Giants' Steps Back on its Feet

Hi everybody. After a short hiatus to move back home and enjoy a holiday along the way, I'm back on American soil and Giants' Steps is back up and running.

What a win last week against the Seahawks. If I can, I'll get an episode up on You Tube recapping the game, but I'll just say a few things about it here...


ON THE GAME

• That's what happens when the Giants execute to their potential.

• Sunday's whooping confirmed what I and many other Giants fans have thought for a while - this team is loaded. Without Burress , the Giants biggest offensive weapon, the team poured it on, led by its "#4" and "#5" receivers Domenik Hixon and Sinorice Moss. Great games by both players.

• When you set up Brandon Jacobs early, all three backs can get enough carries to make an impact. And what an impact they make. All three had great games, combining for over 200 yards and 2 touchdowns. Jacobs is simply a special player, and Ward and Bradshaw could also start in this league. Bradshaw had a beastly run towards the end where he broke a handful of tackles and cut up the Seahawks defense like an expired credit card. He was one cut away from taking it to the endzone but it looked like he lost his footing.

• Eli Manning has turned a corner and remains in his Super Bowl-winning form. He's making smart decisions, not forcing anything, and being tough in the pocket. Most importantly, he's protecting the football. He played a phenomenal game on Sunday. People are even starting to question whether he's better than Peyton. This past year at least, he just might be...

• Kevin Gilbride deserves a lot of credit for the way he called that game - spreading the ball around, pounding Seattle in the mouth, attacking down field, and using all of the weapons at his disposal. He even mixed it up with a reverse in the first quarter to Hixon. This was an area I thought the Giants needed to improve in and last week, they did. Keep it up, KG.

• When the play-calling is sound and spread out, the Giants get in the end zone. 7's, not 3's. They scored on their first 6 possessions and had over 300 yards of offense in the first half alone.

• On defense, after allowing the Bengals to convert 60% of their third downs in Week 3, the Giants shut down the Seahawks, allowing only 1 third down conversion and 13 first downs for the entire game. They stuffed Seattle's third-ranked rushing attack and held them to only 60+ yards on the ground.

• The Giants D also got their second takeaway of the season on a 44 yard Kevin Dockery INT. Great job by Doc finally getting his hands on the ball, and a nice run back. Speaking of the secondary, Dockery, Ross, Webster and company are playing some lights-out football right now.

• K John Carney showed signs of why he may not be the obvious upgrade to the injured Lawrence Tynes. A number of his kickoffs Sunday failed to reach the 10 yard line; one went out of bounds.

ON OTHER STUFF

• If not for a couple of penalties on defense, the score of Sunday's game might have been 44-0.

• Antonio Pierce: since when does that guy NOT wear sleeves?

• I'm very happy for Sinorice Moss. People have questioned whether or not he was "ready" to contribute. Granted the guy's first two seasons have been disappointing, but after finally being healthy and having a very strong pre-season, I thought this year it's just been a matter of getting the call. Glad that he did, and I hope he can continue to find opportunities even with Plaxico back.

• Speaking of Plax- welcome back, let's play football.

• In other WR action, congrats on your first NFL catch Mario Manningham...the first of many I hope.

It's certainly been a good week for Big Blue. What cracks me up though is how now the same people who were dismissing the Giants as a fluke, or claiming they'd lost too many key players to contend again, are now comparing them to the 2007 New England Patriots and singing the repeat song. I heard one reporter even asked a Giants player if he thought the team could go undefeated. Ridiculous.

The season is young, and you don't crown a champion in Week 5. It's a long, tough road through an NFL season and one blowout victory will not make you or break you. One thing for sure though is the Giants are a deep, talented team and with a lot of weapons and a lot of confidence.

Confidence and the championship attitude could carry the Giants far this season. The keys are taking it one game at a time, improving each week, and playing not just better than your opponent, but as well as you can.

The pieces are in place for another special season. Next stop, Cleveland.