Sorry this is so late.

No Michael Vick. No Jeremy Maclin. No problem.

This was a game we saw in 2006 and 2002 and 2000. Key players were missing, but that didn’t matter. The rest of the team picked their game up and the backups took advantage of the playing time. Vince Young had his best game as an Eagle (not real hard) and so did Riley Cooper. Ditto that for Steve Smith.

The real story in this game is the LOS. The OL kept the Giants in check, limiting the greatest collection of pass rushers ever assembled (Don’t believe me? Just ask Osi) to a mere 1 sack. That was actually a coverage sack and it was the only time they hit VY all night long. Jason Peters made Osi a complete non-factor. About that raise…

The Eagles DL came in quiet, but boy did they make their presence known on Sunday night. The boys sacked Eli 3 times and hit him 10 others. There were some big hits on Peyton’s little bro. The DL also played the run quite well. The Giants ran 17 times for 29 yards. The long run of the night went for 9 yards. To be fair, Ahmad Bradshaw was missing and Brandon Jacobs somehow thinks that his Statue of Liberty impression is good football.

We won the LOS and it wasn’t even close. The players get credit. The coaches helped by doing some good things schematically. The Giants did shut down our run game for most of the night. Take away the final drive and we had just 28 carries for 73 yards. The Giants did that by playing a lot of 8-man fronts and taking away cutback lanes from Shady.

I know a lot of fans were mad at Andy/Marty on Sunday night for not running more. The Giants were really daring us to throw by loading up the LOS. I think that using the short passing game like we did was a solid counter. The Giants LBs were the glaring weakness on the field (I thought we had the worst LBs?) and we attacked them with crossing routes and short passes to Celek over the middle.

The coaches never gave up on the run. Shady finished with 23 carries. I would have mixed in some more carries for Ronnie Brown, but this is still different than the old days. The 5-Qtr debacle vs Cincy in 2008 featured a total of 18 runs (15 by RBs). We continued to mix in the run all night, but the short passing game was moving the chains so it was wise to focus on that. I love the fact that we fed the ball to Shady on the late TD drive. He had 7 touches. They knew he was the key and they had him run right, left, and up the middle. They also lined him up at WR and threw a quick screen to him. Give Marty credit for feeding his star player, but being creative about it.

We really won this game. We made the only big STs play of the night (DeSean’s long PR). The Giants offense had a scoring drive late in the 1st half and early in the 4th Qtr. That’s it. Our offense had 3 scoring drives and another time got into the Red Zone before turning it over. Our defense covered better, hit harder, and just had a better overall night. Quality win.

OFFENSE

* 9 of 17 on 3rd downs. Got all 6 on final drive so that does skew things.

* 2 of 5 in the RZ, but final possession was a kneel down. Really 2 of 4.

* Good gameplan by Marty. We had some bad luck on the opening drive. Bad OPI call killed a promising drive.

* Field position was tough. We had 4 drives start inside our own 11-yard line. We did start one in RZ after the long PR.

* Great play call to use Ghost Reverse on run play when backed up. Caused backside DE to hesitate and let the blockers do their job. Gain of 12 moved us away from the endzone.

* TD pass to Smith. Giants were confused on the play. Smith was able to run a drag route and come wide open. Vince got good blocking and had an easy throw to make. TD.

* A lot of people have pointed out that Chad Hall was wide open in the endzone on the play where Vick was picked off when he forced the ball to Cooper. Not totally true. The DB on Hall took off when Vince made the throw. Had Vince eyed Hall, the DB wouldn’t have left him open. A pump fake to Riley would have worked perfectly and led to an easy TD to Hall.

YOUNG — Good game, with a great finish. 23-36-258. 2 TDs, 3 INTs. Break his numbers down by half and he was:

1st half: 8-18-89, TD, 2 INTs, 38.7 rating

2nd half: 15-18-169, TD, INT, 103.2 rating

I admit to being scared after the first play. Vince short hopped Shady with a pass when Shady was just a few yards away. Luckily, that was just jitters. For a moment I thought we might be in for a disastrous evening. Young hit Celek over the middle on initial 3rd down play and that helped me relax. Easy pass/catch, easy 1st down.

