POSTED: Tuesday September 22nd 2009
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Giants Notebook, September 22, 2009

By Michael Eisen

EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. - The destination is familiar, but the Giants have taken an exciting and unexpected route to get there.

 

Their thrilling 33-31 victory over the Cowboys Sunday night in Dallas gave the Giants a 2-0 record in the young season, with both victories coming over NFC East rivals. Most everyone expected the Giants to be good; they were 2-0 last year and they’ve won 14 of their 18 regular season games since the start of the 2008 season.

 

But these are not your father’s Giants – or at least not Tom Coughlin’s, from what we’ve become accustomed to seeing. Two weeks into the season, the Giants rank sixth in the NFL in total offense. At the conclusion of the 2008 season, they ranked seventh. But the similarity ends there:

 

                        Off (Rank/Yards per Game)               Rushing           Passing

2008                            7 (355.9)                                  1 (157.4)          18 (198.6)

2009                            6 (389.0)                                 22 (100.0)           5 (289.0)       

 

Sunday’s game in Dallas provided a stark example of how the Giants’ offense early this season is different from the 2008 attack. The Giants were out-rushed in Dallas by 154 yards (251-97). According to the Elias Sports Bureau, it was the first time in Giants history they won a game in which they their opponents had at least 154 more rushing yards.

 

But the Giants owned a big 330-127 advantage in passing yards. It was the first time they out-passed their opponents by at least 203 yards since Oct. 12, 2003 at New England, where they had a 215-yard advantage through the air.

 

The team that led the NFL in rushing with 157.4 yards a game last season is not running the ball nearly as effectively as it did. With the offensive line and Brandon Jacobs back, and youth and inexperience at wide receiver, the Giants were expected to power their way to victory again this season. But after two weeks, they’re 22nd in the NFL in rushing. Their yards-per-carry has dropped from a league-best 5.0 in 2008 to 3.5 now, which places them 24th.

 

Jacobs finished 11th in the NFL in 2008 with 1,089 yards, but is now 25th, with 104 yards. His per-carry average has fallen from 5.0 to 3.3.

 

While the rushing attack is still getting up to speed, the Giants have been sensational through air. Eli Manning is fifth in the league with 586 passing yards and his rating of 103.2 ranks sixth. Manning has thrown three touchdown passes, one interception and has been sacked only once.

 

But the biggest difference is in the receiving corps. Steve Smith’s 16 catches tie him with New England’s Randy Moss for first in the NFL. Mario Manningham is tied for ninth with 13 receptions. Last year, the top-ranked Giant was Smith, who was tied for 44th in the league with 57 catches.

 

Smith has 214 receiving yards and Manningham has 208, which places them first and second in the NFC, and tied for second and fourth, respectively, in the NFL. Domenik Hixon led the Giants last year with 596 yards, which left him tied for 59th in the league.

 

The Giants have finished seventh or better in rushing yardage each of the last four seasons. The passing attack has not finished higher than the run game since 2003, the year before Coughlin arrived, when the Giants were 11th in yards via the air (211.4) and 28th on the ground (97.4).

 

The numbers show the Giants are relying more on their air attack this season. But 14 games remain to level them out and give Coughlin the balance he seeks on offense.

 

*The Giants-Cowboys game had eight lead changes, the most in an NFL regular season or postseason game since Sept. 15, 2002, when Buffalo’s 45-39 victory over Minnesota featured nine lead changes. The previous week, Kansas City defeated Cleveland, 40-39, in a game in which the lead changed nine times.

 

Since the 1970 merger, only five NFL games (four regular season, one postseason) have had as many as eight lead changes. Prior to the Kansas City-Cleveland game in 2002, the last such game was Carolina’s victory over Green Bay in Week 4 of the 1999 season (as it was Sunday night, the final score of that game was 33-31). The only other game with at least eight lead changes was Oakland’s 37-31 double overtime victory over Baltimore in a 1977 AFC Divisional Playoff Game.

 

Prior to the game Sunday, the most lead changes in a Giants game since the 1970 merger was six, in Washington’s 23-21 victory on Sept. 14, 1980.

 

*The victory in Dallas was the 125th of Coughlin’s career (117 regular season, eight postseason). That ties him with former New Orleans and Indianapolis coach Jim Mora for 25th on the NFL’s career list. All of Mora’s victories were in the regular season.

