Giant Football Blog

For Giants, it's one for all

The Giants are in a one-game season, even if they do have five games remaining. It's virtually win-or-go-home against the Cowboys in one of their biggest regular-season games in the last 20 years.

They're still alive in the wild-card race if they lose at home to Dallas, but if they have any desire to take their season at least a couple of weeks into January and possibly to Detroit, then they want no part of being a wild card. They need to be NFC East champions and at least get a home game in the first round of the playoffs, even if they don't get a first-round bye as one of the top two seeds. Continue

Tom has been flagged

When Tom Coughlin struck his General Patton pose at his first Giants press conference on Jan. 7, 2004, he left absolutely no room for errors when he detailed his plan for fixing the franchise. "We must eliminate costly penalties," he said that day. "You can't shoot yourself in the foot and expect to win the 100-meter dash."

It sounded so easy, didn't it? Just like it did when he talked of eliminating the "cancer" of injuries, which he declared "a mental thing" despite mountains of physical evidence. And even if Coughlin couldn't be God and stop bones from breaking and ankles from twisting, surely he could stop his his offensive linemen from flinching and his defensive linemen from jumping offsides. Continue

Don't let it all slip away

The 2005 Giants are going to rearrange the team record books. There's one unofficial record they don't want, though: best Giants team to miss the playoffs. And this is, with many apologies to the Super Bowl XXXV runner-up from five seasons ago, the best Giants team since the one that won Super Bowl XXV.The Giants have rarely had an offense with so many ways to sting an opponent. Tiki Barber is 401 yards shy of breaking his team rushing mark of 1,518, set last season. With five games left, that seems a sure thing. Eli Manning has a good chance of throwing for 4,000 yards and 30 touchdowns, and no Giant has ever done both in the same season.

Then there are the pass-catchers. Plaxico Burress (60 receptions, 928 yards) can break Amani Toomer's 2002 records of 82 catches and 1,343 yards, and Toomer had no complementary receiver to take heat off him that year. Burress has Toomer, who is going strong at age 31 with five TDs. Combined with Jeremy Shockey, the Giants have three players with five or more TD catches for the first time since 1967. Continue

Big Blue turnaround

How do the Giants recover from their most gut-wrenching defeat in years? How do they do so in time for Sunday's showdown against the Cowboys? The best way is to start with the obvious, as Big Blue did upon returning to the Meadowlands yesterday. The false starts have to stop. The kicks have to be made. The premature celebrating? That's actually going to continue, vowed Jeremy Shockey.

"That's just the person I am," said the always-animated tight end, who mugged for the cameras during Jay Feely's end-of-regulation attempt Sunday - then looked shell-shocked after the 40-yarder went wide. "I'm always positive. If I look like a fool on TV because I thought it was going in, so be it." So the Giants haven't lost their attitude. The question is whether they can regain their form in the wake of their heartbreaking 24-21 loss at Seattle. Continue

Coach's Tom is now

TOM Coughlin wasn't about to make anyone feel better. That isn't his way. Say whatever you like about Coughlin, but we have learned one thing about him for sure across his first 27 games as the Giants' head coach: He doesn't much believe in putting a soft spin on hard news.

"Miserable," is how he described himself, and he looked the part: red eyes, droopy lids, and the sour demeanor of a man who'd just sat through all four hours of "Category 7: End of the World." Actually, it was worse than that. He'd spent the day looking at the tape of his team's still-hard-to-fathom 24-21 overtime loss in Seattle Sunday afternoon, and you got the sense he was probably going to steal a few more peeks at it before throwing it into an incinerator somewhere. Continue

Shakin' it off

Jeremy Shockey stood in front of his locker at Giants Stadium yesterday and made one thing perfectly clear. "This is a huge game," the tight end said of this Sunday's divisional matchup against the Cowboys. "This is The Game of the Year for the New York Giants and we're ready for it."

That came less than 24 hours after the team had dropped what could arguably be called its last biggest game of the season, when it could have gained control of the NFC East with a win over the Seahawks.  But despite the grueling 24-21 overtime defeat in Seattle that featured penalties and missed field goals by the Giants aplenty, the players were focused on not letting another game slip away. Continue

Truth is, false starts have Coughlin irate

Luke Petitgout is only a few feet from the quarterback when the Giants come up to the line of scrimmage, but there were times yesterday when it felt like a few miles. It was so loud he could rarely hear the snap count. Apparently, neither could anyone else. In what Tom Coughlin called a "ridiculous" display of sloppy football, the Giants committed 11 false start penalties in their 24-21 overtime loss to the Seahawks and 16 penalties overall.

Five of the false starts came on one first-half series. And Petitgout had five of his own. "It was horse(bleep) on my part," the Giants' left tackle said. "I let the team down. Embarrassing. That's what I call that - embarrassing. Embarrassing to my team, to my family, to everybody. Ridiculous. I can't tell you why." Continue

Giants Cough up shot

It's the kind of game that can destroy a season if Tom Coughlin doesn't find a way to get the Giants to quickly forget the sickening way they lost to the Seahawks yesterday. They had an opportunity to become legitimate Super Bowl contenders and head into Sunday's NFC East showdown against the Cowboys with a one-game lead and tremendous momentum. It was a false start.