Vince was slow to get going. Early on he seemed to think that being open meant a player had a pulse and was on the field. I thought he was doing his Matt McGloin impression with the way he threw into coverage. To be fair, Vince hadn’t played much and it took a while for the rust to wear off. Once it did, he played well. He was incredibly clutch on the late TD drive.

-Misc-

* Underthrew DJax on go route on 2nd drive. That pass was picked off. NBC did a great job of showing the poor footwork by Vince. He needed to throw earlier, but also to plant and really stride into the throw.

* Vince and Riley Cooper weren’t on the same page for a while.

* First big pass play was a 3rd/10 throw to DeSean for 32 yds. Ball was underthrown, but catchable.

* Way off target on early fade to Cooper.

* INT to Harbor. DB made early contact, but the throw was late. Vince needed to anticipate that and get the ball out quicker…or go elsewhere.

* Made pretty good throw to DJax on 50-yd bomb that got wiped out.

* Flushed from pocket to open the 3rd. Semi-flipped/tossed the ball to Riley for a gain of 23. That got Vince and Riley going.

* Hit Riley with a fade in the mid-3rd for gain of 19.

* Best throw of the night was deep cross to DJax for 29. Decisive, accurate.

* Winked after 3rd down pass to Todd at 1:05 of 3rd Q. Good wink. “I’m the man, no need to worry” kind of wink.

TD Drive, aka The Meadowlands March

* Hit Riley for 18 on 3rd/10. Good blocking. Riley found hole in the zone.

* Great job on QB sneak. Didn’t have it at first, but worked his way for the yard.

* Made a bad read on QB draw. Should have stayed up the middle instead of cutting wide. Had room to run. Still got 3 yards.

* Good pass to DeSean in the right flat for late 1st down.

* Final play. Used motion. That told us it was zone. Motion guy took CB wide, left Riley on LB/S. Vince made the right read and a good throw.

SCHMITT — Quiet game. Had one pass thrown his way. We didn’t use the I-formation much.

MCCOY — Good game even though his numbers weren’t sky high. 23-113. Had runs of 7 and 60 yards on the final drive. Before that was just 21-46. It was important that we kept feeding him so that it would affect the LBs and DL and help us with the short passing game. And while the early numbers weren’t impressive, Shady had to fight hard for those yards. As Eagles blogger Brian Solomon pointed out on Twitter, Shady must lead the league in “getting back to the LOS”. So true. He’s made a lot of guys miss in the backfield. Best 1st half run was one that started left. Shady tried to cutback, but had no room so he completely reversed field and went all the way wide to the right. Got 13. Had a good run on the final drive. Didn’t look left or right, but ran hard up the middle for 7 yds. Came alive on the final drive of the game. Ran smart. Got the ball and ran hard, knowing if he hit a hole he could break a big run. That was no time to dance or use moves. Sure enough, he found a hole for 7 and then one for 60. Game over.

Better job of pass pro than last week. Had a couple of good blocks, including a key one on the final drive.

BROWN — Ran up the middle on trap play on late TD drive. Got 6 yds on 3rd/3.

D. LEWIS — Tried to catch the Giants off guard by running him up the middle. Dion had room to the right side, but tried to cut it upfield early and was stuffed for no gain. Bad read by him.

DJAX — Finished the game 6-88. Made some key plays. First catch was for short pass along sideline. Just tossed the ball to the ref. Target on deep pass on 2nd drive. Ball underthrown and picked off. Next series DeSean came open after a couple of seconds, but Vince had quit looking downfield or we’d have had an easy TD. Went down for pass on 3rd/10. Gain of 32 with sliding catch. Hit his knee, head and went to locker room to be checked out. Got 9 yds on drag route.

Two plays stood out. First, the bad news. Ran by the Giants CB in the 1st half and caught a deep ball. 50 yd gain. Flipped the ball at a Giants coach and was flagged for taunting. Due to a penalty on the Giants and a bad rules fluke, that wiped out the play. Do over. I’ve written a lot about this. No need to re-hash all of it. Dumb by DeSean. Terrible set of rules by the NFL. We overcame it, but that is the kind of dumb mistake that has plagued us this year.

Made a huge play on the Meadowlands March. Caught a 3rd down pass short of the sticks. Used a stiff arm to keep the CB off his body and then got up the field for a gain of 10. That set up 1st/GL and the winning score. Great effort and focus on that play. DeSean…give us more of that, please.

