But if Giants do not improve quickly, this will happen again.

What Went Right Today?

Giants controlled ball for 37 minutes — almost 15 minutes more than Chargers, and held their star running back, LaDainian Tomlinson to 22 yards on 18 carries. Chargers only gained 32 yards rushing. Giants defensive end Chief Osi Umenyiora got his fifth sack of season, and running back Brandon Jacobs averaged over six yards per carry. Eli Manning completed 15 of his first 16 passes, and finished 25/33 for 215 yards, two touchdowns, no interceptions. Steve Smith had 8 receptions for 57, with one touchdown. Smith only needs 22 receptions in final seven games, to break Amani Toomer’s 2002 franchise record of 82 catches during regular season.

What Went Wrong Today?

Giants committed seven penalties. Lawrence Tynes missed a kick, then punter Jeff Feagles fumbled ball, which Tynes never kicked. Five punts by Feagles — with only one inside the 20: oldest player in NFL is playing like it.

Brandon Jacobs only rushed 11 times, for 67 yards, after he injured his knee near end of first half.

Giants seemed to have won, late in the game, when cornerback Terrell Thomas intercepted a Philip Rivers pass, and carried it 33 yards, to San Diego 4. Sadly, a holding penalty against Chris Snee on first down, pushed Giants back ten yards, and they settled for a field goal, and a 6 point lead, with two minutes remaining.

San Diego Chargers drove 80 yards, and scored winning touchdown, with 21 seconds remaining.

What Went Wrong This Season?

Brandon Jacobs does not have a 100 yard game. Offensive play calling stinks, and new Defensive Coordinator Sheridan needs help from Coach Coughlin.

On his WFAN post-game show, Russ Salzberg said Giants are last in NFL for red zone offense and defense. I was unable to verify this on NFL Team Statistics, because I could not find category.

What Can Giants Do?

Giants are lucky to have a bye next week. Coaching staff needs to regroup, watch films, and run better plays, if they expect to reach playoffs.

I do not have stats, but Giants are awful on third and short. And you do not win games, where you lose over 100 yards on seven penalties.

Giants can start by hoping Justin Tuck, who left game in agony, and Michael Boley, who also left game, are not seriously injured.

Giants face Atlanta Falcons in two weeks. Load my 2010 NY Giants TV Schedule as a “live bookmark”, or a calendar to keep up with Giants.

Giants offense was not creative, or productive, today. Giants only converted 3/13 third downs, and 2/4 fourth downs. I groaned several times during the game, when Giants failed to convert critical downs, on idiotic plays.

I cannot understand how Giants, especially with an extra week off, could not devise a better offensive game plan.

Running

To be fair, Giants were missing their two best offensive players. Plaxico Burress should have been there. Brandon Jacobs returned, after missing three games with a PCL injury, but was clearly not healthy. Jacobs gained 27 yards on Giants best play of the game, with 92 yards on 20 carries for the game. However, Jacobs was on the sidelines, for much of the game, when Giants used Derrick Ward, who was ineffective.

This is probably the last game Jacobs and Ward played together as Giants, since they are both free agents. I think Jacobs is the best running back in NFL, and I would be surprised if he does not return to Giants next season.

Eli Manning

Eli Manning was erratic. He completed 15 of 29 passes for 169 yards, with two interceptions, for a quarterback rating of 33. For comparison, Manning’s rating was 111 for playoffs and Super Bowl last year.

Manning delivered two nice passes, to Darcy Johnson, and Domenik Hixon, that netted half of his passing yards. Giant receivers were not dropping passes, they could not reach them.

Manning also blew a weird quarterback sneak on a fourth–and–two — instead of handing off to Brandon Jacobs.

Mistakes

Giants defense was awesome in first half. At one point, Eagles were 1/12 on third down conversions.

Brian Westbrook was held to 36 yards on 18 carries for the game. Unfortunately, you cannot expect to win, when your defense is on the field for most of the game.

Mistakes cost Giants the game. Despite poor offense, Giants could have won, if Carney had not missed field goals, and Manning had one less interception.

Antonio Pierce continued to irk me, with an “illegal hands to the face” penalty, that kept an Eagles drive going.

Next Season

I hope defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo returns, but would not be surprised if he becomes head coach of New York Jets.

I miss seeing Plaxico Burruss in a Giants uniform, but his fate will be decided in court, on March 31. I hope Giants teach him, and his buddy Pierce, to behave themselves, if they both return.

Tom Coughlin has to figure out why New York Giants went from 11-1 to 12-5 since Burruss shot himself, and make sure that it does not happen next season.

Offense Played Well Enough

Michael Strahan’s description neglects to mention that Eli Manning finished the day with a quarterback rating of 132.4 — the highest of his career.

Giants scored on their first possession, but were down 14–7 when they got the ball back with under a minute left in the first half. Then they executed a stunning 71 yard touchdown drive in 41 seconds, which was aided by a Jacques Reeves face mask penalty.

