Kathy Willens/ASSOCIATED PRESS - Eli Manning takes off during the first half. The Giants quarterback threw three touchdown passes and no interceptions Sunday night.
EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. — The self-education continued for another NFC East team, now into its 12th week.
The New York Giants walloped the Green Bay Packers, 38-10, at MetLife Stadium on Sunday night, and it was interesting enough to watch the defending Super Bowl champion dismantle the champ from two seasons ago. But the Giants, like the Washington Redskins, maintained their longstanding ability to confuse their fans and keep the league from knowing how good, exactly, this team truly is.
These Giants didn’t look battered or unsure of themselves, as they did in two previous losses. They looked elite. If nothing else, New York’s seventh victory prevented a head-to-head battle against the Redskins next weekend at FedEx Field for first place in the NFC East. But that was about all Sunday’s win accomplished, at least for the long term.
“This gives us a little breathing room,” Giants quarterback Eli Manning said. “But not much.”
Otherwise, the questions about Manning’s arm strength and health were quieted, if not answered. The worries about a defense that, entering Sunday, had slipped to 23rd in the league by allowing 371.6 yards per game were eased but not eliminated.
Games like this one, and the one the Redskins won last Thursday against the Dallas Cowboys, have made this season so interesting — and no easier to understand. On Sunday, the Giants sacked Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers five times and continually forced last year’s most valuable player to scramble and eventually throw passes away. Where was that pressure throughout this the season?
More important, where had this Manning been? He threw three touchdown passes Sunday, but before that his most recent scoring throw came five weeks earlier against the Redskins. Manning’s slump led to concerns that his arm must not be healthy; the phrase “tired arm” became a common whisper in the New York area. And although Manning and Coach Tom Coughlin denied anything out of the ordinary, the quarterback disappeared to Mississippi during the Giants’ bye week and put himself on a football moratorium. No film study, no planning discussions and certainly no throwing.
These are issues, among others, that Redskins fans could surely understand, if not exactly empathize with. Three weeks ago, Washington Coach Mike Shanahan publicly wondered if his team, at the time 3-6, shouldn’t just go ahead and begin looking toward 2013. He quickly backtracked from those comments, but with a loss to the hapless Carolina Panthers, a defense depleted by injuries, and a rookie quarterback, Robert Griffin III, reflecting on two average games, Shanahan wasn’t the only one looking toward the future.
The season seemed to be in real trouble for both teams, and the bye week was a welcome break for each. When they returned, Washington outscored its next two opponents 69-37 in a pair of wins, and the Giants (7-4) snapped a two-game losing streak Sunday by dominating the Packers (7-4).
Maybe these recent flashes are nothing more than post-bye fool’s gold. The teams are rested, and adjustments have been made.
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