This was supposed to have been the Giants' get-right game. Sure, New Orleans beat them up last week, but the Saints are an undefeated team that was coming off a bye week *and* they were playing indoors, at home. The Giants spent the week shrugging off that loss and promised to be better this week at home against the Cardinals. The defense promised more blitzing and less trepidation. The offense promised to be sharper. To a man, the Giants were certain they'd come up with a big win Sunday night over the reigning NFC champs.....
and then they lost.
The Cardinals, who, for those playing along, have won the NFC title more recently than the Giants have, beg to differ. And the Giants' next six games are against the Eagles, Chargers, Falcons, Broncos, Cowboys and Eagles again -- teams whose combined record is 20-9. The Giants suddenly look vulnerable. They've succeeded in turning the NFC East into a real race when they didn't have to. And they enter Week 8 of the NFL season with just as much to prove as any other team in the league.
Through five weeks, the Giants stood 5-0 and appeared to be in control of the division. Preseason predictions about the Eagles as a serious threat and the Cowboys as sleeper faded. The Giants weathered injuries, showcased their depth and simply crushed second-rate opponents such as Tampa Bay, Kansas City and Oakland. Safety Kenny Phillips went down. Defensive end Justin Tuck played hurt. Brandon Jacobs dealt strangely with some confusing an undefined emotional issues regarding his running style versus Ahmad Bradshaw's. But it was all okay, because the Giants looked like a team built to handle all of it.
But with Week 7 in the books, the picture looks a lot different. The Giants are now 5-2. The Cowboys are 4-2. And the sad-sack Redskins loss last night at home in Washington to the Eagles puts Philly at 4-2 and ready to host the Giants next Sunday in the first game of a NY/Philly football/baseball doubleheader that is sure to set records for profane Northeast sports fan trash talk.
"Am I concerned?" Tuck asked. "I'm not the kind of guy who gets concerned in Week 7. The last time we lost two games in a row this early in the season, we ended up being Super Bowl champs."
The problem is, this year's Giants team has yet to prove anything. The 5-0 record was a mirage. They opened with a shaky win over a terrible Washington team. They gave up 250 rushing yards to the Cowboys in Week 2 and would have lost but for a couple of dumb late Dallas decisions. And then they rolled three of the worst teams in the league. Now that they're playing teams like New Orleans and Arizona, the shortcomings are showing up:
-The young receivers, Mario Manningham in particular, still drops too many passes. Teams continue to crowd up front to stop Brandon Jacobs and Ahmad Bradshaw, daring Eli Manning to beat them in the passing game. Sunday night, Manning couldn't do it. Sometimes he struggled with his reads with safeties in the box. Sometimes he hit a guy in the hands and saw him drop it. Three times, he couldn't get the play off in time and got called for delay of game. Other than a miracle play on which rookie Hakeem Nicks caught a deflected pass and ran it in for a 62-yard touchdown, the passing game did nothing Sunday night. And the running game, thanks to an aggressive Arizona defense that was determined to stop it, remained stuck in the mud.
-Teams are able to gain yards down the field against the middle of the Giants' defense. Phillips' absence is being felt, as are those of defensive tackle Chris Canty, linebacker Michael Boley and cornerback Aaron Ross. The defense made more plays Sunday than it did the week before in New Orleans, but it didn't do enough to stop the Cardinal receivers and, perhaps more distressingly, rookie Cardinals running back Beanie Wells.
-The punting game was off! 94-year veteran Jeff Feagles had a rotten game, averaging just 34.3 yards per punt. Coach Coughlin took the blame for that, saying he instructed Feagles to make sure to kick the ball out of bounds and away from Cardinals return man Steve Breaston, but Feagles said he always tries to kick the ball out of bounds and needs to do a better job.
It's all part of a weird and surprisingly substandard vibe that our Giants are giving off the past couple of weeks. After two years as a dominant NFC force, they have looked lately like a team that still has a ways to go before we can call it a Super Bowl contender.
And back, whether they like it or not, into a three-team NFC East tussle where there's no clear favorite -- not even them.
Ehh, don't worry about it too much. Teams have streaks during the regular season, but they'll break out of it, likely this week. If anything, its dropped their value against the Eagles and made them a value pick. Not that I bet offshore or anything. :cough:
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