It seems like every season — heck, every game — there is a hue and cry from Giants fans who want middle linebacker Chase Blackburn replaced, with somebody younger, faster, different.
And after witnessing Browns wideout Josh Gordon pulling away from Blackburn for a 62-yard score yesterday at MetLife Stadium, the hue and cry got louder.
Then Blackburn went out and reminded them just why he is so important for Big Blue. His pressure on Browns quarterback Brandon Weeden forced the rookie’s second-quarter interception and he came up with a fourth-quarter pick in the end zone that sealed the Giants’ 41-27 come-from-behind win.
“Big plays, momentum-changing plays, that’s what this game’s about — college level, high school level, NFL level, it’s just the way it is,’’ said Blackburn, who joked, “It’s almost like we like the fans to boo first before we get going. It kind of gets us motivated.’’
He heard plenty of boos from the 79,911 in the first quarter. Down 7-0, the Giants were in a cover-two when Weeden got strong safety Stevie Brown — filling in for injured Kenny Phillips — to bite on a play fake. With no help behind him, Blackburn might as well have been chasing Usain Bolt, with Gordon turning a deep route into a long touchdown.
“It was just a breakdown,” Blackburn said. “They got us into something and got somebody to bite. I wasn’t keeping up with him. My speed and his speed’s not the same.’’
But Blackburn, working on a one-year deal, held off a training camp job challenge from Mark Herzlich not with foot speed but an ability to diagnose offenses and get in the right spot. That’s exactly what he did yesterday.
After the Giants had cut the deficit to 17-10, Cleveland had a third-and-1 from the Giants 25. Blackburn pressured the rookie Weeden into an interception that Brown ran back 46 yards to set up a game-tying TD two plays later.
The Giants took a 34-20 lead into the fourth quarter, and as the Browns drove to the 10, Blackburn — who had missed a chance to stop the drive on a fourth-and-3 — sealed it with a pick in the end zone.
“It was great. Any time you make a big play to help the team win, you enjoy it. It should’ve never happened. At fourth-and-3, if I’d made a play there, I wouldn’t have even had that interception,’’ said Blackburn, an Ohio native who played at Akron but was not a Browns fan. “Thank the Lord he gave me the opportunity to make up and redeem myself.’’