(Photo by J. Meric/Getty Images)
New York Giants Report
September 29, 2009
The Giants shut out the Tampa Bay Buccaneers 24-0 on Sunday. This was a game where everything was clicking. The offense looked methodical moving the ball down the field with ease. The defense dominated the Bucs offense, holding them to under 100 total yards and no first downs until late in the game.
Offensive Coordinator Gilbride made some adjustments in his play calling and it showed. The Giants finally got the red zone monkey off their backs, with some scores against a mediocre Tampa Bay defense. He seemed much more aggressive this week then in the previous two games.
The Giants also dominated the time of possession game by having the ball for 2/3 of the game. That is something rarely done in the NFL and is a compliment to the defensive unit as a whole.
The Giants WR's looked like seasoned vets once again and the running game picked up a little steam this week. Ahmad Bradshaw rushed for over 100 yards.
Eli Manning threw 2 TD's and was pulled in the 4th quarter in favor of David Carr because of the big lead. No doubt, the injury bug was partially to blame for the switch. Eli Manning continued his iron man streak of consecutive games started.
It would be difficult not to get excited about Big Blue starting the season 3-0 with 2 division wins. They have overcome obstacles each and every week of the season. The injuries continue to pile up with OL Kareem McKenzie and OL Rich Seubert getting banged up. They are expected to be OK according to reports. Rookie OL William Beatty did a good job filling in.
K Lawrence Tynes missed a 21 yard FG that had Coach Coughlin bent down and doubled over. You could just hear his thoughts "Are you kidding me?". Many fans are clamoring for Tynes to be cut. The problem is, who would get to replace him? For better or worse, it appears the G-men are stuck with Tynes for the remainder of the year. But kicker will be addressed during the next off season in my opinion.
Next up on the schedule, are the Kansas City Chiefs this weekend. This will be the Giants third road game in a row. They will follow KC by playing the Raiders at home the following week. This 3 game stretch of "middle of the pack" teams could be just what the doctor ordered.
While the injury list continues to grow, the Giants are taking the players they have available and making things happen. If I had to choose, I would take this 3 game stretch to let the guys heal before some of the more difficult games come up. This is a sentiment shared by most Giants fans. We need to get healthy and fast. You cannot continue to lose the quality of players we have lost and not feel the effects at some point. That being said, the Giants are still ranked the number one team in the NFL.
Kansas City is a hungry team and should not be taken lightly. Like the old saying goes, any team can win on any given Sunday. The Giants should not get over confident about their record and lose this game. This is a game that is huge to the big picture and should be considered a "must win". Quite frankly, it is a game the Giants should win on the way to going 4-0 to begin the season.
My prediction for the final score is Giants 27 - Chiefs 10.
We're going to send you the most entertaining New York Giants articles, videos, and podcasts from around the web.
23 Comments
Loading more comments...
This comment and all replies have been deleted This comment has been deleted Undo delete