LANDOVER, MD – You wonder sometimes if anything can knock this team off course.
Perhaps a lesser team would have fell victim to the distraction and news on Saturday morning when they found out upon arrival in Washington that their teammate Plaxico Burress had shot himself in the leg late Friday night at the nightclub in Manhattan.
One can assume that perhaps the Giants are just immune to the ongoing saga of “As Plaxico Turns”.
Off the field, they appear to look away. On the field, they look right at the opponent. In this case, it was the Washington Redskins. It would have been a big advantage to them if the Giants really were distracted.
The problem was that they were not. With that, Washington never had a chance and the world champions came away with a resounding 23-7 victory at cold, rainy FedEx Field.
An old phrase is “between those white lines”, and for the Giants it means going to work. The Redskins were honoring the memory of the late Sean Taylor, who was murdered in his home last year and were full of emotion before the game started.
Yet when it came time for action, that emotion was destroyed by the Giants seemingly unstoppable machine.
Washington went three-and-out on their first possession and the defending champions took over and struck immediately. With Domenik Hixon starting in place of Burress (at least for the foreseeable future) at wide receiver, quarterback Eli Manning found him for a reception of 13 yards and then 15 yards on a terrific leaping catch along the left sideline.
Redskins defensive coordinator Greg Blache was intent on slowing down the Giants league leading rushing attack. With eight men up near the line of scrimmage again on first down, Manning went deep down the right sideline for Amani Toomer, who beat cornerback Fred Smoot for a 40-yard touchdown pass to take a quick 7-0 lead.
Two more New York drives nearly led to touchdowns, but they were stopped on in the green zone and were forced to settle for two John Carney field goals of 31 and 38 yards to take a 13-0 advantage.
The Redskins only score of the game came on a dubious officiating call. On first down from the Giants 33, quarterback Jason Campbell’s pass was intercepted by Corey Webster. However, the officials called Webster for illegal hands to the face that allowed Washington to retain possession. Replays clearly showed that no foul occurred. One play later, rookie Devin Thomas took a reverse off the right side with 10 Giants defenders fooled on the left side of the field and ran it 29 yards for a touchdown.
A game that was being thoroughly dominated was only 13-7 at halftime despite Manning throwing for 233 yards. It was a carbon copy of the two team’s first meeting on Opening Night.
In the third quarter, a facemask penalty gave the Giants excellent field position at the Redskins 48 yard line. On third –and-ten down at the 13, Manning found Derrick Ward for a first down to the two-yard line. Two plays later, Brandon Jacobs (21 carries for 71 yards) jumped over the pile for a touchdown and the 20-7 advantage.
Defensively, they eliminated running back Clinton Portis, who was held to just 22 yards for the game on 11 carries. The Redskins were forced to put the game in the hands of Campbell and go to the air. He went deep for receiver Santana Moss and the pass was intercepted by Aaron Ross, turning Washington away at the three-yard line.
Campbell, for the second time against the Giants was harassed and found himself running for cover. This was illuminated by the fact that he was the teams leading rusher (38 yards).
Statistically, it was a mismatch and the scores arguably should not have been as close as the 23-7 final. New York out gained Washington 404 yards to 320. They eased up in the fourth quarter by electing to pass only three times.
In the two meetings this year, the Giants outscored the Redskins 39-14; dominating them in every facet of the game and making their division rivals resemble a college team at times.
Ward (5-75), Toomer (5-85) and Hixon (5-71) each stepped up in Burress’ absence. The running game got over one hundred yards despite the Redskins constant eight and nine men fronts. Manning finished the game completing 24 of 31 passes for 305 yards, his first 300-yard passing effort in 26 games.
At 11-1, the Giants can clinch the NFC East next Sunday with a win over the Philadelphia Eagles at Giants Stadium.
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