Giants Suddenly Very Much Back In Playoff Race

The Giants did everything wrong yesterday: Ahmad Bradshaw had a costly fumble, Eli Manning threw a ball he couldn't throw into the end zone that got intercepted, the Giants let Tony Romo tattoo their defense for almost 400 yards, the Giants couldn't stop the Cowboys on 3rd down (no matter what the yardage) and the Giants were bad once again in the red zone on defense. But as we wake up this Monday morning in December, the Giants are right in the thick of the playoff race.

Two weeks ago the Giants looked done coming off a bye but won an ugly game and got back into the playoff race. They did the same thing last night. Eventually, this team is going to have to come together and figure out how to play a complete game, but right now, they look like they might sneak into the playoffs like they did in 2007. And that year proved that anything is possible.

A Green Bay loss tonight will still leave the Giants out of the playoff picture (Green Bay is 6-3 in the NFC and playing an AFC team tonight and the Giants are 5-3), but the Giants have put themselves back in great position. A win next week against Philadelphia not only gets them back in the playoff race, but back in the division race. In fact, my unofficial calculations tell me that the Giants now control their own destiny for the playoffs (by virtue of the Eagles and Cowboys still having a game against each other this season).

There were a few other negatives to point out:

• Eli Manning looks like his injury is affecting him more than he's letting on. Manning already had issues throwing in the win in Giants Stadium, but he looked like he was unable to drive at all to throw the ball yesterday. What the Cowboys decided to do was to cut off the short throw and make Eli throw deep. Once they did, the Giants couldn't do anything on offense. With a game coming up against the better defensive Eagles in the same Giants Stadium, Eli may be forced to chuck a few deep. Not a good sign.

• I understand that Osi showed back up in the stats column, but I think he had a piss-poor game overall. The Giants weren't able to stop the Cowboys at all on third down--which happened to be the only down that Osi was really in there for. Most of the time he was being pushed around Romo and was unable to get even close. I think he's still a valuable player on this team, but I'd start the same group again. 

• The Giants entire kicking game is awful. Neither Feagles nor Tynes is able to kick deep enough to pin the Giants opponents back. It's bad news when the other team is constantly starting with good field position.

• If Chris Snee is actually hurt for any amount of time, that's very, very bad news for the Giants who have not been great up front all season.

And how about a few positives:

•  Big Blue View put it best: We're alive!
  

• As ESPN's Matt Mosely pointed out, the Giants "new-look D" was good. It was a move that "smacked of desperation" as Mosely wrote,  but it worked. So did Bill Sheridan quoting Leonidas according to the New York Daily News. The run defense was great, holding the Cowboys explosive running game to only 45 yards on 23 attempts. Barry Cofield and Michael Boley were the two most impressive players for the Giants on that part of the game. Both were constantly all over Marion Barber. And Mathias Kiwanuka's forced fumble before half set up a huge score to give the Giants a 14-10 lead going into the locker room. And rookie linebacker Clint Sintim had a big game as well and hopefully earned a spot in the Giants rotation.
  

• The thing that really worked on that defense? When they disguised their coverages. The Giants tried to play an "ameoba defense" like Denver and Arizona have showcased this season. The Giants had at least three plays where only one man was in a stance on the line. With Dallas unable to figure out the scheme, the Giants were able to stop the Dallas attack easily. Why the Giants haven't been doing this more all season is beyond me. But they need to do this at least 15 times next game.

• On offense, one of the biggest plays, as True Blue points out, was Eli Manning escaping disaster in the first half by lateraling the ball to Kevin Boss who ran for 16 yards. That led to a Bradshaw 16 yard run and followed by a Hakeem Nicks hookup to the give the Giants their first points.

• Also on offense, Brandon Jacobs finally showed up in a big way. And his pounding in the first half set up Ahmad Bradshaw to get his yardage as well. When Jacobs is setting up Bradshaw who is setting up Jacobs, the team flows. Bradshaw needs to hold on to the ball but Jacobs needed a game where he dominated and this was that game. His highwire act on the sideline may have been the play to turn around the Giants season. As The Record's Ian O'Connor wrote, Jacobs led the Giants back from the edge.

• More talk about the Cowboys "December demons" and Tony Romo's failures in the playoffs! And Flozell Adams was once again exposed for the dirtbag that he is. Hopefully he will now be suspended for his cowardly acts.

• The Giants special teams were a mess and then Dominick Hixon broke one off. If teams have to fear him again, it changes the makeup of the team a bit.

The Giants can't breathe now. They need to get ready for a big game against Philly next weekend. The G-men have had a lot of trouble with the Eagles the past half decade and this matchup will be a good one. The Giants still can make the playoffs if they don't win this game (wins against Washington, Carolina, and a last-week match-up against a hopefully-clinched Minnesota team would leave them at 10 wins), but they don't want to take that chance. They need to take care of business now against the Eagles and continue this play the rest of the season.

They control their own destiny. One game down--four to go.