The Atlanta Falcons demolished the New York Giants 34-0, to improve to 12-2 and 7-0 at the Georgia Dome.

Falcons quarterback, Matt Ryan completed 23 of 28 passes for 270 yards and three touchdowns. His 82.1 completion percentage and 142.6 quarterback rating were both season highs for the five-year starter. This was also Ryan’s sixth game this season throwing at least three touchdown passes.

Wide receiver Julio Jones was tied for a game-high six receptions for 74 yards and hauled in two touchdown catches. Jones has surpassed his eight touchdown rookie season, catching nine with for over 1,000 yards and still two games to go.

Veteran tight-end Tony Gonzalez also caught six receptions for 49 yards and one touchdown. Gonzalez leads the Falcons with 87 receptions.

As for the run game, Michael Turner carried the ball 16 times for 52 yards and punched in a one-yard run on the Falcons first offensive drive.

The Giants were out of sync from the start, opening their first drive with Eli Manning throwing an interception on 2 and 7 from their own 16 yard-line. Manning threw his second interception in the second quarter, resulting in a Falcons field goal.

Manning only completed 13 of 25 passes for 161 yards. His favorite target was wide receiver Domenik Hixon, who caught five passes for 80 yards.

The Giants were without running back Ahmad Bradshaw because of a foot-and-knee injury. Instead, rookie David Wilson got the nod for the start but was not nearly as explosive as last week. Wilson carried the ball 12 times for 55 yards.

With the loss, the Giants have fallen to 8-6 along with four other teams in the NFC. The Giants are currently third in the NFC East division at 8-6 behind the Dallas Cowboys and Washington Redskins, who are all 8-6. However, the Giants still control their own destiny and by winning out they will earn a wildcard playoff position. As for the Falcons, they will head to Ford Field to take on the Detroit Lions and control their own destiny for the No. 1 seed in the NFC playoffs.

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After last weeks pivotal divisional loss over the Washington Redskins, the New York Giants bounced back strong, demolishing the New Orleans Saints 52-27.

Giants’ rookie running back and returner, David Wilson had a career day, single-handily becoming the Saints worse nightmare. Wilson compiled 327 all purpose yards, third-highest total for a rookie since the NFL-AFL merger.

Right after the Saints intercepted Eli Manning and went ahead 7-0, Wilson’s day started. On the ensuing kick-off Wilson jolted past the Saints special team unit and returned the the kick, 97-yards to the tie the game back up.

Wilson punched in a six yard run in the third quarter to give the Giants a 28-13 lead and then put the Saints to sleep with a career long 52 yard touchdown run in the fourth quarter to seal off the victory. Wilson averaged 7.7 yards per carry rushing for 100 yards on 13 carries, the rookie’s first 100 yard game of his career.

Manning quickly bounced back after throwing an interception on the Giants second offensive drive of the game. On the Giants’ next drive, Manning connected with tight-end Martellus Bennett on a six yard touchdown. Bennett caught five passes for 32 yards along with his touchdown.

Right before the half, Manning connected with wideout Domenik Hixon to take a 21-13 lead into the third quarter.

Manning also connected with wideout Hakeem Nicks for a 25 yard touchdown pass in the third quarter. Nicks caught four passes for 67 yards along with his touchdown. Nicks has been suffering through injury all season long and after the win over the Saints was re-examined. Coach Tom Coughlin expects Nicks to continue to play however it is unlikely he will be at 100% for the rest of the year.

Manning threw his fourth touchdown pass of the game at the start of the fourth quarter to wideout Victor Cruz. Cruz led the Giants in receiving hauling in eight catches for 121 yards along with his touchdown catch.

The Giants’ defense was on point, limiting Saints’ quarterback Drew Brees. Brees completed 26-of-43 passes for 354 yards one touchdown and two interceptions.

