I.

Not the most exciting win, but it’s better to beat the Bucs 17-3 than it is to lose to them like say… the Eagles and Bengals did. Either way, if you beat any team in this league 17-3, ya gotta be happy. If somebody told you right now that we’re gonna beat the Texans 17-3 next week, wouldn’t you sign on the dotted line right now?

II.

The storyline for this game was simple enough: The Giants came out strong, pretty much dominating the first quarter and putting up 14 points within the first twenty minutes. After that, our dominance abated. It was like we half conservatively sat on a lead, and half played down to the level of the abysmal Bucs. Either way, we prevailed handily and were never even tested. This was one of those easy afternoons at the Meadowlands with nary a tense moment – there wasn’t a single point where it looked like the Bucs were gonna make a serious move in this game.

III.

If it wasn’t our dominance, it was the Bucs’ ineptitude. The Joey Galloway drop was huge – he catches that pass and the Bucs are in position to make the game 14-10, or at the very least, 14-6. The Alex Smith drop in the endzone (or was that Clayton?) was also huge – another opportunity squandered for the hapless Bucs.

IV.

If I were a Bucs fan, I would have been pretty pissed about the play-calling. Although the Giants dominated the first part of the game, the Bucs were never really in a position where they had to abandon the run. But abandon the run they did. Cadillac Williams, their best offensive player, got only 8 carries, while Michael Pittman got two. That’s 10 running plays in a game where 1) they were never down by more than 11 points until around 4 minutes left in the game; and 2) they were playing with a pretty terrible rookie quarterback, against a team with a fearsome pass-rush, in a venue where the wind was as huge a factor as you’re gonna see.

But Gruden stubbornly insisted on throwing the ball: He had Bruce Gradkowski put the ball in the air 48 times. 48 times! That sounds like one of those Raiders-Broncos shootouts from, like, 1993. Except in this case, in the windy Meadowlands, Gradkowski and his inept receiving corps were en route to posting an anemic 2.9 yards per attempt. (By the way, how old did Joey Galloway look when they showed him without his helmet? Jesus.)

In Gruden’s defense, it looked like the Bucs were trying to throw short-passes, but Gradkowski was so terrible that he couldn’t even hit those. Also in Gruden’s defense was the Giants absolutely stifling run-defense: Aside from Gradkowski scrambles, the G-Men held the Bucs to 22 yards on 10 carries.

V.

So yes, another awesome performance by the Big Blue D, which has been awesome since the Seahawks game. Last year, our defense had some rough times before hitting its stride in Week 5, when it began a run of dominance that lasted until Pierce went down and other guys started getting hurt. This year seems to be following the same pattern. For the first three games, we didn’t look good. A bye week for week 4 gave us a chance to regroup, and since Week 5, we’ve been straight stout.

Yes, we’ve had our injuries, but it’s nice to have some depth this year. Osi’s out? No problem. Kiwanuka can step in. Madison’s out? No problem. R.W. can step in. Tuck’s out? We have Joseph as a pass-rushing D-Tackle. LaVar out? We have Emmons, and then Gerris. (By the way, I’m curious about what happened to Short during this game – did he go out with an injury? I know he was listed as questionable because of a knee injury coming in.)

(And speaking of Kiwanuka, it looked like over the course of the game, the Bucs figured out that all he wanted to do was speed-rush around the edge. He’ll learn. But how nice is it that our D-Tackles are generating a push up the middle, so that the quarterback has nowhere to step up to evade the Kiwanuka/Osis rushing off the edge? Fred Robbins has been an absolute stud – you can’t overstate what a godsend his improved play has been.)

VI.

I love Brandon Jacobs. The guy is always beefing. I mean, he starts beef every single play on special teams, and then beefs about 65% of the times he carries the ball. Ya gotta love it. That taunting penalty on him was bullshit, by the way. If a guy takes a clean (though not cheap) shot at you like the Bucs guy did, and you wind up getting the better of the contact, you have the right to get up in his face. Either way, he’s running really, really well. Whenever he’s in space in a one-on-one situation with a guy, is there even any doubt that he’s gonna bust out of the tackle? Gotta be excited about him.

Ok, nice W. More thoughts to come…

I.

Yes, we caught a break on Plax’s TD when Roy Williams tripped over the out-of-position ref, but look at it this way: Plax had completely beaten the corner assigned to him, so even if Williams didn’t fall down it would have been a leap ‘n’ snare contest between Williams and Plax. Plax looked like he had a bead on that ball, so I like our chances on that one.

Speaking of Plax and jump-balls, the play that resulted in Anthony Henry’s pick of Eli was weird. Judging by Plax’s reaction after the play, I was convinced that he had been interfered with, and was surprised to hear Joe Theisman point out that yes, there had been a blatant pass interference… on Plax.

Seeing as he wasn’t interfered with, you have to wonder why Plax didn’t make a better effort on that ball. Strangely, what he did on the play was push Anthony Henry to the spot where the ball was gonna be – where he should have been.

But as Theisman – who I actually found myself appreciating last night for the first time – pointed out, Plax didn’t get such a good read on the ball. Like Roger Cedeno, he misjudged it, which brings up that fact that Plax sometimes isn’t as good at tracking balls in mid-air as you would want him to be.

Now, obviously, a lot of his game is predicated on going up and getting it, and all in all, he’s pretty good at locating the ball, positioning his body, and snaring it. But considering his freakish physical tools, it is his inconsistency in judging balls that prevents him from being an all-world, superstar receiver. (That and his occasional concentration lapses.) Instead, he is merely a very good one.

 

II.

If this is truly the start of the Tony Roma era, then on behalf of all Giants fans, let me say, “We’ll miss you Drew.” As Joe Theisman said last night, “The Giants know that Drew is not a very mobile individual.” So long, Great Sitting Duck: We’ll miss your stiff-as-a-board, unathletic posture and untimely interceptions.

 

III.

Like everyone else in the world, I do not understand the “open-palm”/”empty hand” rule. What that play actually a fumble? I don’t know, because I don’t even know what the rule means. Good job by the broadcasting crew, especially Theisman, pointing that one out.

 

IV.

