I was a little of on my prediction of this football game to say the least.  The Giants just looked flat and that is entirely possible based on the fact that they just played a hard fought O.T. game against the Falcons just four days earlier.  Eli Manning did not look especially good last night completing 24 of 40 passes for 230 yards with a INT.  Brandon Jacobs also had issues as the Broncos were ganging up on him holding him to 27 yards rushing on 11 carries (2.5 ypc) and he also caught 3 passes for 30 yards (10.0 avg).  Danny Ware pitched in with 27 yards on 4 carries (6.8 ypc) in this game before leaving it with a concussion.  Steve Smith was the top WR for the Giants last night with 7 catches for 71 yards (10.1 avg).  Hakeem Nicks (4 rec, 66 yards) and Mario Manningham (5 rec, 48 yards) also pitched in for the Giants in the passing game.  The Giants finished up with 267 total yards on offense (57 rushing, 210 passing) as they only had possession of the ball for 24:30.

The defense was awful for the Giants last night as the Broncos pretty much did whatever they wanted to on offense.  Safeties Aaron Rouse (8 tackles, 1 tackle for a loss) and C.C. Brown (8 tackles) led the way for the Giants on D.  LB Chase Blackburn also finished up with 8 tackles and 1 tackle for a loss yesterday.  The Broncos finished up with 373 total yards on offense (138 rushing, 235 passing) in this game.  The Giants are now 6-5 on the season.

The Giants had to fight hard to get back on track last week with a hard fought O.T. win over the Falcons.  The Broncos on the other hand have lost four games in a row by a combined score of 117-37!  The last two home games the Broncos have played they lost by a combined 60-13 score.  The Giants will likely try to impose their will on the ground in this game with Brandon Jacobs and Danny Ware against a Broncos’ D that is allowing 115.3 yards rushing per game and 4.0 yards per carry.  If the Giants’ O-Line can keep Elvis Dumervil (12 sacks) away from Eli Manning he should be able to have some success throwing the ball.  But if the Broncos get a good rush on Manning he might make a big mistake or two against Champ Bailey and his veteran buddies in the Denver secondary.

The Broncos would like to be more balanced on offense against the Giants with Kyle Orton still a little bit gimpy.  That means that Knowshon Moreno and Correll Buckhalter will have to hold onto the ball against a Giants’ D that is allowing 104.8 yards rushing per game and 4.3 yards per carry.  The Giants can be passed on but they like to blitz a lot which could cause problems for the Broncos due to Orton’s ankle as he will be a sitting duck a lot of the time. 

PREDICTION:  GIANTS 27, BRONCOS 17

The Giants will be without running back Ahmad Bradshaw for at least tomorrow’s game with a ankle injury and maybe longer.  He has played in 10 games for the Giants this season and he has carried the ball 115 times for 549 yards (4.8 ypc) with 4 TD runs.  Bradshaw has also caught 10 passes for 96 yards (9.6 avg) so far this season.  24-year old Danny Ware will take over Bradshaw’s role in the offense until he is ready to return to action.  Ware has played in 5 games this season and he has 4 carries for 24 yards (6.0 ypc).  The Giants will miss Bradshaw but it will be interesting to see how well Ware plays as he has a lot of potential.

The Giants have signed CB/S D.J. Johnson off the practice squad of the Broncos who they happen to be playing on Thanksgiving.  He has never played in a NFL game yet but he has volunteered a lot of inside info on the Broncos.  I’m stunned that more teams don’t do this.

It took overtime for the Giants to put the Falcons away today.  Eli Manning was awesome for the Giants in this game as he completed 25 of 39 passes for 384 yards with 3 TD passes and 1 INT.  Brandon Jacobs didn’t have his best game as he carried the ball 12 times for 39 yards (3.3 ypc) with 1 TD run.  Ahmad Bradshaw pitched in with 34 yards rushing on 12 carries (2.8 ypc) today.  Mario Manningham led the way for the Giants in the passing game with 6 catches for 126 yards (21.0 avg) today.  Steve Smith pitched in with 4 catches for 79 yards (19.8 avg).  But, it was TE Kevin Boss who made the big plays today as he caught 5 passes for 76 yards (15.2 avg) with 2 TD grabs.  The Giants finished up with 456 total yards on offense (88 rushing, 368 passing) today.

The defense was pretty solid for the Giants until the 4th quarter when Falcons’ QB Matt Ryan tossed 2 TD passes to force the game into O.T.  LB Michael Boley was all over the place for the Giants today with 13 tackles, 2 tackles for a loss, 1 sack and 2 QB hits.  Safety Aaron Rouse pitched in with 9 tackles, 1 tackle for a loss and 1 pass defensed.  The Falcons finished up with 352 total yards on offense (90 rushing, 262 passing) today.  The Giants are now 6-4 on the season.

