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From Newsday

Defending champ Giants top 'Skins with defense

BY TOM ROCK | tom.rock@newsday.com
September 5, 2008
Eli Manning

Giants quarterback Eli Manning drops back to pass against the Washington Redskins. (Newsday/David L. Pokress / September 4, 2008)


Eli Manning started the season with a 1-yard touchdown run that paralleled the opening-game effort. It was awkward at times, never quite a certainty, but ultimately effective.

The Giants began the defense of their Super Bowl title with a 16-7 win over the confused-looking Redskins last night. The only touchdown the Giants managed was at the end of the opening drive, but that and three field goals by John Carney, including a 47-yarder, were enough to give the team its first home win since October.

"We came in to win," Tom Coughlin said, although judging from some of the comments, there was a little more at stake.

Several Giants spoke about a desire to silence critics who have called their Super Bowl XLII run a fluke and predicted mediocrity for the team.

"Everybody thinks that we're still the bottom team in this division," defensive end Justin Tuck said. "I don't think we changed that tonight, I really don't."

Added Brandon Jacobs, who gained 116 yards on 21 carries: "If we made a statement, I don't think we made enough of a statement. Guys are probably sitting around saying 'OK, the Giants are pretty good. We can't lay down on them.' But it should have been worse out there tonight. We left a lot of points out there."

Manning scored with 9:54 left in the first quarter, rolling right behind a block from Chris Snee on Jason Taylor and finding himself at the 5, face to face with linebacker Rocky McIntosh. Manning fluttered, juked inside and twisted headlong into the end zone. He got six points, but none for style.

At that point the Giants seemed poised for a rout. Instead, the offense bogged down, unable to score in the final 36:21.

Manning looked sharp at times, particularly when throwing to Plaxico Burress (10 catches, 133 yards). But he also made some questionable passes. Rolling to his left he lofted a throw for Kevin Boss that was intercepted by Fred Smoot in the third quarter. He threw three other passes that could have been intercepted but were dropped. The Giants never got more than 3 yards across midfield in the second half. After scoring on each of their first-half possessions, they had four punts and an interception in the second half.

The Giants' dominance in the first half was not reflected in the 16-7 score. After steamrolling the Redskins with an 84-yard opening drive, their next three possessions ended with field goals. Their 16-0 lead, too, became less impressive by halftime after Rock Cartwright returned a kickoff 50 yards to the Giants' 45 and Jason Campbell found an open Santana Moss on a crossing route for a 12-yard touchdown.

"He ran straight across the field and there was a lot of traffic through there," cornerback Aaron Ross said. "He got through it and I got picked a little bit."

At the half, the Giants had an advantage of 190 yards, 10 first downs, but only 9 points.

The Redskins kept it interesting until the two-minute warning, when mistakes caught up to them. On second-and-7 at the Giants' 37, a pass to Clinton Portis was negated by a holding penalty against Chris Samuels that pushed Washington back near midfield. Santana Moss dropped a pass on second down. On third-and-17, Campbell hit Moss for a 3-yard gain. On fourth down, Ladell Betts made a catch on the sideline but was stopped 2 yards shy of the first by Ross and Kevin Dockery and the Giants had the ball with 2:02 remaining.

After the Giants fell a few links short of a first down and punted, the Redskins needed two scores with 1:31 left. They could not produce. A defense that gave up only a short-field TD and 209 yards clamped down.

"A lot of people have been writing us off," defensive tackle Barry Cofield said. "You would think we struggled last year as opposed to winning it all. But we've got all the motivation in the world. Hopefully we can feed off that for the rest of the year."

If they continue to play as they did last night, both the naysayers and the motivation will remain.

Sept. 14

Giants at St. Louis

1 p.m.

TV: Ch. 5

Copyright © 2009, Newsday Inc.

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