COOPER — Best game of his young Eagles career. 5-75 with a TD. Targeted 12 times. He and VY were not close to being on the same page early on. I’m not sure who to fault – the veteran QB who is new to the offense or the young WR who’s been here almost 2 years. Doesn’t make a huge difference since they did start to click in the 2nd half. Called for completely bogus OPI penalty on opening drive. One CB engaged Riley and the other guy hit him from the side. Riley was supposed to pick the inside CB, but never got a clean release from the guy covering him. OPI should be called when the WR is free and runs into the inside DB. That didn’t happen in this case. Terrible call. Best catch was a fade along the left sideline where Riley had to make a tough grab with a CB all over him. Ran a simple route on the go-ahead TD, but got open and held onto the ball. (Pay attention, Maclin!)

AVANT — Very good block of DB on Hall’s first run. Locked on and moved the guy backward. Chad ran right to that area. Quiet day as receiver. Just 1 grab for 13 yds, but what a catch it was. Made a phenomenal catch on final TD drive. Literally caught the ball with his fingertips. Held on for dear life and then brought it up into his body. Amazing concentration. I bet Derek Landi has been working with him on making tough grabs. Key play because it turned 2nd/16 to 3rd/3.

SMITH — Quieter day than I expected. Caught 1 pass – 11 yd TD. Played about as much as Chad Hall.

HALL — No catches. Ran twice for 11 yds. I liked the fact we mixed in Chad as a runner. It wasn’t significant, but anything you can do to keep the Giants off balance is a good thing, especially if it gets you 4 or more yards. Low risk, reasonable reward.

CELEK — Good game. Was targeted 6 times and had 6-60. That’s efficient. Caught pass on early 3rd down and moved chains. Caught another 3rd down pass on the drive, but this was a dump-off and Brent was tackled quickly. That led to a punt. Good “block” on cutback by Shady. Got in Tuck’s way and slowed him down, but didn’t really engage him. Brent seemed nervous about drawing some kind of holding penalty so he just blocked very casually. It worked. Came up a foot short on 3rd down in the early 4th. Caught screen for short gain. Had some good blocks in the run and pass game.

HARBOR — Ran a pick play for Harbor on final TD drive. He was open and made the catch for a 1st down. Got 13 yards on 3rd/short. Clay was primary target on that play and came threw in the clutch. Good block on late run. Helped on DE, then peeled off to get DB. Smart. Solid day as a blocker.

* Used 7 man protection on some 3rd/long situations. OL + TE, RB. Had the skill guys release if not needed.

* I didn’t list every good pass block. The interior guys had a good day in terms of pass protection.

PETERS — Great game. Dominated the DEs he faced. Great day in pass pro and very good as run blocker. Really a special player. Looked like he was coming close to false starting a few times…got going so quickly. There was a play in the late 1st Q when Jason was a step into pass pro and the other 4 OL are still in their stances. He’s quick, but I think Jason was anticipating the snap count just like a DL. Actually blocked 3 Giants on draw play. Shoved DE up the field to create running space. Then hit Kiwi and Herzlich. Good down block of DT on run play out of endzone. Gave Shady running room up the middle. Great block of Kiwi on Shady’s 12 yd run gave him room at the second level. Got us into safe territory. Had a great run block late in the game. Left the LT spot and in a couple of steps was blocking a LB just up from the RT area. Freak.

MATHIS — Whiffed on 3rd/1 block. Went by his DT to get a LB. Problem. DT got TFL. Looked like blown assignment by Evan. Was very quick off the ball on run plays. Really fired out to get LBs. Excellent seal block of DT gave Shady running room for a gain of 12. Moved us away from endzone. Poor block of Canty on run play led to TFL of Shady.

KELCE — Lost control of DT on run play and Shady had to use a magical move to get back to the LOS. Got upfield to LB on Hall run up the middle, but couldn’t control the LB and he made the tackle. Good block of Canty on VY’s deep ball from the endzone. Clean pocket. Had a good block on final drive that kept DT off Shady and let him get loose.

