EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. -- Quick, now, name three New York Giants responsible for taking the team to the top of the NFC East.
Eli Manning? Nope. Jeremy Shockey? Uh-uh. Tiki Barber. You're getting warm.
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| Michael Strahan and Co. sack Drew Bledsoe four times, force two fumbles and get two picks. (AP) |
The answer is no, but it's good enough to make the Giants a factor if and when they make the playoffs. I say "if" because the club has three games left on the road, and if there's one thing we know about these Giants, it's that there's no place like home.
The Giants won eight of their past nine there -- and, yes, I include that Sept. 19 "road" game with New Orleans -- and dropped seven of their past eight road games. I'd call that a trend, and, considering the remainder of the Giants' schedule, a potential problem.
Except the Giants might have a solution in a defense that, over the second half of the season, has been -- as Strahan put it -- "lights out." With Sunday's victory, the G-men look more like the D-men, holding their past six opponents to an average of 227.5 yards a game, and that includes a string where they checked three consecutive opponents to no offensive touchdowns.
Compare that to the first six games, where New York was punctured for an average of 411.7 yards a start and hammered for 45 points by San Diego, and I think you get the idea: New York is vastly improved where it matters.
"You want to play your best defense in December," said Pierce. "If we were playing our best defense in September, we had a problem. That was our worst month, actually, and that's good. Down the stretch you talk about defense because that's what wins championships in the NFL. And if you look at the last five to six weeks, we've had some dominating performances."
Sunday's game was one of them. The Giants disarmed Dallas in the first half, holding the Cowboys to 37 yards on 27 plays, then choked off the Cowboys down the stretch -- freezing them out on five successive possessions to end the game.
There were two interceptions in there. There were two fumble recoveries earlier. There were four sacks of quarterback Drew Bledsoe. And there was a 12-yard Pierce touchdown return off a Bledsoe fumble on the first snap of the third quarter.
"I thought our defensive play all the way around was outstanding," said winning coach Tom Coughlin. "There was really only one drive where I felt we were back on our heels."
That was in the second half when Dallas pushed 54 yards -- its longest drive of the afternoon -- but wound up with a field goal. At one point in that series, the Cowboys were first-and-10 at the Giants 20 but managed only four yards in their next three plays.
Typical. That's the way it was all afternoon, and that's a message the rest of the NFC must absorb as it handicaps the field for the playoffs. The Giants are a good team, especially when their offense is working as it should. But when it's not -- and it wasn't against Dallas -- New York still has the defense to overcome opponents.