 

*Coughlin is now 60-40 in division games, including 20-12 with the Giants. According to the Elias Sports Bureau, he is second in both victories and winning percentage in division games among active coaches (minimum 20 games):

 

 Bill Belichick             57 – 35            .620

 Tom Coughlin            60 - 40             .600

 Jeff Fisher                  62 - 44             .585

 John Fox                    25 - 18             .581

 Lovie Smith               18 - 13             .581

 

*The Cowboys’ 31 points tied for the most a Coughlin-coached team has ever allowed in a victory. The mark was set in the Giants’ 36-31 victory in Philadelphia last Nov. 9.

 

*Lawrence Tynes kicked the game-winning 37-yard field goal as time expired. It was the first time the Giants scored game-winning points with no time left on the clock since Oct. 21, 1990, when Matt Bahr’s 40-yard field goal defeated the Phoenix Cardinals, 20-19.

 

*Tynes leads the NFL with 26 points, five more than Buffalo’s Rian Lindell and New Orleans’ John Carney, who was a Pro Bowler for the Giants last season when Tynes hurt his knee.

 

*Eli Manning threw his 100th career touchdown pass, a 22-yarder to Mario Manningham in the second quarter. He later threw No. 101 to Steve Smith. Manning is the 111th quarterback in NFL history to throw at least 100 touchdown passes. He is the 18th active quarterback to reach that milestone. Eli and Peyton Manning are the first pair of brothers to each throw for 100 touchdowns in their career.

 

*Manning passed for 330 yards, his eighth career 300-yard game. All eight have been when the Giants were the visiting team. Manning is first quarterback in history whose first eight 300-yard passing games all came on the road.

 

*Manning increased his career total to 15,209 yards. He is the fourth Giants quarterback to throw for more than 15,000 yards, joining Phil Simms (33,462), Charlie Conerly (19,488) and Kerry Collins (16,875).

 

*Manning threw 38 passes without getting sacked Sunday night, the most attempts he’s had without being sacked since Sept. 21, 2008 vs. Cincinnati (43).

 

*Manning is 44-29 as the Giants’ starter: 22-15 at home and 22-14 on the road.

 

*Dallas rushed for 251 yards on 29 carries, an 8.7-yard average. The last time the Giants had allowed a rushing average of 8.7 yards or higher with a minimum of 29 carries was Oct. 17, 1948, when the Chicago Cardinals averaged 8.8 yards on 34 attempts.

 

*Cowboys quarterback Tony Romo’s passer rating in the game was 29.6. That’s the lowest rating by an opposing starting quarterback since Brad Johnson – who filled in for the injured Romo when the Cowboys played here last Nov. 2 – posted a 27.3 rating.

 

*The Giants had four fewer first downs (23-19) than Dallas, despite owning a time of possession advantage of more than nine minutes (34:49 to 25:11). That hasn’t happened since Dec. 13, 1997 vs. Washington. The Redskins had 18 first downs to 14 for the Giants, who owned the ball for 34:45 to 24:15 for Washington.

 

*Sunday night’s game, which was televised by NBC, was the most watched “Sunday Night Football” game ever and the most-watched NFL primetime regular season game in 12 years. The Giants’ victory drew 24.8 million viewers, nearly doubling the viewership for the Emmy Awards.

 

The previous record for a “Sunday Night Football” game was 23.1 viewers – also for a Giants-Cowboys game in Dallas, on Dec. 14, 2008.  It was the most viewers for a primetime game since San Francisco and Denver attracted 27.0 million on Dec. 15, 1997.

 

Giants Media Schedule

Wednesday

11:00 a.m.- Tom Coughlin available, TPC Auditorium

11:35 a.m.-1:25 p.m. – Practice

11:15 a.m..- Conference call with Tampa Bay Head Coach Raheem Morris

11:30 a.m. - Conference call with Tampa Bay RB Derrick Ward.

1:40-2:25 p.m.- Player interviews; Eli Manning available

Thursday

11:35 a.m.-1:25 p.m. – Practice

After Practice- Tom Coughlin available in TPC Field House

After Practice- Coordinators available

1:40-2:25 p.m.- Players available

Friday

11:15 a.m.-12:55 p.m. – Practice

After Practice- Tom Coughlin available in TPC Field House

1:15-2 p.m.- Player Interviews

 

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Keywords · New York Giants · NFL · Tampa Bay Buccaneers

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Name: Avis Roper
Organization: New York Giants
Email:
Phone: +1. 201-935-8111
URL: http://www.giants.com/

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