TAMPA – You hear the old cliché “men against boys”, but in this instance, Sunday’s game proved to be the ultimate indication of what proved to be a scrimmage between the junior varsity and a varsity squad.
Despite missing several defensive starters, others not playing at full strength and having others go down during the game; the Giants played one of their most dominant games in their history in their 24-0 shutout in Tampa.
The final score was actually worse than the 24 points that it ended up being. This game was non-competitive from the outset. After the first quarter and a half, you could have already taken a nap and began to rest up for next Sunday in Kansas City against a 0-3 Chiefs team that was being spanked in Philadelphia despite not having its starting Donovan McNabb or Brian Westbrook and may have already turned on their head coach.
You try to find reasons to nit pick (and there always is something) and it is hard to find something unless you want to get truly technical. Okay, we know Lawrence Tynes’ 20 yard missed field goal before the half, caused many to scream at the TV and throw out a few four-letter words. You could have complained about a few plays here and there. Perhaps you wanted them to win 50-0 and held the Buccaneers without a first down for the game (well, they went 40 minutes without allowing one).
Hey, you can’t get everything.
It obviously was not supposed to be this way. Going into the week, Tampa wasn’t the worst terrible team in the league over the first two weeks and was somewhat competitive in their losses to the Cowboys and Bills.
This wasn’t like the Cleveland Browns or St. Louis Rams were on the schedule. Those teams are legitimately bad, but the Buccaneers performance on Sunday in the way they were dismantled by the Giants vaulted them into a nice seeding for “worst team in the NFL”.
Perhaps they were scared or they were just that bad. The Giants took their opening possession and marched right down the field for a touchdown and it seemed as if whatever energy Tampa may have had going in, zapped.
As the Giants defense forced them in multiple three-and-outs in the half, their offense played a very intelligent game, utilizing the 100-degree heat against the home team. Usually, the team that plays in warm conditions beats down the opposition and wears them down. This time, it was Tampa Bay wearing down and eventually out.
In the first half, that defense was on the field for 21:30. This played two roles. One, it allowed the Giants offense to drain the Buccaneers defense and demoralize them. Two, it allowed their banged up defense to rest and not have to play many snaps. Only for 14 plays did the Giants defense have to be on the field. Compare that to the first opening possession when the offense drove 12 plays before sticking it into the end zone.
Sure, you would have wanted the offense to go for the kill, attack early in the second half, and put up style points. But the coaching staff has slightly more intelligence than we do, knew that the way they were moving the ball efficiently and there was no way in the world that Tampa was going to do anything against the Giants defense unless they screwed up.
The Buccaneers could not run the ball (28 yards rushing) and they could not pass it either (Byron Leftwich – 7 for 16, 22 yards). When you think that the loudest applause of the day from the home fans came when Cadillac Williams gained three yards on second-and-three to gain their only first down of the game to that point, you know it has gotten bad.
73 plays to 37 was the amazing disparity in the Giants favor. When you hold the ball for nearly 44 minutes, you are most likely going to win (except for the Dolphins last Monday). In this case, not only did the Giants win, they stomped them completely.
Made even worse was that for the game the defense limited Tampa Bay to only five first downs and 86 total yards, 51 of those coming in the fourth quarter when the Buccaneers offense was trying to make the final score look respectable only to be shut down on four successive plays from inside the Giants 5.
You saw the continuing emergence of Steve Smith and Mario Manningham. Ahmad Bradshaw was able to break loose. Bruce Johnson continued his outstanding play while Aaron Ross and Kevin Dockery are nursing injuries. It was a total team effort in pitching their first shutout in four years and first on the road since 1983.
Perhaps Coach Tom Coughlin can find something during the week to complain about to his players. When he looks at the tape, he is going to have a difficult time doing so.
That is a good thing.
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