Brees lone touchdown came towards the end of the third quarter, connecting with speedster Darren Sproles. Sproles caught four passes for 28 yards along with his touchdown reception. He also had five carries for 56 yards and punched in 13 yard run in the third quarter.

Brees was picked off twice by Giants’ safety, Stevie Brown.

With the victory, the Giants remain atop the NFC East at 8-5 with both the Dallas Cowboys and Washington Redskins breathing down their neck at 7-6. The Giants have a tough match-up next week on the road against the NFC’s current number one seed the Atlanta Falcons. As for the Saints, who have now dropped to 5-8,  they will face NFC South division rivals the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

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The New York Giants’ defense forced six turnovers and held off the Dallas Cowboys 29-24 after blowing a 23 point lead to improve to 6-2 on the season.

On 2nd and 6 at the Giants 37 yard-line Dallas quarterback, Tony Romo dropped back and threw the ball to wideout Dez Bryant in the end-zone. Bryant caught the ball and the play was initially called a touchdown. The play was reviewed and overturned because Bryant’s hand touched out of bounds. Romo converted a first down to tight-end Jason Witten to move up to the 27 yard-line.

Romo, threw an incomplete pass to Miles Austin and was left with one second on the clock. On the final play Romo scrambled out of the pocket and threw the ball out of the back of the end-zone handing the Giants the victory.

Romo struggled early and often against the Giants. Romo completed 36-of-62 yards for a career high 437 yards one touchdown, one rushing touchdown and four interceptions. Dallas’ first four drives resulted in three interceptions. Romo’s third interception was intercepted by defensive end Jason Pierre-Paul who took it back 28 yards for seven.

Tight-end Jason Witten had a career day catching 18 passes for 167 yards. Witten’s 18 catches broke his previous team record. In addition, his 18 catches was the most by an NFL tight-end. Austin also caught nine passes for 133 yards and Bryant caught five receptions for 110 yards.

The Cowboys were unable to run the ball against the Giants front seven. They compiled 19 yards on 17 carries.

As for Eli Manning and the Giants offense they were unable to move the ball very effectively. Manning completed 15-of-29 passes for 192 yards and one interception. Wideout Ruben Randle led the receiving crew with 68 yards. Both Hakeem Nicks and tight-end Martellus Bennett caught four passes. The Cowboys secondary contained Victor Cruz limiting him to two catches for 23 yards.

Running back Ahmad Bradshaw, carried the ball 22 times for 78 yards and one fumble. Also running back Andre Brown carried the ball three times for 21 yards and punched in a touchdown towards the end of the first quarter.

Giants kicker, Lawrence Tynes was a perfect 5/5 scoring 17 of the Giants 29 points. Tynes play was essential considering the Giants offense was unable to produce anything inside Cowboys territory.

Giants safety, Stevie Brown, was the defensive MVP for New York. Brown, led the team with eight tackles, two interceptions and a fumble recovery.

The victory gives the Giants an early NFC East lead with the second place Eagles and Cowboys sitting at 3-4. The Giants will look to expand their winning streak to five games next week as they welcome the Pittsburgh Steelers to MetLife Stadium. As for the Cowboys they will have another tough match-up against the undefeated Atlanta Falcons.

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The New York Giants defense dominated against the 49ers, earning them a 26-3 victory in a NFC Championship rematch.

The 49ers scored first in the first quarter, and that was their only score of the day. Alex Smith struggled completing 19-of-30 passes for 200 yards and threw three interceptions. Smith threw three interceptions for the fifth time in his eight year career. Smith has thrown interceptions in both losses this season for the 49ers. Back-up quarterback Collin Kaepernick completed four of seven passes for 82 yards.

San Francisco struggled running the ball as well. Running back Frank Gore carried the ball eight times for 36 yards. The rest of the running back core complied for nine carries for 44 yards. Randy Moss had two catches for 75 yards. Ex-Giant Mario Manningham caught five passes for 72 yards.