It’s obviously really too bad about LaVar. Just when he was showing flashes of the ol’ self (that tipped pass on the flea-flicker was huge!), he is lost for the year. This leaves us without two of our original starting linebackers – LaVar and Emmons, and means that Reggie Torbor moves in to start at the strong side. (At least I think. We’d all like to see Gerris Wilkinson step in there, though Torbor stepped in for LaVar against Dallas. We’ll see how Colonel Tom plays it during practice this week.)

Thank God we addressed linebacker depth during the off-season by signing Short and drafting Wilkinson, although it is a little alarming to lose two guys so soon. I agree with Cody’s point in the comments section that since LaVar hadn’t really done much yet, it’s not as if we’re really “losing” anything.

The one linebacker that we can’t afford to lose is Pierce. He has been playing well and is indispensable, and while Chase Blackburn is competent, he’s a massive drop-off from Pierce.

Ok, more thoughts to come…

Haaaahhhh!!!! That’s what I’m talking about.

You know, why the G-Men get no respect is beyond me. I don’t know if it’s the plain blue and white jerseys, the stodgy tradition, or simple New York hatred, but no one wants to give Big Blue any love.

To wit: My Eagle-fan co-worker told me today that he was actually rooting for the Giants tonight. His rationale? He perceived the Cowboys as the bigger threat to Eagle supremacy in the NFC East.

Yeah… We were supposed to be allied tonight. “Rooting for the Giants, right??” The dude actually fronted like he was forging an alliance with me.

Well, no takers. How quickly people dismiss the Giants’ division title last year! How quickly people forget that coming into this game, we had beaten two teams in our division twice, plus one of the better teams in the conference! That our only losses were to the Colts, one of the consensus best teams in the league (who, by the way, we outplayed) and the Seahwaks, last year’s NFC Champions!

Coming into this game, the Cowboys had recorded wins over the Redskins, Titans, and Texans. Their most impressive win? The Redskins.

Coming into this game, the G-Men had recorded wins over the Eagles, Redskins, and Falcons. Their least impressive win? The Redskins.

So…um… It kind of… um… defied logic to think that the Cowboys were a better team than the Giants coming into this game. It was hard to say this to my co-worker, who delivered his thoughts as a shit-talking parting-shot as he left the office for the day.

But thankfully, the G-Men took it upon themselves to prove my point tonight, in pretty dominating fashion, no less. At this point, is there really a case for any of the other teams in the NFC East? I mean, we’ve beaten both the Eagles and Cowboys in their own places.  Oh, you don’t trust our win over the Eagles because we came back in miracle fashion? Well, we dominated a team (the Cowboys) in their place that the Eagles at trouble with at home.

At 4-2, we’ve survived an early-season gauntlet to find ourselves in first place. Having beaten the top two teams in our division on the road, we have the tie-breakers in our favor. I ask you, fellow Bleeders of Big Blue: Could you really have asked for anything more?

A assumed vacation awaits us, with home games against Tampa Bay and Houston. But I’m wary about the Tampa game, which has the makings of a classic trap game. Yes, they’re 2-4, but this isn’t a bad team.

Consistency has always been the big issue with Colonel Tom’s Giants. We know they have the talent, but will they actually show up on Sunday and play well? Next Sunday will be a test. It’s a short week against a dangerous team. Go Giants!!

I.

At around 7:30 last night, when any illusions about another miracle comeback had vanished, I recalled an incident from my sophomore year of high school. Our baseball team, which was a mediocre, underachieving bunch at the time, showed up to a key Saturday game and turned in a performance as unconscionably listless as the Giants’ on Sunday.

After the game, our coach made us sit on the metal bleachers while he exchanged courtesies with the opposing coach and packed up his stuff. We sat there and waited as the fear built up – nobody said a word. Some of the guys had obviously come in hung over. Some had come in sleepy. Some just didn’t want to be there. Some had actually played hard, but poorly. Now we were paying the price, as we contemplated the torrent of abuse that would surely rain down on us. The coach walked toward us.

“I’m not gonna yell at you,” he began. It was pretty clear what he was trying to do with this one. It’s the old “Coach walking out of practice move.” The team is supposed to feel so ashamed at their performance that the harshest words are no words – you are just left to contemplate your shittiness. The silent contemplation of the disgraceful effort was supposed to send us into a weekend of shame and soul-searching, which would ultimately lead to more urgent play the next week.

Nobody said anything – we knew what he was doing and were perfectly happy to play along. Perhaps too happy, because it couldn’t have been two seconds after the words left his lips that he realized that he had overestimated us.

“Fuck that,” he declared, and the wrath was loosed upon us.

 

II.

It’s the obvious thing to ask, but it bears repeating. It’s really the only thing there is to say. What the fuck? What the fuck is the matter with this team?

I don’t mean to get all Mike Francesa here, but sometimes the guy hits it on the head. To give that kind of showing in that kind of spot it disgraceful. Even if you exclude the Colts game – which I’m not sure should be excluded – that three out of the last four big games that we’ve gone out and showed absolutely nothing.

The Carolina game. The Philly game. And now this one? To quote Karen Hill’s mother in Goodfellas, “What kind of people are these?” Indeed, what kind of a team is this?

After the Carolina game I gave them a break. They were injured on defense and things went bad from the start. It was an awful end to a good season, but horrible games happen.

After the Philly game I tried to let it go. I tried to convince myself that the comeback said more about the character of this team than the hole they dug. “Giant pride,” right?

But now this. 42-3 in the third quarter. There are no more excuses. Something is seriously wrong with this team

 

III.

That said, Jeremy Shockey has no right to bury Coughlin like he did. The way to instill the urgency and discipline that this team lacks is not to humiliate the coach in public; doing so is just another step in the wrong direction.

Besides, for however bad things are, the fact is that it’s still the third game after a playoff season. Shockey was way out of line in opening up the can of worms of questioning the coach. To paraphrase Otter in Animal House, “Only we, the fans, can do that to our coaches.”

I’ve always liked Colonel Tom and I have defended him at every possible turn, but after yesterday, I would be ridiculous if I didn’t have my doubts. The point has been made plenty of times now, but how ironic is it that Colonel Tom, the guy that was supposed to instill discipline into the sloppy atmosphere that characterized the late Fassel regine, is entirely too soft on these guys.

First, Tiki calls him out after the Carolina game. Then Shockey, Burress, Joseph et al don’t show up for minicamp. Then Shockey calls him an ass. Then Plax says publicly that he should loosen up, as if Plax should have any say in the matter. Then they come out like they have in the last couple of games, and now Colonel Tom is supposed to take this from Shockey?

