abomb

Giants improve to 9-1 after running all over the Ravens, 30-10
BY RALPH VACCHIANO
DAILY NEWS SPORTS WRITER

Sunday, November 16th 2008, 6:39 PM
Brandon Jacobs was laughing on his way out of the locker room after he had helped steamroll another defense.

Every week, it seems, the Giants are faced with another daunting challenge. Then every week they go out and bully another opponent out of their way.

The Giants have turned the most brutal stretch of their schedule into a cakewalk and they are running away with the division and possibly the conference. Yet the worst news for the rest of the NFL is that after Sunday's dominating, 30-10 win over the Baltimore Ravens at the Meadowlands, the defending Super Bowl champions might just be getting started.

"We're capable of doing anything," Jacobs said. "You might see one of us fly one day, you never know."

The Giants (9-1) certainly are flying high after their fifth straight win inched them closer to locking up the NFC East and securing a first-round bye. The win also ran their home record to 6-0 and earned them their best start since 1990, when they won their first 10 games.

And the Giants did it with power, physically dominating one of the toughest teams in football on both sides of the line of scrimmage. The Giants' "Earth, Wind and Fire" backfield ripped through the NFL's best rushing defense for an amazing 207 yards, while their defense held the Ravens' dangerous running back trio to just 47.

When it was over, Jacobs said, "It could have been a lot worse," and he wasn't kidding. He was held to 73 yards on 11 carries against the Ravens (6-4) "due to technical difficulties" - a knee injury that limited him to two second-half carries. In fact, that was all that stopped the Giants from snapping the Ravens' now 29-game streak of not allowing a running back to break 100 yards (Ahmad Bradshaw led the Giants with 96).

The Ravens were also helped by the fact that the wind (19 mph at kickoff, with gusts up to 30) took some of the air out of the Giants' passing game. Eli Manning (13-for-23, 153 yards) was left to throw mostly short, and the Giants were forced to do most of their damage on the ground. For most teams, against a Ravens defense that was allowing only 65.4 yards per game this season, that would be a problem.

But the Giants were never worried.

"We knew what we were supposed to do," Bradshaw said. "And we knew that no one could stop us from doing it."

The Giants, who now have rushed for 200 yards in three straight games and five games overall this season, started quickly.

On Jacobs' first carry, he bounced off defensive tackle Trevor Pryce and cut left for a 36-yard gain. He also helped stake the Giants to a 13-0 lead by barreling up the middle for two 1-yard touchdown runs.

The Giants had 103 yards rushing in the first 21 minutes. After a 1-yard touchdown pass from Manning to tight end Darcy Johnson, the Giants were on the verge of turning things into a rout. But Manning was picked off by Ray Lewis at the Ravens' 6 with 12 seconds remaining in the first half, keeping Baltimore alive.

Then the Ravens opened the second half with a brilliant drive by rookie quarterback Joe Flacco (20-for-33, 164 yards passing, 57 yards rushing). He was 9-for-9 for 68 yards on the series and rushed twice for 12 yards, setting up a 10-yard touchdown pass to fullback Le'Ron McClain that cut the Giants' lead to 20-10.

But Flacco threw the game away late in the third when he was picked off by Giants cornerback Aaron Ross, who returned his second interception of the game 50 yards for a touchdown. Then, early in the fourth, Bradshaw broke loose for a 77-yard run but was caught from behind by cornerback Fabian Washington at the 2.

The Giants had to settle for Lawrence Tynes' 19-yard field goal, and Tom Coughlin said he was "a little disappointed with that."

There wasn't much disappointment inside his locker room. In fact, some players shook their heads in disbelief at the stat sheets. No team had gone over 100 rushing yards against the Ravens since Week 16 last season.

"It's crazy," said center Shaun O'Hara. "We were definitely talking about getting 100 yards. To get 200, that's the cherry on the top. It's crazy. That doesn't happen in the NFL. That doesn't happen against the Baltimore Ravens."

"I think these guys are truly a great defense," Jacobs said. "They just ran into different kind of monsters here."

