Loading ...The New York Giants squeaked by a divisional opponent by the skin of their teeth yesterday, holding off a furious comeback attempt by Dallas Cowboys and Tony Romo, Dez Bryant, Miles Austin and Jason Witten in an absolutely nerve-wracking 29-24 win…and boy, do we feel a lot like we did last week after Eli Manning held off a game-winning Robert Griffin III touchdown with one of his own.
So we find ourselves waking up again Monday morning, thinking about blown leads and failed red zone opportunities and the size of Bryant's finger. And then we remind ourselves: Hey, a win is a win is a win, baby.
First place, 6-2, fully in control of the NFC East. But more on that later.
What we saw yesterday
Much like last week's Washington Redskins game, the Giants were soundly outplayed for a large chunk of yesterday's game: although Tony Romo forgot what team he was playing for and gave the Giants a 23-0 lead behind a slew of interceptions, the Giants offense failed to convert most of those opportunities into touchdowns and did absolutely nothing while watching the Cowboys march back to a 24-23 lead.
We suppose you can say the offense did enough to win and that the defense stiffened when it mattered, but you're lying to yourself on both accounts if you want to believe it's that simple. Eli Manning suffered through his second off game in a row and the Giants defense was a doormat that gave up an eye-popping 437 yards to Romo.
How do we feel about it?
As we've said, we're having a bit of trouble stomaching a win that many are going to call lucky or undeserved. It was the second week a divisional quarterback has had his way with the defense and the second week the offense didn't look itself.
But it was also the second week they did enough to win, so what are we complaining about?
What it means
It means a firm grip on first place: they've erased the Cowboys tiebreaker and at 6-2, the Giants are more than two games ahead of the 3-4 Philadelphia Eagles and Cowboys and the 3-5 Redskins.
Going into the tough part of the schedule, the Giants have themselves where they need to be.
And the injuries, of course
Chase Blackburn popped a hammy, and we're of the mind that this is a multiple weeks to a month or so variety, as Blackburn was upset immediately and didn't bother trying to stretch it out on the sideline before heading to the locker room. Mark Herzlich acolytes, unite!
Keith Rivers apparently left the game with a calf injury. We'll see if it's serious or not, but plenty out there are rolling their eyes. Every time Rivers starts to work his way into the rotation he comes up injured. If Rivers misses time, the Giants are going to need Jacquian Williams back soon.
Antrel Rolle may have suffered a concussion yesterday (self-inflicted, if it happened on that play where he launched himself at a receiver who had already dropped the ball). If he misses time, the Giants are going to hope Kenny Phillips is ready to play next week.
Justin Tuck didn't leave the game, and he actually was made a few plays for the second week in a row, but we caught trainers on the sideline working his perennially achy shoulder. If he's suffering those stingers, it's going to be another long, painful year for Tuck.
Looking forward
Next week is the Pittsburgh Steelers at home. It will also be the Giants first chance to show they won't go into their annual midseason swoon this year. The Steelers defense isn't what it once was, but with Ben Roethlisberger, Antonio Brown and Mike Wallace, they aren't anything to sneeze at.
A good test for a Giants team that has played down to plenty of opponents and can't say they've beaten many good teams.
A good test for a team that's barely passed the last two quizzes.
photo credit: Arnold Tijerina via photopin cc
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REPOST:
TonyMW says:
October 29, 2012 at 11:10 AM
So we’re tied for 1st w/ 6.2 ypp (obviously a better indicator than overall yards) and tied for a 3rd worst 6.2 ypp allowed. So for as good as our offense is, we allow every opposing offense to be as good. We literally make every offense the best in the NFL. Cool. So like Kujo said, nothing to criticize here. Carry on….
Also, on a completely unrelated note- I was randomly looking through some stats from 2000. For all the talk of the Ravens being the best D ever, they arguably weren’t even the best D that year. Tennessee only allowed 238 ypg (CRAZY), less ypp overall, less first downs, and only about 1.5 more ppg. I wonder why they’re never talked about?
Because they didn’t win the Super Bowl.
Very Frustrating game to watch yesterday… Like Krow said earlier though, these are the games we typically lose. This year however whether it be Tampa, Washington or Dallas we find a way to win
Dude, you need to go back to the game thread, about page 16 or so, and see Jim and Stu lose their collective sh*t.
HILARIOUS!
I did, its like reading the comics..
Winning … duh. OK, I know … Charlie Sheen is passe’.
Yeah but Tampa, Washington and Dallas are all subpar teams.
Do we beat Pittsburgh, Atlanta, Green Bay, etc. playing like that? Me a no tink so.
No, but the Giants generally play great games against upper echelon teams (see: SF). This was one of probably two eggs the Giants have left during the regular season. Something tells me that final egg will be against another subpar team like Cincinnati.
I said only an injury could force Coughlin and Fewell to replace Blackburn with Herzlich. I also said the Great White Hope would take that job and never give it back.
Here’s hoping I’m as right about the second statement as I was about the first.
