NEW YORK – The Giants needed to beat the Seahawks in order to start the season at 4-1 and gain some serious ground in the NFC. They were not able to do this and lost 36-25 in a heartbreaker. Everyone expected the Giants to win this game, even though the Seahawks statistically had a better defense then Big Blue. The achilles heal for Seattle was the fact that they also had the worst offense in the NFL, ranked dead last at 32. The Giants drop to 3-2 on the year and have to figure out how to recover from losing to the worst offense in the NFL.

The Giants defense had been a bit shaky in the backfield so far this year and I thought the Seattle game plan would be to continually throw the ball back there and see what happens. I was correct and a 2nd string QB took us to town. I mean the Seahawks couldn’t do worse then being dead last right? So they had nothing to lose by playing “Hail Mary” football. My pre-game advice for the Giants was to concentrate on the defensive backfield and let the defensive ends do their thing. The game was going back and forth like a playground ride and the players went into the locker room at halftime tied 14-14. I was sure the Giants would come out fired up for the second half but it never panned out that way.

In the end, it looked liked the Giants would prevail but then the wheels came off in the 4th quarter. It is hard to describe how it all went down because it was such a confusing game to watch. The turnovers and penalties did nothing to clear the fog of war from my eyes either. It was another sloppy game for both teams and really annoying to watch on TV. The Giants will need to instill some discipline in their game plan before the second half of this brutal schedule starts. Elite teams will capitalize off those errors and run up the score on Big Blue. I’m sure Coach Coughlin will be preaching discipline in their next practice session.

Let’s take a look at some of my notes from the game.

QB Eli Manning – Manning had a better game then the final stats show. He finished with 420 yards 3 TD’s and 3 INT’s. Two of those INT’s were not his fault.

RB Ahmad Bradshaw – Bradshaw had a good game and finished with 58 yards on the ground and 27 yards receiving.

WR Hakeem Nicks – Nicks was quiet most of the game but still finished with 65 yards and 1 TD.

DE Justin Tuck – Tuck did not play in this game and is on the mend from a recent injury.

S Antrel Rolle – Rolle had his usual hard hitting day and finished second on the defense in tackles.

WR Mario Manningham – Super Mario had a good game and finished with 56 yards and 0 TD’s.

DE Jason Pierre-Paul – JPP continued his monster season by finishing with 2.5 sacks. The guy is a beast!

LB Michael Boley – Boley had a great game and was all over the field as usual.

TE Jake Ballard – Ballard was balling and finished with 72 yards and 1 TD. This guy has come a long way.

C David Baas – Baas missed playing in this game due to injury and boy did the team see a difference. There were a bunch of botched snaps in this game.

DE Osi Umenyiora – Osi has been on fire since returning to the field and finished with 1.5 sacks and a forced fumble.

LB Jacquian Williams – The rookie LB led the team in tackles once again this week and seems to be the steal of the draft for Big Blue thus far.

WR Victor Cruz – Cruz had a break out game by finishing with 161 yards and 1 TD. He has come along nicely since being injected into the starting offense.

LB Mathias Kiwanuka – Kiwi was lining up all over the field and finished with 1 sack. It’s fun watching this guy play the game.

S Deon Grant – Grant had a nice game and was administering some hard hits out there. He also finished the game with 1 sack.

RB Brandon Jacobs – Jacobs had to sit this game out due to injury and I think the team missed him in the running attack.

LB Greg Jones – The rookie Jones had a quiet day but still seems to be improving week to week.

CB Aaron Ross – Ross and the backfield had a rough day but Ross still managed to grab 1 INT.

K Lawrence Tynes – Tynes made 1 FG and both of his extra point attempts. No complaints from me about his season so far.

P Steve Weatherford – The Weatherman had another good game and continues to be a bright spot on Special Teams.

Giants Defense – The Giants let the worst offense in the entire NFL beat them and put 36 points on the board. If you look at their final stat line, it wouldn’t appear that way. They finished with 6 sacks, 1 INT and 2 forced fumbles.

Giants Offense – The Giants offense was having a tough time putting points on the board and their running game seemed non-existent. They had a decent game that could have been better.

Giants Special Teams – The achilles heel of Big Blue did the best they could once again. Still coming up short of acceptable game play.

What did you think about the Giants performance against the Seahawks this weekend?

RD – nygreporter.com

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