Minn 20 NYG 19

If we are going to have our choice of Kasey missing last week or Longwell missing this week, I take Kasey. And so it really did not matter whether the FG makes or misses today, it makes, this is purely cosmetic. The important thing out of this game was that the Giants played with plenty of second and third stringers and did fine. David Carr played behind a decent offensive line and did well. He hit Hixon (TD) where Eli missed him. Carr's mobility is good, it gives the Giants a little bit of that Hostetler dimension. I wish Manning would run the ball once or twice per game just to break the back of the defense. He is always given enuf daylight for that. We saw the TE move the chains on a few occasions; keep using that TE.. on the lone TD drive, it is a TE reception by Johnson which keeps the drive alive on a nice 3rd down pickup. Everyone out there who wants to run the ball down the opponent's throat must realize that you need that TE to extend these drives. Without it, they will not get the touches you want. Butler had some bad plays, but he almost (and should have) single-handedly won the game with his INT. Webster missed a pick-6, but played well. Moss looked very good. He has the speed to stretch the defense, not as big a target as a Boss for that long reception, but use him to keep the defense honest. You have to love those quick slants to these WRs, Manningham. As noted in the intragame comments, Tuck looked very good in stopping one drive for a FG and another on downs. Only loss was Sam Madison, who broke his ankle. Considering how many games he was inactive, this will not be a loss unless our secondary goes thru another injury run like last offseason. Ware looked good. The kickoff coverage is atrocious, put Tynes on the active roster so that we can get some distance on kickoffs. This was a freaking dome that Carney was kicking in, those pooch kicks are an embarrassment. I know we are all biased about the officiating, but I thought the Giants got screwed on more than a few calls today... this is why you have to shoot to get 'quality' wins (>10 pts) in the postseason because these refs couldn't buy a good call if their life depended on it. You can easily argue today's outcome was caused by the officials. Good thing it does not matter.

Summary: The Giants punched their time clocks today, they played hard, they had all subs in by the end of the game, NEXT. Well deserved and well needed rest, JacobsBossRossCofield all did not even dress, my bet is that all would have played if necessary. Kudos to Coughlin for getting the Giants in there with focus and out of there with their health, building on last week and getting ready for the postseason.

Separately-1: they switched to the Saints, up by 1, and then the kick by Carolina. Some of you may have been looking for Carolina to lose and drop to #5, but for my money, I was rooting for the Saints to get the extra loss and the better draft pick for us.

Separately-2: Dal vs. Phl for a playoff spot. I hope these two teams kill each other, go into quintuple OT and need Garrett and Reid to suit up.