Landover, MD -- If there’s one message that New York Giants head coach Tom Coughlin has consistently preached to his players, it’s that football games are won as a team.
Witness the Giants’ 45-12 thrashing of the Washington Redskins, a game that boosted the Giants’ record to 8-6 and helped their slim playoff hopes remain very much alive.
All the Giants did in this week was turn in one of the most complete “team effort” games since Week 5 against Oakland, when they throttled the Raiders 44-7.
“We talked about not beating ourselves. We talked about all three phases working together in harmony and helping each other win, and we talked about how it’s not any individual, it’s about team and we needed to buckle down full well what the consequences were at this time,” a relieved Coughlin said after the game.
What the consequences were is that had the Giants not won, they would have fell three games behind Dallas for the sixth wild card berth. In an ideal situation, the Giants need to win their remaining two games and hope that Dallas loses one more for the two teams to finish 10-6 as the Giants would have the head-to-head tiebreaker.
After this week’s showing against Washington, a team that over the last five weeks has played improved ball despite its won-loss record and who was not the same team the Giants met during week one of the season, there is reason to be optimistic.
Let’s start with the offense, who posted 45 points, topping their previous season high of 44 established against the Raiders. This week, QB Eli Manning was simply brilliant, completing 19 of 26 pass attempts (73%) for 268 yards, three touchdowns, and no interceptions.
He not only threw the ball to ten different receivers, he did so behind an offensive line that was missing two key starters, RT Kareem McKenzie and LG Rich Seubert, for most of the game.
Moving over to the defense, which was missing starting CB Corey Webster and his backup, CB Aaron Ross, the Giants front seven harassed Washington QB Jason Campbell all night long, racking up a season high five sacks, and picking off three balls, one of which was returned by CB Terrell Thomas for a 14-yard touchdown.
When they weren’t disrupting the passing game, the Giants defense did an excellent job in stopping their running game, holding Washington to just 28 rushing yards – 16 of which came on a single run by Campbell.
Finally there was the play of the special teams. Despite having a sore hamstring, PK Lawrence Tynes’ short kickoffs didn’t hurt the team as the Giants coverage teams played lights out against the Washington return duo of Rock Cartwright and Devin Thomas by not allowing them to break up field, unlike the previous week against the Eagles when DeSean Jackson gashed the coverage team at will.
“I’m proud of the way the guys rallied back from last week,” Coughlin said, smiling broadly.
The Giants will little time to bask in the glow of this big win, as following a day off on Tuesday, they’ll get right back to work to prepare for their final home game of the season – and at Giants Stadium – against a Carolina Panthers team who made short work of the NFC North Champion Minnesota Vikings on Sunday, 26-7.
