A Look at the Giants: Black and (Big) Blue

8-4. That's a pretty good place for this Giants team to be considering they started 1-2, have suffered through a ridiculous amount of injuries on the offensive end, and looked to be dead at halftime of the Jaguars game two weeks ago. Now, with a game coming up against the Vikings this week followed by a home game against the Eagles next week, the Giants have to be eying a division win. But while it's fun to look ahead, let's take a look back at this big Giants drubbing of the Redskins.

Brandon Jacobs had the Giants off to the races Sunday (NYT)

It's a bad idea to judge a team right after playing the Washington Redskins, but with all the Giants injuries, it was impressive to see how they methodically worked their gameplan on offense. Brandon Jacobs got 8 touches for 103 yards and two TDs (I don't have a problem resting him at the end of the game...Jacobs' biggest issue is he gets run down from so much physical running) and Bradshaw carried 25 times for 97 yards and a pair of TDs (getting him to 1,000 yards on the season). The most important part for me about the early run success is it allowed the Giants to start fast for the first time all season.

Derek Hagan has filled in fantastically at wide receiver catching eight tough passes on Sunday for 65 yards. Rich Seubert has adjusted to playing center so well that not only is he not a liability, but if you look at most of those Giants runs, Kevin Gilbride was running his backs right up the middle with Seubert--and the guards Chris Snee and Kevin Boothe--leading the way. Bear Pascoe has been awesome as well, having to fill in at fullback and not only throwing "some hellacious blocks", but proving to be a viable passing option as well coming out of the backfield (and with Kevin Boss and Travis Beckham gives the Giants three legit passing TEs). And on special teams Danny/D.J. Ware gave them a legit kickoff return man (can we just cut Darius Reynaud at this point?) while former Redskin Devin Thomas had a superb game on special teams with the triumvirate of a big tackle, punt downed inside the 5 and a blocked punt.

But while the offense was impressive, let's not forget what the defense did: 6 turnovers--and it could have been two more if Deon Grant had held on to an easy interception or pounced on a fumble he had his hands on. When Mathias Kiwanuka went down with a season-ending neck injury, the Giants looked to be in trouble but Jason Pierre-Paul (like Justin Tuck when Kiwi went down in 2007) has stepped up big time. Two more sacks for Pierre-Paul after two last week to go along with a forced fumble, a defended pass and a fumble recovery. He seems to be motivated by teammates and coaches challenging him. And the man plays special teams with speed that is usually reserved for guys half his size.

Terrell Thomas and Corey Webster aren't a flashy duo but they seem to be quite adept at the timely play as Thomas had another timely interception and a forced fumble. And I know he doesn't do many flashy things, but every game Dave Tollefson has a big tackle and his forced fumble of Donovan McNabb showed that once again. And Justin Tuck (3 tackles, 1 sack and 2 forced fumbles) and Barry Cofield (7 tackle and a defended pass) had big games up front for the Giants. It's been 10 years since Jim Fassel guaranteed that the Giants would make the playoffs, but a decade later Tuck's halftime speech against the Jags may overtake that as a rallying cry/turnaround on a season.

So while the Giants can give out kudos for what went right, they also need to prepare for a Vikings game that could go horribly wrong. The Giants have not won a game against the Vikings with Eli Manning as quarterback and he has a tendency to throw a lot of interceptions. The Giants still remember that heartless 44-7 loss at the end of last season (and a pick-6 affair by Manning a few years back) and hopefully will play with some revenge because of it. But it would be dangerous to treat a very talented Vikings team lightly because the NFC race is so jam-packed that a loss against the Vikings would probably put the Giants on the outside of the standings. But David Diehl, Steve Smith and the rest of the injured Giants are making progress on coming back with Steve Smith planning on playing (though he'll be in pain if he does). With Diehl, Smith, Shaun O'Hara, Shawn Andrews, Hakeem Nicks and others getting healthy, the Giants are getting in prime position to have a huge stretch run. But it all starts with a big game against Brett Favre and the Vikings on Sunday.