Adam Provost

The Seahawks are heading into Giants Stadium this Sunday with both Bobby Engram and Deion Branch back from injuries.  With Julius Jones averaging 5 yards a carry, the Giants defense is going to be tested against a well rounded offense.  Hasselbeck has played well against the Giants in the past, even throwing for five TD’s in a 2006 match up in Seattle.  The Giants, as always will have to get at him early and often, with both Engram and Branch back, Seattle’s offense can be pretty explosive. The Giants are going to need to set the tone and as always it starts with defense.

The defense has got to get at Hasselbeck and disrupt him as much as possible.  Julius Jones can’t be looked at as that big of a threat, where as Seattle’s receiving corp looks like they could be a handful for the Giants secondary.  Seattle’s Jon Carlson is another weapon the Giants better have on their radar as he’s become fast friends with Hasselbeck while Engram and Branch have been getting healthy.  Look for Giants S Kenny Phillips to make life difficult for Seattle’s WR’s. He’s a big hitter and if Hasselbeck leaves those WR’s out across the middle, Phillips will put them back on the injury list. 

Eli will be playing this game without his go to guy Plaxico Burress, who is still serving a suspension for missing practice.  Steve Smith and Domenik Hixon will be playing in place of the pro-bowler and will need to step up to fill the void left in his absence.  More than ever I feel like the Giants are going to need to run the ball and eat up as much of the clock as they can on offense.  A big game from Jacobs and Co. will be essential towards giving the defense the rest that they will need as it won’t be easy keeping up with Seattle’s WR’s all day long.  Seattle plays pretty well against the run, but a heavy dose of Jacobs can wear down any defense.  Throw RB Derrick Ward in the mix and I think the Giants’ ground game can be successful. 

Coughlin has got to be thinking this game will be all about controlling the clock.  If he can get the same effort that we have seen in the past few games from the defense, then that game plan should be easy to accomplish. I do think both teams have benefited from the bye week.  The Giants barely escaped with a win against the Bengals, so I’m sure they are coming into this week not only rested but ready to show why they are 7 point favorites.

Adam Provost

It has been reported that WR Plaxico Burress is being suspended for two weeks and will miss the Giants Week five match up against the Seahawks.  Plaxico violated team rules when he didn’t show up for practice or call to say he wouldn’t be there.  Unhappy with Tom Coughlin’s punishment, Plaxico will be appealing the coach’s decision to the players’ association.  The appeal is most likely an attempt to get some of the money he’s going to lose when he doesn’t receive his next two paychecks. 

This is a tough break for the 3-0 Giants, but it goes to show that Tom Coughlin treats everyone the same.  It is not like Plaxico doesn’t know the rules, he just didn’t follow them.  You would think after the contract extension he just signed that this type of incident wouldn’t happen.  Maybe he thought because it’s him and it’s a bye week it might get overlooked.  Let’s hope he learned a lesson from this.

Look for Domenik Hixon to start in his place against the Seahawks.  The Giants also brought up WR Taye Biddle from the practice squad. 

Adam Provost

The Giants improve to 3-0 heading into their bye week after edging out the Bengals in overtime.  It was an exciting game, with Eli Manning marching down the field and connecting with Kevin Boss on a T.D. pass with under two minutes to play to take a three point lead. I thought the Giants defense would be able to stop whatever Cincinnati had left in the tank.  Unfortunately Carson Palmer showed they had plenty left in the tank.  The Bengals’ two minute offense stunned the N.Y fans when Carson and Co. connected on pass after pass, getting the ball all the way into Giants territory and almost scoring a touchdown.  Luckily for the G-men, they had to settle for a field goal, sending the game into overtime.  

In overtime the Giants won the coin toss and got the ball first.  After failing to get a first down on their own 44, Tom Coughlin took no chances and punted on a 4th and 1.  When the defense took the field they stopped the Bengals’ first three plays which gave the ball right back to Eli and the offense.  Eli was then able to connect with Burress for a 28-yard gain on the first series of downs.  Then, on the next series it looked grim for N.Y as Cincy forced them into a 3rd and 10 situation.   Eli showed his cool once again and connected with Amani Toomer on a 31-yard pass, which was the play of the game and set up Jon Carneys’ game winning field goal.

I didn’t think the Bengals were going to put up such a fight but maybe being 13.5 point underdogs gave them a little motivation.  The Giants appeared to be out of sync early on as Plaxico had only caught 1 of the 7 passes thrown to him early in the game.  As usual the Giants’ running game whose new nickname is Earth, Wind and Fire helped the offense, as together they rushed for over 100 yards again.  Kevin Boss who hadn’t been heard of much lately also stepped up by catching three passes for 51 yards and a touchdown.

Cincinnati showed they were not a total pushover team and put together 347 yards of offense.  Even with Carson getting sacked 6 times, the Bengals appeared to be relentless in going after their first win.  After Carson took the lead with a T.D pass to T.J. Houshmanzadeh with under 5 minutes to play, it looked like they had a chance if they could have only stopped the Giants’ following drive.  In the end I think it was a tough loss for the Bengals and the win gives Tom Coughlin and the Giants all the confidence they need going into the bye week to get ready for their week 5 battle with Seattle.