The Giants imploded. Jay Feely missed three field goals starting with the last play of regulation. They had 16 penalties, including an incomprehensible 11 false starts. It was their most damaging loss since the San Francisco playoff game three years ago. There is no consolation prize for coming close on the road against the team with the NFC's best record. Now the Giants have to beat the Cowboys or they are in serious trouble. Continue

Forgive & forget 'Boys are next

Jay Feely had finished apologizing to his Giant teammates in the locker room, and now Antonio Pierce began walking towards an agonizing cross-country trip of remorse and regret. "First place in the division," Pierce said. Huh? "We're still tied with Dallas.'' But after a war of attrition that looked and felt like a playoff game, that lasted 72:15, after Feely missed three chances to boot the Giants into position for homefield advantage throughout the playoffs, after Seahawks 24, Giants 21 in OT, how does Big Blue get back up for The Game of Games Sunday against the Cowboys?

"We play Dallas next week to stay in first place in our division," Pierce said. It is a measure of their will and their fight that after a game they gave away, a game in which they committed 11 false start penalties in a loud and hostile stadium and 16 penalties in all, worth 114 yards, the Giants could somehow find a way to bark.'' Continue

Three missed FGs doom Giants in OT loss to Seahawks

The Seattle Seahawks survived a huge NFC challenge Sunday -- barely. Giants kicker Jay Feely missed three field goals, including two in overtime, and Seattle's Josh Brown hit a 36-yarder as the conference-leading Seahawks outlasted New York 24-21. Feely failed on the final play of regulation from 40 yards, then couldn't hit from 54 and 45 yards in the extra session. Seattle used a 38-yard pass from Matt Hasselbeck to D.J. Hackett to get close for Brown.

Shaun Alexander rushed 31 times for 110 yards, 94 after halftime, and former Giant Joe Jurevicius had eight receptions for 137 yards and two touchdowns -- all before the frantic, seesaw finish. "That was something, wasn't it?" Seattle coach Mike Holmgren said, sighing. Continue

Vision qwest

There are years when the season drags on, when the final regular-season game can't come quickly enough, when other teams mull over playoff scenarios and the Giants plan vacations. There have been plenty of those seasons for the Giants. The last two, in particular, were dreary by Thanksgiving, lost by Christmas and mercifully put out of their misery by New Year's. Everything is so different this year that those who have been through all the hard times salute their good fortune. Continue

Plenty to prove for both clubs

Here come the Giants, with a chance they haven't had in a long while. They can accomplish plenty with a win today over the Seahawks, who currently are kings of the NFC at 8-2 and riding a six-game winning streak.Not only could the Giants (7-3) pull even for the best record in the conference, but they could open up a very important one-game lead on the Dallas Cowboys, who visit Giants Stadium next week.

Even the Giants' reserved coach has high hopes for today. "What we'll learn is, 'How good are we?'" Tom Coughlin said. "I think the players are aware that we've played 10 games in this league and we have an excellent opportunity here." Next week's rematch with the Cowboys stands as the bigger game; even if the Giants lose to Seattle, they can seize control of their destiny with a win over Dallas. But the way the Giants match up with the Seahawks makes this perhaps a more interesting study of where the Giants fit among the NFL elite. Continue

Giant gain,thanks to Dayne

As soon as Ron Dayne broke through the line of scrimmage on Thanksgiving night in Dallas, Tiki Barber had a telephone in his hand. He just had to leave a message for his old friend and teammate. "I said, 'Good job,'" Barber said yesterday. "And, 'Thanks.'"

The Giants had a lot to be thankful for on their holiday, thanks to their old pal Dayne, whose 55-yard run in overtime set up the game-winning field goal in Denver's 24-21 win over the Cowboys. That gave the Giants (7-3) a half-game lead over Dallas (7-4) in the NFC East. Continue

A Super test for Big Blue

It's not necessarily the first place they ask their travel agents to check out when booking a trip for the middle of the winter, but the Giants gladly will give up their spots on the beach in Hawaii, Aruba or Puerto Rico for a week in Detroit in two months.

Now that hardly sounds glamorous, except there's a game being played there on Feb. 5 that they surely would like to be in. And with six games remaining in the regular season, the Giants have as good as shot as anybody in the NFC to make it there and lose to the Colts. The next two weeks will define the Giants' season and provide clues as to whether they have been a major tease the last 10 weeks or there really is something special going on. Continue

Coughlin eager for test in West

Tom Coughlin seemed to regret the words the moment they came out of his mouth yesterday morning, but he was really only saying what everyone else is thinking. This is not just another game for the Giants in Seattle on Sunday. It's a chance to find out if they are for real. "On the road against Seattle, (it's) obviously a great test for us," Coughlin said. "What we will learn is 'How good are we?'"

A few minutes later, Coughlin tried to back-track, saying, "That choice of words, maybe that wasn't the greatest." But he's right. The Giants may be 7-3, but they have had just one win over a team with a winning record, they have had the benefit of an extra home game (against New Orleans), and have faced backup quarterbacks in their last three games. They know they have not proven anything yet and they can prove a lot by beating Seattle (8-2). Continue

Defense won't run from the challenge

The Giants' run defense has racked up some impressive numbers, holding an array of NFL running backs to minuscule yardage totals. The Giants' defense can count Washington's Clinton Portis (four carries, 9 yards), the Rams' Stephen Jackson (10 carries, 17 yards) and the Vikings' Michael Bennett (19 carries, 16 yards) among its shutdown victims.

