Giants at 6-2: We’ve Been Here Before
By Joe Tufaro
The New York Football Giants stand at 6-2 atop the NFC East Division. They essentially have a 2.5 game lead on the Eagles and Cowboys. The Giants lead the league in takeaways with 24. They also have the second lowest total of penalties with 36. These are obviously two keys to victory in the NFL, and two of Tom Coughlin’s biggest concerns entering any season. One other stat of note is that Eli Manning has been sacked 6 times in 8 games…David Carr has been sacked once. Another key to keeping this team moving forward is keeping Eli upright. Also the Giants have scored 234 points, or 29.3 a game. They are on pace to score 468 points, which would shatter the franchise record of 448 points, set in a 14-game season in 1963. The highest point total in the Coughlin era was 427 points in 2008. The Giants were averaging 24.6 points a game at midseason a year ago.
Things are going well in Giantland
Now going forward the Giants have left themselves in great position. I look at it this way, if you predicted the team to win 9 or 10 games this year, they only need to play .500 ball to achieve those results. The other teams in the division would need to go 7-2 in that case to achieve a tie. The schedule that was originally touted as the toughest in the NFL has softened a bit. Teams have suffered key injuries, or have just not performed up to what they did last year. Looking at teams like Cincinnati, Baltimore, New Orleans, and Philadelphia it’s clear that things change as the year progresses in the NFL. I always say “It’s not who you play, but when you play them.”
So…Sunday we begin the second half at 6-2….a mediocre second half will still be a positive for this team…let’s see if they overachieve.