Strong safety Robert Griffith had the best view of anyone on the biggest defensive play of the Vikings’ 34-17 win over the Giants at the Meadow
lands yesterday.
The play occurred with 4:46 remaining in the third quarter and the Giants down just 14-6. Kerry Collins went back to pass at his own 11. He looked for Amani Toomer.
“Eddie [McDaniel] tipped it,” Griffith said. “Then Jimmy Hitchcock tipped it. And then [Anthony] Bass picked it off. That was the progression.”
Progress was stopped for the Giants and on the next play Randy Moss found Cris Carter for a 27-yard touchdown. The score was 21-6 Vikings. Ballgame.
This wasn’t the way it was supposed to go against this Viking secondary. Griffith was the only regular starter in the lineup yesterday.
The talk going in was that the Giants would be able to throw on Minnesota.
“What do they say about talk?” Griffith said.
You got to walk the walk, a reporter responded.
“Talk is what?” responded Griffith, not satisfied with the reporter’s answer.
Cheap, the reporter said. Final answer? Yes. Griffith continued.
“If you have confidence in your ability, and the guys next to you, you can just go out and play,” Griffith said.
The Giants may have come in confident, but they finished with 268 garbage passing yards and a loss. This left the Viking coach pleased.
“We had confidence in our defense all along and today they showed why,” Dennis Green said.
They showed why the Giants still have a way to go. The Vikings are rated as one of the worst defenses in the NFL, no matter how confident Green may be.
“The guys we have are good guys,” Green said. “Anthony Bass is a guy we’ve been working on for two years. He’s a terrific athlete. He just hasn’t played a lot. Robert Tate is a very quick athlete.”