None of those backs has the talent of Shaun Alexander. And none of those backs has the offensive line behind which Alexander has gained a league-leading 1,229 yards and scored 19 touchdowns in the Seahawks' 10 games. So the Giants are a confident bunch on defense, but they haven't seen the likes of what they will face Sunday in Seattle against the league's top rusher and the league's top offense. Continue

Deloatch in doubt

CB Curtis Deloatch was hospitalized on Tuesday for what Coughlin called "a turf burn infection." The Giants were hopeful he would be released from the hospital this morning. His status for Sunday's game is in doubt.... C Shaun O'Hara (left ankle sprain) and TE Jeremy Shockey (chest) did not practice and are questionable against the Seahawks....LTLuke Petitgout (swollen knee) was limited in practice and is questionable.... DE Michael Strahan (neck stinger) is apparently fine. He practiced and is not on the injury report. ... LB Reggie Torbor (hernia) returned to practice, but is doubtful. ... Coughlin would not say if KR Willie Ponder, who was benched against Philly, would get his job back in Seattle.... David Tyree, who blocked a punt against Philly, was named the NFC Special Teams Player of the Week. Continue

The stakes are Giant

The last time the Giants played a meaningful game after Thanksgiving was three years ago, when they were a different team with a different coach and 42 different players. In fact, fewer than half of the Giants ever have been in a playoff chase anywhere. But they're in one now.

The Giants' 27-17 win over Philadelphia on Sunday set the stage for what should be their most exciting stretch since 2002, when they rallied for four straight December wins to squeeze into the postseason. These Giants (7-3) are in a much better position, but they're about to face two crucial games - at Seattle (8-2) on Sunday and home against division rival Dallas (7-3) one week later. Continue

Is Big Blue for real or a big white lie?

It's getting late. Do you know who your Giants are? Well, no, you don't. They don't, either. We're all waiting to see what's in store for the most mysterious 7-3 team in football, waiting to get a glimpse of what lies behind the Big Blue curtain. Is it a Super Bowl contender? A division champ? A playoff team? A tease? Maybe a collapse waiting to happen?

Any fate is possible for a team that has shown some muscle but hasn't been truly tested. A team with an impressive record compiled against lousy and unlucky victims. A team that can look pretty good and pretty bad, not only in the same game but on the same play. In one sense, the season starts Sunday for the Giants when they visit Seattle, home of the NFC West-leading Seahawks. Then they host the Cowboys in a game that ultimately could decide the NFC East. Continue

The talk of the crown

There will be no tutorial this week from coach Tom Coughlin breaking down the state of the NFC playoff race, even though the Giants this weekend travel to Seattle to take on the Seahawks, the team with the best record in the conference.

It's a game with major postseason ramifications and certainly will offer a clue as to how the Giants stack up with a team riding a six-game winning streak and on pace to claim home-field advantage. Yet it's too soon, in Coughlin's estimation, to get into all that with his club. Continue

Eli saves his best for last

They harassed him, made him fumble twice, sacked him five times. But the Eagles didn't get to Eli Manning.Until his skills fully develop, his poise is the best he can offer to the Giants. They know that no matter what the score, or what's showing on the clock, or how much time he spends lying on his back, Manning will brush away adversity like so many flakes of dandruff. This can't be taught. Maybe it was inherited.

Whatever. All the Giants know is Manning, for the fourth time in the last six games, came through in a tense fourth quarter. He didn't make a bad read, or a terrible throw, or a mistake that decided the outcome. Instead he finished off the Eagles on two late touchdown passes, one off a pump fake that was prettier than anything sold in a Fifth Avenue boutique. Continue

Big Blue has Birds in hand

It took them four long years, but the Giants finally did what the entire NFC East has been trying to do since the 2001 season: They put the Philadelphia Eagles out of their misery. And in the process, the Giants reestablished themselves as a contender in the NFC.

They accomplished both tasks yesterday with a 27-17 win over the four-time defending division champions at Giants Stadium - a huge win for a team reeling from both the death of co-owner Bob Tisch and an ugly home loss last Sunday. They're now 7-3 and locked into a two-team race with the Dallas Cowboys for the suddenly available division title. Continue

Shockey's not feeling one-derful

After Jeremy Shockey dove to haul in a 1-yard touchdown pass early in the fourth quarter, he turned and fired the ball back behind the end zone and into the stands at Giants Stadium. "It was a poor effort," Shockey said of his throw. It was an act of frustration from Shockey, as the catch was the only one he made all game as the Giants beat the Eagles 27-17. One catch for one yard, even if it goes for a touchdown, is not the sort of impact Shockey expects of himself.

"I didn't really run that many pass routes," said Shockey, who had the ball thrown to him only twice. "I blocked a lot more than I went out in pass routes. They did a good job of covering me. I'm used to being utilized a little bit more, [but] for whatever reason the routes I usually catch patterns on never got called in the game. The decoy factor was definitely out there today. I get frustrated because I want to make plays and help my team win but we won, that's the most important thing." Continue

Burress' TD catch in fourth shuts door on Eagles

Barely more than a full season into his NFL career as a starting quarterback, Eli Manning is practically immune to fourth-quarter pressure.Kept in check for most of three quarters by the Philadelphia Eagles, Manning threw two of his three touchdown passes in the fourth quarter, including a 61-yarder to Plaxico Burress that helped the Giants pull away to a 27-17 victory Sunday.

