THE joke goes that when you look into Kerry Collins’ eyes, you can see the vastness of the Jersey Meadowlands.
Sometimes, you can even hear the whistling of the wind.
And it is true that at times, the big baby blues of the Giants’ quarterback can seem devoid of emotion. Or even thought.
Not yesterday. For three hours and four minutes yesterday afternoon, the vacancy in Kerry Collins’ eyes was replaced by something that hasn’t been seen in the eyes of a Giants quarterback since they belonged to a guy named Phil Simms.
Passion.
“Kerry had fire in his eyes today,” said Glenn Parker. “And as the game went on, you could just see the fire getting hotter and hotter.”
On a day in which one team simply played as if it wanted to go to the Super Bowl a heck of a lot more than the other, no player, it seemed, wanted to go to Tampa worse than Kerry Collins.
And after the Giants had completed a 41-0 whipping of the Vikings and Collins had completed his victory lap of Giants Stadium holding the NFC Championship trophy overhead, Collins described himself as “unbelievably excited. . .but with a sense of remembering what it took to get here.”
“You get beat up and you get beat down and people call you stuff and call you loser, it’s going to make you tough,” Collins said. “It’s going to make you tough and that’s why it made that moment sweet, but you remember things, too.”
By now, anyone with even a passing interest in professional football likely has already heard about all the bad things Collins has done, or is supposed to have done, or probably would have done, given half the chance.
But today is not a day to remember those things.
In fact, yesterday Kerry Collins did everything right. Many times.
“I’ve never seen a quarterback play a better game,” said Parker, who had a great view from his assigned spot at offensive guard. “That includes pro, college, high school.”
Considering that Parker is 35 years old and has played 11 seasons in the NFL, his opinion covers many games and many quarterbacks.
And Parker is greener than the Giants Stadium turf after a paint job compared to Lomas Brown, his neighbor just to the left. Brown, a 16-year veteran, was as impressed as Parker. “Kerry was in command,” he said. “Nobody spoke in our huddle but him. It was like being in boot camp.”
Collins had been this close before, as a second-year player for the Panthers, only to unravel along with his overmatched team in the NFC Championship Game against the Packers.
It had been a long climb back for Collins since that game, and not just to regain his reputation as a player.
“I know a lot of guys had mixed feelings about Kerry when he came here,” Jessie Armstead said. “But Kerry, doing the things he did, won them over. The partying, the drinking, whatever things they said he did, he stopped doing them. He hasn’t made any derogatory comments. He’s been a quality person.”
But there was still doubt, even on his own team, as to whether Collins was a quality quarterback.
Until yesterday.
In only the biggest game played at Giants Stadium in 15 years, the quarterback who couldn’t be trusted to do much found himself required to do plenty.
He knew it as early as last Tuesday night, when offensive coordinator Sean Payton faxed him the game plan for the Vikings.
In the corny-but-effective style football coaches often employ before key games, Payton added a slogan to the cover sheet: “Mellencamp-the best that we can do.”
It was a reference to a greatest-hits album by John Cougar Mellencamp, perhaps the corniest of rock stars, entitled “The Best That I Can Do.”
It was meant to communicate to Collins that this week, he would have the plays determined by the Giants coaching staff to be their most effective.
More importantly, after 16 regular-season starts and one playoff win over the Eagles, Collins finally would be turned loose.
And this is how Collins responded to the challenge: 39 attempts, 28 completions, 381 yards, five touchdowns, two interceptions. In the process, he leap-frogged Simms for most completions, Y.A. Tittle for most TDs, and Scott Brunner, would ya believe, for most yardage in a post-season game.
But the numbers only tell part of the story of the kind of day Collins had.
The most significant stat is this: Within 110 seconds of the opening kickoff, he had hit Ike Hilliard with a 46-yard touchdown pass. At that point, he could have handed the game over to the Giants defense and begun packing his bags for Tampa.
But Collins had something yesterday only the best have on their best days, and what he has never seemed to have on any day.
Killer instinct.
Not until the first play of the fourth quarter, with the Giants leading by six touchdowns, did Brad Maynard have to give up his seat on the bench to punt.
No Giants quarterback, not even the sainted Simms, ever had a better day than Collins did yesterday.
“There’s been a lot of questions about Kerry, about whether he could step up and carry this team,” Jim Fassel said. “I think he answered that bell today. He made a pretty loud statement today.”
“This was Kerry’s game of redemption,” Parker added. “Not with us. He did that a long time ago. With the rest of the league.”
This morning, when you look into Kerry Collins eyes, you won’t just see the emptiness of the Meadowlands.
You’ll see all the way to Tampa.
A TALE OF ONE HALF
After 30 minutes yesterday, the Giants had there trip to Super Bowl XXXV pretty much secured. Here’s a blow-by-blow account of how Big Blue knocked the Vikings into a first-half purple daze:
FIRST QUARTER
14:48 1st down Kerry Collins (NYG) pass to Amani Toomer (NYG) to New York 42 for 16 yards.
14:13 1st down Collins (NYG) pass to Toomer (NYG) to Minnesota 48 for 10 yards.
13:49 1st down Tiki Barber (NYG) rushed right tackle for 2 yards.