Eli Manning played mistake-free football, completing 15-of-28 yards for 193 yards for one touchdown. Manning’s one touchdown came in the second quarter to Victor Cruz. Cruz caught six passes for 58 yards. In Hakeem Nicks’ first game back from injury, he caught three passes for 44 yards. Wideout Domenik Hixon also caught four passes for 78 yards.

The New York Giants were able to open up the run game against a tough 49ers defense. Ahmad Bradshaw carried the ball 27 times for 116 yards and one touchdown. Bradshaw has ran for 100+ yards for two consecutive weeks.

The Giants had Smith on his heels, sacking him four times. Jason Pierre-Paul had two sacks, Adrian Tracy and Linval Joseph both had one sack. Antrel Rolle led the Giants defense with six tackles. Rolle also had two interceptions, his first two of the season. Prince Amukamara also caught his first interception of the season.

New York is now atop the the NFC East Division with a 4-2 record with Philadelphia and Washington right behind them at 3-3. The Giants have a tough road ahead of them as they head into the heart of their schedule. The next two match-ups will be against divisional rivals the Washington Redskins and the Dallas Cowboys. The Giants will be up against six teams who made the playoffs last year in their final 10 games.

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Defending Super Bowl champions, the New York Giants, welcomed one of their division rivals, the Dallas Cowboys, to MetLife Stadium to kickoff the 2012 NFL season.

Unfortunately, the Giants did not look as good as they did last time they faced the Cowboys in East Rutherford, New Jersey.

In an early defensive gridlock, the Giants took the lead in the 2nd quarter thanks to a Lawrence Tynes 22 yard field goal. Their lead did not last long: two drives later, from their own 22 yard line, the Dallas Cowboys marched right down the field. On 2nd and 5, at the Giants 10 yard line, Cowboy quarterback Tony Romo found wide receiver Kevin Ogletree for a 10 yard touchdown to help retake the lead 7-3.

Dallas started the 2nd half right where they left off. On their first drive, once again Romo connected with Ogletree for a 40 yard touchdown to put the Cowboys up 14-3. Eli Manning and the New York Giants jumped right back into it on their first possession. Manning drove from his own 11 yard line to the Cowboys 10, where Ahmad Bradshaw punched in a 10 yard touchdown to cut the deficit to 4 points. Dallas extended their lead back to 7, toward the end of the 3rd quarter with a Dan Bailey 33 yard field goal.

Dallas extended the lead even further after the Giants failed to drive down the field and were forced to punt. Starting at their own 18, running back DeMarco Murray started picking apart the Giants defense with his quick and explosive runs. At the Giants own 34 yard line, Romo was quick to realize the defensive mismatch, and connected with wideout Miles Austin for a touchdown.

With little time left, and down by 14, the Giants converted two key 4th down attempts to stay in the game. At the Cowboys own 9 yard line, Manning dropped back and connected with ex Cowboy Martellus Bennet. However, it just was not enough after Dallas converted on 3rd and 10. Romo kneeled the Cowboys to a 24-17 victory.

Romo finished the game with 307 yards, 3 touchdowns, 1 interception, and a quarterback rating of 129.5. In what is going to be a pressure-filled season for Romo, he certainly did not let it effect him week 1. As for Dallas’ run game, Murray averaged 6.6 yards per carry and rushed for 131 yards. Ogletree led all receivers with 8 receptions for 114 yards and 2 touchdowns. It was evident that Romo took advantage of the Giants banged up secondary.

Defensively for the Cowboys,  linebacker Sean Lee stole the show and had 12 tackles as well as one forced fumble. In addition, defensive menace DeMarcus Ware hit the 100 sack milestone and is the 28th player in NFL history to do so after his 5 tackles and two sacks against the Giants.

As for the Giants, Manning finished the game off with 213 yards and one touchdown. Bradshaw led the giants in rushing, compiling 78 yards on the ground and on touchdown. As for their receiving core, Victor Cruz led all Giants receivers with 6 receptions and 58 yards. Cruz could have easily bumped his stat sheet but dropped a few passes.