The play followed a familiar script for Manning and the Giants this season. Against Dallas and Minnesota he threw touchdown passes in the final minutes to tie games New York eventually lost. In between, he threw a winning touchdown pass against Denver in the final seconds. Continue

Blue can't take a step back

The Giants have no sympathy for the Philadelphia Eagles. In fact, in the words of former Eagle linebacker Carlos Emmons, they'd like to "kick them while they're down." And thanks to the Terrell Owens circus and the injury to Donovan McNabb's groin, the Eagles are definitely way down for the first time in five seasons. But the Giants don't believe they're out. At least not yet. "Right now, they're the champs until somebody dethrones them, and they're not dethroned until they're totally out of it," Emmons said. "If you want to be the best, you've got to beat the best."

It's hard to believe the Eagles (4-5) still are the best, even if they are the four-time defending NFC East champions and the reigning NFC champs. And with ex-Rutgers star Mike McMahon at quarterback, the Eagles head to the Meadowlands today desperately trying to claw their way out of last place. Continue

Killer instinct

The Giants last week were confronted with a rather unusual situation. They found themselves rooting for the Eagles, hardly a common occurrence. That goes to show something about the changing balance of power in the NFC East. For the Giants, pulling for an Eagles victory over the Cowboys was the way to go, as it would keep the Giants alone in first place. Also, the Giants had already lost once in Dallas but they controlled their destiny with two games yet to play with the Eagles. Continue

Passing grade

A week ago, Eli Manning was answering questions about the possibility of facing his brother in Super Bowl XL. This week, he was answering questions about why his completion percentage was in the 40s. One week he is an emerging star.The next he is a struggling kid.

It's enough to drive a 24-year-old quarterback crazy. And Phil Simms isn't the least bit surprised. "I remember before the season started somebody asked me, 'What advice would you give Eli?'" the former Giants quarterback said. "I said, 'It's going to be torture.'" Continue

Criticism on target

For all the premature hype generated last week about a possible Super Bowl Duel in Detroit between the Manning brothers, there was a major inaccuracy in those projections, namely Eli's passes compared with Peyton's.

Peyton has completed nearly 70 percent of his passes for the unbeaten Colts in 2005 and nearly 65 percent for his career. Eli has completed only 51 percent for the 6-3 Giants and 49.9 percent for a career that now includes 16 starts - a full season. Archie Manning, their father, had a completion percentage of .552 in his NFL career, even while running for his life for 11 seasons with the perennially pathetic Saints.Apparently, some genetic traits take more time to develop than others, but Tom Coughlin, no easy touch, remains pleased about Eli's progress. Continue

'D' gets thinner as Torbor is lost

As the season progresses, the Giants continue to lose starting defensive players. The latest to go down is linebacker Reggie Torbor, who yesterday had surgery to repair a hernia and will be out 2-4 weeks. Earlier, linebacker Barrett Green (knee, ankle), cornerback Will Peterson (back) and defensive tackle William Joseph (elbow) were lost to injuries.

Torbor started seven games this season, the last three at strong side linebacker in place of Carlos Emmons, who was sidelined with a slightly torn pectoral muscle. Emmons has practiced this week and appears ready to return for Sunday's game against his former team, the Eagles. Just in time, considering Torbor's status. Continue

Eli needs adjustments

It's not time to panic. But maybe it is time for a change in the Giants' offensive philosophy. Tom Coughlin rightly pointed out Monday that his team, 6-3 and tied for the NFC East lead, still controls its own destiny. That destiny was made a little bit more attainable with the news of quarterback Donovan McNabb's groin injury yesterday, giving the Giants a big leg up for Sunday's first meeting with the Eagles.But the offense is still in need of an adjustment. Eli Manning started the season with a penchant for hitting the big play, and then he morphed into a clutch QB in the final quarter.

When he has time to operate his offense, though, Manning is increasingly falling shorter and shorter. It started in Dallas six weeks ago, when he could put together only two strong drives at the end of regulation after his defense controlled play. Continue

Giants' Tisch dies

Preston Robert Tish, billionaire businessman and co-owner of the New York Giants who devoted much of his life to making the city he loved a better place, died last night of inoperable brain cancer, a family spokesman said. He was 79. Tisch's death comes two years to the day after his brother and business partner, Laurence, passed away and just three weeks after Wellington Mara, the Giants' other co-owner, also succumbed to cancer. Continue

Prediction: Giants will make playoffs

In 35 years as an NFL executive, Ernie Accorsi thought he'd seen it all. He realized Sunday that he hadn't."I've been in this business a long time," the Giants general manager said yesterday, "but I'd never seen that. I thought I've seen everything you can see in football. Evidently, I had not."

Accorsi witnessed a piece of NFL history he'd rather have done without, as the Vikings became the first team ever to score on a punt return, a kickoff return and an interception return in the same game. So instead of sitting at 7-2 and continuing to dictate the terms of a surprising NFC East race, the Giants botched the opportunity. Instead, they tuned into last night's Cowboys-Eagles game with more angst than if they'd followed the script and beaten an inferior Vikings team at home. Continue

Blame game

ONLY minutes after Eli Manning and Co. had treated their championship-starved fan base to The Big Blue Stinkeroo, the coach hired to make losing uncomfortable around Giants Stadium raged. Giant players had never seen Tom Coughlin this angry. Asked to rate his anger on a scale of 1-10, one player said: "12."

