The New York Giants (12-2) defeated the St. Louis Cardinals ( Yes..St. Louis)  27-7 to clinch the NFC EAST for the first time in history.  In front of the usual 75,000 plus fans Joe Morris ran for 179 yards and three touchdowns.  It was one of those true Giants days in that the offense gained 252  of their 313 yards on the ground.  Northeast Football at it’s Best!  The defense controlled the game in their usual fashion.  The Cardinals on their first four possessions suffered third down sacks on all of them. The defense set a franchise record that day recording nine sacks.  The Giants also continued their impressive run of lowering their penalty total per game.  They committed only two penalties for a total of ten yards on this day.

This machine was well oiled, running on most, if not all cylinders, and was poised for their historic playoff run.  One more tune-up against the outmanned Packers and it was home field advantage throughout the Playoffs.  An advantage that was very key to the Giants because of their ability to control a game in any weather.

Very appropriately, the Giants are in last place at #4. Check out the commentary:

A picture is worth a thousand words.

4. New York Giants — The Giants struggled to convert in critical short yardage situations, which was probably the biggest fault in a game in which they showed several. Eli Manning looked less comfortable as the game wore on. After Michael Boley recovered a Rex Grossman fumble and returned it to the Washington 27, it appeared the Giants were going to seize momentum. That didn’t happen. Instead, the Giants went three and out, highlighted by Ahmad Bradshaw’s two-yard loss on a critical third-and-one carry from the Washington 18-yard line. Lawrence Tynes’ ensuing 38-yard field goal attempt was stuffed by Brian Orakpo, and that was it. Even one of the few bright spots for the Giants, wide receiver Hakeem Nicks, suffered a bone bruise on his knee and is uncertain to play this week. New York catches a bit of a break when a banged up St. Louis team visits on Sunday, but if the Giants lose that one—look out.

The Giants going 0-2 to start the season wouldn’t be the worst thing in the world — if anything it will surely bring back memories clinging to former Giants glory years of 2007-2008 when week 3 they defeated the division rival Redskins on a last second fourth down goal line stop to win the game. From that moment on, it was a 6 game winning streak and the Giants hit their stride defeating Buffalo in the snow/ice/hail/rain and making the playoffs after everyone said they had no shot. Of course, all Giants fans remember 2007…. the problem is that was 4 years ago and this Giants team is nothing like that one. We don’t have veterans like Michael Strahan, Sam Madison, Antonio Pierce, Plax, Toomer, etc, etc, etc. The Giants have a bunch of youngsters all around the team that have no idea what it takes to get to and win a Superbowl.

If the Giants want to reminisce about anything from the NFL past — it should be looking at the Green Bay Packers last year starting the season horribly riddled with injuries and then getting hot at the end of the season with both offense and defense on the same page. In fact, let’s take it a step further and say the Giants basically need to copy everything the Packers did with their offense last year if they want to be successful. 3 step drops to avoid pressure, quick passes for slants and shallow crosses, skinny posts, wheel routes, staying with the running game no matter how bad it is, staying deceptive by handing the ball off to their fullbacks, utilizing play action fakes, and basically make the defense play their ass off to beat them.

The Giants may think the best offense is a good defense, but when your defense is as snake bitten as Big Blue’s is right now you need to switch that up. The best defense needs to be a good offense — and the Giants had better get all on that page before week 2 or it could be too late.