No. Fortunately, the situation was addressed. Colonel Tom did the right thing by not taking this public, but it seems like most of the players had his back. Even Eli called Shockey’s comments “unacceptable.” Whatever anyone’s problem with Coughlin is, he’s the coach. There’s no way this season is going to be successful if guys start ripping the coach this early on.

Either way, as they head into the bye week, the Giants season has reached a critical point.

A perfect preseason for the G-Men. As everyone reading this blog will have surely heard by now, the last time this happened was in 1990. Some observations on last night:

–Brandon Jacobs was the big story, rushing for 130 yards on 15 carries, including a 57 yard touchdown run where he decisively cut through a seam, made a nifty move to avoid the oncoming safety, and was gone. Even if you take away the 57 yarder, Jacobs’ night still looks good: 73 yards on 14 carries for an average of 5.2 yards.

I was glad that Colonel Tom left him in and let him accumulate some confidence. A guy like Jacobs needs to run decisively if he is going to be effective – if he is tentative and not running at full-speed, he presents an easy target to defenders, regardless of how big he is.

Of course he’s powerful, but not in a Mike Alstott, low-gear, drive-the-pile type of way. Because he runs high, he needs a head of steam for his power to take effect, so his confidence and timing for hitting holes becomes very important.

But when his timing is on, and he’s hitting the holes with authority… he’s pretty hard to stop. He also did a really nice job catching balls out of the backfield. Hopefully, a performance like last night’s will put to rest the practice of pigeonholing Jacobs as a short-yardage/goal line guy, which just might be the worst part of his game.

–In limited action, Eli looked very good, going 4/5 for 35 yards. Carl Banks pointed out a nice check-down that he made to hit Jacobs in the flat, a good sign.

–The Hefty Lefty solidified his status as the backup quarterback, which every Giants fan has to be happy about. Who in the world hasn’t liked this guy since he was wearing #22 at Kentucky? Everything looks good with Lorenzen except for one thing: his touch. He threw a pretty awful timing route to Tim Carter on a third down play from the eleven yard line, and has made some other bad throws (like when he missed a wide open Darcy Johnson against the Jets) when a little finesse was all it took. Maybe it’s just nerves. At any rate, congratulations to the Hefty Lefty for winning the job.

–How good a preseason has Justin Tuck had? The guy is everywhere. I don’t know if Carl Banks misspoke or was just under the complete wrong impression, but he mentioned that Tuck was always known as a guy who could stop the run but wasn’t much of a pass rusher. Actually, the opposite is true, but he did a really good job last night stopping the run. With the emergence of Kiwanuka, it’s easy to overlook Tuck, but this guy is awesome.

–Jonas Seawright, who went from one of the most-discussed players to least-discussed players, played well at the backup nose last night. The guy is huge and strong, and should be able to hold his ground.

–The first unit pass D didn’t look so good, letting Matt Cassel look like Tom Brady. I didn’t really pick up so much on why this happened, and obviously, the sample size was small.

–And obviously, with the second up-the-middle block in as many games, the field goal and punting teams are a concern. I don’t know what the personnel was like on these plays and if it bears any resemblance to the personnel on our regular special-teams units, but this can’t happen. The Giants special teams were excellent last year (2nd in the NFL with a 4.4% DVOA), and they need to remain good if we are going to remain at the top of our extremely difficult division.

Obviously, a very encouraging performance by the Giants D, who did not allow a point to the Jets and held them to 184 yards of total offense and 9 first downs. Granted, it was the Jets, but still.

Also, how annoying was CBS’ Jets-based coverage? By my count, they made three mistakes when announcing the starting lineup, saying that Joseph, Short, and McQuarters were starting when it was actually Cofield, Wilkinson, and Madison.

Ok, some observations:

–Will Demps was impressive. On one play on the Jets second series, he hustled up into run support and laid a lick on Kevan Barlow, but neglected to wrap up and wound up missing the tackle. He learned from his mistake later in the series when he drilled Barlow down low and forced a fumble. In my analysis of the run defense I somehow neglected to mention our safeties, who are just about as good a run-support group as you’re going to find. Gibril and Demps are two tough guys who don’t mind sticking their nose in there.

–Speaking of Gibril, he had a beautifully timed blitz on the Jets first series, shooting the gap and getting to Pennington before he could even complete his drop. He made some other nice plays during the night as well. The aggressiveness and athleticism of the Giants D is very exciting.

–The corners also looked good. Except for one 40-yard play in which Corey Webster found himself in single coverage with Justin McCareins with about half the field to cover, the Giants did a great job containing the pass. Overall, Pennington went 11/20 for 125 yards, averaging 6.3 yards per attempt. If you take that one play away, that would have been 10/19 for 85 yards and a paltry 4.7 yards per attempt. (Give credit to Corey Webster for preventing that play from being even worse than it was. He was caught in a really impossible position.)

Sam Madison had a good night. He did a good job keeping things in front of him and making tackles for short gains. On the Jets third series on 3rd and 3, he closed aggressively on Doug Jolley and was able to ride him out of bounds before Jolley got to the first down marker. (He then goaded Jolley into committing a personal foul.) It hasn’t been the best camp for Madison, who got off to a rough start, got a little too much negative press about his rough start, and then tweaked him hamstring. Good to see an effort like his last night.

RW looked really good in nickel coverage, and on the first series of the second half, did a nice job jumping a Pennington pass for an interception.

–How good did Brandon Short look?! This guy was clearly playing with a fire lit under his ass. He made a couple of good stops, had a big sack, and was generally everywhere.

–Chase Blackburn looked very good too. Of course, Short and Blackburn were playing against the Jets second string offense, so their play has to be judged accordingly.

–Gerris Wilkinson, on the other hand, didn’t look so great. He was a little overzealous at times. On the second series, he was caught biting on a play action and lost BJ Askew out of the flat for what turned out to be a 10-yard gain. There was another play – I can’t really remember the specifics – where he looked a little slow getting wide, and was out of position as a result. With Wilkinson got the start, Colonel Tom was hoping that he would step up and seize that weakside linebacker job and therefore make either Short or Emmons expendable. Instead, for the first time all camp, he looked like a rookie. Now it’s anybody’s guess what will happen at that position.