The Giants have some serious concern regarding their secondary. An already injured battered secondary became worse after: Michael Coe got injured in the 2nd half. Coe was already replacing injured corner Prince Amukamara. The Giants had no choice but to put in 5th year defensive back Justin Tryon. If the Giants do not get healthy quickly, many teams will pick them apart via passing game.

Both the Cowboys and the Giants will be back in action Sunday, September 16. The Cowboys will be on the road against the Seattle Seahawks. As for the Giants, they are hoping to bounce back next week when they welcome the Tampa Bay Buccaneers to MetLife Stadium.

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Last years Super Bowl champs, the New York Giants, are prepared to defend their title for the 2nd time in the past five years.

Quarterback Eli Manning had one of the best seasons of his career. Eli threw for a career high, 4,933 yards, 29 touchdowns, and a passer rating of 92.9. Manning showed his superior  passing ability all season long, especially in the 4th quarter. Eli’s quarterback rating in the 4th quarter was 110.0; he threw for 1,715 yards, and 15 touchdowns. Manning led the Giants to eight game winning drives this season more than any other quarterback in the NFL.

Manning had several reliable targets to throw to last season; however, New Jersey native Victor Cruz stole the show. Cruz had 82 receptions, for 1,536 yards and 9 touchdowns, all Giant highs for the season. Hakeem Nicks was Eli’s 2nd favorite target: they connected 79 times for 1,192 yards and 7 touchdowns. Although the Giants lost wideout Mario Manningham to the 49ers, they added ex-Dallas tight-end Martellus Bennett, and drafted wideout Rueben Randle from LSU.

As for New York’s run game, they were led by Ahmad Bradshaw who had a team high, 659 yards, and 9 rushing touchdowns. Also, running back Brandon Jacobs contributed with 571 yards and 7 rushing touchdowns.

Despite Jacobs’ success, he and the New York Giants parted ways this summer and also joined the San Francisco 49ers. As a result, the Giants used their 1st round pick on Virginia Tech running back David Wilson. Wilson showed positive spurts this preseason with 28 rushing attempts for 131 yards, and 5 receptions for 61 yards this preseason. Wilson’s quick explosiveness will help make him one of the elite rookies this upcoming season. With the exit of Jacobs and constant injury concern for Ahmad Bradshaw, Wilson could eventually get the majority of carries.

Defensively, the Giants had one of the most ferocious front fours in the NFL. The Giants compiled 48.0 sacks, 3rd best in the NFL. Third year defensive end Jason Pierre-Paul led the giants with 16.5 sacks.

In addition, they were 2nd in the NFL with 1,131 tackles. The Giants tackling leader was safety Antrel Rolle, who had a career high 96 tackles.

The Giants added defensive free agent, Shaun Rogers. They traded their 5th round pick to Cincinnati in exchange for linebacker Keith Rivers.  Rivers has been extremely disappointing after being drafted 9th in the 2008 draft, and has had constant injury problems. The Giants are hoping he can stay healthy and resurrect his young career.

The Giants will be facing nine opponents who had a .500 or better record last season. Seven of the nine opponents make up the Giants final eight games of the season. The NFC East Division has improved significantly, which will make each divisional game gut-wrenching. Realistically, the Giants should be optimistic; however, nothing will come easy for them in their attempt to repeat as champions.

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With the Giants defeating the Jets just moments after this game started, one would have expected the Eagles to be the team that would play uninspired football after their playoff hopes had diminished. Ironically enough, the Cowboys, who at the very least could have played for the sake of guaranteeing a better seed than the Falcons, were the team who did not show up. One can easily point towards Tony Romo’s injury early in the first quarter, sidelining him for the remainder of the game, but the real reasons for the loss leave plenty to be concerned about.

