G-Men Grab Strangle Hold of NFC East

It’s never easy playing division games on the road, and the defending champion New York Giants didn’t give themselves any favors with their self-inflicted wounds, but in surviving a 36-31 shootout against the Eagles, Eli Manning and the Giants opened up a two-game lead in the loaded NFC East, some much needed space as New York prepares for the NFL’s toughest remaining schedule. In another typical gritty showdown between the two bitter rivals, the Giants failed to bury Philadelphia early on despite dominating time of possession and yardage in the first half. Two key turnovers from the world champions handed the Eagles 14 points and a lead early in the third quarter yet New York still willed their way to their third win in divisional play in as many tries.

Throughout Sunday night’s huge victory, the Giants showed tremendous poise while calmly conjuring up the answer to every Eagles challenge. It has been New York’s resiliency that has won tough battles throughout the season and made them frontrunners for home-field advantage in the NFC. Manning’s night got off to the worst start imaginable when he was picked off Mike Patterson, which quickly put his team in a 7-0 hole 100 seconds into the game. Following the interception, the Super Bowl MVP gathered his mates and led the team to three straight scoring drives, throwing two touchdown passes to build a 17-7 lead. It has been this new, composed Eli Manning, who seemingly popped out of nowhere last January, that has embodied the personality of the Giants.

At 8-1, Tom Coughlin can breathe a little easier as he gets ready to game plan for the home stretch, which features seven straight games against teams with winning records. Divisional trips to Dallas and Washington remain, as well as a showdown with the conference’s second best team, the Carolina Panthers, are ahead. Coming off the emotional high of defeating Philadelphia, New York must regroup and face the surging Baltimore Ravens. Facing Baltimore will offer New York another brutal physical struggle, but it has become a routine in the Giants locker room. It’s a daunting task to say the least, but there is much more margin for error now that New York owns a win over all of their division rivals and got the two games they played in Pennsylvania in the last three weeks.

Entering the season as Super Bowl champs, the New York Giants still struggled to receive the limelight that is usually associated with the team carrying the hardware. There was always something the Giants were “missing” that prognosticators believed would hold them back from maintaining their unexpected success. One of the preseason’s ongoing discussions surrounded on when the fans of New York would inevitably start heckling Manning for his inconsistent play. Or when Tom Coughlin’s iron fist ways would start to divide the locker room. We are still waiting for either to happen. After Michael Strahan’s retirement, the pass rush was assumed to be weaker. When Osi Umeniyora went out for the year in the final preseason game of the year, a weakened pass rush seemed like a certainty. The most important aspect of New York’s stunning Super Bowl victory had now become a perceived weakness and there was no way their defense could possibly be as dominant.

Through 10 weeks of the NFL season, the Giants have exceeded everyone’s wildest expectations by putting everything together in synergy. They are boasting the league’s third best pass rush, an attack that has produced 30 sacks in nine games. New stars have emerged in the holes of Strahan and Umeniyora, and now Justin Tuck and Matthias Kiwanuka are the leaders of the defense that have been nightmares for opposing quarterbacks. Manning, the city’s punching bag during his young career, has compiled the best statistical season of his career and is in better shape of getting a second ring than his brother is. And the heavily criticized Coughlin, who was supposed to be shown the door after an 8-8 season two years ago, has become the franchise’s lead man whose direction has manifested into the NFC’s best team.