Good news regarding Eli Manning
According to Eli Manning on ESPN radio, the tests on his chest revealed no damage from the injury he suffered on Monday night. He said he will be at practice today, but we’ll see how much he does.
Manning stumbles as Giants are handed first loss
Eli Manning spent the game throwing off balance and into traffic, with a final result being three interceptions, one of which was brought back for a touchdown. Manning, who had been as good as it gets at the quarterback position up to this game, threw his first interceptions since week one against the Washington Redskins.
The Giants were not out of reach, and they were only down by two scores when Manning threw the interception that was returned for a touchdown. Manning, who was slammed to the turf by the 350 pound, possibly heavier-than-listed, Shaun Rogers, in the second quarter, hurt his chest but continued to play without letting the public know that he was hurt. Nobody knew Eli was hurt until the news broke out after the game. Head coach Tom Coughlin said that his chest was bothering him after the game, but also said that until tests results are returned, he will not know how long Manning will be out.
The defense also struggled, and Braylon Edwards kept catching footballs thrown his way. He caught a touchdown and a two-point conversion score. Both times, he dunked the ball over the goalpost following the score. It seemed that the Browns were always able to get themselves into position for a manageable third down situation. Instead of going for that deep pass early in the drive, they would accumulate small chunks of yardage at a time to make a third down situation much easier on them. It worked, and they kept getting first downs until they found themselves in the red zone.
The 4-1, first place Giants will face the San Francisco 49ers next week at home for the second consecutive season. I remember very clearly when Antonio Pierce’s interception was nearly returned for a touchdown until the slow and weak quarterback somehow dragged him down. The defensive players rattled Pierce about that for weeks, and everyone got a kick out of it.
Monday Night Football: Giants @ Browns
In this week’s Monday Night Football matchup against the Browns, the Giants hope to build onto their streak of 12 consecutive road wins, with the last time they lost on the road being week 1 of 2007 at Dallas. The team’s 4-0 start, helped by the momentum of their recent postseason success, has put them on top of the NFC East. 
A win tonight would give the Giants some separation from the rest of their rivals in the division. Dallas, who appears to be diminishing, lost not only to the Cardinals yesterday, but their quarterback too. Tony Romo went down with a broken pinkie at the very end of the game, and reports say the injury could last up to four weeks. With everything falling apart, I saw Terrell Owens screaming his lungs out at a fellow teammate in the first half of yesterday’s game. That won’t help them win games.
The Washington Redskins surprisingly handed the Rams their first win of the season yesterday. Despite the solid 18 completions out of 26 attempts and no inteception performance from quarterback Jason Campbell, the Redskins fell short to the Rams, 19-17. The loss kept the ‘Skins lined up with the ‘Boys for second place in the divison.
It is either a brutal killing of their opponent or an ugly loss, it seems, for the Eagles. This time, it was a brutal killing of their opponent. San Francisco proved to be no match for the Eagles yesterday, who are now 3-3. The Eagles won, 40-26, behind four David Akers field goals and a Juqua Parker 55-yard interception return for a touchdown.
Now, it is up to the Giants to stay with the Titans as the only undefeated teams remaining in the NFL. The red-hot Eli Manning-led offense will power its way with Jacobs and Ward, juke its way with Bradshaw, and jump over anything in its path with Burress. The defense should look to stop Jamal Lewis, since the passing game for the Browns will likely be nonexistant. The Giants are second in the league in passing yards allowed, which is very good.
Plaxico Burress returns from his two week suspension due to accumulating problems that included missing meetings. He still is not sorry for it, because he claims he was dropping his son off at school. He also has explained to the press that he has moved on from that suspension and looks to do some damage in Cleveland this weekend.
A former Packers player, Corey Williams, is on the Browns. He decided to spit some bulletin board material out of his mouth this past week regarding the bruising Giants running back, Brandon Jacobs:
"There ain’t nothing physical about them. We were hitting [Jacobs], and he was slowing it down. He left the game. They let the Bradshaw kid come in. He’s really the one who killed us."
Williams also said that he is going to try to knock Jacobs’ head off. We’ll see how that turns out. Sorry, Corey, but I don’t think you should be messing with Brandon Jacobs. He just might flatten your body in the pre-game. Here is what Jacobs had to say in response:
"I really enjoy that, more than anything, because that lets me know that they are thinking and some of them are shaking. It gives me a little joy."
It should be a fun game to watch!
Manny to Mets talk…..AGAINNN
Talk regarding Manny Ramirez coming to the Mets has been swirling around Shea yet again. Just a couple seasons after Manny was taken out of the lineup in Boston because he was so close to going to New York, only to find out the deal collapsed, is being rumored to sign with the Mets when he becomes a free-agent after this season.
This is a nice idea for the Mets, but before anyone gets too excited, they need to take care of the bullpen first and foremost. Aaron Heilman and Scott Schoeneweis need to walk the plank first. Those two have caused the fans to have nightmares, sleepless nights, and visions of horror. Next, they need to open up their wallets to fix the bullpen as soon as the World Series is over.
Giants slam Seattle to improve to 4-0
As the doubters continued to criticize the Giants, they continued to answer back. Doing what they have done since the wild card playoff game last season, the Giants came out on top.
The critics made sure to point out that the Giants weren’t going to be able to pull off a win this week because of the absense of their number one receiver, Plaxico Burress. They made sure to point out that they wouldn’t be able to win because their record in games following the bye weeks in recent history is horrendous. However, the Giants made sure not to listen to any of that.
Domenik Hixon, who was filling in for the suspended Burress, was going to score a touchdown in the first half, predicted FOX analyst and former Giant, Michael Strahan. Strahan was, indeed, correct. Hixon scored a touchdown in the first quarter on a bomb thrown down the field by quarterback Eli Manning. Later in the game, Hixon left the game with a concussion when he was hit helmet-to-helmet.
Brandon Jacobs flattened the Seahawks’ defense, thanks to the offensive line. Jacobs ran nearly 30 yards untouched on multiple occasions, as he ended with 136 yards on the day. Eli Manning had a great day at the helm, and as the game progressed, he did better and better. He threw for 267 yards, and went 19-27, without any interceptions and two touchdowns. This is the best Eli we have ever seen, especially with only one interception thus far (and that was all the way back in week 1). The giants put David Carr in for the fourth quarter to prevent any injury to Eli Manning, since the game was already too far out of reach for Seattle.
This game never seems to go well for the visiting team. The Giants have lost each time they have played Seattle in recent history, while Seattle was crushed this time around when they were the visiting team.
The undefeated Giants will head to Cleveland to take on the Browns next week in a Monday Night match up. The only other undefeated team remaining, the Titans, won on a comeback drive by former Giant Kerry Collins.