EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. (AP) -The Super Bowl champion New York Giants came into the season with a chip on their shoulders, and they still have it – even with some people now calling them the NFL’s best team after a 4-0 start.
“We just laugh at it because those are the same people who, two months ago, 69 days ago, were saying the Giants weren’t going to be the best team in the NFC, wouldn’t even make the division, wouldn’t even get to the playoffs,” linebacker Antonio Pierce said Wednesday.
“For us, we couldn’t care either way, good or bad, we’re not trying to get respect here in September going into early October,” Pierce insisted. “For us, it’s about getting respect from late December to early January and early February.”
A quarter of the way into the season, it’s hard to ignore Tom Coughlin’s team.
Off to their best start since winning their first 10 in 1990, the Giants and the Tennessee Titans are the only two undefeated teams left in the NFL.
Not only are the Giants winning, they are dominating.
Manning and company lead the league in total offense (431.0 yards per game), rushing yards (181.3), yards per carry (5.8), first downs (24.2) and points (31.7).
Defensively, coordinator Steve Spagnuolo’s aggressive group is second in points allowed per game (12.25), third in total yards (236.0), second in passing yards allowed (154.0) and first in pass attempts per sack, getting one every 9.3 times the opposing quarterback goes back to pass.
What has been so impressive about the Giants has been their depth.
They lost seven-time Pro Bowler Michael Strahan to retirement in June and fellow Pro Bowl defensive end Osi Umenyiora to a knee injury in training camp. Justin Tuck and Mathias Kiwanuka filled in without missing a beat.
When kicker Lawrence Tynes had minor arthroscopic surgery on his left knee in late August, the front office signed veteran John Carney. The 44-year-old has been perfect on all 12 of his field goal attempts.
Over the last two weeks, the team also had to deal with the distraction of having leading receiver Plaxico Burress suspended for a game for missing a team meeting.
two more touchdowns.
If that wasn’t enough, the offense had its first 500-yard game since the end of the 2001 season and the defense limited the Seattle Seahawks to two field goals and 187 yards in a 44-6 win.
“Our objective is to be as good as we can be and that is what we always talk about with our team,” Coughlin said. “It is the idea of challenging ourselves to be the very, very best that we can be individually and as a team. And that we all do it to the best of our ability – not let the other guys down.”
Manning attributed the success of the offense to a combination of depth across the board, more experience with the system and a lack of mistakes.
“We are not having the penalties, we are not having the turnovers, we don’t have many negative plays, we are in good down and distances, we are not forcing things, and we are able to just play within ourselves,” Manning said. “And our defense is obviously playing outstanding football. We are not forced into bad situations and hopefully we can keep that up.”
Pierce believes the defense is still learning and will get even better in Spagnuolo’s second season.
“It isn’t about being the No. 1 ranked defense or giving up the least amount of points. It is about going out there and being dominant, intimidating and doing what the Giants defenses of the past have done and go out there and win games,” he said.
Manning nor Pierce wanted to say much about was the Giants going undefeated. Dating to the playoffs last year, they have won eight straight, and it clearly looks like they can start 6-0 with Cleveland (1-3) and San Francisco (2-3) the next two weeks.
The schedule gets tougher after that with Pittsburgh (4-1), Dallas (4-1) and Philadelphia (2-3).
Pierce said the Giants beat a good Washington team on the opening week, but that they had no idea that St. Louis, Cincinnati and Seattle would be struggling this season.
“It is interesting to look forward to that,” Pierce said of the three big games. “But all the Giants have done, we have beaten everybody that we faced. And that is all that we can do. That is what the NFL schedule was.”
With all their talent, Manning refused to say the Giants were unbeatable, even when they played a flawless game.
“In football you are going to have mistakes, you are going to have things go wrong,” he said. “But it is just a matter of kind of knowing where your mistakes are, know when you have a bad play, know when, hey, they have you in a blitz and they fooled you and not letting a bad play or a bad situation turn into a turnover, turn into a really, really bad play.”
So far, the Giants have done that to perfection.
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