A Look at The Giants: Quarter Mark

4-0. Can't do any better at the quarter mark. The Giants beat two division opponents, won 3 straight road games, and sit atop the NFC East. There is, however, still a lot of football to be played.

Best players: Eli Manning and Steve Smith. Plaxico who? Steve Smith leads the NFL in receptions, receiving yards, receiving TDs, and receiving yards/game. That's pretty amazing. While Smith should get a ton of credit (he has caught at least one TD in 3 straight games), even more should go to Eli Manning who has been pretty great for the Giants so far this season. His game-winning drive in Dallas was one of the highlights of the first half. I'll name them co-MVPs for the first quarter.

Biggest positions: Wide Receiver and Defense. The Giants strength at wide receiver is the depth. It's not just Smith: Dominik Hixon (who has been injured recently), Mario Manningham, Hakeem Nicks, Sinorice Moss, and the tight ends have factored in a ton for the Giants. They have one rushing TD, one defensive touchdown and eight receiving TDs. Here are the NFL ranks for their defense: 2nd in overall yards/game, 1st in passing yards/game, and 4th in points/game. The only teams within 160 yards of the Giants passing numbers all have only played 3 games until this point.

Biggest concerns: Eli's heel. "The Most Famous Foot in the Tri-State Area" is swollen and sore today, as Eli goes for an MRI that could kill any of that momentum they've gained so far this season.

Biggest weakness: Rush defense. It's a little skewed because teams have run so little against them, but the Giants have the highest yards/rush attempt against them in the NFL. That's not good. Neither is the 117.3 rushing yards/game given up (18th in the NFL). Part of the problem with being so short-handed in the secondary is that in order to keep up with their passing attack, they've left themselves vulnerable to the run. Getting guys like Chris Canty, Rocky Bernard and Justin Tuck healthy and productive should help things a bit.

Biggest injury: Kenny Phillips. I'll leave Eli out of the mix until we have a diagnosis. Losing Phillips was huge. Phillips was set to become an elite safety in the NFL and maybe make the Pro Bowl. Instead, the Giants will have to scramble to fill that spot. So far the replacements have done well. But then again, the Giants haven't faced an elite passing team yet. The Saints should be a very good test.

Upcoming schedule:

• Sunday, Oct 11 - Oakland, 1 PM
• Sunday, Oct 18 - @New Orleans, 1 PM
• Sunday, Oct 25 - Arizona, 8 PM
• Sunday, Nov 1 - @Philadelphia 4 PM
  
• Sunday, Nov 8 - San Diego, 4 PM
• Bye week

My Prediction: I see a 3-2 run in there. That could all change if Eli is out. The Raiders should be a gimme win (though they should use last year's embarrassing) letdown loss at Cleveland on Monday night as extra motivation) and they should beat the Cardinals, as well. The other three are up in the air. If they win 2 out of those 3, I would consider it a huge success...but I wouldn't count on it. Games at New Orleans and at Philly scare me. San Diego should be a tough match-up as well as the battle of the Rivers vs. Manning finally plays out. If they can go into their bye week 7-2, I think that would be a good start. Matt Mosley of ESPN thinks can't see them winning less than 13 games at this point...I'll be more conservative and say they look like about an 11-13 win team right now.

Overall grade: A-. The running game (though it looked a lot better on Sunday) and run defense need to improve to make it an A and they need to really put away teams better to get to an A+ (they left Kansas City in that game yesterday WAY too long). I think A- is about where they are right now which should put them in the top 2-3 teams in the NFL at the quarter mark. Bill Simmons has them at #1, the ESPN rankings had them at #3 after last week (though, curiously, John Clayton ranked them 6th behind the Ravens, Colts, Jets, Vikings and Saints). I do believe that if they win November 1st in Philly, the G-men put themselves in the drivers seat to win the division.