| | By John Clayton
ESPN.com
ALBANY, N.Y. -- Practice doesn't do justice to the talents of Ron Dayne.
In practice, he can't use a shoulder as a weapon to overpower a
linebacker. In practice, he can't use 25 rushing attempts to wear down those
trying to tackle him. In practice, he's like a boxer judged in the
12th round of a heavyweight fight in an environment in which sparing is
disdained.
|  | | Big things are expected of 258-pound rookie Ron Dayne. |
That's why no one around the Giants is alarmed to see Dayne trailing
most of his teammates in post-practice windsprints or why he may not hit
holes on running plays with the quickness of Dave Meggett. That's not his
game. The real Dayne bides time until the real hitting begins.
"I don't think you'll see the real Ron Dayne until it's game time
because that's when he makes the cuts and he reads at a good tempo," Giants
coach Jim Fassel said. "Some other guys hit holes so fast that they
overrun holes or they don't see the holes. Ron makes cuts and shows
quickness, but he's not going to be stopped with one arm or one shoulder."
No one is happier to see Dayne than quarterback Kerry Collins, a
245-pounder who is bigger than most running backs. Handoffs to the
258-pound Dayne are Collins' ticket to 60 minutes of play-action passes, a
lost item in the Giants offense. Running plays produced no action for the
Giants last year.
Six different backs tried, but they produced a puny 3.3-yard per
carry average. They had only five combined 100-yard running efforts. Fassel
felt the Giants needed a giant to get the offense moving.
"If you stop our running game with seven defenders, you can play
coverage behind it," Collins said. "But if you have a good team with a
strong running game, defenses have to put eight people in the box and get
the safeties involved. We were never able to get that last year."
Pity that safety whose job is to stop Dayne for four quarters. But
even Dayne doesn't know his impact on football until the regular-season
tempo begins. How will his speed and power translate against the good
run-stopping teams in the NFC? Will the patched-up left side of the line
open holes for Dayne?
"I'm just learning the plays and getting the technical game down,"
said Dayne, a back of few words but many carries. "I've got to learn what
defenses are doing. My game is just run the ball, make you miss and if not,
run over you."
|
“ |
I'm
just learning the plays and getting the technical
game down. I've got to learn what defenses are
doing. My game is just run the ball, make you miss and if not, run over
you. ” |
|
|
— Ron Dayne, Giants running back |
Fassel's first task in drafting a big man into the Giants backfield
was figuring out how large his big back should be. Fassel wasn't sure. Some
experts at Wisconsin told him that Dayne's weight should never drop below
260 pounds. Others said he needed to be 250 or less to make him faster.
Taking the scientistic approach, Fassel sent Dayne to a New York
City lab for a complete body makeup report. They submerged Dayne in water to
determine his body fat. They tested his body chemistry for phosphorus. They
studied his blood chemistry.
Doctors determined Dayne's best playing weight was 258 pounds,
roughly what he played at in college.
"I probably would have had him at a lower weight," Fassel said.
"I told him when I drafted him, that the easiest thing I could do is assign
him a weight, but having never coached him through a season, I don't know
what he should weigh."
Dayne's comfortable with the 258-pound weight. Now it's a simple
task of waiting until September to use that body as a weapon against
defenders.
"One of the best things he does is when he drops that shoulder,
there is no hitting surface for someone to grab for a tackle," Fassel
said. "His yards will be tough yards. He has the speed to get to the
corner, but your first thought isn't to pitch it out to him. You give it to
him inside, let him read and cut. He's not an easy guy to bring down."
Or an easy guy to read his skills in practices.
John Clayton is the senior NFL writer for ESPN.com.
| |
ALSO SEE
Clayton's postcard from Giants camp
Giants defense strikes a pose
Collins looking forward to football
Clayton Across America: 31 camps in 28 days
Giants: Dayne carries a big load
New York Giants
|
