EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. (AP) -Before they went to Pittsburgh on Oct. 26, there were legitimate questions about the New York Giants because their five wins to that point were primarily over losing teams.
After Sunday’s 30-10 victory over Baltimore, their fourth straight against a winning team, there is little doubt they are better than they were last season. And last season, lest anyone forget, they won the Super Bowl.
“They are the champs for a reason,” Baltimore cornerback Samari Rolle said. “They remind me of New England a lot. They are very disciplined. Basic. They stick to what they do and they are very good at it.”
The thing about the Giants is that they’re good at a lot of things, most of all running the ball.
ugh some Ravens noted that stat was “deceptive” – Ahmad Bradshaw broke a 77-yard run late in the game and Brandon Jacobs turned a busted play into a 36-yard burst that helped set up New York’s first TD.
The defense contributed too, most of all Aaron Ross, who had two interceptions, one of which he returned 50 yards for a touchdown.
This was against Joe Flacco, the rookie quarterback who hadn’t thrown a pick in four games. Flacco conducted himself well enough, scrambling for a team-leading 57 yards rushing and avoiding a sack until late in the game. But the Ravens were essentially overmatched, conceding three touchdowns before mounting any real threat.
Is the comparison to the Patriots apt?
Not really, because New England had won three Super Bowls before running the table in the regular season last year, winding up 16-0 with a 38-35 win over New York to finish it. That game gave the Giants momentum they carried through three road playoff wins and confidence they could play with New England, which they did in the title game, winning 17-14.
These Giants are getting as dominant as last year’s Patriots. But they don’t have the pressure of trying to be perfect after a 35-14 loss in Cleveland on a Monday night in which they just didn’t bother to show up took care of that.
e relatively early – New York was 4-0 at the time – and was to an NFC team, which makes it the least meaningful of defeats because it’s not a factor in tiebreakers.
The way the Giants are playing, it probably won’t come to tiebreakers, although they still have a tough schedule, with no games left against teams that currently have a losing record.
New York came into this season viewed as a pretty good team that got hot at the right time last season. Observers downgraded the Giants because Michael Strahan retired and Osi Umenyiora was lost for the season in an exhibition game, taking away the starting defensive ends on a unit that led the NFL in sacks last season.
But the current DEs are probably equally good: Justin Tuck, who moved all over the DL last year, and Mathias Kiwanuka, who played linebacker in 2007 until he broke a leg and missed the playoffs and Super Bowl.
The secondary, considered a weak link last season, is better, especially the younger cornerbacks. Ross is in his second season and Corey Webster in his fourth.
Most important, there is a confidence in what is primarily a young team, a confidence drawn from the Super Bowl victory that it can do almost anything.
plays home games in weather like Sunday’s: swirling 17 mph wins that gusted to 25.
“You can’t just wing it around on a day like today,” said Manning, who finished 13-of-23 for 153 yards with a touchdown and an interception. “You think you have a play and the wind takes it and it soars over your receiver.”
Which is why it’s so important to have a running game and an offensive line with no household names but plenty of cohesion – it has played together for the better part of four seasons, give or take an injury here or there.
“We see these guys (in practice) day after day,” Tuck said after that 207-yard rushing game. “I think our O line is the best in the country, and they came out and proved it. I’m not really surprised. I expected them to have a good game, especially when all week they got challenged that ‘Baltimore does this and you can’t do that.’ They have a great group of guys who work well together and they did it again today.”
It’s part of the secret, of course. Minus Tiki Barber, Jeremy Shockey and some other locker room distractions this is a team, not a collection of individuals.
Challenge them and they only do better.
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