New York Giants Proving to Have the Ability to Compete into January
It appears I was wrong about the New York Giants. It appears a lot of us were.
Winners of three straight and above the .500 mark for the first time since 2012, the Giants proved with a 30-20 Week 5 victory over the Atlanta Falcons that they have the right ingredients and cooks to put together a run right here and right now.
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This was by no means a pretty victory—it was much uglier than recent wins over the Houston Texans and Washington—but that's actually a major reason why the Giants made a statement Sunday. This is how they're solidifying their chances of being a legitimate contender in 2014:
Quarterback Eli Manning has come to terms with the idea he no longer has to be a gunslinger
In fact, Manning clearly realized that his gunslinging ways have done more harm than good and that the time has come for him to put his complete faith in the hands of new offensive coordinator Ben McAdoo.
McAdoo's West Coast-oriented system took longer than expected to catch on, which is why Manning and the Giants embarrassed themselves throughout the preseason and started 0-2. But something clicked in Week 3, and it's been gravy ever since.
This was the fourth consecutive week in which Manning completed at least 63 percent of his passes, which hadn't happened since 2010. In fact, he had only hit that 63 percent mark three times in total in his last 23 games prior to this year, dating back to November 2012.
| 2014 | 93.6 | 66.9 |
| 2009 | 93.1 | 62.3 |
| 2011 | 92.9 | 61.0 |
| 2012 | 87.2 | 59.9 |
| 2008 | 86.4 | 60.3 |
Has he become less of a maverick and more of a game manager? Sure, but that happy medium is exactly what the Giants need right now. He's turned the ball over just once during this three-game winning streak. That's something he had accomplished in a three-game span only one other time since the middle of 2011.
He's not taking as many chances, and he isn't hitting on as many big plays, but the trade-off is worth it. Right now, Manning is as efficient and as accurate as he's ever been. And that's scary.
They proved they can come from behind and win
Entering Sunday's game, dating back to the start of the 2013 season, Manning had only 19 touchdowns and 22 interceptions while trailing. His passer rating in those situations was 73.6, ranking ahead of only three other quarterbacks who had thrown at least 200 passes during that span.
New York trailed by a double-digit margin with 21 minutes to play, but from that point forward Manning was 9-of-14 (64 percent) for 90 yards, putting together a 106.2 passer rating while leading four scoring drives.
Even more encouraging was that McAdoo didn't panic and ditch the run—something you'd expect from a fairly new play-caller in a situation like that, especially with top back Rashad Jennings (knee) injured. During those final 21 minutes, the Giants ran 17 times and passed 14 times (not including a kneel-down from Manning on the final play from scrimmage).
It was only the Giants' third fourth-quarter comeback since October of 2012.
The pass rush is coming around
One thing that hasn't changed in Giants-land: When the pass rush is clicking, the Giants are competitive. When it's not, they stand little chance.
Although they had only the one sack Sunday, the front seven pestered Falcons quarterback Matt Ryan throughout the second half. Stud defensive end Jason Pierre-Paul, who has been MIA more often than not the last couple years, went to town on Atlanta's depleted offensive line. And 2013 second-round pick Johnathan Hankins had a game-changing sack on a 4th-and-1 in the fourth quarter.
The Falcons entered Sunday's game with the league's No. 2-ranked offense, but the Giants smothered Ryan, limiting a very good team to just 20 points.
Throw in that 2011 first-round cornerback Prince Amukamara—who had a huge end-zone breakup against Roddy White at the end of the first half—is playing the best football of his career and that they'll soon have top linebacker Jon Beason back, and you begin to see that this defense has quite a lot of potential.
They have more weapons than many of us realized
It's also encouraging that the Giants were victorious Sunday despite the fact it wasn't Victor Cruz's day. The Pro Bowl receiver caught only three of the six passes thrown his way for a total of 22 yards. From a yardage standpoint, it was his worst performance since December of 2012.
Entering Sunday, the Giants were 4-10 all time in games in which Cruz had fewer than 30 receiving yards, and they failed to reach the 30-point mark in all 14 of those games. That changed Sunday, thanks to stellar performances from receivers Odell Beckham Jr. and Preston Parker.
Making his NFL debut, Beckham caught four of the five throws he was targeted on, including the game-winning touchdown pass, while Parker led the team with 61 receiving yards. It was only the fourth time in his career in which the 27-year-old hit that plateau.
And although Jennings missed nearly the entire second half due to a knee injury, the running game didn't miss a beat with rookie Andre Williams running through defenders. The fourth-round pick out of Boston College had 65 yards on 20 carries, including a touchdown.
With surprise tight end Larry Donnell off to a Pro Bowl-worthy start to the season and with guys like Beckham, Parker and Williams beginning to make an impact, that offense is suddenly looking golden.
This could have been a double-digit victory
This was an ugly win, which is a good sign. This team isn't built to win track meets, and it won't put on a show every Sunday. But it's important that the Giants look as though they're good enough to beat good teams even when they're far from perfect.
Parker fumbled a kick return leading directly to three points for the Falcons, and safety Quintin Demps fumbled in Falcons territory after an interception. They had only the one sack despite pressure, and they failed to register a legit takeaway on D.
Yet they won. That's the key.
Why not?
With the offensive line suddenly buying Manning all the time in the world while opening up holes in the running game, Beckham finally showing up, Donnell holding things down at tight end, the offense as a whole finally executing and the pass rush showing signs of life, pretty much every concern we had about this team in August has been squashed as we begin October.
The Giants still have a tough schedule ahead of them, but the NFC East is wide open, and Tom Coughlin might be the best coach in the NFL. In a matter of a month, it appears Coughlin has his guys believing they can do something special after all.
And they might be right.
Brad Gagnon has covered the NFC East for Bleacher Report since 2012.
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