Tiki Barber characterized the scene behind the Big Blue door following Vikings 24, Giants 21 like this: "A lot of cussing. . . . A lot of anger on the part of Coach Coughlin, and well-placed, I might add, 'cause I felt the same way." But a day later, he was no longer Terrible Tom. He was Calm Tom. His message: Blame me. Continue

Giants lose DT Joseph 4 weeks

William Joseph, who has given the Giants surprisingly solid play at defensive tackle this season, will miss "a minimum of four weeks" with a dislocated left elbow, Tom Coughlin said yesterday. The good news, Coughlin said, is that Joseph will not need surgery. The other good news is the Giants are deep at defensive tackle, where Damane Duckett, Kenderick Allen and Fred Robbins could all take his place.

Coughlin wouldn't commit to any of them yesterday. Robbins was a starter last season, but he fell into Coughlin's doghouse by reporting to training camp overweight, and he's playing some in the Giants' depleted defensive end rotation lately. He could move back inside, though, because defensive end Justin Tuck (ankle) is expected to return in time for Sunday's game against the Eagles. Continue

Many unhappy returns here

That loud crashing sound emanating from Giants Stadium yesterday was the Giants' Super Bowl hopes returning to Earth with a thud. The reality check was delivered in a most peculiar way by the Vikings, whose offense produced fewer yards (six) than its defense produced points (seven) in the first half. The Vikings didn't need to reach the end zone offensively, becoming the first team in NFL history to score on an interception return, a kickoff return and a punt return in the same game.

The latter two occurred in a span of 9:22 in the third quarter, and the three returns covered a total of 249 yards. Then, in its only effective drive of the game, Minnesota moved 42 yards in the final 1:15 to set up Paul Edinger's 48-yard field goal with 10 seconds left for a 24-21 win. Continue

Manning not so Super in throwing 4 ints

Everyone can shelve the Manning vs. Manning Super Bowl talk for a while. Peyton's younger brother had one of those "he's still got a lot to learn" games against the Vikings yesterday when his four interceptions put the red bow on a 24-21 Giants loss. Out of sync most of the day, Eli Manning had a 39.5 passer rating, his worst since the 0.0 he had in his fourth career start against the Ravens last year. That was a case of deer in the headlights. This was simply, "Oh, dear." Continue

Collapse drives Coughlin crazy

Tom Coughlin stood on the sidelines and watched for more than three hours as the Giants forgot everything he's been drilling into them since training camp in late July. He had a nauseated look on his face. And it may take days for the players to get Coughlin's postgame locker room voice out of their heads. He was animated, he was irate, his language wasn't to be repeated. He unloaded on his players in his little chat, the most upset he's been after any of the three losses this year or any of his 13 losses in two years. Continue

Jint 'D' comes up short

As dominating as the Giants were on defense, the score yesterday was 21-21 in the waning minutes of the fourth quarter. None of the Vikings' points, however, came against a Giants defense that has not allowed an opposing touchdown in more than 13 consecutive quarters. That's a load of quality play.

But with 1:15 remaining in yesterday's game, all the Giants had to accomplish on defense was to get the game into overtime and they could not do it. The Vikings, in an offensive shell all day, put together an eight-play, 42-yard drive that culminated in Paul Edinger's game-winning 48-yard field goal to sink the Giants 24-21. "That was the most crucial time in the game and it's going to take away from everything we did previously," linebacker Nick Greisen said. Continue

Receiving the message of Tom

Plaxico Burress looked like a simmering volcano on the sidelines in San Diego on Sept. 25 when he was benched by Tom Coughlin for the entire first quarter. He stood there with his hands on his hips, with the Giants visor on his head tilted to one side. For the most part he just stared straight ahead.

From a distance, it looked like the drawing of the highly anticipated battle lines between the Giants' disciplinarian coach and their new outspoken receiver. It appeared to be the beginning of the early end to what so many thought was a mismatched marriage. Continue

Strahan plays for 'The Duke'

MICHAEL Strahan didn't get to say goodbye to Wellington Mara, the way Tiki Barber and Jeremy Shockey had only a day earlier at the old man's bedside. So Strahan keeps the program photo from St. Patrick's Cathedral of "The Pride of the Giants" in his locker, and keeps playing with the kind of pride in the uniform that Mara always asked of one of his own. "Trust me, I thought about it: Why didn't I go earlier?" Strahan said.

What would you have said to him? "I'd have thanked him," Strahan said, "for bringing me here, and sticking with me for as long as he has, through my ups and downs, and through the ups and downs of this team; and secondly, just for, I guess, just life lessons that you learn by being around somebody like him." Continue

Giants boast fine line

Every play, it seems like two people are assigned to block Michael Strahan. Sometimes he even has to fight his way through three. But as the weeks go on, opposing offenses might not be able to give him so much attention. The Giants' pass rush no longer is a one-man show.

