Friday, September 6, 1996

Giants happily plan to pound Sanders
By Hank Gola
New York Daily News
(Sept. 6, 1996)

(KRT) -- NFL defensive backs are trained to hit and eager to inflict pain. That doesn't change no matter whom the receiver is.

Sunday at Texas Stadium there should be a bunch of wild eyes ready to zoom in on a certain No. 21. What would the Giants give for a clean shot at CB/WR Deion Sanders? When asked, they laughed in happy anticipation.

"Hey, I'm not trying to hurt the man or anything," said nickel cornerback Thomas Randolph. "He's a great athlete and they're paying him all that money, so they're getting their money's worth."

The way most Giants are looking at it is that they'd better get their shots in while the getting is good. Sanders may be the first ironman to play two ways since Chuck Bednarik, but he hardly shares Bednarik's lust for contact.

Monday night against the Bears, Sanders was in on 115 snaps. Gallant he was. Glamorous he wasn't. By early fourth quarter, Neon Deion was dragging, having played on 89 of the game's first 100 plays. He was bleeding through a bandage on his chin. Exhaustion might be one reason for the fumble he coughed up with 11:00 left.

In San Francisco, Sanders would beg to get in on the offense. By Game 5 this season, he should be more than ready for Michael Irvin's return from suspension.

The Giants' approach to Sanders will be similar to how the Bears played him Monday: Keep him in front of you and pound him. As Sanders himself says: "What would you do? Let me run by you and dance? Or let me catch it in front of you and bruise my shoulders?"

The answer is obvious, especially since every hit Sanders takes adds up.

Dave Brown said it might "make him human" on defense. Dan Reeves agreed.

"Most defensive backs don't have a lot of contact," Reeves said. "If he catches a pass, unless it's on the ground he's going to be hit, and that's not something that he's been used to. That's probably going to take a toll as the season goes on."

"We want to punish him and make him work for everything he's going to get," said secondary coach Zaven Yaralian. "Anybody who takes that many plays, you've got to make him work. We've got to play physical in there, but in the same sense, we can't be that physical that we give up a big play."

One other advantage of playing Sanders with a cushion is that he hasn't yet learned the nuances of making yards after the catch, how to spin off and use his feet to get going when his back is to the defender.

"He gets open, but after that, if it's not open space, he's not as accustomed to making moves as he is when he's a punt returner," said CB Jason Sehorn, who will draw Sanders much of the time. "He's also trying to save his body a little bit."

The Cowboy game plan also saved Sanders from running Irvin's inside routes where, as LB Jessie Armstead says, "He comes across my middle - I'm going to hit him."

But Yaralian thinks that could change. He even thinks that Sanders could be used on a reverse or two.

"They haven't done it yet, but from what I've heard, they're going to expand his role," he said. "We have to make sure we know where he is because you have to respect his speed."

The Giants would like Sanders to respect something else - their muscle.

(c) 1996, New York Daily News. Distributed by Knight-Ridder/Tribune Information Services.

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