The Giants were not pleased with the way their run defense played so they signed DT Russell Davis to provide some help.  Davis played in 13 games last season for the Seahawks and he made 30 tackles and had 3 sacks.  Davis has played in 103 games in his NFL career and he has made 276 tackles, has 11.5 sacks, has defensed 11 passes and forced 3 fumbles.  He has the reputation of being a good run defender so he will likely work his way into the tackle rotation sooner rather than later.

The Giants have lost starting defensive end Osi Umenyiora for at least a month after he injured his MCL Sunday Night against the Cowboys.  Justin Tuck will likely take Umenyiora’s starting spot until he returns and the Giants need him to play well.  He had 4 tackles and a sack against the Cowboys.  Michael Strahan will wish he was in Training Camp as he will now have to start.   He made 5 tackles against the Cowboys but it could take a little while until he gets his groove back as he isn’t getting any younger.

The Giants waived Devonte Edwards to make room on the roster for DE Michael Strahan.  They were lucky they did that because Strahan was pressed into action early in the football game last night due to an injury to Osi Umenyiora and he made 5 tackles.

The New York Giants have lost Brandon Jacobs for the next 3-5 weeks with a sprained MCL.  Jacobs was running good before he went down as he carried the ball 6 times for 26 yards (4.3 ypc).  Derrick Ward stepped in and did a terrific job as he carried the ball 13 times for 89 yards (6.8 ypc) and he also caught 4 passes for 27 yards (6.8 avg) with 1 TD grab.  Veteran Reuben Droughns will also be around to help out if the Giants need him to.  He only carried the ball 1 time for 5 yards against the Cowboys last night.

This was a shootout but the Giants couldn’t stop the Cowboys at all.  Still, Eli Manning stepped up and made a game of it.  He completed 28 of 41 passes for 312 yards with 4 TD passes and 1 interception.  He went out with a shoulder injury in the 4th quarter and he was replaced by Jared Lorenzen who completed 1 of 3 passes for 7 yards.  Brandon Jacobs carried the ball 6 times for 26 yards (4.3 ypc) before he left with a knee injury.  Derrick Ward replaced him an he had a fantastic game.  He carried the football 13 times for 89 yards (6.8 ypc) and he also caught 4 passes for 27 yards (6.8 avg) with 1 TD grab.  WR Plaxico Burress was outstanding as he caught 8 passes for 144 yards (18.0 avg) with 3 TD grabs.  Amani Toomer (9 rec, 91 yards) and Jeremy Shockey (5 rec, 42 yards) were also both on their game against the Cowboys.  The Giants finished up the night rushing for 124 yards on 22 carries (5.6 ypc) and they also completed 29 of 44 passes for 314 yards.

The defense was awful for the Giants as the Cowboys could have probably scored any time they wanted to.  The Cowboys rushed for 142 yards on 30 carries (4.7 ypc) and they completed 15 of 24 passes for 336 yards.

http://scores.espn.go.com/nfl/boxscore?gameId=270909006

This season it’s put up or shut up time for QB Eli Manning.  He won’t have Tiki Barber around to bail him out this season.  RB Brandon Jacobs must have a good season or teams are going to tee off on Manning and force him into making huge mistakes.  Also, the defense is going to be nothing to write home about.  Fans will be calling for Tom Coughlin’s head in the middle of this season so do yourself a favor and take the under.

The New York Giants enter this football game a little banged up and they don’t even match up well with the Cowboys when everyone is healthy.  The Giants will have to try to establish a running game with Brandon Jacobs and Reuben Droughns and that will be easier said than done against the rough front seven of the Cowboys Defense.  The Cowboys will try to match power vs. power in the running game as NT Jason Ferguson is hard to move in the middle of the defense and MLBs Bradie James and Akin Ayodele are very active against the running game.  The Giants offensive line is average at best and they will have problems keeping the Cowboys out of their backfield on Sunday.  OLBs DeMarcus Ware and rookie Anthony Spencer will be blitzing like mad men trying to pressure Eli Manning into making mistakes.  It’s not good for the Giants that WR Plaxico Burress is banged up because he’s Manning’s go-to guy.  Amani Toomer and rookie WR Steve Smith will have problems getting open against CBs Anthony Henry and Terence Newman.  It will be fun to watch TE Jeremy Shockey compete against SS Roy Williams and FS Ken Hamlin who also bring the hammer to the football field.

The Cowboys should be able to move the football easy against a Giants’ defense that has a lot of weak links.  The Giants will need their defensive line to keep their linebackers clean because they are the best playmakers on the defense.  OLBs Mathias Kiwanuka and Kawika Mitchell must contain RB Julius Jones when he runs around the corner and they have the talent to do that.  MLB Antonio Pierce will need to be accounted for if the Cowboys hope to attack the middle of the field with Marion Barber.  DEs Jason Tuck, Osi Umenyiora and Michael Strahan must put pressure on Tony Romo or he is going to pick the Giants secondary to the bone.  WR Terry Glenn injured himself and he will miss this football game but the Cowboys will still be explosive.  CBs R.W. McQuarters and Sam Madison will have huge problems trying to keep up with WRs Terrell Owens and Patrick Crayton.  Also, the Cowboys have a huge advantage with their TE Jason Witten against the safeties (James Butler, Gibril Wilson) of the Giants so look for Romo to throw to him more than usual.

Both of these teams have shaky kicker situations that will bear watching.  K Lester Tynes of the Giants barely held onto the job in the pre-season.  Rookie Nick Folk of the Cowboys won the starting gig when veteran Martin Gramatica hurt himself.

PREDICTION:  The Cowboys are going to paste the Giants on Sunday.  Think 31-17.

The Giants have added one player to each the offense and the defense.  The Giants have claimed OG Kevin Boothe from the Oakland Raiders.  Boothe is a big guy at 6’5″, 315 pounds and he did play in all 16 games last season for the Raiders but I wouldn’t expect a lot out of him as the Raiders had the worst offensive line in all of the NFL last season.  The Giants have also claimed CB Devonte Edwards off of waivers from the Minnesota Vikings.  Edwards had a stellar pre-season as he had 13 tackles and an interception for the Vikings in the pre-season.  Edwards has played in 12 games in his NFL career and he has made 17 tackles, defensed 2 passes and intercepted a pass that he returned 51 yards for a TD.

The Giants have traded RB Ryan Grant to the Packers for a 6th round pick in the 2008 NFL Draft.  This was a good move by the Giants as they took advantage of the Packers’ situation at running back.  Grant did have a good pre-season for the Giants as he carried the football 18 times for 90 yards (5.0 ypc) with 1 TD run and he also caught 1 pass for 18 yards.

The Giants stunned a lot of people when they cut safety Will Demps despite his decent season in 2006 for them.  Demps started all 16 games last season for the Giants and he made 100 tackles, had 1 sack, defensed 5 passes and picked off two.  The Giants also cut Tim Hasselbeck.  You could see the writing on the wall after the Giants had signed Anthony Wright in the off-season.  Hasselbeck completed 7 of 16 passes (43.8%) for 75 yards with 1 INT (32.0 QB Rating) in the pre-season.