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The conference champs are out to prove their Super Bowl run was no fluke

By Josh Elliott

Armstead ended his holdout, even though he hadn't wrapped up the restructured contract he wanted. John Iacono Enemy Lines An opposing team's scout sizes up the Giants "The Giants became a much better team after signing Kenny Holmes . He had a breakthrough year with the Titans, and now he makes New York a lot like his old team, one with two potentially dominant pass rushers in him and Michael Strahan .... The secondary was already impressive. Re-signing Jason Sehorn was smart. The two rookie corners are both players. Keep an eye on William Peterson . He's a diamond in the rough, and a guy who can play corner and safety.... Kerry Collins should be fine after the Super Bowl nightmare—a lot of quarterbacks had their worst game against the Ravens—but this year is still a bit make-or-break for him. He's always had the skills but only average intelligence. Which guy will he be this year? ... Ron Dayne , who looks a lot lighter in camp, must step up this year, because Tiki Barber will be a marked man, and he'll be knocked around more. Everyone who expected Dayne to be a smashmouth guy must have never seen him play in college. At Wisconsin he was a patient, nimble back with good vision who waited for holes to develop. He's not a downhill guy. Plus, he needs a lot of carries to get going, and those aren't coming. It looks as if the Giants are like most teams who considered drafting him—they don't know quite what to do with him.... This wasn't the best team in the NFC last year, just the one that peaked at the right time. New York won't come close this time around, even if Jim Fassel makes more predictions." In the Year 2000 Record: 12-4 (first in NFC East) NFL rank (rush/pass/total) Offense: 11/13/13 Defense: 2/16/5 2001 Strength of Schedule NFL Rank: 10 (tie) Opponents' 2000 winning percentage: .508 Games against playoff teams: 7

Jessie Armstead wasn't coming. The Giants would open training camp in two days, but Armstead, having already missed the off-season workout program and the June minicamp in protest over New York's refusal to renegotiate his contract, had decided to hold out. So on July 24 Armstead, the Giants' Pro Bowl linebacker, sat in the living room of his Dallas home, stunned at his own decision.

That afternoon the phone rang. It was coach Jim Fassel, calling with a simple message but one that made "a huge difference," Armstead says. Fassel told Armstead that as much as he wanted him in camp, he should take as much time as he needed before deciding anything. That was it. No tongue-lashings. No threats. "Suddenly, I saw how bad the situation had gotten," Armstead says. "I felt terrible staying away from the workouts, being away from the guys, especially after a lot of them called with their support. The team had the upper hand because they knew I wanted to play, but Coach Fassel gave me room, showed me respect. I just decided to report, new contract or no."

Even as New York avoided a protracted stalemate with the soul of its defense, the episode provided a window into the Giants' psyche as defending NFC champions. To be sure, this is a very mature team, light years removed from the internecine squabbles of 1998 that tore apart a club that had won the NFC East title the year before. Armstead's teammates clearly supported him, and both he and the New York brass were careful not to let the dispute devolve into a war of words. By not alienating their ninth-year star, the Giants snuffed out a fire that could have severely damaged their hopes of returning to the Super Bowl.

Indeed, New York's off-season had been rather placid, other than wide receiver Ike Hilliard's spat with Fassel over mid-June toe surgery that will keep Hilliard, like tailback Tiki Barber, sidelined for the preseason. (Fassel and Hilliard smoothed things over before camp.) The Giants significantly improved their defense through free agency and the draft, re-signed Barber and cornerback Jason Sehorn and generally acted like confident conference champs. "Guys like Michael Strahan and Jessie Armstead and Keith Hamilton came together and stayed together," says Fassel. "Jessie made a business decision, and his teammates understood that. He's one of my favorite guys. It's over."

The incident did, however, reveal the dangerous by-product of an overachieving team's Super Bowl run. As New York broke the bank for Barber (six years, $25.2 million), Amani Toomer ($7 million bonus for restructuring his deal) and Sehorn (six years, $36 million), Armstead felt he had been forgotten -- "This is about respect," he said in late July, to the amusement of the New York tabloids -- and wanted his cut of the championship loot.

Armstead had gone public in the weeks before camp with his desire for a revision of his deal, which has five years remaining at $24.6 million. Alter the deal to, say, three years and $18 million -- guaranteed -- and he would be happy. The Giants balked, pointing out that they had already renegotiated Armstead's contract several times, most recently in 1999. That negotiations never got off the ground this time around still bothers him. "At one point I was, like, What do I have to do to make my point, retire?" he says. "I've been through hell here. I was scraping the barrel when we were 5-11, 6-10. They shouldn't forget who was doing that scraping. I've been a model citizen. I've been to four straight Pro Bowls. I think I deserve to know what the future holds."

Says a sympathetic Toomer, "As happy as I was about my deal, it makes me feel bad for someone like Jessie, who's been here for so long without complaining. I think both sides handled it well. Knowing Jessie, it would never have been a distraction."

That much is clear. Armstead reported in fine shape and will spearhead a defense that was the NFL's second-best against the run in 2000 and has been enhanced by the addition of free-agent end Kenny Holmes. After blossoming opposite Jevon Kearse in Tennessee last year, Holmes will provide rush support to Strahan and the emerging Cornelius Griffin. New York upgraded its secondary as well, using its top two picks on promising cornerbacks Will Allen of Syracuse and William Peterson of Western Illinois.

Even Fassel concedes that the Giants were a bit lucky last year, given that their starters lost a combined total of just nine games to injury; a pieced-together offensive line was superb; and Kerry Collins emerged as a franchise quarterback. "If people want to call it luck, then fine," says Armstead. "They can come to the Meadowlands and try to take our crown. I plan on having my best year yet, so it won't be pretty."

Issue date: September 3, 2001