D WATKINS — Put Kiwi on the ground with block on 3rd/long. Had good initial block of Bernard on pass play, but the DT started to get by him. Danny might have gotten away with holding. Came on a play where Vince was picked off, so it didn’t matter. Picked up blitzer on VY’s deep ball from the endzone. Got beat by Tuck in pass pro to open 3rd Q. Vince was able to escape easily and got the ball to a a WR. Tuck beat him again in the mid-3rd. Danny kept hands on him to ride Tuck as wide as he could and Vince had time to make a good throw.

HERREMANS — Not a lockdown blocker. Wasn’t dominating guys like Jason. Todd rides them wide. That works, most of the time. Had false start penalty on opening drive. Blitzer came running up and caused Todd to rock in his stance. Good block of Tuck on Hall’s first run. Moved Justin off the ball, gave Chad the edge. Very good block of Bernard on Shady run. Stayed on the block and that gave Shady cutback room. Got beat by JPP in the late 3rd. I watched the play a few times. Didn’t look like Todd held him, but came close. Vince had enough time to step up in the pocket and get the pass off. Excellent trap block for Ronnie on late TD drive sprung him up the middle.

J JACKSON — Played a snap at LG. Controlled his DT on the play.

______________________________________________

DEFENSE

* Mixed in a lot of 8 man fronts in running situations.

* There was a blown coverage on the 2nd play. TE wide open, but luckily dropped the ball. Looked like Chaney was at fault.

* Game got very chippy in the 1st Qtr. Laws hit Eli with a cheapshot and that set off one situation. Kurt Coleman was involved in another scrap. Then after a couple of run plays Kurt had shoving matches with different players.

* Play of the game happened in the early 4th. Giants ran up the middle. Rolle and Landri tackled the RB together. If only I was there, we could have taken a family photo.

* Victor Cruz is some kind of Eagles kryptonite. That’s all there is to it.

* 3rd/3 on final drive. We blitzed Hanson from slot. No one picked up his guy, Cruz. Looked like Chaney should have been that guy. Chaney was giving signals to other defenders at the snap and was late. Nate came up to make the tackle, but Cruz got by him. Huge gain put them down in scoring territory.

COLE — Good game. Had 4 tackles. Didn’t have a sack, but was disruptive at times. Played LDE in several situations as the coaches got creative. Dealt with a lot of extra blockers while at RDE. Crashed hard inside on first play to get Jacobs for short gain. Looked like the LT tackled him on 3rd/long, but there was no call. Helped Patt tackled Jacobs on run up the middle. Jumped offside in the early 3rd. Drove the RT into the backfield on 3rd down just after halftime. Looked like RT grabbed him. Flag was thrown, but then the ref said “no foul”. Weird. Very weird. Drove the LT back into Eli and forced him to throw the ball off target.

PARKER — Got 1/2 sack in late 1st. Tapp drove Eli to him and they both shared the sack. Got a hit on Eli in the early 3rd. Used hands to get off block. Hit Eli’s arm as he threw and the ball was a duck. Followed through by helping Tapp sling Eli to the ground. Exploded off the ball and beat RT to pressure Eli on the final drive. Exploded off the ball on another play and drove the RT into the backfield. Was almost like JP knew the snap count.

PATTERSON — Good game. Had 5 tackle and 1/2 a sack. Solid vs the run. Sometimes was in the backfield, other times flowed along the LOS to the ball. Shared 1/2 sack with Cujo in the mid-2nd. Jenkins got the real penetration, but Patt was right there when Eli tried to move up in the pocket. Blew up a trap play with penetration and then got around trapping G to make the stop. Got pressure late in the half on a play where Jenkins flushed Eli from his spot. Got a TFL in the early 3rd. Fought off RG and RT to get into backfield and stood up Jacobs for loss of 1. Blew up a draw play in the late 3rd. Drove the LG back, shed him, and stuffed Jacobs for no gain. Got the best of Snee on pass play in the late 3rd. Got by him and Snee then held. No call.

