I believe in this Defense. Janoris Jenkins goes down with a back injury in the first half but the Defense holds tight and wins another game for the Gmen. The Giants have gone up against two playoff teams in a row, DAL 11-1 and DET 9-4; they have beaten both, allowing 7 and 6 points on successive weeks. This is what champonship defense looks like. Michael Strahan calls it “team defense.”
The game was not perfect. The Giants forced 2 turnovers in the red zone or else it may have looked a little different. But you can’t take away those turnovers, which were forced by Hall and DRC. Quietly the Giants have the #1 Red Zone defense in the NFL. That confidence breeds stinginess. The Defense goes out every series now seemingly believing they can stuff the Offense.
Unfortunately the Defense needs to be stingy. The Offense still struggles. Yes, it was good to get Pugh back. The Offense did run the ball better. But there were times where it looked like the playcalling was trying to run the ball for running’s sake. When the Giants got more balance and broke some tendency, they drove down the field. It hindsight, the play of the game looks like a 25 yarder to OBJ on 3rd and 10 on that TD drive. That was a perfect throw by Eli Manning. OBJ’s fantastic TD catch put the Giants ahead by 11, putting a vice grip on the game.
Eli Manning, contrary to early reports of his demise, is still a viable QB in the NFL. There is another title in him. Is it this year? Getting a little more help from the run game certainly will help. Getting Ereck Flowers some help will help. Getting Jenkins back will help.
The Gmen are 10-4. There is no backing into the playoffs for this team. The Giants are going to the postseason via the front door. While they may not clinch a playoff bid this week, they can get in a myriad of ways now. And I believe that a win against either PHL or WAS sews it up. Realistically I am not thinking about the Division. Of course that would be great but too many good things have to happen. Assuming it is the Wild Card, the Giants right now look slated to play either ATL/TB/DET in the first round. Let’s just think about PHL for now. The Eagles are eliminated from playoff contention. The bloom has come off Wentz’s rose. He is going to be a vg NFL QB, but he is not going to Canton just yet. So as his rookie year wraps up, let’s see a resurgent Giants D collect a win and begin focusing on the playoffs. It is a short week for the PHL game. That makes it that much harder for Jenkins to come back this week off of that injury. The matchup is less about the PHL WRs than Zach Ertz and the RB short passing game. Let’s see how the Giants adapt to that LBer underbelly.
Some lowlights.. Flowers and Hart are still leaky. Casillas whiffed on a punt assignment which was subsequently blocked. OBJ dropped a huge pass which would have resulted in a FG attempt at the end of H1. Golden Tate collected 122 yards (67 yard pass) in the air. A block in the back calls back another OBJ specials TD.
I want to talk a few moments about Landon Collins. He led the team in tackles. He is ubiquitous. His sure tackling on 3rd down to get the stop before the sticks move was terrific. It was textbook reliability and execution. It was the meat and potatoes for how a guy ascends to not only Pro Bowl but All-Pro. His progression is fantastic. He is probably the biggest reason why the Giants have Supe Dreams right now. Fingers crossed to get Jenkins back healthy before the end of the season. The lastest as of 22 minutes ago is that it is not a back injury but a check to rule out damage to his organs.
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