In fact, in the last two weeks it's been a four-man show as the entire defensive line has given the Giants a surprisingly strong push - one that wasn't often there in the first few weeks of the season. Six of the eight sacks the Giants have had the last two weeks have come from the front four. And five of them have come from the linemen who usually operate in Strahan's shadow. Continue

Blue now big on both sides

Plaxico Burress doesn't get the chance to make his one-handed catch, there are no blown kisses to Tiki Barber's sons after he scores, Jeremy Shockey doesn't exploit some overmatched linebacker, Eli Manning doesn't get to look, look, look until he finds an opening, Brandon Jacobs doesn't power past someone. There's no fun for the Giants offense unless the foundation is solid.

"Protect our guys," stated left guard David Diehl. "Let them do what they need to do to be successful." There is no league-leading 29 points a game without an offensive line that has largely remained in the shadows of the surprising 6-2 start heading into Sunday's game against the Vikings. That's generally considered a good thing for the big guys up front. No news is often good news when linemen are concerned. Continue

Greisen ailing

Nick Greisen was one of four Giants who missed practice yesterday. Tom Coughlin expects the linebacker back from his bruised rib in time to play on Sunday. "In the jog-through, he didn't feel he was going to benefit from practicing so they decided to hold him," Coughlin said. Coughlin still thinks Greisen will be able to play "in some capacity" on Sunday, but it is a red flag for a team that has had remarkably few injuries this year.

Greisen is having a great season as a run-stuffer, but durability has always been his downfall. If Greisen can't start, Alonzo Jackson will step in ahead of Eric Moore. Also sitting out practice were DE Jason Tuck (ankle), S Shaun Williams (hamstring) and LB Carlos Emmons (pectoral). Continue

Toomer feels for Terrell

The Terrell Owens circus has ripped apart one of the Giants' toughest division rivals and possibly ruined the career of a player who has been their nemesis for years. But if the Eagles were expecting any sympathy from the Giants ... well, actually, there was. "I think it's just a bad situation," said receiver Amani Toomer. "I know he's a real passionate guy. He has opinions about things. I just feel bad for him. I feel bad for the Eagles. They're losing a good player and he's not getting a chance to play."

Toomer said he felt some sort of bond with Owens because they both broke into the NFL in 1996. He conceded the Owens circus "is good for our team," especially since the Giants play the Eagles twice in the next five weeks. But he added, "I think we'd want to play them at their best." Continue

Optimism abounds heading into 2nd half

t's time for the midseason awards. At 6-2, there are plenty of accolades to go around the Giants' locker room:

Offensive MVP: Plaxico Burress. This could go to any number of the various weapons the Giants have at their disposal: Eli Manning, for improving faster than perhaps even Tom Coughlin envisioned; Tiki Barber, for still piling up yards and providing the veteran leadership the team has needed through some emotional days; or Jeremy Shockey, for losing the negative attitude from a year ago, staying healthy and providing Manning with another big-play option. Even Amani Toomer and Brandon Jacobs have had their moments. But Burress, with 45 catches for 656 yards and five TDs, quickly became Manning's favorite target. His absence for a quarter in San Diego for violating team rules was almost as noticeable as his imposing presence over shorter cornerbacks."We need our best players on the field," Shockey said after the loss in San Diego. Amen to that. Continue

Giants take advantage

The second half of the NFL season begins Sunday against the Vikings, and from now on, everything changes for the Giants. With eight games left, there's an NFC East title to secure, home-field advantage to gain. No longer can "upstart" and "improbable" be used in conjunction with the Giants, their 6-2 record, their playoff aspirations or their ability to do some serious damage in the NFC.

Questions hatched in the summer have been answered in resounding fashion: Yes, the Eagles are vulnerable. No, there isn't a dominant team in the entire conference. Yes, the free-agent class brought in by GM Ernie Accorsi is the best in Giants franchise history. Yes, Eli Manning will take a quantum leap forward. Continue

Giants score on all points

When Tom Coughlin took over what John Mara famously described as "a franchise in trouble" two years ago, he didn't offer a quick fix to the Giants' problems. After enduring a rocky rookie season that included an eight-game losing streak and a near mutiny by some of his players, no one would have believed him if he did.

So yesterday, one day after Coughlin's Giants left San Francisco with a 24-6 victory, a three-game winning streak and a tied-for-NFC-best 6-2 record, no one would have blamed him if he had stopped to take a bow for how quickly he has turned the troubled franchise into a legitimate Super Bowl contender. But when asked if he'd allow himself a moment to bask in his accomplishment, Coughlin offered a quick and simple answer: No. Continue

Postseason not topic - yet

With eight games gone and eight to go, the Giants, at 6-2, have positioned themselves perfectly for the second half of the season, but coach Tom Coughlin said yesterday that doesn't mean he starts talking playoffs with his team. "No, we'll stay with the position we've taken in terms of our division," Coughlin said. "We have a slight lead in our division. We're going to continue to utilize that as a primary source of motivation for ourselves."

The Giants sit atop the NFC East, leading the Redskins (5-3), Cowboys (5-3) and Eagles (4-4). They take a three-game winning streak into Sunday's home game against the Vikings. "You certainly are excited for our franchise and our players and our coaches and our team for being in the position we're in, but we have a long, long way to go," Coughlin said. "I think everybody knows that. Our thing is constant improvement." Continue

'D' in shutdown mode

Granted, it was Cody Pickett, higher on the depth chart as a rodeo cowboy than as an NFL quarterback, and not Joe Montana directing the 49ers on Sunday. But Giants coach Tom Coughlin was pleased, nonetheless, that his defensive unit held an opponent without a touchdown for a second straight week.