Very negative article Simon. Look out! Our new site Gestapo – Valid – is on the prowl.
And our new GM James Stoll is ready to fire Coughlin.
Jim isn’t taken very seriously by anyone on here, including himself.
I seemed to remember him being a pretty good poster before yesterday.
Something tells me he was trollbaiting yesterday. I could be wrong.
Valid- safe your breath bro.. No changing that leopards stripes.. 2 Superbowl’s in 5 years be damned.. Stoll is a lost cause bro…….
demo – we could sure use your optimism in the game threads, my man.
Bro I avoid them like the plague.. Way too much estrogen pumping through here.. I like to read them afterwards and laugh at the jack wagons that make fools out of them selves every week. I actually watch every game with a large group of friends and family so I have no time to read or post real time.
Anyway, there is nothing wrong with this article. It points out the Giants played poorly and still got the win. You’ll notice that NOWHERE in the article does it call for Coughlin’s job or say that the Giants are bound for another 8-8 season.
There is a difference between constructive criticism and just plain stupidity, Jim.
I think folks need to accept that this is Perry Fewells defense. He is a bend but dont break defense and snt going to change no matter how much giants fans cry about it.He lets teams fly up and down the filed from 20 to 20 but clamps down in the red zone. He doesnt allow big plays and makes teams be patient and work their way down the field. He knows that his defense will force turnovers and hold teams to FG’s. Its frustrating to watch, but it is effective in today’s flag football NFL. I dont like it at all but we all need to accept it and move on
BTW how is Giants 101 all time Favorite Saint Steven Spagnoulo doing with his ultra aggressive blitz the lights out scheme the last 3 years??????????
HAHA! Love it!
Ugh, I HATE how right you are with this statement. Fans and the media need to keep this in mind when looking at stats. The only thing important right now are points allowed.
Agreed.
This is nothing new with Fewell. It’s frustrating and will make you go gray, but the fact is that, for the most part, it has gotten the job done.
Say what you will about this defense, but the fact is that it ranks 8th in the NFL in points allowed per game. That means it’s doing its job.
Not sure what was a more horrific injury to watch this weekend.. Lattimore tearing every ligamnet in his knee or G101′s own Jimmy Stoll tearing every muscle in his Vajayjay during yesterdays game thread.. Both were brutal to watch. Hopefully Lattimore heals up and can someday play again and hopefully the Vaginal rejuvenation therapy goes well for Stoll and he makes it back in time for Sundays Game thread:-)
Jim is a gamer, Demo. Torn vaginimousmaximus or not, he’ll be on here, doing his best.
no doubt.. He’s like our Mascot.
Not according to Victor Cruz…
LOL!
We are seeing teams that have built themselves solely to beat the New York Football Giants, giving us a really hard time but at the same time floundering vs the rest of the league. The Cowboys put all their resources the off season int Acquiring Mo Clairborne and Brandon Carr very specifically to stop the Giants with Nicks and Cruz. They are great players and have given those 2 guys FITS in 2 games this season. Unfortunately the didnt address any other issues and are looking like the NFL’s most talented 8-8 team, tied with the Eagles who much like the Cowboys oput al their eggs in the stop Eli and Co Basket.
Excellent point, man. Was saying the same thing at the bar yesterday. Those 2 CBs are animals that were specifically unleashed to counteract our guys. Now we need to respond by either getting a top flight 3rd WR (looking at you, Randle) or TE (Black Unicorn is great, but he’s not the sort of matchup receiving threat that I’m talking about).
I thought Bennett would have a huge game yesterday. I was stunned to see him almost shut down yesterday (although that drop inside the 5 was completely his own doing and really changed the complexion of the game early).
We were extremely fortunate to walk away with a win there. If there’s ever a game we will be able to thank the opponent for gifting to us, it was that one.
But that said, we made the plays when we needed to. And the Cowboys just didn’t make quite enough of them to overcome their atrocious first quarter.
Credit to Rob Ryan’s defense which was lights out- let’s hope no one is able to repeat that performance after going over our game tape, and let’s hope the truly abysmal day the Giants had yesterday inspires all of them to un-**** their game going forward.
We’ve gotten away with some real close one’s the past few days and that’s really all that counts. We have the W’s. If we can learn from our errors without having to put up an L to do so, more’s the better in my opinion.
I haven’t gone back and read the game thread yet, but I find it amazing on how you guys are able to type while watching that game. It was insane and as ugly as it was they won. They’re winning ugly when we’re used to watching them loose ugly. This isn’t a typical 8-2 start they didn’t breeze here by any means. So maybe just maybe we wont have a second half let down.
*6-2 start
I posted Monday or Tuesday that folks here were taking Romo and Co too lightly.. That as much of a joke as he is he always plays his best vs us. I said that he would do enough right to keep game close and cause the G101 Game thread to flip out (460+ yds and 3 td’s) but would screw up just enough to lose the game for them (4 ints).. Sometimes even I get tired of always being right…