In the off-season quarterback Kerry Collins took classes in the psychological addiction and counseling program at Fairleigh Dickinson University in Madison, N.J. "I wanted to see why I got where I got," Collins says one afternoon at the Giants' summer camp in Albany, N.Y. When asked if he has found out, Collins says simply, "It's an ongoing process." You have to hand it to him in one respect: He blames no one but himself for the ups and downs of his first five NFL seasons. The 27-year-old Collins is at the fess-up stage of his life, after immaturity and alcohol-related screwups doomed him at Carolina and New Orleans, and after a yo-yo season with the Giants, in which he finished with the league's 27th-best passer rating. "My talent has never been the question," Collins says, looking his questioner straight in the eye, something he has not always been able to do. "It's having my head in place. It's there now. In Carolina I was thrust into being a franchise player, which I wasn't ready for, and I was living it 24 hours a day. I hated it. I just burned out on it. But now I love the game again, and there's no doubt in my mind I've got the best chance to succeed of any time in my career." Collins is right in one regard: He'll never have a chance like this again. Coach Jim Fassel has worked tirelessly with him on his mechanics. G.M. Ernie Accorsi opted to let go of Kent Graham, who opened last season as the starter and would have threatened Collins for the top job; Graham left for Pittsburgh as a free agent, and Accorsi signed 34-year-old career understudy Jason Garrett from Dallas as Collins's backup. New York drafted Heisman Trophy-winning running back Ron Dayne with the 11th pick; he should be the Giants' best ground threat since Rodney Hampton. And one of the brightest young minds in football, offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach Sean Payton, has added some safe West Coast tenets to the playbook to help the sack-prone Collins. The itinerant offensive line of this year's club—free agents Lomas Brown, Glenn Parker and Dusty Zeigler are the left tackle, guard and center, respectively, with Ron Stone and Luke Petitgout on the right side—is the closest thing New York has had to a finesse front in years. The Giants will run lots of play-action, five-step drops and rollouts, with quick and efficient passes. Of course, it won't hurt Collins to have the threat of Dayne behind him. The test for the rookie will be to see if he can roll up yardage without the gaping holes he had at Wisconsin. Last year only eight teams allowed more points than New York (22.4 per game). Blame defensive end Michael Strahan's elbow injuries and a knee cyst for some of that; Strahan got pushed around against the run and saw his sack production fall from 15 in 1998 to 5�. Other than some nagging back soreness in training camp, he appeared to be back to normal. The secondary may ultimately determine whether the Giants make the playoffs: In five of this season's final seven games New York is scheduled to face quarterbacks Kurt Warner, Jake Plummer, Brad Johnson, Troy Aikman and Mark Brunell. Cornerback Jason Sehorn has yet to return to his All-Pro form of 1997 after a spate of injuries, and the other corner spot could be a revolving door, with marginal Dave Thomas the likely starter. Safeties Shaun Williams and Sam Games scare no quarterbacks. All of which means it's imperative that Collins puts points on the board. "We're not asking him to carry us," Fassel says of his quarterback. "We're asking him to cut down on his turnovers [17 in 10 games last year]. We're asking him to know when to take risks and to make them high-percentage risks. I think you'll see him throw downfield with accuracy on the run more in this offense." Collins isn't the only one whose neck is on the line this year. Fassel, whose contract was due to expire after this season, sought a three-year extension last winter; the Giants gave him one, along with an implicit mandate: Win or else. "But I have not woken up one morning this summer and thought, I need to do well this year to save my job," Fassel says. "Funny thing about this job—you spend a lot more time on the hot seat than you do enjoying it." Collins knows what he means. [This article contains a table. Please see hardcopy of magazine or PDF.] 
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