Giants Defeat Redskins in Home Opener: The Giants began the defense of their NFL title with a 16-7 victory over the division rival Washington Redskins earlier this evening at the Meadowlands.
All the scoring for both teams occurred in the first half; neither team scored a single point in the final two quarters.
The Giants’ defense held the Redskins’ offense to 7 points, 11 first downs, 84 net yards rushing, and 125 net yards passing.
The Giants’ offense struggled at times, but did score on its first four possessions of the game.
“We wanted to start fast, we did start fast, we weren’t as productive as we would have liked to be in the green zone,” said Head Coach Tom Coughlin. “As I told the players, we have objectives: we wanted to rush the ball more, we were trying like heck not to have the penalties that we had, I am disappointed in the seven penalties, but we knew that this is a work in progress and the key thing was that the next play was the most important play.”
“Our defense played well,” said Coughlin. “Our defense kept the opponent out of the end zone. We gave them bad field position, or gave ourselves bad field position on kickoff coverage a couple of times, which hurt us. Their only score came off starting a drive at midfield. We definitely have a lot of work to do. There are a lot of things that we can clean up on that are just a little bit off that are going to have to be improved on going forward. The key thing is we opened at home, we won at home, and that is a nice way to start.”
The Giants received the ball first to start the game and drove 84 yards in 11 plays to take a 7-0 lead. The key plays on the drive were a pass from QB Eli Manning to WR Steve Smith for 8 yards on 3rd-and-7, a 30-yard pass to WR Plaxico Burress, a 19-yard pass to Burress, and an 11-yard pass to Burress on 3rd-and-6. Manning finished the drive with a 1-yard run for the touchdown.
The Redskins went three-and-out on their first drive with DE/DT Justin Tuck sacking QB Jason Campbell on the first play for an 8-yard loss. It was New York’s only sack of the game however.
The Giants went up 10-0 on their next possession as New York drove 45 yards in 9 plays to set up a 24-yard field goal by PK John Carney. HB Derrick Ward picked up five yards on a 3rd-and-3 run and HB Brandon Jacobs ripped off a 17-yard gain on a play where he ran over Redskins’ safety LaRon Landry.
The Redskins only managed 17 yards on their next drive before punting again. The Giants then put together another scoring drive by driving 62 yards in 11 plays. Manning hit WR Sinorice Moss for 23 yards on 3rd-and-7. He found Burress for a 16-yard gain. But the drive stalled at the 6-yard line and the Giants settled for another field goal, taking a 13-0 lead.
The Redskins went three-and-out again. The Giants scored their final points of the game by moving the ball 57-yards in 11 plays, setting up a 47-yard field goal. Manning found WR Amani Toomer for 6 yards on 3rd-and-3 and Jacobs broke off a 24-yard run. Giants 16 – Redskins 0.
The Redskins scored their only points of the game on the ensuing drive. The score was set up by a 50-yard kickoff return to the Giants’ 45-yard line. Six plays later, on 3rd-and-11, Campbell found WR Santana Moss for a 12-yard touchdown. Giants 16 – Redskins 7.
Both teams experienced offensive frustration in the second half. The Redskins’ first four drives ended in punts. Their fifth drive ended on downs after gaining 58 yards when an 11-yard reception came up short on 4th-and-13. Washington’s last drive ended at New York’s 32-yard line as time expired.
“We did a lot of great things tonight,” said Tuck, who finished with 6 tackles and 1 sack. “But you have to remember that it is still the first game and we have to go back and watch a lot of film. I think we held them to under 100 yards rushing. We did a good job of keeping them out of the end zone except for that one breakdown at the end of the first half. Barry (Cofield) and Fred (Robbins) did a great job tonight. That is one of the things that we wanted to do tonight is take away their run game. We felt that they would try to run to take pressure off their quarterback. We kept their running game at bay tonight. They hit us with a couple of draws but for the most part we took them out of what they wanted to do.”
“The only thing that was disappointing about the game was the way we ended the second half,” said LB Antonio Pierce, who finished with 3 tackles. “Obviously they got pretty good field position. But we need to find a way to make a stop down there. Obviously as a defense you want to dictate and in the first half we did a very good job. We were successful on first and third downs, but as the game went on they started to pop a couple. But overall they found a couple of plays that worked for them. Anytime when you are home and you only allow seven points, the defense is doing a pretty good job. That is championship defense.”
As for the Giants, they could manage little in the second half as well. There were four punts and an interception.
Manning finished the game 19-of-35 for 216 yards, 0 touchdowns, and 1 interception. He did rush for one touchdown. Jacobs ran for 116 yards on 21 carries. Burress had 10 catches for 133 yards.
“We picked up where we left off from last year,” said Ward, who finished with 39 yards on 9 carries. “Brandon (Jacobs) ran his butt off tonight. The offensive line was tremendous with blocking up front tonight. The offensive line also did a good job with pass protection. They might have gotten some sacks but for the most part Eli and Plax were very hard to stop. We just have to continue to improve each game, each week. I’m not sure how the rotation is going to go all year with Brandon and myself, but it definitely worked tonight and don’t forget we are going to incorporate Ahmad (Bradshaw) in the running attack also.”
“We went out there tonight and basically did what we wanted to do,” said LT David Diehl. “And we controlled the ball and time of possession. I felt we controlled the line of scrimmage and kept the ball moving. Field goals are nice but we want to walk away with touchdowns and I felt like we left a couple on the field tonight. When you get down there in the green zone you want to be successful with touchdowns but it really didn’t affect us tonight. We were still able to come away with a win, but down the road those are the things that are going to make or break you in the long run. And that is the difference between winning and losing. We are happy with the win and everything, but are we complacent? Without a doubt, no. We need to get better. We are going to learn from this. We are going to move forward and we are going to be a stronger team after playing this first game. We are going to come to work next week and get ready for the Rams.”
Injury Report: DE Mathias Kiwanuka suffered an ankle injury on the last play of the game. Head Coach Tom Coughlin said he did not know the severity of the injury. Kiwanuka said he would be fine.
Post-Game Notes: Inactive for the Giants were HB Reuben Droughns, WR Mario Manningham, OT Adam Koets, DE Dave Tollefson, LB Jonathan Goff (back), CB Sam Madison, CB Terrell Thomas (hamstring), and PK Lawrence Tynes (knee).
Giants and Plaxico Burress Agree to New Deal: The much anticipated new contract for WR Plaxico Burress was finally completed yesterday before the start of the 2008 NFL season. The deal is reportedly a 5-year, $35 million contract that includes $11 million in guaranteed money, all of which will be paid this year. Burress is now under contract through the 2012 season, when he will turn 35 years old.
“It’s a deal that worked out well for Plax and for the Giants, so we’re happy with it,” said Burress’ agent. “We wouldn’t stop working on it and we took it to the wire, but both sides wanted it done before tonight so we made it happen.”
“We always remained hopeful that it would get done before the season started,” said General Manager Jerry Reese. “It came down to the last few minutes and we’re happy to get it done so we can move forward in our season. Plax is happy to get the contract done as well. It took a little longer than we expected it to take, but Plax was professional about it the whole time. We’re excited and happy that it’s over and we’re ready to move forward into this new season.”
“Plax has been an outstanding player for us,” Reese said. “We basically kind of approached each other about this contract. We felt like something should be done with the contract. We put our heads together and made it make sense for him and made it make sense for the New York Giants as well. He is a big-play threat for us on the field. Plax opens things up for other people and he obviously can make big plays himself. Eli has all of his weapons intact and we expect them to pick up where they left off last season.”