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2009 NFL watched: 208 quarters
2009 Playoffs NFL watched: 12 quarters

Russ Smith

Will be an interesting game. We have a chance to make a big statement by playing well against them.

They run the ball very well, but their pass offense has been pretty sporadic this year.

I worry about their pass rush getting to Kurt and shaking him up but really since the Jets game, he's been fantastic.

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Donald

Great. Too bad they will be having to pass to play catchup. They can't stop our air game.

Jacobs doesn't sniff 100 on the ground.

We will win.

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I'm the anti-TNT. I don't do drama.

82CardsGrad

Posted the below in a separate thread, however it seems to fit here as well:


The Giants in many ways represent the toughest challenge we have faced all year, and probably the toughest challenge we will face for the balance of this season - including the playoffs...
They do the one thing that can completely de-rail the Cards quicker than anything else - they control the line of scrimmage on both sides of the ball better than any other team in the NFL.
They clearly have the best o-line and d-line, BY a large margin, over any other team.
Our offense can't be successful if they're not on the field. Check out the Giants running game... They manhandle teams... literally beat them down, game after game... Eli is having a so-so year, but the offense is unstoppable ONLY because of their o-line and running game, which is blowing away the rest of the NFL and averaging 173 yards per game!!!
They're ranked 2nd in the NFL in total defense and 2nd in passing defense, giving up a mere 170 passing yards per game...and have sacked the QB 31 times!

This is when having an effective run game would come in handy... Since we can't run the ball, we will be playing a league-leading defense that will have the luxury of pinning their ears back and beating down Kurt Warner...
They won't even need to blitz to do it. They're that effective upfront...

Oh - and this little issue of STUPID PENALTIES can't be ignored... Against the Giants, should we continue to commit penalties at our league-leading rate, fuggetaboutit!!! This game could quickly turn into a disaster..

To say that this is a huge test would be a huge understatement. If we can somehow beat the Giants by exploiting what we do best - ball control offense via the passing game... it will send an incredible message to the rest of the league. And frankly, at that point anything becomes possible and a post-season of more than just one win becomes worthy of discussion...

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:82:

Mulli

If the Cards employ the Frank Gore gameplan, I think they can at least hold the Giants to a respectable amount of run yardage. Tackling will be key!

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dreamcastrocks

Cards need to not defer and to take the ball first if we win the toss. Get up early. Make Eli beat us.

It is ironic that I would rather rely on our banged up secondary than our front 7.

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DCR loves DRC

Shane H

We need a vbookie abomb on whether or not they do it this week.

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“They said the road comes through Seattle. We came through here and took care of business.” Anquan Boldin

abomb

I wish I wasnt Debbie Downer, but the Giants surrender the league's second-best passing yards agaisnt at 174.8 per game.

The Cards are #2 for at 305.8 per game, so they have that going for them.

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2009 NFL watched: 208 quarters
2009 Playoffs NFL watched: 12 quarters

Mulli

Dallas' offense lead the world in everything...until the beatdown in the Toaster!

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Donald

Take a look at the passing attacks of the teams they played.

Stop quaking in fear at the freaking Giants.

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I'm the anti-TNT. I don't do drama.

Mulli

Cards beat the Giants in the Toaster last year right?

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abomb

OK, OK, maybe you ARE onto something and not ON something.

http://www.pro-football-reference.co...s/nyg/2008.htm

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2009 NFL watched: 208 quarters
2009 Playoffs NFL watched: 12 quarters

Donald

moklerman in another thread broke it down:

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I'm the anti-TNT. I don't do drama.

Treefiddy

Team (passing offense rank)
Washington (20)
St. Louis (28)
Cincinnati (30)
Seattle (31)
Cleveland (27)
San Francisco (17)
Pittsburgh (18)
Dallas (10) - Played in the Brad Johnson era
Philadelphia (4)
Baltimore (29)

I can see why they would be ranked so well against the pass.

Edit: Donald beat me to it, but the point is the same.

Donald

Not to mention that the browns put up more than 300 on them, and the Bengals came close.

The browns beat them, and the bengals took them to OT.

__________________
I'm the anti-TNT. I don't do drama.