–Antonio Pierce was vintage Antonio Pierce. The guy can ball. At the end of the first quarter, on a 3rd and 1 from the Giants 28, Pierce aggressively shot a gap and stuffed Derrick Blaylock for no gain. The Jets looked like they would go for it on 4th down, but D’Brickashaw Ferguson jumped off-sides and forced his team to punt.

–The first unit special teams looked decent. Feely connected easily on field goals of 39 and 33 yards. Feagles had a middling performance. It was obviously unacceptable when Travis Dorsch’s punt got blocked – It seemed like the long-snapper (Was it Kuehl?) just completely missed his assignment. I’m sure that Colonel Tom was pissed, but it doesn’t exactly worry me going forward.

Big Blue moves to 3-0 on the preseason. I need to catch an Amtrak to Massachusetts for my grandmother’s 88th birthday party (happy birthday Nanny!), so I can only talk about the offense here – defense and special teams coming soon. Ok, onto the observations:

–Eli did not look good. He made a horrendous pass to Plaxico on third down of the second series, sailing the ball over his head by about twenty feet – I don’t know if this happened because of the pass itself or the result of a miscommunication between Eli and Plax.

A couple of series’ later, Eli made an even worse pass to Plax. Plax was running horizontally across the field, and Eli basically just threw it behind him by a good 10 yards, resulting in an interception.

On another play, the 2nd and Goal from the Jets 8, Eli threw a bad ball behind Amani, leaving him to get absolutely popped by the Justin Miller. The Giants were bailed out when Miller got called for taunting (which seemed like a ridiculous call, by the way), but the bad pass was big at the time.

The commentator kept talking about his mechanics, and how it was his sloppy footwork that was resulting in his bad throws. This is something to keep an eye on: At this stage of his career, are Eli’s mechanics consistent enough for him to be a top-flight quarterback?

To his credit, though, Eli did bounce back, and was making some pretty nice throws at the end of the half. If he had played four quarters, we might be talking about how his straightening himself out shows that he’s arrived.

He finished 10 for 20, for 107 yards and 5.4 yards per attempt. Overall, not great from Eli, but not something to worry too much about.

–Plax had a terrible game. He nearly fumbled the ball on the first possession on a play that was ultimately ruled incomplete – he seemed a little casual about tucking the ball into a running position after he caught it, which is something that I’ve noticed before. He also committed two personal fouls for his game-long beef with Justin Miller. Come on, Plax. We need you to be smart.

–The offensive line, on the other hand, looked terrific, especially in pass protection. It seemed like the Jets were dropping a lot of their guys into coverage, but the O-Line gave Eli all kinds of time. In the running game, they made way for Tiki to have a vintage Tiki game.

What’s especially encouraging about this is that the line was able to put this performance together with two starters out of action. Grey Ruegamer started in place of Shaun O’Hara, and Bob Whitfield started in place of Luke Petitgout. Going into the season, it looks like our O-Line is solid and deep.

–Good to see Tiki back to his old tricks. Hopefully, these will be YouTubed at some point, but he made some pretty sweet runs, including a counter that he bounced outside to the left and took for 20 yards. There’s not too much more to say about this guy at this point. Just sit back and enjoy another – and maybe the last – season of the greatest offensive player in Giants history.

–Tim Carter was impressive again, finishing with 4 catches for 34 yards. As has become his M.O., he was able to back defenders off with his amazing speed and then come back for the ball on come-backs. He also made a really nice grab on an out pattern. I’m going to say something here, so pay attention: If he stays healthy, Tim Carter might be the best receiver on our team.

–Part of the reason why this is so is because Amani Toomer seems to have lost quite a bit of speed at this point. There was a play on the Giants third series where Eli tried to hit Amani over the deep middle on a deep post. But the defender was with him stride for stride, and Amani couldn’t come close to catching up to Eli’s lead pass. To his credit, Amani has worked hard at turning himself into a possession guy – he made a really nice play on the Giants first touchdown drive when he caught a little out and danced his way over the first-down marker.

–Brandon Jacobs didn’t look so great. I appreciate the fact that he’s trying to run low, but it seems like he often commits himself to running low and hard at the expense of his natural running style and maneuverability – “pressing X in Madden,” as my friend Wong puts it. He’ll get better, no question, but he still needs work.

Ok – I have to go now, but observations on the defense and special teams coming soon.

Now that’s more like it. The Giants came out yesterday with an intensity and crispness that was lacking last Friday and dominated the Chiefs during the few series’ the starters played. On both sides of the ball, the Giants looked really good. Here are some impressions of last night’s game.

Disclaimer: Because I was traveling to Erie, PA to visit family, I couldn’t watch the game and instead listened to the WFAN broadcast. So all of my impressions are coming second-hand from Bob Papa, Carl Banks and company.

–The much maligned defensive front stepped up in a big way. On the game’s second play, Fred Robbins busted up a Larry Johnson run for a four-yard loss. On the next play, Osi Umenyiora got pressure on Trent Green and forced a weak, fluttering pass to Johnson. After a discouraging first series against Baltimore, the Big Blue D had posted a three-and-out. (All told, the Giants held Larry Johnson to 8 yards on 3 carries.)

–And then the offense went to work. Tim Carter picked up 20 on an end-around, and the G-Men swiftly moved downfield from there, both on the ground and in the air. Tiki looked good, Eli looked good (he went 11-14 for 80 yards), and the receivers looked good, especially Carter, who continues to play the best football of his life.

–The O-Line was also encouraging. They did an excellent job picking up blitzes and giving Eli the protection he needed to get into a good rhythm with the receivers.

–Interesting to see (or hear about) Eli throwing so many short passes. Last year, John Hufnagel’s “East Coast Offense” gained notoriety by finishing first in the league in yards per completion while sacrificing Eli’s completion percentage. Perhaps Hufnagel is trying to blend some West Coast rhythm and timing in so that Eli becomes more adept at checking off his primary options, something he clearly needs work on. I like it.

–On the touchdown to Toomer – a play that I’ve actually seen on Sports Center – the O-Line did a nice job picking up a Chiefs blitz, and Toomer was able to slip into an open part of the zone in front of a Chiefs linebacker. Eli was quick to see this and put it on the money for the score.