The Giants have lose starting linebacker Antonio Pierce indefinitely with a bulging disc in his neck.  This hurts the Giants’ D really bad as Pierce is the leading tackler on the team.  In 9 games this season Pierce has 55 tackles, 3 tackles for a loss, 1 sack, 1 forced fumble and he has defensed 3 passes.  26-year old Chase Blackburn will replace Pierce in the starting lineup.  He has played in all 9 games for the Giants this season and he has 35 tackles, 1 tackle for a loss and 1/2 a sack. 

UPDATE:  The Giants have placed Antonio Pierce on I.R. ending his season.

These are two teams falling on hard times as the Falcons have lost 3 of their last 4 games while the Giants have lost four in a row.  The problem for both teams have been defense recently as the Falcons have allowed 117 points in the last 4 weeks while the Giants have allowed 133 points the last four games.  So this should be a high scoring game in which the team with the ball last could be the winner.  The Falcons will likely come out throwing the ball due to the injury to Michael Turner which will likely cause him to miss this game.  That means that Matt Ryan will have to pick up his play against a Giants’ D that is only allowing 168.0 yards passing per game.  Look for Ryan to challenge the Giants short with Tony Gonzalez and deep often with Roddy White.  The Falcons will also run the ball some with Jason Snelling and Jerious Norwood (if he’s healthy enough to play) against a Giants’ D that is allowing 104.3 yards rushing and 4.5 yards per carry so far this year.

The Giants will likely come out running the ball with Brandon Jacobs and Ahmad Bradshaw against a Falcons’ D that is allowing 130.3 yards rushing per game and 4.6 yards per carry.  That should set up Eli Manning with play action passing to his talented trio of WRs in Steve Smith, Mario Manningham and Hakeem Nicks.  The Falcons are allowing 240.7 yards passing per game this season so don’t look for much of a fight out of them when Eli Manning drops back to pass.

PREDICTION:  GIANTS 38, FALCONS 28

The New York Giants are not going to make the playoffs this season unless Eli Manning picks up the pace.  In his four games since he injured his foot he has completed 78 of 140 passes (55.7%) for 858 yards with 5 TD passes and 6 interceptions.  He also has carried the ball 5 times for 32 yards (6.4 ypc) the last four weeks.  The Giants’ running game has also suffered as teams are ganging up on it due to Manning being gimpy.  Manning’s overall numbers still look pretty solid as he has completed 165 of 275 passes (60%) for 2,070 yards with 15 TD passes and 8 INTs (89.5 QB Rating).  He has also carried the ball 10 times for 40 yards (4.0 ypc) this season.  It basically comes down to this:  If Manning doesn’t pick up his game soon the Giants will be watching the playoffs on T.V.

The Giants will likely place 26-year old OLB Gerris Wilkinson on the Injured Reserve List.  He dislocated his wrist last week and needed surgery to repair it which would have kept him out of action for 6-8 weeks.  He likely finishes the season having played in 9 games in which he made 9 tackles.  The Giants won’t miss him too much the rest of the way.

The New York Giants (5-4) played well on Sunday against the San Diego Chargers (5-3), but two major mistakes cost them the game.  On the Giants opening drive they were ready to put three points on the board, but Lawrence Tynes did not even get a kick off on the 39-yard attempt even though it appeared to be a good snap and hold.  Apparently Jeff Feagles had both of his hands on the ball where Tynes was going to kick it, so he held up and the Giants turned it over on downs.  The second mistake came at a much more vital time of the game.  With a little over two minutes to play and the Giants up three, they drove the ball down to the Chargers 4-yard line.  Then Chris Snee was called for holding and the Giants were bumped back 10 yards.  The holding penalty was very costly, as the Giants most likely could have punched it in from only four yards out but had to settle for a 22-yard Tynes field goal.

Eli Manning had a decent game for the Giants and did not throw any interceptions.  He finished the game with two touchdowns and 215 yards on 25/33 attempts.  The Giants got a big day out of their running backs, with Brandon Jacobs getting 67 yards on 11 carries and Ahmad Bradshaw adding 39 yards on 14 carries.  It wasn’t enough, even though Tynes late field goal put the Giants up six with about two minutes to play.  That was plenty of time for Philip Rivers and the Chargers offense to comeback.  The Giants had been able to contain Rivers throughout most of the game, picking him off twice, but Rivers thrived in the clutch.  He drove the Chargers 80 yards down field, going 6 of 8 on the drive and finishing it off with a 18-yard touchdown pass to Vincent Jackson with only 22 seconds left to play.  The Giants need to limit those costly mistakes, as only two mishaps ended up costing them the game.