IT will not be Joe Montana quarterbacking the 49ers on Sunday against the Giants. It won’t be Steve Young behind center at the Meadowlands. It might not even be Alex Smith, who could miss another game with an injured shoulder.
Either Smith or Trent Dilfer – yes, the same Dilfer who led the Ravens over the Giants in Super Bowl XXXV – will be standing in the way of a five-game winning streak for Big Blue.
Therein lies the problem for Tom Coughlin’s 4-2 Giants, who have sometimes stumbled when the going gets easy.
“I don’t believe in the theory of a trap game, but the 2-3 Niners are a team that can be potentially dangerous,” said Daryl Johnston, who will be the color analyst for the game on Fox. “Their coach, Mike Nolan, does a good job, and his team will never stop playing.”
The Broncos know about that. Denver needed a home win in the season finale against the 49ers last year to get into the playoffs. The 49ers left the mile-high city with a 31-28 win and the Broncos left wondering what went wrong.
“There is potential for the 49ers to find their rhythm this week coming off their bye,” said Johnston, the former Cowboy fullback. “If it’s going to happen, it will be this week. They had some time to focus on what their issues were offensively and try and figure they are not doing the things they were successful at last year.”
It would still appear to be a slam-dunk for a Giants’ defense that has been feasting on struggling quarterbacks after being dissected by Tony Romo and Brett Favre in the first two games.
The G-Men shut down Jason Campbell, a gimpy Donovan McNabb, Chad Pennington and Joey Harrington during their four straight wins.
“I think bringing in Steve Spagnuolo and more of a 4-3-based aggressive philosophy has made a huge difference,” Johnston said about the Giants’ turn-around. “It seems like they meshed together defensively. It’s just a matter of avoiding these bumps in the road and gaining confidence.”
Despite the Giants’ 2-7 finish last season, Johnston said, he thinks the decision to bring back Coughlin might have been the catalyst for this season’s success and the reason the Giants are better equipped to avoid playing down to the competition.
“I think they are in a different situation now,” Johnston said. “When Barry Switzer took over as our head coach [for Jimmy Johnson], it was a different dynamic and it was difficult for us to adjust to. Eventually it kind of broke the team down, but I think right now the opposite is happening with the Giants.
“They have formed a continuity with Coughlin. The Giants have always been a very good back-to-the-wall team. The thing now is to sustain that momentum.”