13:10 2nd down Collins (NYG) pass to Ike Hilliard (NYG) for a 46 yard touchdown. MIN 0, NYG 6
13:03 Brad Daluiso (NYG) extra point is good. MIN 0, NYG 7
13:03 Daluiso (NYG) kickoff 51 yards from New York 30 to Minnesota 19. Moe Williams (MIN) return to Minnesota 19 for -1 yards. Williams (MIN) fumbled. Recovered by Lyle West (NYG) at Minnesota 18.
12:53 1st down Collins (NYG) pass to Greg Comella (NYG) for a 18 yard touchdown. MIN 0, NYG 13
12:47 Daluiso (NYG) extra point is good. MIN 0, NYG 1412:47
6:12 2nd down Daunte Culpepper (MIN) pass intercepted by Emmanuel McDaniel (NYG) at New York 0.
3:06 1st down Collins (NYG) pass to Ron Dayne (NYG) to Minnesota 33 for 8 yards.
2:27 2nd down Collins (NYG) pass to Toomer (NYG) to Minnesota 11 for 22 yards.
1:46 1st down Barber (NYG) rushed right tackle for 2 yards.
1:20 2nd down Collins (NYG) pass to Joe Jurevicius (NYG) to Minnesota 2 for 7 yards.
0:31 3rd down Dayne (NYG) rushed right tackle for -2 yards.
SECOND QUARTER
15:00 4th down Daluiso (NYG) 21 yard field goal is good. MIN 0, NYG 17
14:48 1st down Culpepper (MIN) pass incomplete to Moss (MIN).
14:42 2nd down Smith (MIN) rushed left guard for 6 yards. Matthew Hatchette penalized 10 yards. Offensive Holding. Accepted.
14:13 2nd down Culpepper (MIN) sacked at Minnesota 34 by Michael Strahan (NYG).
13:37 3rd down Culpepper (MIN) sacked at Minnesota 30 by Micheal Barrow (NYG).
13:06 1st down Collins (NYG) pass to Barber (NYG) to New York 32 for 3 yards.
12:24 2nd down Barber (NYG) rushed right guard for 12 yards.
11:48 1st down Collins (NYG) pass to Ron Dixon (NYG) to Minnesota 13 for 43 yards.
11:01 1st down Collins (NYG) pass to Hilliard (NYG) to Minnesota 8 for 5 yards.
10:31 2nd down Collins (NYG) pass to Jurevicius (NYG) for a 8 yard touchdown. MIN 0, NYG 23
10:24 Daluiso (NYG) extra point is good. MIN 0, NYG 24
8:49 1st down Collins (NYG) pass to Barber (NYG) to New York 45 for 11 yards.
8:08 1st down Collins (NYG) pass incomplete to Toomer (NYG).
8:02 2nd down Barber (NYG) rushed left guard for 21 yards.
7:24 1st down Collins (NYG) pass incomplete to receiver.
7:15 2nd down Collins (NYG) pass incomplete to Jurevicius (NYG). Wasswa Serwanga penalized 0 yards. Illegal Contact. Declined. Play Negated. Serwanga penalized 21 yards. Defensive Pass Interference. Accepted. Play Negated.
7:09 1st down Barber (NYG) rushed right tackle for -1 yards.
6:32 2nd down Collins (NYG) pass to Comella (NYG) to Minnesota 1 for 13 yards.
6:25 1st down Collins (NYG) pass incomplete to Pete Mitchell (NYG).
6:19 2nd down Dayne (NYG) rushed right guard for a 1 yard touchdown. Dayne penalized 5 yards. False Start. Accepted. Play Negated.
2nd down Collins (NYG) pass to Comella (NYG) to Minnesota 4 for 2 yards.
5:33 3rd down Collins (NYG) pass incomplete to Hilliard (NYG).
4th down Daluiso (NYG) 22 yard field goal is good. MIN 0, NYG 27
3:31 1st down Collins (NYG) pass to Hilliard (NYG) to New York 34 for 11 yards.
3:04 1st down Collins (NYG) pass to Barber (NYG) to New York 40 for 6 yards. Barber (NYG) fumbled.
2nd down Barber (NYG) rushed left end for 17 yards.
2:05 1st down Collins (NYG) pass incomplete to Jurevicius (NYG).
2:01 2nd down Collins (NYG) pass to Hilliard (NYG) to Minnesota 15 for 28 yards.
1:52 Television timeout at 1:52
1:52 1st down Collins (NYG) pass to Barber (NYG) to Minnesota 14 for 1 yards.
1:12 2nd down Collins (NYG) pass to Hilliard (NYG) to Minnesota 1 for 13 yards.
0:29 1st down Dayne (NYG) rushed right guard for no gain.
0:20 Timeout New York at 0:20
0:20 2nd down Glenn Parker penalized 6 yards. False Start. Accepted. Play Negated.
2nd down Collins (NYG) pass incomplete to Ike Hilliard (NYG).
0:16 3rd down Collins (NYG) pass to Hilliard (NYG) for a 7 yard touchdown. MIN 0, NYG 33
0:12 Daluiso (NYG) extra point is good.
GIANTS 34, VIKINGS 0