1) Another great win by this team, thoroughly dismantling the Skins. The score is not even doing it justice. But no complaints, a nice quality win.
2) There were so many reasons to lose this game for the Giants. All the distractions, no Burress, Pierce caught up in the criminal activity (Burress will be charged with felony possession tomorrow). No Robbins. No Bradshaw. Redskins emotional pregame honors for Sean Taylor. Redskins NEED this game. Hixon not 100%. To come ready to play, to be so professional, to play and match that intensity early and finish this game with a solid win, what more is there to say?
3) No Giants team has ever been 11-1. We have been saying all season that this is not your father’s Giants offense- this offense is loaded. And the record is part of that proof.
4) The Redskins said ‘we are going to put 8 men in the box to stop your run game’ and Gilbride/Manning answered by passing successfully. That was the main reason why this Giants offense got it done.
5) The Giants defense was excellent. Phil Simms nailed it once again, remarking that the Redskins offense was not getting it done and would not get it done today. He was correct. The Giants defense stopped their run, stopped Portis and …
6) COREY WEBSTER stopped Santana Moss. What can you say about Webster? He is a rising star. The refs (browning brown) had a terrible call on him to take away his INT. Joke. Even Daryl Johnston and Howie Long (addendum: and Bob Costas on the NBC pregame!) criticized the call, which means it was HORRIBLE. Webster had a few more plays defensed, and his play to breakup (and almost intercept) the bubble screen to Moss in Q4 was just awesome.
7) Kevin Gilbride did really well, mixing up the playcalling, not using too many runs when the skins showed so much loaded box. Two slip screens to Ward, that is a great playcall vs the 8 men in the box. After the Ross INT, it is 1st and 10 and everyone on the planet is thinking run from your own 3 yard line, out of a run formation they throw a quick slant to Hixon for 18 yards. FANTASTIC. That is what you see from Walsh, attacking with Montana to Taylor or Rice when everyone is thinking run. We criticize Gilbride for his predictable playcalling, and while he was not perfect today (running plays in H1 not needed at all!), he was very good and answered with the pass playcalls.
8) Manning said it was a lot of 8-9 men in the box, so he threw the ball well too in order to get it done. 305 yards in the air. Manning remarked that his receivers juked the DBs because of the slick surface, that they had the advantage. There were a lot of dropped balls on both sides, but nonetheless Toomer, Hixon, Ward all had 5 receptions, they got it done.
9) Giants OL gets it done yet again. Nothing on them in the run game, too many bodies to block. And in pass coverage they gave Manning plenty of time to throw. The two sacks were caused by (a) Boss and (b) Manning holding the ball too long.. it will get charged to Seubert but it was not on Seubert.
10) Carney is a machine on FGs, but our kickoff coverage and nets are terrible.
11) Aaron Ross with an important INT. That was a point in the game when the Skins were moving the ball, and even though it was like a long punt to the 3 yard line, it was an important turnover, derailing and demoralizing the Redskins offense.
12) Fundamentally, the Giants made the tackles. No excessive yards after the catch, exception being the one TD play which was a reverse, taking advantage of the overpursuit. Spags/Pierce fingerprints were all over the place, in proper coverages so often.
Summary: This Giants team is playing as consistently and at as high a level as I have seen in a long time. The score did not reflect how well the Giants played. The Giants win vs winning teams, at home, on the road, with subs, with distractions. There is nothing that I can see that can derail the offense except not adapting to other teams trying to overload run, and lately the Giants are adapting just fine. Eli Manning did it all on offense and Corey Webster is making a big difference to the team on defense. The silence from his receiver (Santana Moss), yet again deafening.
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