Collins Learns to Appreciate Another Chance at Super Bowl

When Kerry Collins was a second-year NFL quarterback, he led the Carolina Panthers to the NFC championship game and was a hero.

Since then, Collins had a well-documented battle with alcohol. He was sent to New Orleans and then to the New York Giants and was considered a desperate project.

Now Collins has taken another team to the NFC championship game. The 28-year-old did not put up numbers to dazzle--12 for 19 for 125 yards--but he didn’t throw an interception and the Giants defeated the Eagles, 20-10, Sunday.

And Collins was respectful of this second chance.

“Last time I really didn’t know what this was all about,” Collins said. “I was going ‘Oh, great, we’re in the championship game.’ I don’t think you realize the impact when you’re young.

“And now, after going through some years where I was not so good, you start to appreciate the good times. It’s hard to get to this point in this league. Last time I’m thinking, ‘Hey, this is going to happen every year.’ But it’s not. It’s darn tough to do.”

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Part of the Giants’ game plan was for tackle Cornelius Griffin and linebacker Mike Barrow to shadow or “spy” on Eagle quarterback Donovan McNabb. The idea is that the “spy” always followed McNabb, whether the young quarterback was going to throw or run.

“I wasn’t aware who was spying me,” McNabb said. “At times, it looked like the whole team was spying me.”

Giant Coach Jim Fassel said his defense wasn’t always spying on McNabb. It only seemed that way to McNabb.

“It seemed like they were doing lots of things,” McNabb said. “They blitzed off first, second, third down. They put us back in a hole on third and long. And when we were behind from the start they could blitz or sit back in the zone. That takes a little away from your offense because now you’re sort of in a hole. You’re throwing passes to get to the yard marker and they’re sitting there every time.”

Giant linebacker Jessie Armstead said McNabb shouldn’t take the loss too hard.

“He’s a young guy that’s making a lot of plays,” Armstead said. “He tries to take on everybody by himself and make things happen. But here’s the difference--we had 11 guys running after the ball also trying to make things happen and that caused him a lot of problems today.”

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The Giants and Eagles were full of praise for tackle Lomas Brown, who neutralized Philadelphia’s all-pro linebacker Hugh Douglas. Douglas, who had 15 sacks this season, not only didn’t have a sack, he didn’t make a tackle.

“Our whole offensive line did a good job today,” Giant running back Tiki Barber said, “especially Lomas. He had a tough job of handling Douglas and Douglas was almost no factor so give Lomas a lot of credit on that one.”

Brown, 37, said his whole line has been underrated all year. “But that’s OK,” Brown said. “We just go out every week and get the job done. We had a lot to prove this week and we did it again.”

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A key to the Giant victory Sunday was the play of tackle Lomas Brown against Eagle All-Pro defensive end Hugh Douglas. Eagle tackle Jon Runyan wasn’t quite as successful against Giant defensive end Michael Strahan. A look:

SUNDAY SEASON (per game) Tackles Assists Sacks Tackles Assists Sacks DOUGLAS 0 0 0 2.9 0.7 1.0 STRAHAN 3 1 2 3.2 0.9 0.6