Slamming Spikes

Running back Brandon Jacobs scored a touchdown and, for the second week in a row, ran through the end zone, and slammed the ball against the stadium wall. I thought it got the team excited last week, but it only seemed to get Jacobs excited yesterday, and it terrified some unsuspecting fellow, who was leaning against the wall on the other side of the exit.

I have mixed feelings about it. I just hope that the league doesn’t fine him, or worse penalize the Giants, if he does it again next week.

We had to turn it up a notch, and we turned it up a notch

Michael Strahan’s description of the defense says it all.

Cowboys quarterback Tony Romo is a great athlete. He frustrated the Giants several times during the game, once turning a near sack into an 11 yard run. But the Giants wore down his offensive line, and stifled his receivers. After the game, Romo said:

“Give the Giants credit, they did a good job today”

Giants New Coach

The Giants injured cornerback, Sam Madison, did a great job on the sidelines, as an extra coach. He reviewed photos and plays with the defensive backs, whenever the offense was on the field. Kudos to Sam and the Giants, for holding Terrell Owens to 49 yards, on 4 catches, with one touchdown.

Defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo deserves lots of credit for turning this team around. Atlanta Falcons have requested permission to talk to “Spags“ about their vacant head coaching job, and it will be a huge blow to the Giants, if he leaves them at the end of the season.

University of Hawaii is interested in hiring Giants offensive coordinator Kevin Gildbride, to be their head coach. Now that the Giants are winning, I hope to see him back next season, too.

My Third Wish

One of my five wishes for 2008 has now been fulfilled!

New York Giants play the Green Bay Packers on Sunday, at 4:30 P.M. in Green Bay, Wisconsin. Packers scored touchdowns, on six consecutive possessions, against the Seattle Seahawks on Saturday.

Seattle was leading 14–0 after two fumbles by Green Bay running back Ryan Grant. But Grant regained his composure, and wound up with 201 yards, on 27 carries — an average of 7.4 yards!

Of course, when Packers want to pass, they have Brett Favre and Donald Driver.

Giants won last two games because their defense adjusted to their opponents schemes. Coaching has improved tremendously. Eli Manning has not fumbled, or had a delay of game penalty. Veterans Amani Toomer, and Michael Strahan, are making big plays.

Brandon Jacobs is enjoying running through the end zone so much, I hope he has two more games to do it this season!

Rookie cornerback, Aaron Ross, who sat out the first half as punishment for violating an undisclosed team rule, contributed two fourth quarter interceptions, as the Giants defense continued to carry their struggling offense.

Brandon Jacobs, who returned after missing three games with a knee injury, began the team’s first–half woes, by fumbling on a third–and–one, at the Giants 17. Jet cornerback Kerry Rhodes recovered, and ran it into the end zone, for the first score of the game.

Passing

Eli Manning, had a horrible first half, completing only three of ten passes for 22 yards, and throwing one interception, which translated into a quarterback rating of zero.

Thankfully, Eli rebounded in the second half, to finish with 13 completions out of 25 attempted passes. Jeremy Shockey scored his first touchdown in an astounding ten months, and Plaxico Burress scored a touchdown on a gorgeous, 53 yard, catch and run.

Unfortunately, Amani Toomer did not catch a pass for the first time since 12-31-05. However, it was great to finally see Shockey score a touchdown. I have no idea why Shockey does not average five catches a game. Shockey now has 18 catches after five games.

Rushing

Brandon Jacobs rushed for 100 yards on 20 carries, and became the first Giant, other than Tiki Barber, to rush for 100 yards, since Ron Dayne did it for the Giants in 2001. Derrick Ward continued to impress me, and perhaps the Jets, by scoring a powerful touchdown, on an eight–yard–run, after he appeared to be stopped on the five. It was the first rushing touchdown of Ward’s four year career.

Defense

The defense played reasonably well, and only gave up ten of the Jets 24 points. The Jets best offensive play of the day, was a 98 yard kickoff return by Leon Washington. Osi Umenyiora, the NFL Defensive Player of the week, got the Giants only sack of the game, but it was their three interceptions, that beat the Jets. Jet quarterback Chad Pennington summed up it splendidly:

“believe me, it makes you sick to your stomach.”

Giants Will Win Super Bowl XLII

The Giants will have their biggest test of this season on Monday night, when they face the Michael Vick–less Atlanta Falcons.

The Falcons replaced starting quarterback Joey Harrington with Brian Leftwich, during today’s loss to the Titans, but neither one was effective. The Falcons only converted 4 of the 18 third downs they faced during this game.

The Falcons lost, despite five Titan turnovers, and this is a game that should be easy for the Giants to win.

The Giants have shown that can psyche themselves up for their division–rivals, the Eagles, and for their (former) crosstown rivals. Will they come to play on Monday, or will they get distracted by the lovely Falcons cheerleaders?

If the Giants can step up, and stay focused next week, they might just be able to beat anyone.

Let’s see.