"One of our themes was consistency," Coughlin said on a conference call yesterday to talk about the Giants' 24-6 victory over San Francisco. "To be able to line up and repeat a performance like we had against Washington shows we did establish consistency." Continue

Catching praise

Jeremy Shockey wasn't trying to downplay the diving touchdown catch he made at the end of the second quarter. He admitted it wasn't easy. "But it wasn't as spectacular as Plaxico's," he said.

Maybe not, but it was close. And at the very least it was just as important as the Giants' two biggest playmakers made two huge and spectacular plays in the 24-6 win over the San Francisco 49ers yesterday. Shockey's was a dive and roll for the Giants' first touchdown, while Burress' was a one-hander that set up their second. Continue

Giants riding Big Blue wave

The trap that Tom Coughlin spent last week trying so hard to avoid discussing was set so perfectly and so predictably for the Giants yesterday. They were listless, sloppy and emotionally drained. And the San Francisco 49ers weren't going away. It was a classic trap the old Giants would've fallen into. These new Giants didn't.

It took a brilliant catch by Plaxico Burress at the end of the third quarter and two short fourth-quarter touchdown runs by Brandon Jacobs, but the Giants finally shook off the 49ers and escaped with a 24-6 win. It was their third straight victory and first on the road for young quarterback Eli Manning. Continue

Giants defense holds Niners without a touchdown

Though Jeremy Shockey and Michael Strahan had miserable memories of Candlestick Park, Eli Manning was still in college when the New York Giants' last trip to the playoffs ended here in a historic collapse.The young quarterback thought the old building was an excellent place to get his first true road victory. Manning passed for 251 yards and a touchdown, Brandon Jacobs rushed for two short fourth-quarter scores and the Giants' defense yielded just 138 total yards in a 24-6 victory over the San Francisco 49ers on Sunday. Continue

Deja vu for Big Blue

This isn't just a simple case of déjà vu for the Giants. It's a situation so similar to what they experienced last year, it's scary. In fact, it's an exact replica of the moment where their 2004 collapse began. They were 5-2 last year, just like they are now, coming off a huge win over a pretty good opponent (34-13 at Minnesota). They were facing a struggling, 2-5 team (the Chicago Bears) that was starting a third-string quarterback (Craig Krenzel). And they spent the week listing the reasons why they wouldn't fall into the obvious trap. Continue

Big Blue left heartbreak in San Francisco

This afternoon is the first time the Giants will play at Monster Park, the stadium formerly known as Candlestick, since that fateful Jan. 5, 2003, day when they suffered one of the worst playoff defeats in NFL history. The Giants built a 38-14 lead over the 49ers and lost 39-38, with some horrific special teams foibles and terrible officiating combining in the wild, fleeting final seconds. "I chose to forget about that," Tiki Barber said. Barber is one of 11 players and one assistant coach (Mike Pope) with the Giants then and now.

"After that season, interestingly enough, Mr. [Wellington] Mara came into our room and said, 'The guy next to the left of you, the guy to the right of you, one of you guys won't be here,' " Barber said. "It was fact. We actually had a third turnover from that season. There are guys here that remember, which is a good thing, but there's also guys here that don't, which is also a good thing." That loss did not cost Jim Fassel his job, but he lasted only one more season before he was fired and replaced by Tom Coughlin. Continue

Giants crunch numbers

Despite giving one of the finest defensive performances of the season last Sunday, the Giants' defense still is ranked only 30th in the league. But this time, when they insist the rankings don't matter, they can mean it. They've finally given themselves a reason to believe. "We've always had a lot of confidence," safety Gibril Wilson said. "We just needed to play a good game, and we did that." "You always want to see something like that," cornerback Curtis Deloatch added. "It was a great feeling after the game to have played the way we did." Continue

Can't get lost on the road

Judging from the Giants' comments this week, they understand the importance of breaking through with their first road victory this season. They'll take a charter flight to San Francisco today for tomorrow's game against the 49ers with an 0-2 record on the road. "If you want to be a playoff team, you definitely have to win games on the road," receiver Plaxico Burress said.

"It's probably one of the hardest things to do in this business: Go into somebody's house and beat them in their own back yard. Everybody plays well at home and everybody tries to use it to their advantage." The Giants were routed in San Diego and lost in overtime in Dallas. They returned home to gain back-to-back victories over the Broncos and Redskins at Giants Stadium. Continue

Getting their kicks

Gibril Wilson pointed to the pile of books in Jay Feely's locker and shook his head. "What a life," Wilson, a second-year Giants safety, said yesterday. "All that time with nothing to do but read. Must be nice being a kicker." Feely laughed, no doubt thinking of a time when the Giants need a last-second field goal and how much Wilson would not like to be the kicker at that particular moment.

