65-year old head coach Tom Coughlin is still the crusty old coach that the Giants need to lead them.  Coughlin has led his Giants to an impressive 6-2 start to this year, which has them in first place in the NFC East, 2 games ahead of the Cowboys.  The Giants are now 71-49 (59.2%) in the regular season in Coughlin’s first 8 years in charge.  The Giants are still getting the message loud and clear out of Coughlin and it will be interesting to see if they can keep rolling against the 7-1 49ers this weekend.

Hakeem Nicks and Mario Manningham have been banged up a little bit this year, but they have still been productive so far.  Hakeem Nicks has caught 32 passes for 508 yards (15.9 avg) with 3 TD grabs so far this year as he continues to be Eli Manning’s go-to man.  Mario Manningham has caught 18 passes for 227 yards (12.6 avg) so far this year, but I look for him to pick up the pace now that he’s finally healthy.  Victor Cruz is the #3 WR for the Giants right now and he has been outstanding so far this year.  Cruz has caught 21 passes for 398 yards (19.0 avg) with 3 TD grabs so far this year.  The Giants have quite a trio at WR and I look for them to continue to put up good numbers the rest of the year.

Sure, 30-year old QB Eli Manning had some brain farts last weekend against the Seahawks, but he is still playing pretty well overall so far this year.  Manning has played in five games for the Giants so far this year and he has completed 104 of 164 passes (63.4%) for 1,486 yards with 11 TD passes and 5 INTs (102.3 QB Rating).  He has also carried the ball 14 times for -11 yards (-0.8 ypc) with 1 TD run this year.  The Giants need Manning to keep up the good work because they have not been able to get the running game on track so far this year.

23-year old TE Jake Ballard played in 1 game last year in his first taste of the NFL and he didn’t catch any passes for the Giants.  The Giants lost last year’s starting TE (Kevin Boss) to the Raiders in free agency.  24-year old Travis Beckum was supposed to replace Boss as the starting TE for the Giants, but his season started late due to injury.  Beckum has played in 2 games for the Giants so far this year and he has caught 1 pass for 2 yards.  While Beckum was out of action, Jake Ballard took over the starting job and he’s not going to give it back.  He has played in all 4 games for the Giants so far this year and he has caught 7 passes for 120 yards (17.1 avg) with 1 TD grab.  The Giants hope that Ballard keeps up the good work.

The Giants were without a lot of their top playmakers last week due to injury against the Eagles.  They needed someone to step up and 24-year old WR Victor Cruz certainly did that.  He caught 3 passes for 110 yards (36.7 avg) with 2 TD grabs against the Eagles and their supposedly vaunted secondary last week.  Both of the TD grabs were amazing.  He has now played in all 3 games for the Giants this year and he has caught 5 passes for 127 yards (25.4 avg) with 2 TD grabs.  With Mario Manningham back this weekend, the Giants are now three deep in solid receivers.

22-year old DE Jason Pierre-Paul had a decent rookie season for the Giants in 2010.  He played in all 16 games for the Giants last year and he had 30 tackles, 2 tackles for a loss, 4.5 sacks, 2 forced fumbles, 2 fumble recoveries and 6 passes defensed.  Pierre-Paul got the start last Sunday due to injuries ahead of him on the depth chart.  He responded with 6 tackles, 2 tackles for a loss, 2 sacks and 1 forced fumble against the Redskins.  He has a gigantic upside and the Giants expect him to keep up the good work on the big stage of Monday Night Football against the Rams this week.

27-year old DE Justin Tuck has turned in another fine year for the New York Giants.  Tuck has played in 15 games for the Giants so far this year and he has 74 tackles, 9 tackles for a loss, 11 sacks, 3 passes defensed, 6 forced fumbles and 5 fumble recoveries.  Tuck has now played in 83 games for the Giants in his first six years and he has 306 tackles, 40 sacks, 16 passes defensed, 17 forced fumbles and a interception that he returned for a TD.  Tuck has been a outstanding player for the Giants in his career so far and he keeps on getting better.

25-year old CB Terrell Thomas has turned in a monster year for the New York Giants in 2010.  Thomas has played in 15 games for the Giants so far this year and he has 91 tackles, 1 sack, 4 tackles for a loss, 20 passes defensed, 5 interceptions, 4 forced fumbles and 1 fumble recovery.  Thomas has now played in 43 games in his first three years in the NFL and he has 221 tackles, 37 passes defensed, 2 sacks, 6 forced fumbles and a interception that he returned for a TD.  Thomas has quickly turned into one of the best cornerbacks in the NFL.

The Giants started this year 1-2 before 64-year old head coach Tom Coughlin riled up his troops ripping off 5 wins in a row before losing to the Cowboys last weekend.  The Giants are averaging 409.8 yards on offense this year and they are only giving up 270.2 yards per game.  That explains how Coughlin has rallied his troops.  The Giants are now 61-44 (58.1%) during the regular season in 7 years with Tom Coughlin calling the shots.

At first, running back Brandon Jacobs didn’t like the idea of being Ahmad Bradshaw’s caddy this year and he probably still doesn’t.  That doesn’t change the fact that Jacobs is really running the ball well for the Giants right now.  Jacobs has played in 7 games for the Giants so far this year and he has carried the ball 57 times for 282 yards (4.9 ypc) with 5 TD carries.  He has also caught 4 passes for 26 yards (6.5 avg) so far this year.  Jacobs’ power and Bradshaw’s speed are a great combination for the Giants who are averaging 145.4 yards rushing per game and 4.8 yards per carry.