–The Chiefs moved it a little on the next series, but they shot themselves in the foot with a couple of penalties. Trent Green completed a pass to Eddie Kennison against Corey Webster on the drive’s first play, but Webster came back strong, breaking up a deep pass for Sammie Parker on third down.

–William Joseph made a stop on this drive, and Carl Banks pointed out that he looked “very active,” and that “it looks like he’s playing for his job.” The broadcasters kept talking about how Robbins and Joseph must have “read the headlines” and were responding with a better effort tonight. Our D-Tackles don’t seem to lack for talent. If they go hard, they should be okay, but consistent effort has always been the question with them.

But with Barry Cofield impressing during camp and playing well again tonight, we have at least three capable guys for those two positions. And the presence of Cofield should push Robbins and Joseph. We’ll see about Jonas Seawright – I didn’t hear his name, which doesn’t necessarily mean one thing or another.

Carl Banks was impressed with the pressure that the D-Line was able to get on Trent Green. He said that the Giants were able to consistently get pressure without blitzing, although he allowed that the Chiefs’ O-Line was pretty bad.

–Tiki came out a couple of plays into the second series, his work done for the evening. Brandon Jacobs replaced him and immediately impressed. He ripped off two runs, one for 12 yards and one for 9. Both of these runs were partially called back on holdings, but it’s still nice that Jacobs is getting some experience busting into the secondary.

–The Giants made some defensive subs on the Chiefs third series, and the subs looked good. Particularly Chase Blackburn, who made a couple of instinctive plays on the first two downs. Good to see. Blackburn didn’t look good last week, but he came back strong yesterday.

–The G-Men went to a no-huddle, shotgun offense on their third offensive series and continued to roll. Eli looked in rhythm with his receivers, hitting Carter and Shiancoe on a couple of passes. He was helped out by some fine pass blocking, Carl Banks noted. Jacobs broke off a nice 14-yard run, making a cut to the outside to spring himself for some extra yards.

–The drive ended with a Brandon Jacobs touchdown plunge, but I’m still not a big fan of the Jacobs goal-line thing. On the previous play, he looked awkward as he left his feet early and got stuffed.

–On the Chiefs next possession, the Giants defense – comprised of some starters and some key reserves – continued to look good. Corey Webster stuck his man on a deep ball for the second time in the past couple of series’, earning him kudos from the announcers. Mathias Kiwanuka made a physical and resourceful play when he lined up in an outside linebacker position, bull-rushed over the Chiefs’ blocking running back, and slapped the ball out of Trent Green’s hand for a fumble (which was recovered by the Chiefs.) Kiwanuka is learning fast – the ball-slapping move was straight out of Osi’s book.

–The announcers were raving about Gerris Wilkinson, who is savvy, instinctive, and versatile. The third-round pick could turn into a real steal.

–Ok, now for some bad news. Shawn O’Hara went out with a sprained knee. Hopefully this isn’t at all serious, but we always have Rich Seubert to step in at center. And Luke Petitgout left the game with back spasms. Petitgout’s false starts, holdings penalties, and recurring back spasms can be pretty exasperating.

–Rob Johnson didn’t look especially good. The announcers indicated that as he did in Jacksonville and Buffalo, he held the ball for too long on a couple of plays. Frankly, I don’t quite see the appeal of a quarterback with a bum arm who takes a lot of sacks. I know he’s a gym rat and all but…

–Jacobs fumbled, although the fumble was overruled on a Coughlin challenge because Jacobs’ knee hit the ground before the ball came out. This guy needs to eliminate the fumbles before we can think of handing him the post-Tiki reins.

–The announcers didn’t think that RW McQuarters looked good. If he doesn’t work out, we have other options at nickel and we’re well-stocked with return-man options.

And that’s about it. Again, I didn’t actually watch the game and I missed most of the fourth quarter when I was checking into the hotel. But on both sides of the ball, this was as encouraging a performance as we could have wished for.

It seems foolish to treat this game like an actual game and give a recap-style summary of it; these early preseason games are really just bunch of series’ in which different groups of players participate, many of whom won’t be in around in a few weeks. So here are a few impressions of last night’s game that shouldn’t be read too seriously into. There’s a lot of time between now and September 10.

–The Giants first string defense did not look good, particularly the interior defensive line. William Joseph looked like he was out of position on a couple of runs, as if he had been goaded into abandoning his gap on a couple of counter plays. Chase Blackburn and Reggie Torbor didn’t look especially poised against the run, over-pursuing on those counters and generally looking as if they were a beat late. (Blackburn also seemed slow to react in pass coverage.) Because of the soft, undisciplined underbelly of the Giants defense on those plays, Jamal Lewis was able to get to the second level and power his way for chunks of yards.

–Gibril Wilson had a hard time with Todd Heap. As my friend Wong pointed out, because Wilson is not particularly tall, he’s going to have a difficult time being matched up in single coverage against tight ends. He’s listed at 6 feet, so he gives up 4 or 5 inches to many Tight Ends, including the 6-5 Heap. In Gibril’s defense, the Ravens did a good job picking up blitzes, which allowed McNair to stand poised in the pocket and find Heap and company.

–Corey Webster took the wrong approach to tackling McNair on McNair’s touchdown run. It seemed like he tried to grab McNair’s shoulders and sort rodeo him back away from the goal line, but McNair overpowered him and dragged him three yards across the plane. A better approach for Webster would have been trying to get his head across McNair’s front side and do his best to stalemate McNair until help arrived.

–Sam Madison made a beautiful play in pass coverage, during which he was definitely interfered with. I don’t know who the receiver was, but Madison ran with him stride for stride and made a good attempt at the ball. The receiver totally went through Madison to break the play up, and although he got credit for “playing defense” on the play (announcers love making this point), he clearly interfered with Madison.

–Brandon Jacobs had a good first run, but didn’t look so good after that. He was definitely making a conscious effort to run low, but he looked hunched over and unnatural.

Running low is a hard thing to teach. Some guys just don’t do it, and I think Jacobs is one of those guys. This doesn’t mean that he can’t be an effective running back; it just means that the Giants can’t keep pigeonholing him as a power, short-yardage guy like they did with Dayne. Jacobs actually looks really good on the wing – it seems like once he gets in space, he’s able to utilize his good vision, timing, and head-of-steam power. But on inside runs, he looks like he’s tiptoeing. Even though he’s big, he can’t really load up any momentum to utilize his power. Just like they did with Dayne, who, it turns out, wasn’t nearly as bad as he looked in our offense, the Giants are assuming the Jacobs is a tackle to tackle guy just because he’s big.

