NFL

Giants must put clamps on Saints’ Graham

FIRING LINE: The Giants’ defense better not be “dragon” tomorrow against Saints tight end Jimmy Graham, one of the NFL’s most talented and athletic tight ends. (Getty Images)

The last time the Giants saw the Saints, the number 80 left an indelible mark on the Big Blue defense — as in the jersey number worn by New Orleans tight end Jimmy Graham.

More specifically, the number on Graham’s back, which the Giants were forced to view on each of his two touchdown catches in the Saints’ 49-24 rout a little more than a year ago, on Nov. 28, 2011.

The 26-year-old Graham is perhaps the NFL’s best tight end, probably the Saints’ best offensive threat and almost certainly the most athletic tight end in the NFL.

“He’s probably your new-age Tony Gonzalez, new-age Antonio Gates,” Giants safety Stevie Brown said.

Graham also may be the biggest weapon the Giants need to contain in tomorrow’s pivotal game against the Saints at MetLife Stadium. Drew Brees has thrown for 77 touchdown passes over the last two seasons — 19 of them to Graham, including eight this year.

So how do the Giants contain the 6-foot-7, 265-pound Graham, who had terrific success against them last season and who often lines up in the slot?

“It’s just more so you’ve got to play games with him, just like you’ve got to play games with the quarterback and everything like that,” Brown said. “You’ve got to show him a different coverage.

“You’ve got to play him like you’re going to put your hands on him. You actually do have to sometimes get up there and put your hands on him. You’ve just got to keep it switched up so you can keep him guessing.”

The Giants will almost certainly attempt to do so without safety Kenny Phillips, listed as doubtful with a knee injury (he was doubtful last week but played in the loss to the Redskins). But they should be getting some help with athletic linebacker Jacquian Williams back in the fold.

Williams has missed the last six games with a knee injury but is listed as probable.

“That’s a huge boost for this team,” linebacker Mathias Kiwanuka said. “He’s a special talent.”

As a speed-based linebacker, the 6-foot-3, 224-pound Williams can unquestionably help cover tight ends. However, he hasn’t played since Week 6 against the 49ers. So Williams might be both rusty and physically limited.

Either way, he figures to be at least one of the Giants who will spend time shadowing Graham.

“He’s a big part of their offense,” Williams said, “so of course, I’ll be expecting to see him.”

Through 12 games this season, the Giants have done a good job against opposing tight ends, but there were exceptions. They were demolished by Dallas’ Jason Witten in Week 8 when he caught 18 passes for 167 yards. Carolina’s Greg Olsen had a strong performance in Week 3, catching seven balls for 98 yards, and the Redskins’ Logan Paulsen had four grabs for 76 yards back in Week 7. Oddly enough, the Giants won all three of those games.

But beyond that, no tight end has caught more than four passes or compiled more than 57 yards in any game against the Giants. They’ve also seen just two opposing tight ends score touchdowns all season — the Bengals’ Jermaine Gresham in Week 10 and the Cowboys’ John Phillips in Week 8.

“Just trying to show them as many different looks as we can,” linebacker Michael Boley said. “We’ve faced quite a number of good tight ends this year, and so it all pretty much boils down to game planning.”

And that plan includes seeing as little of Graham’s back as possible.