Nick Greisen has impressed the Giants in his new role as Will, the nickname the team uses for its starting weak-side linebacker. He used to play Mike -- the middle linebacker -- but he was an understudy in that role, which was no fun.
But because of injuries to Wesly Mallard and Barrett Green, Greisen played Will on Sunday in the team's victory over Minnesota. He made the most of that chance.
PHOTO: AFP
"He's played well," Giants coach Tom Coughlin said of Greisen. "He came into the game in a little different role last week. He played well in that role, so he's done a very good job and we expect that he will be able to do that." Green missed a second day of practice Thursday with injuries to his knee and ankle, leaving open the opportunity for Greisen to start again Sunday against Chicago.
Greisen, a third-year pro from Wisconsin, had hoped to become the starting middle linebacker this season, but Kevin Lewis beat him out in training camp.
Then Mallard, the backup to Green, tore his knee before the Oct. 10 game against Dallas and the Giants coaches told Greisen to learn to play the weak side -- in two days. And though linebackers speak the same language, the middle and weak side positions use different dialects.
"It's a whole different thought process," Greisen said Thursday, as the Giants continued to prepare for the game against the Bears.
The weak-side linebacker has different coverage responsibilities from the middle-side player, different gaps to fill and keys to read.
Green was superb in the victory over the Cowboys, recording four tackles, forcing a fumble and recovering another. Greisen learned more about Will during a bye week.
Then Coughlin benched Green for a game Oct. 24 against Detroit because he had been habitually late for meetings. Greisen had seven tackles in the Giants 28-13 loss.
Green, who only played on special teams against Detroit, returned as a starter for Sunday's game against the Vikings but was injured during Minnesota's first series.
Greisen replaced him again, making five solo tackles, and he had two tackles on special teams as the Giants walloped Minnesota, 34-13, to run their record to 5-2.
"I think he's stood up really, really well," Lewis, his teammate, said. "He's gone out in a position that he's not accustomed to playing, and played it very well, I think."
Middle linebackers, Lewis said, tend to react to a play without thinking too much. Outside linebackers, he said, need to be much more patient and disciplined.
"I talk to him a lot on the field," Lewis said. "It helps. When you're able to communicate, that makes us that much more successful."
Greisen always had played middle linebacker. He was so good at the position that the Giants used their fifth-round pick to take him in the 2002 NFL draft. He mostly played on special teams in his first two professional seasons. Then Michael Barrow became a free agent and signed with the Washington Redskins.
But Lewis, a fifth-year player from Duke, was more mobile and productive in training camp than Greisen. Lewis won the job and has become a mainstay on defense.
It appeared Greisen would disappear in the quicksand of the depth chart, but NFL rosters are ever-changing once a season starts and players begin colliding.
Although players never want to get an opportunity to play because of an injury, Greisen looked at Mallard's injury as a chance to show his range.
"Every opportunity I get to play is a blessing in disguise," Greisen said. "I look at it as a second opportunity to play, and I want to make the most of it." He said he is having fun in the role of Will, enjoying the challenge of a new position. The learning curve seems to have smoothed itself out.
"Greisen pulled on a white tube sock as he talked about his new responsibility, as if he could not wait to get to practice on a dull, rainy afternoon.
"I need to keep playing well," he said, the determination apparent in his tone.
After ending New England's 21-game winning streak last week, the Pittsburgh Steelers greet the Philadelphia Eagles -- the NFL's last unbeaten team -- on Sunday in a game which might preview a matchup for a much grander title.
Still, the Steelers could set their own little record, becoming the first team ever to win back-to-back games against teams 6-0 or better coming in.
"We've got a great running game, two dominant wide receivers and a young, confident, cocky quarterback back there playing his heart out," says wide receiver Hines Ward, one of many effective offensive weapons for the Steelers. "We're a hard team to beat."
The young, cocky quarterback, of course, is Ben Roethlisberger, the rookie who has won his first five starts, almost unprecedented, even for a first-round draft choice.
But the centerpiece of this game is likely to be Duce Staley, who spent his first seven years in Philadelphia, grousing from time to time about being underused. He certainly hasn't groused in Pittsburgh, where he has run for 707 yards, seventh in the NFL.
That's one reason Roethlisberger has been so successful -- opponents have to play the run. In the Steelers' 34-20 win over the New England Patriots last week, they ran for 221 yards, 125 by Staley, making life a lot easier for Big Ben. Staley and Jerome Bettis will be critical this week because Jim Johnson, Philly's defensive coordinator, puts together fearsome blitz packages.
This game, of course, means more to Pittsburgh, and more than beating an unbeaten for the second straight week.
At 6-1, the Steelers are two games ahead of Baltimore in the AFC North and tied with the Patriots and Jets for the AFC's best record. And while it's far too early to talk about tiebreakers, their win over New England gives them one over the Patriots if it comes down to that for home-field advantage in the playoffs.
The Eagles clearly are the best team in the NFC so far. They are 7-0, two games better in the loss column than the New York Giants, Minnesota Vikings and Atlanta Falcons and superior to them -- they beat New York and Minnesota handily in the first two weeks of the season.
Their last two games, against two other AFC North teams, have been more difficult. The first was an overtime win in Cleveland, the second a bruising 15-10 win over Baltimore last week.
The Steelers are playing better than either of those two. Will a second streak end here?
NFL running back Emmitt Smith is approaching another milestone -- 18,000 career yards rushing. No one else has made it even to 17,000.
Smith needs 59 yards against Miami on Sunday, and the way the Dolphins are defending the run, the goal is reasonable, even on an Arizona Cardinals team that has lost 17 straight on the road.
"That means I've run a long ways," Smith said. "It means a lot. Heck, there has not been a back in the National Football League to go over 18,000, so that's pretty special.
In his 15th season, Smith enters Sunday's game with an NFL record 17,941 yards rushing, 1,175 more than No. 2 Walter Payton.
"He just continues to make his mark on history," offensive tackle L.J. Shelton said. ``I'm glad that, hopefully, I will be a part of it when he does it. It's definitely a big honor to be part of it.''
Already this season, Smith has eclipsed Payton's record of 100-yard games with 78. Smith also owns the record of career rushing touchdowns with 160.
The 35-year-old running back has two 100-yard games this season -- not coincidentally in Arizona's two victories. He has not hidden the personal satisfaction that came with those performances. Maybe some of the quickness is gone, but not his uncanny ability to find the crease in the defense.
"I still have it," Smith said. "As long as I've got that vision and as long my legs can still move a little bit, I think I can get the job done."
The problems arise when there are no creases to find, as was the case most of last season.
"He sees blocks before they happen, and he's able to capitalize on them," Shelton said. "We have to have some holes for him first, but if it's there, he'll find them."
There have been plenty of holes in Miami's defense. The Dolphins (1-7) are 30th -- out of 32 teams -- in run defense, allowing 149 yards per game. Arizona is 2-5.
Smith is fifth in the NFC in rushing with 523 yards, and an average of 4.0 yards per carry. He's scored five touchdowns.
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