Calm Down People, It's Only One Loss: The Giants Are Still Contenders

The Giants loss to the Cleveland Browns was embarrassing, but it doesn't mean that the Giants are a fraudulent team or that they still are not a contender to win the Super Bowl.

If you look at the defense, the problem was the lack of a pass rush from the Giants. Derek Anderson had plenty of time to pick apart the Giants secondary. That is going to happen. There is no way you can expect the Giants to get four or five sacks. The Cleveland Browns also have a very good offensive line. Antonio Pierce was not healthy and rookie Brian Kehl got a lot of playing time due to the injuries in the LB corps. Though this area of the defense has little depth, many of them are young who will only get better as the season goes on. The secondary did not perform well, but two huge plays (the bomb to Edwards and the touchdown to Edwards) were only possible because Aaron Ross lost his footing. That is not going to be a regular occurrence throughout the season. Plus Braylon Edwards and Derek Anderson were bound to breakout eventually. The Browns have too much talent on the offensive side of the football to not be a top 10 offense.

Probably the biggest question is wheter Eli Manning's performance in this game was a sign of things to come. I don't think it will be. He threw three picks and there is no denying that. Two of them were forced picks in the end zone, but the one in between the two was due to a lack of chemistry between Plaxico Burress and Eli because of Plaxico's two week suspension. That is going to be fixed. Eli completed over 60% of his passed and was efficient on third down. I don't think those interceptions are a result of a bad QB, but more like two bad throws at the wrong time.

The running game was still effective for the Giants, but they did not run the ball enough on first down. This team is a power running football team and it is important they run on first down. This makes 2nd and 3rd down much more manageable.

The Giants are not a perfect team (no team is), but they still are contenders for the Super Bowl. There is no team in the NFC or AFC that is blatantly better than them. Tom Coughlin will get this team on track and headed to the playoffs