The good news is the New York Giants won on Sunday and improved their record to 5–1 after defeating the San Francisco 49’ers at home 29–17. The bad news is if the team doesn’t step it up over the next five games, which includes match-ups against Pittsburgh, Dallas, Philadelphia, Baltimore, and Arizona, they will be hitting the golf course instead of opponents, come January.
After their humbling loss Monday night to the Cleveland Browns 35–14, the Giants were poised to come out like gangbusters against a weaker opponent Sunday afternoon. But what transpired was a performance that was filled with sloppy play, penalties, field goals in lieu of touchdowns, and a blocked field goal that was returned 74 yards for a touchdown by 49ers defensive back Nate Clements.
At times the offense seemed to be in position to put away the 49ers, but sputtered and let them hang around for too long. This is a concern that the Giants must address, because their remaining opponents have much more dangerous offenses and if you give them that much time the Giants may not be so fortunate to come away with a “W”, particularly against the 5–1 Steelers next week at Heinz Field.
For the game breakdown, the offense was lead by Eli Manning who completed 16 of 31 attempts for 161 yards and one TD pass. He didn’t have any interceptions, but he did have several balls batted down at the line of scrimmage and a few dropped by Giants receivers.
Manning acknowledged the offense’s mediocre performance, “Sometimes things aren’t pretty and from the offensive standpoint, things weren’t pretty all the time today.”
The running game too was good enough to get it done (112 yards with a 3.5 yards per carry average), but coming from the NFL’s best ground game, was hardly spectacular considering the Giants are averaging 181 yards per game and 6.1 yards per carry.
Coach Tom Coughlin also addressed the frustrating play but was in accord with Manning in focusing on the win, “I think we are capable of playing a lot better than we did today. But as I told the players, the objective was to win one game. We were able to hang in there and find a way to win the game and I am happy about that.”
The defense looked better this week, sacking 49ers quarterback J.T. O’Sullivan six times and pressuring him into two interceptions and a forced fumble. They also held All-Pro running back Frank Gore, who is fourth in the NFL in rushing with 524 yards and a 4.9 per carry average, to just 11 yards on 11 carries.
Despite the two interceptions by Giants safety Michael Johnson, the secondary continued to give up a lot of yards, particularly with long passing plays.
Last week, Browns quarterback Derek Anderson torched the Giants with such plays, and although J.T. O’Sullivan didn’t have the same success, he could have hit Isaac Bruce for an 80-yard gain and laid a nice pass for rookie Josh Morgan along the sideline in the 4th quarter that could have set up a key score. Both plays could have changed the course of the game and both were long passing plays.
Again, this is something the Giants must figure out because Ben Roethlisberger can certainly throw it deep and he has excellent receivers.
At any rate, the Giants won, and a win is a win. But against their remaining, and stronger opponents, they must bring a stronger game.
* Next game is against the Pittsburgh Steelers, Sunday October 26 at 4:15 p.m.
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