This was one of those victories that you can chalk up as ugly. The Giants prevailed in the game 16 - 10, however the offense gave the Lions way too many chances, and in a big game against a good team (like we saw a week ago against the Cowboys), the better teams will take advantage of those mistakes and make you pay.
Twice, deep in Lions territory with the Giants ready to strike for some points, the offense put the ball on the ground, giving the Lions explosive offense a chance to get right back into it. Mistakes, that fortunately for Big Blue, did not hurt them.
In the post game press conference, Manning says, "I think we're doing a good job finding ways to win. It comes in different forms and different ways. But we stick together and guys stepped up at the right time. We had some big plays today. We still have things we can fix. But we're finding ways to win, and that's what's important."
The reason it didn't hurt them is that the Giants defense, unlike a week ago, came up huge, including two enormous turnovers near the end of the game, when the offense couldn't seem to move the ball an inch.
Anchored by the veteran Michael Strahan, who looks like he is 10 years younger, and on his way to yet another pro bowl, the defense was stellar. They limited the Lions to 10 points, 7 of which came in the last 6 minutes of the ball game. With no help from their offense, the Giants defense had to play well and create turnovers, which turned out to be the key to the game.
Michael Strahan said, "Hopefully, we can get another run going. Today was just the start of that. When you play a team that's 6-3,
and to win - trust me, you can't beat that. It's a great thing."
A big game indeed, however, as shown before, the Giants have no trouble beating the lower tier teams in the NFL. Even though the defense played great, it did leave a huge question, where in the world was Osi Umenyiora. In a game where he could have really shined, he was nonexistent.
According to Umenyiora, "We know we had to win this game. It was in the NFC and Detroit was playing very well. Most importantly, everybody's been saying we're struggling in the second half, so we needed to come back and win this football game."
However not all was chipper on the defensive side of the ball as Kiwianuka went down with what looks like a season ending injury. A loss that will surely hurt the defense's pass rush. Along with that, running back Brandon Jacobs hobbled off the field. According to Giants.com, "Kiwanuka fractured his fibula in the first quarter and Jacobs hurt his hamstring in the third. Kiwanuka is likely out for the season, while Jacobs' status will be updated this week. "
There is no question this is a huge win for the Giants, but there is also no question, that this team, in order to have any chance at beating an upper echelon team, is going to have to put a complete game together, to be taken seriously.
Michael C. Podlesny is the co-host of the Big Blue Review, a weekly podcast featuring the latest news on The New York Giants. The podcast can be downloaded from Michael's blog at http://bigbluereviewpodcast.blogspot.com/
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