Tonight we witnessed what Giants' fan have been waiting for, for the last year since the painful, depressing, morale-crushing loss to the New Orleans Saints in week 6 of the 2009 campaign - a solid defensive performance.
After winning the Superbowl in 2007, with majority of the credit to the Giants solid defensive play, Big Blue's "O's" haven't exactly lived up to the intimidating, electric reputation they established. In 2009 the Giants ranked 29th in points per game allowed as well as total points allowed above only the St. Louis Rams and Detroit Lions; a large decline after ranking very high in most major defensive statistics in 2007. This week on the gridiron, however, the Giants went toe-to-toe with the undefeated Chicago Bears who's offense of late has been rolling lead by #6 Jay Cutler. Cutler, after coming off his worst statistical year of his career (27 TDs and 26 Picks) in his first year with the bears, has come out in 2010 with a vengeance and a point to prove. So far during the 2010 campaign, he's throw for 870 yards, 6 touchdowns and only 2 picks through 3 weeks of the season with an outstanding QB rating of 109. I can imagine after watching the Giants vs. the Titans the week prior, Cutler went into the new Meadowlands Stadium confident, expecting to walk out as the first and only 4-0 team in the NFL this year. Well for those of you who didn't catch the game, the G-men came out making a GIANT statement to those who have doubted them. However, I'm not sure I'm ready to jump on the "Giants D is back" bandwagon just quite yet.
As every week goes by, we as Giants fans witness our team give up the big play time and time again. Yes, we occasionally watch the Giants put on a decent defensive display, and by decent i mean allowing 14-21 points with a turnover or two and a win. Is it just me or does an epic failure always seem to follow a solid performance by the Giants, whether it's on the offensive side or the defensive side. I cannot remember the last time i watched the Giants string solid back to back wins together after week 5 of 2009. And already after a slow defensive start to this season, the giants made a huge statement vs. the Bears holding them to 173 yards of total offense, 0-13 on third down, an average of 2.1 yards per play, and 3 total points on the scoreboard. Oh, did i mention the Giants D showed how big their "D" really is by forcing Jay Cutler out with a concussion, back-up QB Todd Collins out with an injury, and sacking the 3 Bears' QBs 9 times in the first half (an NFL record) and 10 total times in the game. After all these accomplishments it's also important to point out that the G-men had a few key injuries on the defensive side including starting linebacker Keith Bullock. With such gaudy defensive numbers, it should be clear that this win was a breeze for the Giants as the defense gave the offense so many scoring opportunities, right? Wrong.
Even with the 3 turnovers and 10 sacks, the Giants offense severely struggled. The Giants were only able to string 3 points together in the first half and 17 total in the game. To me, no Giants fan can be satisfied with such a poor offensive performance. I watched people's Facebook status' all night about how proud of the Giants they were and how they were so excited that the defense came to life, however, i feel that the hype and excitement of this defensive performance has blinded the fans of the big picture.
The G-men have a lot of issues that need to be worked out quick if they want to have any chance of making a serious playoff run this year. To briefly touch on them, they need to sort out the special teams on the offensive and defensive side. The Giants defensive special teams is very weak allowing approximately 38 yards per kick off return which is the worst in the league. On the offensive side, the Giants' kick returner Darius Reynaud cannot hang on to a kick for the life of him, either fumbling or bobbling every ball that is headed his way. The rookie punter Matt Dodge has punted so poorly that after every punt the Meadowlands stadium crowd filled with Giants fans let's out a monstrous roar of boo's to remind Dodge of how lousy he is. Next is the painful offensive play calling of offensive coordinator Kevin Gilbride who thinks calling a draw on every second down and going out of shotgun on third and short is the way to win in the NFL. There are a few bright spots to the Giants offensive, however; Ahmed Bradshaw is having the big season (or at least start) that i called he would have, and the angry helmet-launching second string linebacker-running back, Brandon Jacobs, found himself getting off of the blue-colored paydirt after tacking on a late score for the Giants. Perhaps that score will give Jacobs a little boost of confidence as the newly dubed #2 back. It is also worth mentioning that Jacobs did finally do some down hill running, just ask some of the Bears secondary.
The bottom line is despite the excellent defensive performance the Giants put on today i don't think it is the right time to get our hopes up as there is still much work to do. I think what Sunday's game showed us is that there is some life left in the Giants D and when they're motivated to win they can really get after a quarterback and make a veteran like Cutler look like a freshman high school QB. I think today also showed us that the Giants offense and special teams have a long way to go before we should even think about calling ourselves a serious contender in the NFC East. But hey, if the Giants can continue to play well and string some wins together it may not be a bad time as we are not sure how long Mike Vick will be out for the Eagles leaving the NFC East up for grabs to this point.
-Eric Krempa-
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