JENKINS — Great game. Disruptive all game long. Got held on run play in the late 1st when he tried to get free inside. LT grabbed him long enough to draw the flag. Got to be RDE on 3rd down play where Babin moved to DT. Got by double team and got late pressure on Eli on deep ball in early 2nd Q. Got pressure on pass play in early 2nd. Eli dumped ball to RB. Finished off BJ on 3rd/1 run stuff. Jordan, Coleman were already on the case, but Cujo sealed the deal with a big hit. Got 1/2 sack in the mid-2nd. Beat Snee off the ball and got right by him. Snee actually held on the play, but couldn’t stop him. Used a spin move to beat the LG and combine with Babin to put a big hit on Eli. Cujo went low, Babin high. Lined up at RDE on the next snap. TE chipped Jenkins. He then used a spin move to get to the inside of the LT and hit Eli as he threw a pass way out of bounds. Had the hit of the game late in the 1st half. Rushed the passer and was blocked deep, behind Eli. Saw the play going on and hustled in pursuit. Chaney missed tackle of Ware. Cujo came running in at full speed and unloaded on Ware, putting him down hard. Clean. Ware suffered a concussion and was done for the night. Great hustle, powerful hit. Fought off double team and tackled Jacobs on run play in the early 3rd. Hit Eli on the final drive and drew an intentional grounding penalty.

BABIN — Good game. Finished with 3 tackles, sack, and FF. The strip sack clinched the game for us so it was more than just a stat. Huge play. More on that later. Used good inside move on first 3rd down play. Appeared to get held, but got no call. Eli threw off balance and incomplete. Lined up at RDT on 3rd/11. Used hard inside move to loop around C and free up the middle. Forced Eli to throw the ball early and incomplete. Got a hit on Eli late in the half. Cujo came up the middle and hit Eli low, while Jason came off the edge and got him up high. Big shot by both guy. Lined up at RDE late in the half and looped inside on pass. Got small hit on Eli as he dumped the ball off. Fought off block of RT and hit Eli on 3rd down pass play late in the 3rd Q. Might have hit him low. If so, lucky non-call by refs. They didn’t show a good replay. Used an inside spin move on play in the early 4th. Jason lost contain and Eli was able to get wide and buy time until Nicks got open. That led to big gain. Dangers of the spin move. Play of the game was Babin’s strip sack on final drive. Jason went up the field and the RT had him blocked. Eli then drifted to the right, assuming Babin was gone. Jason was able to re-direct and hit Eli from behind, knocking the ball out. That play is on Eli, not the RT. Great effort, awareness by Jason. Huge play.

D TAPP — Good game. I don’t think Tapp has played this well since the opener in STL. Finished with 4 tackles and 1/2 a sack. Got pressure or QB hits on a few plays. Used hard inside move on 2nd series to get TFL of Jacobs. On 3rd down Jacobs unloaded a wicked chip block on Tapp. Darryl shrugged it off and pressured Eli, who made a horrible throw right to Chaney for the INT. Got 1/2 sack in late 1st Q. Beat LT and made Eli move in pocket. JP and Tapp got there at the same time. He and Landri hustled downfield to get hits on Cruz on late 1st half pass play where Cruz was fighting not to go down. Bad decision, Victor. Used and up & under move to hit Eli on pass play late in the half. Disrupted screen pass in the early 3rd. Stuck with the RB and then helped to make tackle. Used spin move to get off block of TE and then slammed Eli to the ground in the early 3rd.

LANDRI — Quite simply, Derek is addicted to awesomeness. Disruptive when he was on the field. Got some push on early pass play, but Eli slid away and got a good pass off. Hustled downfield and got a good shot on Cruz as Hanson was tackling him. Had a nice, but subtle play in the early 3rd. Lined up as NT/RDT. Took on C and LG. Stayed low and held his ground. Jacobs was supposed to run to that side, but there wasn’t room so he cut back and Patt got him for TFL. Landri doesn’t get any credit, but was the real reason for that play. Deflected a pass in the late 3rd. Fell incomplete.

Recovered Eli’s fumble late in the game that sealed the win. Could have run it back for a TD, but selflessly went down so Shady could get his 60 yard run. That is one million percent fact.

LAWS — Played angry. Was involved in a couple of arguments with OL. I’m not sure if someone got on Trevor about needing to be more fiery or if a person just happened to pee in his cornflakes. Whatever…it worked. Had 3 tackles and a TFL. Disrupted a run play with penetration. Pushed OL into RB, LB took him down for TFL. Got penetration on pass play late in the half and it looked like the RG tackled him, but there was no call. Credited with TFL in the early 3rd. He and Landri got penetration. Trevor grabbed Jacobs foot and Rolle drove OL into BJ to finish the play. Used a spin move to get off block and in on tackle on run play. Drove the C back toward Eli on a pass play, but couldn’t get free to hit him.

