• Hakeem Nicks looked stellar.  I mean, wow.  Any kind of catch you can have – he had it.  And more.  I don’t even care that he dropped that 40 yard touchdown pass from Eli when he was wide open… somehow he figured out a way to leave room for improvement after the day he had – incredible!
• Steve Smith showed he can still beat his man over the top, however he’s the deadliest possession receiver in the NFC for a reason.  Great to see Eli remember his man when you’ve got to get those short passes out quick.
• Kevin Gilbride, Tom Coughlin, and Eli Manning — not sure what you said to one another last week about getting more comfortable in the red zone but 100% conversion both inside the 20 (4/4) and on the goal line (3/3) is as big an improvement as you could ask for.  Way to show us that you can still punch it in the endzone from practically any angle.  Bravo.
• Eli Manning looked sharp for 45 minutes Sunday.  It was impressive the way he worked with Smith and Nicks, and tried to get Boss and Beckum involved.  I liked his vision too, he hit some nice check down passes when it was immediately apparent nothing else was available.  If he didn’t have those two ridiculous INTs in the middle of the game, he might have been NFC player of the week.  His regression into the 2006 version of himself though during the 3rd quarter was troubling.  There was nothing there…. Eli needs to just throw the ball away when you’re up by 3 scores and can give their team poor field position with even a bad punt.  How he can go from playing that good to that bad in one quarter is beyond me… but like Nicks, maybe leaving those opportunities on the field will get him practically perfect by seasons end.
• Can Perry Fewell coach or what? Stop the run… no problem.   Stop the pass and create turnovers, you got it.  Dial up some pressure… DONE.
• The entire team dominated, 21:09 time of possession for the Texans and 24 net yards rushing… that is impressive.
• Osi Umenyiora and Justin Tuck have found their stride.  Between Tuck’s run stopping abilities and Osi’s hands when he goes out wide for the strip sack — things are really starting to look like 2007 again with these two working their magic. Should Kiwi come back this season healthy, look out.
• Of course Osi’s moves wide and outside mean nothing if Chris Canty and Barry Cofield aren’t collapsing the pocket, which they are.  Health was clearly an issue last year… great to see the DTs do their job this year with a vengeance.
• Offensive line — 0 sacks.  Well done!!  However, the Giants running backs are still being swallowed in the backfield from time to time.  5 tackles for a loss of 13 yards needs to stop, yesterday.
• 9 penalties for 85 yards…. it’s just not gonna fly in a closer game.  But the Texans didn’t help themselves with 8 penalties of their own, either.
• Ahmad Bradshaw and Brandon Jacobs looked like a dynamic duo for the first time this season… nearly splitting carries to the tune of 120 yards against another team priding itself on run stopping… not too shabby. No fumbles either!
• Corey Webster, way to cut your man off and come up with a perfect INT early on.  That play set the tone for the secondary and basically made the Texans feel like they couldn’t do ANYTHING to move the ball. Not on the ground, and not through the air either.
• Matt Dodge is coming around, 4 punts for 49 yards average — not bad.   That’s the second week in a row he’s out-punted the competition.
• Lawrence Tynes went 2/2 with new holder Sage Rosenfels… we may have found the right combo here.
• Darius Reynaud and the return game needs a new face next week.  I’m thinking Danny Ware and Aaron Ross…

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