Kurt Warner and Marshall Faulk were the leaders of one of the most explosive offenses in the history of the NFL, and they know the Giants can’t win trying to emulate the Rams’ former “Greatest Show on Turf.”
“When you look at all the injuries on defense . . . whenever that team has issues on defense it seems that a switch is flipped in Eli Manning’s head and he feels that he now has to win the game,” said Faulk, now an analyst with the NFL Network. “The minute he gets into that mode they are in trouble, they end up not playing well.”
Exhibit A would be Sunday’s opener when the injury-depleted defense struggled to slow down Rex Grossman and the Redskins in a 28-14 loss, and the decisive play of the game came on a Manning pass that was intercepted and returned for a third-quarter touchdown that broke a 14-14 tie. The Giants will try to even their record when they take on the Rams, the team that Faulk and Warner won Super Bowl XXXIV with, on Monday night.
Warner signed with the Giants before the 2004 season and helped groom Manning in his rookie season.
“On offense it’s always been about running the football first with that team,” said Warner, who along with Faulk, appears on NFL Network’s “Gameday Morning” show every Sunday. “Eli is at his best and most comfortable when you have two backs that can run it down hill, then you get the eighth guy in the box and then Eli feeds off that. With that offense, and Eli specifically, when they decide to spread it out and become a throwing team first he always struggles.”
The Giants seem to have the backfield in place with the formidable tandem of Ahmad Bradshaw and Brandon Jacobs. But, against the Redskins, Bradshaw had 13 carries and Jacobs six compared to Manning’s 32 pass attempts. The Giants may be forced to lean on their running game this week if top receiver Hakeem Nicks can’t play or isn’t 100 percent because of a knee injury.
“The running game needs to be a lot better,” said MY9 postgame analyst and Giants Super Bowl champion Amani Toomer.
“There’s no ifs, ands or buts about it. This offense runs at a peak when they are running the ball and working in the play-action offense. They need to establish the run first.”
Toomer did not sound stunned by the Giants’ struggles given the shortened time they had to prepare for offensive coordinator Kevin Gilbride’s complicated scheme due to the lockout.
“I believe this is a good team, but it may take time for them to really gel,” Toomer said. “Do they have that time where they can come back at the end of the year? I don’t know, it might take them longer than you expect.”
justin.terranova@nypost.com