Going into the game, the match up that was likely to be the most critical was the Cowboys’ tackle tandem of Doug Free and Tyron Smith vs. the Eagles’ DEs Trent Cole and Jason Babin. Being able to keep these two pass rushers in check is what was going to allow the Cowboys to rely on the deep ball in order to expose the poor safety play that has plagued the Eagles all season long. Unfortunately, both Smith and Free had their hands full for seemingly every play.

While Stephen McGee did not play badly considering he was under duress for a majority of the game, the lack of pass protection is ultimately what led to his being unable to let the deep routes develop. It obviously did not help that the Cowboys were unable to establish any type of threat on the ground as the ancient Sammy Morris managed just 29 yards on 13 carries.

An Air Coryell offense like Jason Garrett’s is the type of offense that needs a decent running game and good pass protection to work. As much as this may be true for any type of offense, it is especially so with an offense like Jason Garrett’s, since the Coryell offensive system relies on stretching the defense with the running game in order to open up vertical passing lanes.

Without any type of running game the defense will never feel obligated to stack eight in the box at the expense of being vulnerable to deep passes (a staple to Garrett’s offense being effective). Lack of pass protection will without a doubt, make it very difficult for deep routes to develop, and as such both, elements of the Cowboys’ offense were rendered ineffective. Ultimately, this is the reason that the Cowboys struggled to move the ball on Saturday.

On the defensive side of the ball the Cowboys seemed to be favoring a lot of zone coverage, as Rob Ryan often likes to do. Unfortunately, there were several instances in which various defenders looked completely lost, which is a recipe for disaster for a zone defense. Often times a receiver would be passed off only for someone to blow the coverage, while other times it would appear as if nobody in the secondary even knew what they were supposed to do.

While the Cowboys did do a half decent job at getting pressure, they did not do quite good enough in order to contain an elusive, mobile QB like Michael Vick. As a result, Vick was able to expose all of the poor discipline by the Cowboys’ defense whenever they were in zone. This would prove to be so effective for the Eagles that anyone who watched the game would completely forget that the Cowboys managed to contain LeSean McCoy in the running game.

The lopsided nature of this game is of course bad for the Cowboys’ momentum going in to next week’s game against the Giants for the NFC East divisional title. However, the concerns that arise from this game transcend both momentum as well as Tony Romo having to play next week with an injured hand. There are also question marks surrounding Rob Ryan’s ability as a defensive coordinator due to the inconsistent play of the defense in recent weeks.

Even if Ryan is not the one who deserves the blame, the quality of the talent that the Cowboys have on defense contributes to these concerns. Lastly, it remains to be seen whether or not Doug Free and Tyron Smith will be able to keep Jason Pierre-Paul and Justin Tuck in next week’s game, especially after the poor job they did at protecting Stephen McGee on Saturday.

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In an offensive slugfest the Green Bay Packers defeated the New York Giants, 38-35. The tone for the game was set from the very beginning, as the New York Giants drove down the field to score a touchdown on the first possession of the game. On a broken play, Giants quarterback Eli Manning delivered a bomb to Travis Beckum.

Beckum made great cutbacks to make a couple Packer defenders miss on his way into the endzone. After a completed extra point kick from Lawrence Tynes, the giants were up 7-0, and for the first time in a month, the Packers were trailing in a game. The explosive offense from the Packers, led by MVP frontrunner Aaron Rodgers, put their hands on the ball yet.

Late in the first quarter, Aaron Rodgers knotted the game up, when he found Jermichael Finely wide open near the goal line for an easy touchdown score. The Giants would drive back down the field to score a field goal reestablishing their lead, and letting the Packers know they were in for a fight.

It was a fight the Packers were more than willing to participate in. In the first play of the second quarter, the Packers dealt the Giants a blow they never saw coming. Packer linebacker Clay Matthews picked off Manning’s intended pass to Ahmad Bradshaw, and returned it for a touchdown to give the Packers their first lead of the day.

