EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. -- New York Giants Coach Bill Parcells is making sure his offensive line remembers how pitiful the team's running game was five weeks ago against the San Francisco 49ers.
In their 21-17 victory Dec. 1 at San Francisco, the Giants gained 13 rushing yards on 19 carries. Joe Morris, the NFL's second leading rusher with 1,516 yards, was held to a season-low 14 yards on 13 carries.
Parcells has stressed those numbers must increase Sunday when the 49ers play at Giants Stadium in the NFC semifinals.
'Parcells has been calling us 'Club 13,'' Giants guard Chris Godfrey said. 'I told him it's 'Club 388' in passing.
'They tried to stop the run and when you do that, you leave yourself vulnerable to the pass.'
New York quarterback Phil Simms threw for a season-high 388 yards and two touchdowns against the 49ers. Simms took the Giants to three third-quarter TDs to overcome a 17-0 halftime deficit.
'Hopefully, I'll get more yards than the last time, but you never know,' said Morris, who burned San Francisco for 141 yards on 28 carries in the Giants' 17-3 wild-card playoff triumph last year. 'If I can get 14 on one play, it'll be all over.
'They play the cut-back lanes very well. What they did last time was stop our strong-side running. We'll have to adjust to that.'
'Whenever a play developed, they had loads of folks over there,' Godfrey said. 'They were aware of our strong side running.'
The 49ers admit they were too concerned with Morris in the Monday night game in San Francisco.
'We went into the game keying on the running game,' 49ers strong safety Carlton Williamson said. 'We now know we have to give their passing game more attention. We have to play a more complete defense.'
'I think we thought Joe Morris was their team,' San Francisco linebacker Riki Ellison said. 'I thought if we stopped Joe Morris we would win the game, just like if you stop Eric Dickerson you'd win (against the Rams).'
Entering the 49ers' game, the Giants offense was considered unbalanced. Morris already had 1,146 yards through 11 games (he missed one game because of illness) and had six 100-yard games. Simms had thrown 13 touchdowns and 15 interceptions through 12 games and had one only 300-yard game after the second week.
The 49ers responded by bringing eight players to the line, and turning Williamson loose against the run.
'We still have to stop Morris, but we certainly have to play the pass because Simms is a great passer,' 49ers Coach Bill Walsh said. 'We were so geared up to stop Morris that we forgot all about the passing game. We got burned.'
'I think what we did in San Francisco was typical of this team,' Giants tackle Brad Benson said. 'You take away one thing and we'll do something else.'
Since stopping Morris, the 49ers have done a good job on Dickerson and Freeman McNeil of the New York Jets. They held McNeil to 35 yards on 13 carries the following week and Dickerson to 68 yards on 16 carries in their season finale.
The Giants gained 2,245 rushing yards, third in the NFC behind Chicago and Atlanta.
'They have an offensive line that is not so big,' 49ers defensive end Dwayne Board said of the Giants. 'In fact, they're stubby. But thery're a good offensive line, although Joe Morris makes it pretty easy for them.'
