Giants Game 9 Recap - "Foreshadowing?"

Roethlisberger outshined Manning on Sunday

The Giants played horrible on the offensive side of the ball for the second week in a row and this time even their defense couldn't bail them out. The Pittsburgh Steelers came into MetLife Stadium and completely stole a game away from the Giants 24-20.

Eli Manning was horrible. He never seemed to be on the same page as his receivers, and some of the throws he made throughout the game looked like they had been batted at the line, but they were just dreadful throws. Manning went 10-24 for 125 yards and an interception. That is a joke of a stat line, but if you watched the game, you would expect nothing less. Over the last two games, Manning is an abysmal 25-53 for 317 passing yards, 2 interceptions and 0 touchdowns. Manning looks nothing like the guy who led the team to a 5-2 start and he was totally outshined by Ben Roethlisberger.

Roethlisberger, who may be the most catered for quarterback ever to play the game, made big plays when he needed to. It didn't help the Giants that Isaac Redman looked like the second coming of Walter Payton either. Redman ran for 147 yards and a touchdown on 26 carries, while Roethlisberger threw for 216 yards and two touchdowns.

I can't say enough about the defense who came to play again today coming up with four sacks, a fumble recovery for a touchdown and an interception. The D once again set up the Giants on numerous occasions which for some reason keeps resulting in field goals. I feel terribly for the defense because they create so many chances and now have scored in consecutive games, but Eli and the offense refuse to help them out.

One Last Thing: I wish I could say the Giants need to shake this one off and come to play next week, but if not for a Hail Mary to Cruz two weeks, and Dez Bryant having long fingers last week, the Giants could very easily be 4-5. For a team that is notorious for second half collapses, this game may be a foreshadowing for the rest of a season that the Giants have been very lucky in so far. Next week the Giants get the young Cincinnati Bengals who, on paper, the Giants should beat. However, this is the prototypical trap game for the Giants who have a bye following next week. 7-3 sounds a whole lot better than 6-4, so Eli better get his act together before next week.

P.S. Jayron Hosley literally should not be on the field. If he isn't getting burned late in games, he is committing very costly penalties late in games. For example today, he went offside on a third down stop that would have forced a game-tying field goal from the Steelers. Instead, he gave them five yards, they converted on third down, and ended up scoring the game-winning touchdowns a few plays later.

He is a liability in both regards and if it were up to me, I'd convert Stevie Brown to a nickel cornerback and keep Antrel Rolle and Kenny Phillips at the safety spots. It may be difficult for Brown to convert, but he has a nose for the football and he can't possibly be worse than Hosley.