Big Blue Notes

So the Giants did it.  They finally won a playoff game with Coughlin coaching and Manning at quarterback.  Don't underestimate how important this is to the franchise.  Had they lost the game, the Giants might have been shopping for a new head coach.

But they won.  It was a solid effort after the slow start.  The Giants did nothing offensively in the first quarter and just enough defensively to keep themselves in the game.  Once they got going, the Giants took over and played near flawlessly.  I'm not saying it was pretty, but it was error free, which was critical.

The short passing game and switching from Jacobs to Bradshaw were very smart moves on offense.  After giving up that first touchdown, the defense shut down Jeff Garica and the Bucs.

Eli Manning did not go crazy, he played a smart game against a tough defense and took was there for the taking.  I am hoping this is a big step forward in his development as a professional quarterback.  It is certainly a game he can hang his hat on, but he's had very good games before only to revert to being Peyton's nervous kid brother.

The defensive star of the game was Corey Webster who recovered a fumble on the opening kickoff of the second half and then had a drive killing interception in the end zone.  This is as encouraging as Manning's performance because Webster was drafted as a guy who was supposed to be a ball hawking turnover machine.

I'd say Tampa was hurt by the long delay between meaningful games, but that's a tough claim to make given the way they started the game.  Their offense moved the ball on the its first two drives, scoring a touchdown on the second drive.  The defense looked fired up as they forced the Giants to go three and out in their first three drives. 

When the Giants play the way they did on Sunday, they are tough to beat because they don't beat themselves.  Too often during the season, they helped their opponents by making key mistakes.  That didn't happen yesterday against a solid Tampa Bay team.

At this point, barring an absolute humiliation in Dallas, the 2007 must be deemed a success.  Coming off of a tumultuous 8-8 season and losing a player who represented about sixty percent of the team's offense, the Giants would have done well to finish 8-8 again.  To make the playoffs and win a game is a successful season.

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• #1 Comment from trickage2 
  1/9/08 9:40 AM | Permalink

  Out of the bloggers, you and I stand alone. Still alive. Nice W in Tampa. And the G's lookin' like possible Cowboy killers now when nobody thought they had a chance before the Tampa game. We won ugly but I'm gearing up to write my 1st playoff victory blog in the 4 yrs I have been doing this. We have a puncher's chance against Indy. At least were there. Good luck to you this weekend.