Real thoughts on the Giants game:
God that was an ugly game to watch. They basically turned over the ball every way possible. Too many foolish penalties as well. It felt like I was just left speechless the majority of the game over what was happening. I was probably Manning-facing at my TV most of the night. It's pretty crazy that they actually kept it close the majority of the game and were in a great position to win it considering how god awful they played.
-I didn't think the loss of Andre Brown would be felt quite so quickly or so strongly. The lack of a veteran RB arguably cost them the game last night, something that I think will be addressed with a signing this week. David Wilson can't pout after this one, he has to just suck it up and move on. The Giants need him too much for him to get emotional. Ignoring the fumbles for a moment, I thought Wilson had really bad vision for most of the night, which was odd. There were a couple of plays where he inexplicably ran into his blockers when there appeared to be a viable hole.
-the O-line looked alright. Certainly not anything approaching great, but they weren't a complete disaster. Eli's ability to move in the pocket (which is one of his more underrated skills) definitely saved them a few sacks though. At this point I have accepted that Brewer is going to just completely whiff on a couple of blocks every game, I hope it just doesn't get Eli killed. Baas needs to get healthy soon so Boothe can move back.
-Hynoski clearly wasn't near 100% and it affected the running game. He simply wasn't playing like himself, to the point that in the second half the Giants ran almost exclusively single back and/or out of the shotgun. Hopefully he gets healthy soon, it would be nice to for the Giants to actually have a running game this year. Only 50 yards on the ground last night, won't cut it going forward.
-the defense actually played rather well, considering the atrocious position they were put in for most of the night by the turnovers. The exception being a few plays when Witten was somehow left without a defender within 5 yards of him and having Herzlich cover Witten in the red zone. I thought Ryan Mundy looked solid most of the night, considering how much hate Steelers' fans were giving him. I'm hoping it is just a mild concussion for Prince, the Giants need him back if they are going to stand even a small chance against the Broncos. Same for Dan Connor, they don't have enough linebackers to be losing guys.
-the complete lack of a pass rush was really distressing. I know, JPP is still knocking off the rust and getting healthy, but even so, there are guys on this team that should be getting in there. I could live with them failing to get immediate pressure on Romo, but it was the plays where he had 5+ seconds without even a hint of pressure that were really bothersome. You can't even get mad at the secondary for breaking down when Romo had time to go to his fourth and fifth reads.
-that was the most visible upset and emotional I've seen Eli in years, maybe ever. His reaction after the final TAINT on the failed screen to Scott was something you just don't usually see from him. Even on the final touchdown drive they had in garbage time, you could still tell how angry he was.
Ugly loss and now they get an insanely hot Broncos team that has extra time to prepare. Fun times!