Let me go on record as saying that TIKI SHOULD GET ALL THE GOAL LINE CARRIES. Jacobs somehow got credit for “bowling his way into the end zone,” or something like that. He didn’t. He sort of awkwardly jumped and lunged his way across the plane. Because of Jacobs’ size, he’s obviously more powerful than Tiki if you’re talking about straight-up power. But because Tiki has so much more control over his body in tight spaces, he’s able to better maneuver himself into a position where he can use what power he has. Jacobs, although capable of producing far more power than Tiki, struggles to get in positions where he can leverage that power.

–Although the biggest offensive play for the Giants was a 43 yard completion from Eli to Plaxico late in the first quarter, 1) the play could have gone for many, many more yards if Eli had led Plax a little more and not forced him on an out-of-bounds path; and 2) Plaxico’s second foot was out of bounds by inches when he caught the ball – it shouldn’t have been a catch. Strangely, even after a challenge, the refs somehow didn’t see this. Plaxico seemed rather nonchalant about keeping both feet in bounds. He also seemed strangely nonchalant on the play that ultimately resulted in a pass interference call in the endzone, which set up Jacobs’ touchdown, although perhaps his politicking for the call was worthwhile in the end.

–James Sims was unimpressive. With Ward out, we’re really only two-deep at running back.

–Tim Carter looked very, very good, catching 3 balls for 36 yards in what was obviously very limited action. He used his speed to back d-backs off of him, and did a nice job coming back to the ball and making the catches. Carter is big, strong, and blazingly fast. We’ve seen flashes from this guy – parts of 2003, early 2004 – so let’s just hope he stays healthy. Kudos to Accorsi for re-signing him.

–Mathias Kiwanuka was another big positive. On one series in the third quarter, he had half a sack on first down, a quarterback hurry/knockdown on second down, and a sack on third down. He looks incredibly quick rushing around the bend and spinning to the inside. If this guy learns and develops, he could be a real force.

–Gerris Wilkinson saw a lot of action and forced a big fumble. This guy might play a big role on the team, so keep an eye on him.

–Michael Jennings had an electrifying punt return for a touchdown. I really wish I had a YouTube clip of this, but it was a sweet run. I believe Coughlin said the other day that Jennings “has some zip, but he hasn’t made many plays.” Well now the former track star at FSU has one huge play to his credit. At this point, you have to think that Jennings has a pretty decent chance of making the team. Because…

–Willie Ponder fumbled, sort of. The original fumble ruling was eventually overturned because Ponder’s knee was down, but I’m sure his carelessness with the ball irked Colonel Tom just the same. In the battle for the sixth receiver/extra return man role, you’d have to think that Jennings has the edge at this point.

–Tim Hasselbeck looked pretty good, and pretty mobile. There were times when you could convince yourself that it was Matt Hasselbeck out there.

–Jay Feely hooked a 44 yard field goal, and then almost hooked the game-winning 29 yarder. Let’s hope he gets on track – the last thing we need in the NFC East is a shaky kicker. But Feely was very, very good last year.

Now, all of these observations shouldn’t be taken all that seriously because it’s still so early on. Carl Banks pointed out that since this was the first live contact for the Giants, it’s not surprising that they were “a step too slow,” as he put it. It sure is cool to have football back though!

The back pages. All week long, the back pages. Pictures of Tiki, Strahan, Eli, Coughlin; big, bold headlines with some innocent enough comment turned into a screaming headline. There’s nothing like playoff fever, and with the Mets and Yankees quiet, the Knicks a lost cause (or so it seemed a week ago) and hockey still dead (Mark Messier night notwithstanding), the Giants were the only show in town. What a pleasure it is to read every article in every paper, to pour through quotes and gauge the confidence levels of both teams, to listen to every expert’s “keys to the game� – the awesome anticipation of it all!

Early in the week, the forecast was predicting low 40s and rainy, a real unpleasant, slushy, nasty day for what was going to be, by all indications, a hard-fought battle between two very evenly matched teams. Both the Giants and the Panthers came into the game with identical 11-5 records, and had pretty much stayed within a game of each other among the upper echelon of the NFC the entire season. The Panthers had shown flashes of brilliance at times, but had been plagued by an inconsistency all year long that had prevented them from attaining the NFC top-dog status that, with the dropoff of the Eagles, many people thought was theirs for the taking. Their previous two games illustrate this frustrating inconsistency: First, a bitter home loss to a decent, but inferior Cowboys team that would ultimately preclude them from winning the division; but the next week, an impressive 44-11 road blowout of the Falcons (who, admittedly, seemed to have mailed in their season) that propelled them into the playoffs. The question remained: Just who were the real Panthers?

Nobody knew, but we did know this: they were led by an outstanding defense that ranked fourth in the NFL in DVOA (an advanced metric created by the smart folks at footballoutsiders.com that breaks down every play of the NFL season and calibrates each play to the league average, which you can read about further by clicking on my simplified explanation here), a unit spearheaded by the league’s best front four, as well as an outstanding secondary that gives them the ability to blitz frequently because their defensive backs are more than capable of holding their own. On offense, they were led by Steve Smith, the electrifying little dynamo who was the consensus best receiver in the NFL this year, and their sometimes brilliant but interception-prone quarterback Jake Delhomme, to go along with their sometimes-brilliant, but sometimes-ineffective running game comprised of the big-small combination of DeShaun Foster and Nick Goings. We knew that the Panthers were good, but there were a lot of variables that would determine exactly how good.

The same could be said about the Giants, a team that had looked outstanding at times this season, but came into this game with both a struggling young quarterback and a severely depleted linebacking corps. Eli Manning had a wondrously auspicious start to his first full season as a starter: through his eighth game, he had thrown 14 touchdowns to just 5 interceptions, but he struggled mightily in the second half, throwing 15 interceptions to 10 touchdowns. Eli is still The Franchise, and his second half dropoff, while indeed an extreme case, is not uncommon to young quarterbacks who are enduring the rigors of their first full season of NFL action. It is clear, though, that Eli is not an excellent NFL quarterback quite yet (he ranked 21st in DVOA among quarterbacks), and that the days where he will be leading the Giants to the Super Bowl, as opposed to competently riding the coattails of an offense chock-full of weapons, are somewhere in the future. And as the New York papers pointed out ad nauseum all week long, the bulls-eye is clearly on Eli’s back in this game; the Panthers have declared a pre-game defensive strategy of ganging up to stop Tiki Barber in the running game, leaving them to take their chances with the young quarterback and his passing game.

