Giants Escape With A Win

The New York Giants escaped Texas with a 33-31 win over the Dallas Cowboys. In my opinion, one of the most overused phrases in sports is [insert team name] escaped with a win. I mean really during football season you hear it all the time but tonight you have to use that term. The Giants truly escaped Dallas with a win.

The Giants offense looked like it could be a major player this year, their young wide receivers Mario Manningham and Steve Smith both took Giant steps in their development. Plaxico Burress and Amani Toomer are replaced by two younger, faster and just as talented individuals. With them and Brandon Jacobs being led by Eli Manning it could be a long season for opponents.

But only if one thing happens and that is if they learn to score touchdowns.

There were some but not enough considering how many times the team has been in the red zone the last two weeks. The play calling by Kevin Gilbride in that area has just been atrocious. The team can move all the way down field with ease and then they hit a wall when they are closing in on the end zone. This is a major issue that needs to be addressed and I’m sure a lot of time in practice this week will be dedicated to it.

For how poorly they played tonight inside the 20, they could of easily turned this game into a 40+ output by just converting. If they can straighten out the red zone offense and truly turn that area into the green zone it could be a monumental season for that offense.

Regardless its early to panic about the offense’s ineptitude in that area. Instead I want to focus on the good.

The Giants are 2-0 alone in first place in the NFC East.

The Giants are 2-0 within the division.

And if Donovan McNabb misses any more time the Giants could have a stranglehold on this division very soon.

What I really want to focus on is Mario Manningham. 10 catches for 150 yards. One deflected pass catch on the last drive and more importantly an acrobatic catch in the end zone. He’s what stands out the most to me tonight.

Can’t wait to see the G-Men against that horrendous Tampa Bay defense next week.