseason), but the Seahawks' much improved running game should keep things grounded.
"There's a fair amount of the passing game in total that has been kind of put on the back burner for a while just because of our situation there," Coach Mike Holmgren said this week. "I will also say this, this is their first game back, Branch and Engram. Heck, to think it's going to be Star Wars out there, that's probably not the way it works."
On Sept. 21 against the Rams, Seattle running backs Julius Jones and T.J. Duckett combined to rush for 219 yards and three touchdowns. On one 15-play, nine-minute touchdown drive that spanned the third and fourth quarters, the Seahawks ran the ball 12 times to drain the clock, with most of the runs directed straight up the middle. Jones is averaging 134 rushing yards over his past two games.
Without suspended wide receiver Plaxico Burress, the Giants often should turn to running back Brandon Jacobs, who at 264 pounds weighs more than all but four of the Seahawks' starting defenders, and almost weighs more than defensive ends Patrick Kerney (272 pounds) and Lawrence Jackson (271). His ability to plow straight through defenders is well documented (see: Washington Redskins, Week 1), but Seattle's defenders have been impressed with his seemingly newfound ability to cut back and find holes in the defense.
"A lot of people think that Jacobs won't cut back on them. They think he's going to just pound it, pound it, pound it," Seahawks linebacker Lofa Tatupu, whom Jacobs outweighs by 24 pounds, told the Seattle Post-Intelligencer this week. "His first two years in the league, that's what he was doing.
"But he's matured as a runner, and he's exploring his options, so to speak. He doesn't always take it downhill. He'll make guys miss. He'll sidestep defenders and make them look just as bad as if they were getting run over."
By
Matthew Bonesteel
|
October 3, 2008; 12:00 PM ET
| Category:
Game Previews Week 5
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