CHANEY — Up and down game. Led the team with 6 tackles. Picked off his 2nd pass of the year. That is the good part. Missed too many tackles. Can’t have that from a LB. And it wasn’t like he was chasing Shady McCoy or Darren Sproles. Danny Ware is 225 pounds. That’s a guy that shouldn’t elude you with moves. The INT came on the 2nd drive. Eli had some pressure and just got careless with throw over the middle. Jamar made an easy catch and returned it 13 yards. Gotta work on his returns. Made solid tackle of Jacobs after run up the middle. Gave up 9 yds on the play. Hit him from the side so that made it tough for clean tackle. Made a sloppy tackle of RB after catch over the middle. Had very good stop of Ware on run to our right. Jamar slid laterally, worked off block, and got Ware for short gain. Almost got beat for big gain late in the half. Didn’t have bad coverage, but Eli hit the TE down the seam. Should have been big play, but TE couldn’t hold onto the ball. Chaney didn’t show good awareness that the ball was coming. Missed tackle of Ware late in the half after short catch in space. Missed a very easy tackle of Ware on another pass play late in the half. Jamar was too upright and reached for him instead of running through his target. That mistake did lead to Jenkins huge hit. Came up quickly in the late 3rd to stuff pulling OL and clog the running lane. Made a strong tackle of WR after catch over the middle on 3rd down. They did move the chains, though. Broke up pass to TE in the late 3rd.

JORDAN — Solid game. Made good run stop in late 1st. Moved laterally, then fought off block of C, and tackled Ware for short gain. Outstanding run defense on that play. Made great play to blow up 3rd/1 run. Took a chance and attacked gap other than his. Did this because he saw G pull from his gap and go to other side. This is a smart gamble. Jordan came unblocked through gap and hit Jacobs at the LOS. Akeem went low and held on for dear life. Others finished off the play. Missed TFL in the 2nd Qtr when he tried to make a sloppy tackle, but Rolle came in and finished off the play.

ROLLE — Good game. Had 3 solo stops and a TFL. Helped stuff run play to Ware in the early 2nd. Got off lead block and grabbed RB and helped get him to ground. Had a good TFL in the 2nd Q. Laws disrupted the play with penetration. Then Jordan hit the RB. Brian flew in to put him down. Got up and had a Tommy Gun celebration. Was that a tribute to Tommy, his biggest fan and adopted father? Impossible to know, but yes it was. Got held on run play in early 3rd, but no call. Got a shot on Jacobs in the early 3rd. He caught a screen pass and Brian rolled up and popped him. Just missed TFL. Blew up 3rd Q run. Both DTs got penetration, but Rolle’s put the RB on the ground by driving an OL into him.

K CLAYTON — Played Nickel LB with Chaney in some sets. Had good coverage on Nicks on pass play where Eli couldn’t throw and got sacked. Tackled Cruz after catch late in the half. Wasn’t clean tackle, but got him down. Missed tackle of Cruz late in the half. Had good coverage on Nicks in the early 3rd, but couldn’t make the tackle. Slowed him enough for pursuit to make the stop and force a punt. Made a good tackle of Cruz in early 3rd. Held him to gain of 10 on 3rd/11. Didn’t give up any RAC yards. Hustled out wide on 3rd Q pass play to make sure Jacobs went out of bounds short of the sticks. Tackled Jacobs after short catch on final drive. Hit him squard, but BJ didn’t flinch. Keenan is better at tackling WRs.

COLEMAN — Active game as run defender. Played in the box quite a bit. Helped make sure Jacobs was down on early TFL by Tapp. Helped to stuff BJ on 3rd/1. Came up quickly and got in on play. Made a diving stab at a pass over the middle, but it was too far away for Kurt to have a realistic chance to catch it.

