Giants Redskins review

             The New York Giants finally got the monkey off their backs and defeated a division rival. The Giants squared off against the Washington Redskins defeating them in a tight battle 27-23 for their first win in the NFC East this season.

This was an exciting game right to the end when two touchdowns were scored within a minute of each other. Robert Griffin III show cased his play making abilities and also that he can crack under pressure with a few turnovers proving to be costly.

The Giants defense stepped up again this week wreaking havoc on the high powered offense of the Redskins. Chris Canty made his season debut this week and grabbed four tackles in his return. This might have been the reason the Giants looked like the defense from the playoffs. Justin Tuck, Osi Umenyoria and Jason Pierre-Paul all tallied one sack each.

Stevie Brown is solidifying himself in the Giants secondary grabbing another interception this game. Jason Pierre-Paul was everywhere RGIII was chasing him down forcing the Redskins to double team him. The Giants caused four forced fumbles in this game and recovered three of them. Pierre-Paul and Linval Joesph each had one forced fumble and Chase Blackburn had two.

The most significant forced fumble was the one at the end of the fourth quarter on Santana Moss. The Redskins were driving down the field after the Giants scored a touchdown to put them ahead. Chase Blackburn caused the fumble on Moss with less than a minute left in the game stopping the Redskins drive sealing the victory.

Manning had 26 completions on 40 attempts for 337 yards with two interceptions and one touchdown. Manning’s biggest completion was a 77 yard touchdown to Victor Cruz which would end up being the game winning touchdown.

The Giants had trouble getting the running game going and they were not as productive as they have been the past couple of games. Ahmad Bradshaw had 12 carries for 43 yards and a touchdown. Andre Brown returned in this game and had five carries for 17 yards and a touchdown. Hopefully this was just a bad game for the running game and it will go back to the way it was in the next game. The running game is vital to this Giants team this game would not have been close if the running game got going.

Victor Cruz was the standout wide out in this game with seven receptions totaling in 131 yards. Martellus Bennett was also solid with five receptions for 79 yards. Bennett fell off the last couple of game but it looks like he is back on track and let’s hope it stays that way because he is a big body threat down the field and is capable of gaining more yards after the catch.

Hakeem Nicks had five catches for 53 yards and his longest was a 21 yard catch. Nicks makes all the difference in this Giants offense even though he hasn’t had his big game yet defenses respect him enough to put people on him opening up the other options for Manning. Nicks will get back to making big plays soon enough.

This game was too close for comfort but the Giants never gave up and pulled out the victory. This was a big game considering the Redskins swept them last season. The Giants had the big plays when they needed them on offense and defense. Even though no one is giving them their respect yet, the Giants are 5-2 and are among the top teams in the NFL. Next up they have the Dallas Cowboys, another divisional rival that they already played and lost to. The Giants are a different team from that first game and will be more of a challenge for the Cowboys. The Giants play better on the road and they do like playing and winning in the Cowboys stadium. If the defense continues to play the way they have the last two games the Cowboys will be in trouble.