The linebackers, by this point and after so many news articles, are another old story. To quickly rehash, they have lost four of their top five guys, and enter this playoff game with only one player (Nick Greisen) who was even within shouting distance of the rotation, let alone the team itself, at the beginning of the year. The other starting linebackers are Alonzo Jackson — who has been playing special teams the entire year — and Kevin Lewis, a former starter for the Giants who lost his roster spot to Chase Blackburn (since injured) and whom the Giants rescued from the unemployment line a few weeks ago. The linebackers looked competent last week against the Raiders, however, and the Panthers running game, while occasionally excellent, doesn’t exactly inspire fear. It should be an excellent game, and nobody knows who is going to win. The Vegas odds have the Giants favored by 3 at home, a line that gives you a good idea of who the home team is, but not necessarily of who the better team is.

79,378 Giant fans have an opinion on the matter though, as they rabidly wave white towels given to them at the gate in giddy anticipation of their first playoff game since 2002, and their first home playoff game since 2000. Those early reports of crummy weather have proven false; as kickoff approaches, it is a gloriously sunny day in the Tri-State area, with a dry field and a neutral temperature in the high 40s, conditions you would expect more in Charlotte, North Carolina than East Rutherford, New Jersey. Nevertheless, “Hell’s Bellsâ€? blares, as it has all season, the crowd crescendos, as they have all season — only this time with more vehemence — and when Jay Feely puts the foot to it, the playoffs are underway.

Things look promising for Giants in the early going: with Carolina facing a 3rd and 13 on their first series, Osi Umenyiora swoops around the edge and dexterously knocks the ball loose from Jake Delhomme’s hand, a move that the freakishly athletic Umenyiora has perfected in this his breakout year, and although the Panthers recover the fumble, it seems as if more good things are in store for the jacked-up Giants and their hungry fans. This optimism continues as the Giants take possession, pick up a quick first down, and then cross into Panther territory on the next play, a 7 yard run by Tiki Barber, presumably the first of many Tiki successes. So far, so good.

The Giants stall on this drive, however, when they fail to convert a 3rd and 2, and from there, the remainder of the first quarter would lock into a brisk, intense stalemate, with both offenses playing it close to the vest. But as the teams switch sides for the second quarter, the Panthers are able to string together some first downs — four of them on the drive — to take them down to the Giant 22. On the next play, the Panthers eschew incremental progress and send the blazingly fast Steve Smith on a circular post pattern, who easily beats the overmatched Terrell Buckley and is hit in stride for the touchdown. A ghastly silence falls over the Meadowlands as Smith unveils his latest creative touchdown celebration, a mimed snow-angel on the Meadowlands field turf — forget that the weather is temperate and sunny. It wasn’t his greatest stroke of creativity, but he makes his point: the Panthers are perfectly comfortable here in Meadowlands, and the shocked silence of the crowd is supplanted by a kind of wounded booing. On the play, the Giants had Terrell Buckley in press, bump-n-run coverage against the speedy Smith, with safety Brent Alexander stationed deep to provide the over-the-top help. But the Panthers sent their other receiver — lined up wider than Smith on the same side — on a deep pattern, and Alexander overanxiously jumped this outside receiver and lost track of Smith. This left Smith in a one-on-one with the aged Buckley, who was a fine corner in his day, which happened to be in the mid-nineties, and who the Giants signed towards the end of the year as a “street free agent.â€? Needless to say, the NFL’s best receiver won this matchup, staking his team to the 7-0 lead.

It was a long, bruising clockeater of a drive for the Panthers, 7:46 all told, and now it’s been a while since the Giants have had the ball. There is a palpable tension in the Meadowlands right now; the Panthers drive was a statement. But the Giants are able to pick up a couple of first downs on their ensuing set, and get into Panther territory before stalling, forcing an excellent Feagles punt which pins the Panthers down at their own 7.

The crowd celebrates the punt, trying very, very hard to stay alive as a presence for their home team, and they rise to their feet when the Panthers quickly face a 3rd and 8. But Nick Goings, the Panthers darting change-of-pace back, catches a pass out of the backfield and scurries his way to the first down, and the disappointed, antsy onlookers must settle back down in their seats. Soon enough, however, the Panthers face another 3rd and long, this time a 3rd and 11, and the crowd dutifully rises again – this time we’ll stop ‘em! But it is Goings again, on a draw play this time, picking up 10 yards before he is even touched, falling across the first down marker for the next disappointment as the clock continues to tick – 2:29 remaining in the half now – and the uneasiness continues to build. Goings again on the next play, ripping one off for 18 yards that gets the Panthers close to midfield; at this point, things look bleak. The Giants inability to stop the Carolina run is extremely troubling, with their struggling linebackers getting pushed around and missing tackles all over the place, allowing the Panthers to accumulate deflating first downs and control the clock. And while the Giants are able to stop the Panthers on their next set, this series — which saw the Panthers move from deep into Giants territory all the way to midfield — represents both a moral and field position victory for the visitors.

Nevertheless, as the Panthers line up to punt, the Meadowlands crowd revs up again in the hopes of spurring on their dragging heroes, and they erupt in a roar when punter Jason Baker shanks one of the side of his foot, a brutal kick that represents the first break the Giants have caught in nearly a full half of playoff football. But because the punt was so unexpectedly short, Gibril Wilson, who was downfield blocking the flanked “gunner� on the play, has no reason to suspect that the ball is perilously close to him; it bounces off his unsuspecting calf and onto the ground, a live ball, and is recovered by the Panthers at the Giants 15. A horrible break, and the Meadowlands crowd is surreally silent, confronting in earnest for the first time the possibility that it is not the Giants’ day.

The Panthers eagerly hop out to expand their lead, which actually seems like it should be much more than 7-0 given how much they’ve dominated the action. The Giants defense is able to buckle down here, however, and the Panthers settle for a John Kasay field goal that pushes the lead to 10-0 going into the half, and as the teams trot into the locker room, a loud, angry rumble of boos rains down on the flat Giants, who have played worse than anyone could have possibly feared. The Panthers have had the ball for 21 minutes, the Giants 9, and have run 37 plays to the Giants 17. Although a ten point deficit is certainly surmountable, the lifeless Giants offense faces a tall order against Carolina’s stout defense, which has so far succeeded in its game plan to bunch up and stop Tiki Barber.