ALLEN — Came up to stuff Jacobs after short run in late 1st Qtr. Tackled Ware late in the half after a Chaney miss. Those were the only 2 solo tackles, but was around the ball a lot on run plays. Just not many times when RBs were getting to the 2nd or 3rd level to be tackled. Had one coverage mistake. Initially had good coverage of Nicks on 3rd down in the early 4th. Eli pointed for Nicks to turn upfield and for some reason Nate hesitated a moment or just didn’t see that. Nicks got behind him by a step and caught a pass for a 47 yd gain.

ASOMUGHA — Up and down game. Had a pair of tackles. Covered well in the 1st half. Did give up a TD to Victor Cruz in the 2nd half.

Came up hard vs run play and went low to take out RB. Looked like ball came out, but refs ruled RB down. Giants got on the ball so there was no need for replay, but did look like FF to me. Had solid coverage of Manningham on fade route. Ball was off target and incomplete. Giants wanted PI, but was good no-call. Had downfield coverage of Nicks on deep ball. Players got their feet tangled and both fell. No call for PI since it was incidental. Forced Mario M. out of bounds after short catch in his zone. Called for holding on Nicks on early 3rd Q pass play. I don’t know what happened on the TD pass in the 4th Q. Nnamdi had Cruz just fine for a few yards and then paused for some reason. Cruz kept going and that left him wide open for easy TD. Strange mistake by NA. Very odd.

SAMUEL — Hard to rate Asante. Eli doesn’t like to throw to his side. Did test him deep early on. Had good coverage on early 3rd down pass than ended up incomplete. Nicks should have burned him for big play in early 2nd Q, but Hakeem couldn’t hold onto ball as they went to the ground. Asante got away with PI on the play since he made early contact. Did a good job of being physical with WRs on zone plays so they didn’t get a free release all the time. Possibly the strangest moment of the game came when Asante came inside to help Patt get a TFL of Jacobs. You don’t see that very often. Makes Haley’s Comet look like a weekly event. Threw me a curveball when he came up hard on 3rd down to hit Jacobs and force him outside before the sticks. Gave up 9 yds on 3rd/10.

HANSON — Played a lot with the absence of DRC. Had 5 tackles, but looked a bit rusty. Gave up 18 yd pass to Cruz on 2nd series. Made a break on hurried throw in the late 1st. Was probably a step away from getting to the ball. On some plays Nnamdi lined up in slot and Joselio was outside. Seemed to mostly play zone from that look. Tackled Cruz after catch for 1st down on final drive of half. Made tackle of Nicks on 3rd down to force a punt. Tackled TE after 1st down catch on final drive.

HUGHES — Played some, but didn’t stand out.

SPECIAL TEAMS

CHAS HENRY — 6 punts, 43.5 average. Long of 60. Had 2 downed inside the 20.

ALEX HENERY —Kicked 33-yd FG. Seemed to do okay with his KOs. 1 touchback, longest return was just 22 yds.

PR — We finally got a long return from DeSean. Ran a punt back 51 yards to set up a short TD. Replay made it look like DeSean might have stayed inbounds and actually scored himself. Wasn’t clear enough for Andy to challenge. DeSean had an early PR where he lost 6 yards. Chad Hall came out next and ran one back for a 9-yd gain. DeSean got the hint and had a 9-yd PR on his next try, before getting loose for the big play.

About the long one…Colt had first important block. He was in the middle of the field and controlled his guy, giving DeSean the chance to reverse field. Jaiquawn did a good job to avoid blocking someone in the back. He ran with the guy, but just got in his way rather than reaching or grabbing. A couple of guys had a good block, but couldn’t see who they were. Then Casey kept Kiwi from pursuing. That left DeSean, the punter, and the sideline.

KOR — Dion Lewis had a 26-yd KOR. Had some room. If he was just a bit faster…

MISC —

* Clayton downed a punt inside the 10.

* Jordan made great stuff of KOR after our FG.

* Casey Matthews is starting to show up on STs. He made the tackle on the KO to open the 2nd half. He got pressure on a couple of punts. He threw himself into a group tackle on an early KOR. This stuff doesn’t mean anything significant, but it is a positive sign. When you watch his college tape, Casey plays with reckless abandon. He’s fast and physical. We never saw him like that in the NFL. He was always hesitant and thinking. Now he’s getting more confident and that shows in the fact he’s playing more aggressively.

* Brandon Hughes covered one punt very well (fair catch) and then made the tackle on the final KOR of the game.

GAMEBOOK