It's all smiles this season for the Giants when it comes to Feely, their place-kicker, and Jeff Feagles, their punter. This may be the best tandem in the NFL, both playing a huge role in the 5-2 record the Giants take with them into tomorrow's game with the 49ers at Monster Park. Continue

Eli could use one for road

Eli Manning has yet to win a road game. It is still more a technicality than an issue. This week, however, the young man goes west as the Giants visit the struggling 49ers, a team with the league's worst-ranked pass defense and down to its fourth-string quarterback. Now, should the Giants' franchise quarterback somehow slip to 0-6 on the road (not including that pseudo-away game against the Saints), it would be an issue.

For now, what Tom Coughlin calls "another objective and another challenge," Manning regards as a moot point. While Manning admits, "We've got to figure out how to win on the road," he says of himself, "I don't worry about it. My goal is to treat every game the same." Continue

Tom's respect clocks in on time

The Giants were too busy fighting Tom Coughlin and his playbook of overbearing rules Monday through Saturday last season and didn't have much left in them when they needed it on Sunday. The biggest change from Year 1 of Coughlin to Year 2 is they have accepted him, even embraced him. He did a superior job preparing them last week strategically and emotionally following the death of team patriarch Wellington Mara.

The domination of the Redskins in a first-place NFC East match is compelling evidence not only of the players' affection for Mara, but the depth to which they have bought into Coughlin and trust him. That's why there will not be a repeat of last year, when the Giants were the same 5-2 they are now, but then suffered eight straight losses, proving they could go two months without a victory for someone other than Jim Fassel. Continue

No return in sight for Giants' Peterson

Any optimism regarding Will Peterson's return seemed to vanish yesterday. The cornerback, who has been inactive for the last five games because of a stress reaction in his lower back, was re-evaluated yesterday, but head coach Tom Coughlin said there was no new information. "There's no update," Coughlin said. "There won't be any update. He saw the doctor and there wasn't any change. He'll see the doctor again in a couple of weeks." Peterson had hoped to get some good news that would allow him to return to practice, but that seems unlikely to come anytime soon.

RB Brandon Jacobs was held out of practice yesterday and added to the injury list as questionable for Sunday's game. Coughlin said that the short-yardage specialist slipped and suffered a bruised quad on Wednesday. "Hopefully he can practice [today]," Coughlin said of the rookie. Continue

Giants paying S.F. toll

The 11 Giants who still remain from the nightmare won't be sitting together Saturday on the plane to San Francisco. There will be no reminiscing, no stories, no telling the kids what it was like. The Giants' last trip to San Francisco, on Jan. 5, 2003, is something they would just rather forget.

"That was a long time ago," said safety Shaun Williams, one of the 11 who suffered through the Giants' infamous wild-card playoff collapse and will return to the scene of the crime Sunday to face the 49ers. "We've got a new coaching staff, new players on both sides of the ball. That day is behind us." Continue

Eli gets pass for now

The Giants are still the highest-scoring team in the NFL. They can strike as quickly as any team in football and they have proven they have the heart to come back late in the game. But there has been something missing ever since the bye week (Oct.9) - something they know they can't survive without. For the last three weeks, Eli Manning, with the very notable exceptions of the fourth quarters against Dallas and Denver, has not been very good. Continue

One Giant tourist trap

  It will be the word of the day, the theme of the week. Trap. The Giants are heading into just such an entanglement in San Francisco, where they're favored by a bloated 101/2 points over the 49ers, who will start Cody Pickett at quarterback. That would be the same Cody Pickett last seen covering punts before being pressed into emergency duty. To that, we say bull-trap.

Surely the threat of falling into a trap is not in the mind and on the lips of coach Tom Coughlin, and it's unlikely to be picked up, like some strain of virus, by his players. At 5-2, the Giants understand this is a season of great possibility. They also know they have yet to win a road game, and that they have little built into their resume to accept the notion of a letdown. Continue

Giants in first & feelin' Super

Nearly five years ago, Wellington Mara stood on a podium inside a cold and wild Giants Stadium and pointedly proclaimed his Giants "the worst team to win the NFC Championship." Are the 2005 Giants on their way to doing it again?

There's still a long way to go in the season but the team with the 24-year-old quarterback, the running back who felt abandoned, the offensive line that supposedly was the NFL's worst last season, and the defense that still is ranked 30th in the league, is suddenly 5-2 and sitting alone atop one of the NFL's most competitive divisions. The Giants just pounded the Washington Redskins 36-0, one week after a remarkable comeback victory over Denver. Continue

It's deja-blue

As the cloud of emotion begins to lift, as the Giants move forward into their season and, indeed, reluctantly usher in a new era, the sunlight reveals quite an interesting picture. They stand alone, in first place in the NFC East, as they brace for a wave of expectation to wash over them.

It is not only that the league is taking a different view of what the Giants are and what they can be; the feeling from within has also blossomed into something more substantial. "The way we've competed of late," coach Tom Coughlin said yesterday, "has certainly given me great interest and great excitement." Continue

Surging Big Blue for real

Plaxico Burress doesn't like what I'm about to tell you. He'd rather not have me declare that the Giants are a team that we must now take seriously as a playoff contender after a 5-2 start and back-to-back victories over Denver and Washington. And that the way the NFC is breaking down nearly halfway through the season, it leaves you no choice but to acknowledge that the Giants are among the best teams in the conference.

Maybe even the best. "We don't want y'all to give us any respect right now," the wide receiver said. "We want everybody to keep picking us as underdogs and keep telling us we're not that good so we can keep going out and proving everybody wrong." Continue