The Giants defense forced Rodgers to throw a rare interception. The ball was picked off by Chase Blackburn, and returned inside the Packers redzone, culminating in a 1-yard run by Brandon Jacobs for the touchdown. With the Giants back on top 17-14, it was once again Rodgers’ time to put the team on his shoulders.

Starting at his own 20, Rodgers engineered an 80-yard drive that ended with a touchdown pass to Donald Driver, who was all alone in the back corner of the endzone. The Packers would go up 21-17, and never relinquished the lead.

However, the Giants did make it interesting late in the fourth quarter. With 3:34 left on the clock, Manning lead the Giants down the field to score a touchdown and a two-point conversion to tie the game up at 35. The only mistake made on the drive is that the Giants left 58 seconds on the clock.

Rodgers took full advantage of his time and completed one pass to Finley and one to Jordy Nelson, who made a spectacular catch, to put the Packers in field goal territory. After a quick pass to Greg Jennings to gain better field goal position, Mason Crosby kicked a 30 yard game-winning field goal.

With the win, the Packers moved to 12-0 and clinched the NFC North Division title for the first time since 2007. The Giants fall to 6-6 and are locked in a tight NFC East division race with the Dallas Cowboys.

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To Jets fans dismay, the Jets are showing a very consistent pattern of losing games. Three weeks — three losses. The Jets were handed another loss at the hands of their division arch-rivals, the New England Patriots, and they can only blame themselves. The Jets gave a lackluster performance with sporadic play from the offense yet again.

Even with the return of All-Pro C Nick Mangold, the Jets offense couldn’t get much of anything going against the league’s statistically worst defense. After all the talk this week about getting back to the ‘ground & pound’ that made the Jets the team we’ve come to know in the past two years, the first three drives ended with Sanchez dropping back on third and short.

Schottenheimer, who has been under a ton of scrutiny from the media recently — especially with the report surfacing that the Jets’ three big-name WRs complained to Rex Ryan about the play calling, didn’t help his case with some awful play calls throughout the game. The offense couldn’t do anything outside of one really good drive which featured Shonn Greene, 83 yards for the game, a season high.

The offense had seven, counting the seven three and outs and a horrendous three for 11 on third downs. Compare that with the Patriots going 7 for 14 on third downs and you can see why the Jets didn’t win this game. Mark Sanchez only had 70 yards through 3 quarters against the worst pass defense in the league.

This is twice in three games where Sanchez has been ineffective against bad secondaries. His numbers make his game appear a lot better than what was seen. He didn’t do a good job managing the team and it appears as if he’s regressed from the past two years which showed so much promise.

The defense, numbers aside, played a good game. They kept Tom Brady in check limiting him to a pedestrian 321 yards 1 touchdown and 1 interception. Wes Welker coming in as the league’s leading receiver had 124 yards, but 73 of those came on one play where Eric Smith bit badly on a play action fake leaving the field wide open over the top.

Revis was on him for most of the game so he was out of commission for the majority of the game. However, as everyone knows, defenses will wear down the longer they’re on the field and such was the case with the Jets who also surrendered 136 yards to BenJarvus Green-Ellis.

A big chunk of those yards came on a late game sustaining drive for the Patriots in which the Jets defense just couldn’t get off the field. A lot of miscommunications, some poor tackling and 8 penalties added to the Jets demise in Foxboro. Again the lone bright spot was Joe McKnight who’s proving he’s the real deal in the return game.

He had another 88 yard return and was solid in the return game all day. The Jets finish 0-3 on their road trip and return home to face the winless Dolphins on Monday night. While the Dolphins haven’t won this won’t be an easy win for the Jets as divisional games combined with their recent poor play doesn’t guarantee anything.

While this recent skid doesn’t bode well, the season isn’t lost quite yet, but one thing’s for sure if the Jets don’t turn it around quickly they won’t be making the playoffs much less the Super Bowl like Ryan so boldly predicted at the beginning of the season.

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