Back in the spring of 2009, his college eligibility in basketball all used up after playing 120 games for the Miami Hurricanes, primarily as a shot-blocker and rebounder, Jimmy Graham decided to forgo professional hoops overseas to try his hand as football, a sport he hadn’t played since high school.
“Sometimes when you see a guy like that, you say he’s an athlete, he can do it,’’ Randy Shannon, Miami’s head football coach at the time, said before the experiment got underway.
He can do it. Tomorrow night, it’s the job of the Giants to try and stop the Saints tight end. Good luck with that.
Graham, having fully blossomed in just his second season, is one of the most prolific tight ends in the NFL. Through 10 games he already has broken the Saints’ single-season franchise records and leads all NFL tight ends in receptions (62) and yards (873) and leads his high-scoring team with six touchdown catches. The only player in the league who has hauled in the ball more frequently is Wes Welker, who has 74 catches for the Patriots.
“You see that translates to the NFL, basketball players, especially the power forward-type bodies that can block and can get down the middle,’’ Giants defensive end Dave Tollefson said. “As a tight end if you can catch the ball you’ll have success in this league because there’s an area in the middle of the field to manipulate.’’
The Giants lately have been manipulated by tight ends and the results were not pretty. Rob Gronkowski caught eight passes for 101 yards and a key late touchdown in New England. Vernon Davis exploited a coverage lapse by rookie linebacker Greg Jones for a 31-yard catch-and-run for the winning touchdown in San Francisco. Brent Celek last week kept the chains moving with six catches for 60 yards for the Eagles. Next up, Graham leads a parade of Saints offensive weapons, as Drew Brees has at his disposal six players with at least 29 receptions, led by the towering (6-foot-6) Graham and the tiny (5-foot-6) scat-back Darren Sproles, who has 60 receptions coming out of the backfield.
“Pass catching ability, speed, ability to release, how they use him, he lines up all over the field so it creates matchup issues if you’re not prepared for it,’’ linebacker Mathias Kiwanuka said of Graham. “Definitely a point of emphasis. They got running backs who can get out too. We’re ready for it. We have the personnel in place to get the stops.’’
Do they? Michael Boley, the linebacker best-equipped to drop in coverage, will miss a second straight game with a hamstring injury. Deon Grant at safety isn’t big enough or quick enough to deal with Graham, who lines up in a variety of spots along the line to probe for the matchup that best suits him. Antrel Rolle might see Graham some but would be in trouble in jump-ball situations.
What’s left for the Giants is a trio of rookie linebackers who all might be given a shot at dealing with Graham. Mark Herzlich got his first NFL start last week and showed up solidly against the run but he’s more comfortable up near the line than he is dropping back, as evidenced by his failure to drop into the passing lane last week on the game-winning touchdown pass from Vince Young to Riley Cooper. Jacquian Williams has the speed to run with anyone but at this point probably not the savvy. Spencer Paysinger specialized in coverage at Oregon but he might not be physical enough to contend with Graham.
“That’s a tough matchup for us,’’ defensive coordinator Perry Fewell said. “Our young linebackers have to grow up real fast. We’ve been emphasizing that to them all this week. ’’