But if there’s one thing that the Giants have showed us this year, it’s that they are capable of generating offense both quickly and when they need it; and even after this truly awful half of football, they are still a break or two from being within one score. Many a football game follows this path: one team dominates for the majority of the time, but because their lead is not commensurate with their domination, the trailing team is able to catch a couple of breaks, pull close, and then, shockingly, find itself with the momentum and a chance to win the game. Such a scenario is certainly not out of the realm of possibility for the Giants, and the faithful is back into it as John Kasay kicks off to begin the second half. And on the first play from scrimmage, Eli Manning lofts a nice touch pass to Jeremy Shockey – who has done absolutely nothing to this point – for a 25 yard gain, taking the Giants across midfield and giving their fans some hope that this game will become what the announcers call “a game of two halves.â€? Every team is capable of outplaying any other team in one half of football, the Giants and their fans hope — if they can do it, we can do it!

But Big Blue stalls on their next set, and the lead remains 10 as the Panthers trot out for their first crack at the second half, which, after a few plays, begins to look frighteningly familiar to the first half, as the combination of DeShaun Foster and Nick Goings continues to trample over the Giants depleted run defense. Between the running of those two and the crisp passing of Jake Delhomme, the Panther move all the way down to the Giants 36, on the doorstep of at least 3 more points, if not a devastating touchdown. But Michael Strahan valiantly grinds his way to a key 3rd down sack of Delhomme – one of the rare times the Giants have been able to stop the Panthers on 3rd down today – and the visitors are forced to punt. The lead is still ten, and the game is still within reasonable reach.

So with 7:16 remaining in the third quarter, the Giants resume possession at their own 16. They’ve certainly been bad today, but not completely awful; if they could have just had the fortune of putting some of their first downs together to get them in field goal range, we would have a ballgame. But on the first play of their set, Eli gets flushed out of the pocket by a Panther rush that’s been consistently present, and in his overanxiousness to make something happen, the young quarterback commits a fatal error, flinging the ball across his body and into triple coverage, where it is snatched out of the air by Carolina’s leaping Kenny Lewis, who makes a few moves and brings the ball all the way back to the Giants 12. Heartbreaking, but it was nothing compared to the next play, when Steve Smith takes the handoff on an an end-around, jets around contain-man Gibril Wilson, and follows a caravan of blockers to the endzone for the easy touchdown. 17-0 Panthers, and as the Meadowlands falls into an awful silence, and as the ecstatic screams of the visiting Panthers fill the void in the air, this game, and the 2005 Giants season, is over.

With 6:57 remaining in the 3rd quarter, there was of course more football to be played, but it can’t be said that anybody in the building harbored any hope for Big Blue. Their next possession ended with an Eli interception, which the Panthers followed with some more dominant running and a sprinkling of effective passing by Jake Delhomme. The Giants were obviously expecting the run, and their inability to stop it attests to the painful fact that in this game, at this point in the season, Carolina is just the much better team. They take it all the way down to the 11 and settle for a field goal, pushing the lead to 20-0, as we’re now in the fourth quarter.

Eli throws another interception on the next series, capping an awful game that capped the major step back that was his second half of 2005. All in all, it’s certainly unfair to call 2005 a disappointment for the Franchise Quarterback who showed such great promise at the beginning of the year, but his eventual status as an elite quarterback is far from a foregone conclusion. For the record, the crowd chooses this last punch to the gut to take their leave; it’s been a painful day. As the crowd thins out, the Panthers march downfield again, picking up first downs and winding down the clock. They get all the way down to the Giants 1, and then John Kasay closes out the scoring by knocking a field goal against a backdrop of empty red seats. 23-0 Panthers, and after an Eli fumble – his fourth turnover in four second half possessions – the Panthers take a few knees and the final gun sounds on the 2005 Giants season.

***

Any way you look at it, it was a complete annihilation. The Panthers outgained Big Blue 335 to 112, out-first-downed the G-Men 23-9, and had the ball for 42:45 to the Giants’ 17:15. There is certainly a lot of blame to throw around for this one, but to me, it started with the now oft-written-about “depleted linebacking corps.â€? The Panthers’ running game, not a dominant force by any stretch of the imagination, was made to look like the Cowboys of the mid-nineties. So consistently were the Giants linebackers out of position, and so often did they miss tackles, that the team’s leading tackler on the day was Gibril Wilson, a safety, who had 15. Wilson and Brent Alexander, the two safeties, amassed 25 tackles between them compared to the 24 made by all three Giants starting linebackers.

It was the Panthers ability to establish the run and consistently “win on first down� that allowed them to control the clock, move the ball, and keep the Giants offense off the field, which, for its part, was never able to establish any sort of rhythm. The Panthers’ strategy of stuffing men in the box to stop Tiki Barber proved successful, as Eli Manning and the Giants’ passing game had no answer. Eli had an awful day, going 10/18 for 113 yards and those three interceptions, to go along with a lost fumble. It was a discouraging day for the quarterback who had looked so encouraging early on, but I think I speak for all Giants fans in expressing utmost confidence that Eli will one day lead us deep into the playoffs.

As was the case with Eli, the Giants endured an ugly ending to what was, overall, a very encouraging season. Big Blue had their moments and showed their flashes: Eli’s four eleventh-hour, final drive heroics; the Giants mid-season defensive dominance; Plaxico’s emergence into a big-time player, and someone who should really further emerge into a star; Osi Umenyiora’s explosion into a dominant force at defensive end and Michael Strahan’s remarkable comeback; the overall solid play and good health of the offensive line; Amani Toomer, an old Giants dog who learned the new tricks of a possession receiver; Jeff Feagles continued excellence, in a year that saw him set the NFL’s consecutive games record; the stoutness of the Giants defensive tackles, an unexpected source of consistent solidness; Antonio Pierce’s emergence into, in Michael Strahan words, the “heart and soul� of the defense; and Tiki Barber, who had the greatest season of any offensive player in Giants history. The future looks bright in East Rutherford. Go G-Men!