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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At the beginning of the year, the Colts vs. Patriots game looked like a good one. For the past decade this has been one of the premier rivalries in the NFL with Tom Brady and Peyton Manning facing off. This season the game won’t be so special. The Colts come in 0-11 and without Peyton Manning under center. The Patriots are taking things lightly though, and it’s business as usual for Belichick and company.

Instead of having to worry about Peyton Manning, the Patriots defense will face Dan Orlovsky, the former UCONN quarterback. For a Patriots defense that is one of the worst in the league, they’ve been lucky the past few weeks. Sunday will mark the third straight game that Patriots have faced a backup quarterback.

First it was Tyler Palko filling in for former Patriot, Matt Cassel two weeks ago against Kansas City. Last week they faced Vince Young filling in for the injured Michael Vick in a blowout over Philadelphia. This week they face Orlovsky who is the backup to the backup Curtis Painter, who has been benched due to ineffectiveness.

New England figures to have an easy game as they continue on their quest for the number one seat in the AFC. ”They’ve heard me talk about every week, saying we don’t care about the record and we don’t. What difference does it make? How someone played two weeks ago against somebody else — who cares?” coach Bill Belichick said. “The only thing that matters is how we and the Colts perform against each other on Sunday.”

Tom Brady and the NFL’s highest scoring offense should have no issues this week against a Colts defense that ranks among the league’s worst. Though only surrendering 238.7 yards per game in the air, Tom Brady should be able to do his work and pick apart the Colts secondary.

The Patriots are coming off a game with their more balanced display of offense. Brady was 24 of 34 for 361 yards and three touchdowns, and the team rushed for 104 yards on a season high 36 carries.

New England will look to continue to improve their running game facing a Colts defense that is ranked 31^st against the run surrendering 150.6 yards per game.

“I thought it was more balanced,” Brady said. “That’s how it needs to be, you got to run it. You got to throw it to everybody and you got to keep them off balance.”

Orlovsky will have his hands full trying to keep up with the high scoring Patriots. Being the third quarterback to be under center for the Colts this season he understands he can’t force the issue.

“I’m not going to be Superman or anything like that,” Orlovsky said. “I’m just going to run the offense, try to get us in good situations, try to move the chains and go from there. … I’m excited about the opportunity and appreciative of it.”

The Colts offense has only scored 29 points and put up 721 yards of offense the past three games so he can’t do any worse.

To make things worse for the Colts, their banged up defense got a change as linebacker coach Mike Murphy is now in charge of the defense.

“Obviously, it’s going to be very, very difficult to say you’re going to see a wholesale change (on defense) in three days,” Caldwell said. “But I do think that you’re going to see effort, hustle and good, sound principles and practices, and football in the way in which we know how to play. We just expect to be better in all areas.”

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The Tampa Bay Buccaneers (3-2) welcomed the New Orleans Saints (4-1) to the Raymond James Stadium, hoping to improve their record before they jet off to London to entertain the NFL’s UK-based fans next week.

Having collected impressive victories over the likes of the Atlanta Falcons so far this season, the Bucs were keen to keep their win percentage over the 500 mark, despite having fallen to a franchise record defeat to the San Francisco 49’ers last week. Standing in their way however, was an in-form Drew Brees and his Saints were not going to be pushovers, as their impressive record so far shows.

With LeGarrette Blount sidelined through injury, the Buccaneers turned to Earnest Graham, but the running back failed to make much of an impression with his early rushes. The Bucs did however grab the lead when the Saints turned over possession, and the home side kicked a field-goal after failing to convert a 3^rd down.

The lead was to be short-lived however, with Brees finding tight end Jimmy Graham for a 16-yard gain, giving the Saints great field position, and also furthering Graham’s lead at the top of the tight end reception table in the NFL. From here, wide receiver Marques Colston collected a 38-yard TD pass from Brees, putting the visitors into the lead for the first time.

The lead changed hands again early in the 2^nd quarter however, when Bucs quarterback Josh Freeman found Arrelious Benn, who had escaped the man coverage, for a 65–yard TD pass, the longest for the Bucs since 2008.

The Bucs continued to press home their advantage, with Graham rushing for big gains consistently on a drive which culminated in a field goal, extending their lead to six points. Meanwhile, the Saints continued to struggle to get their offense going, and when the Bucs regained possession, they worked their way down the field before Freeman found Preston Parker on the slant route for a 19-yard TD pass.

The Saints came close to striking back just before the interval, having started on their own 2-yard line, but Brees passed successfully to Graham for 43 yards, and then to Colston for 37 yards, but had to settle for three points with a field goal as time ran out.

The 3^rd quarter went by fairly uneventfully for both sides, with neither side truly threatening the opposition end-zone, until the Saints moved to within 10 yards of the Bucs end-zone with just three minutes left in the quarter. Unfortunately for Sean Peyton’s side though, the Tampa Bay defense were more than a match for the New Orleans offense, and limited them to the field goal.

This did however make it a one-possession game heading into the 4^th,, until the Buccaneers struck back quickly, kicking a field goal themselves, and re-establishing the 10-point lead. The Saints soon closed the gap on the Bucs once the 4^th quarter started, driving to Tampa Bay’s 12 yard line, which then allowed explosive rookie Mark Ingram to power into the end-zone, reducing the lead to just three points.

With time running down in the 4^th, and the Bucs having added three more points to their lead, Brees was moving them Saints offense down the pitch, taking them to the Bucs 4 yard line. The usually infallible Brees then threw an interception in the Bucs end-zone, with Quincy Black picking the ball, and allowing Tampa Bay to run the ball away, with the game finishing at 26-20 to the Bucs.

Raheem Morris will be thrilled with his team’s effort and performance last night, especially that of his defense, who made life extremely difficult for Brees.

The Saints will not be entirely disheartened however, with tight end Graham collecting over 100 receiving yards for the fourth game in the row, and really establishing himself as a danger-man for the Saints, as they hope to bounce back this week, and continue their march towards the playoffs.

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