Gamegirl - How did we lose this one?
"You got me with that question. Everyone was back playing like a team, and the Giants looked much better against New England than they did against the Redskins the week before.
If you look at the score, the Giants had 2 TDs, and New England only 1, so some things were working right. I guess that missed field goal really hurt us. The defense certainly played well enough to win, and It was exciting to see Jason Sehorn back in there with them."

What about Sehorn - How do you think he did?
"OK, Jason looked real good out there. They seemed afraid to really test him too much. Some stuff went Jason's way, and he couldn't stop everything, but he reacted well enough for them to see he could be trying to sucker them in. They seemed to give Sehorn the proper respect for his underlying talents if you know what I mean.
I just love to see him play, and I think it was a good lift for the defense knowing he was there. In fact they did very well tonight holding Bledsoe and his team to just 16 points. I think New England scored 30 or more the last two games. 16 should have been low enough for our offense to overcome."

Right, it was 30 and 31 against the Jets and Colts who both scored 28.
"The whole offense thing is really a mystery to me, why the Giants can't get it together. Coach Fassel was supposed to be an offensive genius and somehow it doesn't work on this team. He does seem to hang with certain things a bit too long. He stayed with Kenell too long last year. I'm wondering if the pressure will be on to replace Kent Graham even though he doesn't seem to be the real problem. We'll just have to see."

Gamegirl was happy to see Sehorn back.
"Sure, and I don't blame her. He played kind of a tentative game, but that's perfectly fine. You wouldn't want him out there trying to 'make things happen' after that long layoff he had. Jason got his feet wet last night, and I think we can expect to see the game dominating Sehorn of old appear somewhere over the next few weeks.

Gamegirl was right about New England being cautious about testing Sehorn. He already has a knack of drawing attention, and ESPN did a whole tribute to Sehorn thing on national TV. Who wants to be the first team to feed him a nice fat INT and be part of the memorable NFL clip of the year?"

How did the Giants lose this one Mikefan?
The running game, and that was it. Losing Sean Bennet to a knee injury after one carry obviously put a serious dent in the gameplan. He could be out for four weeks.
Thankfully, Kent Graham was able to make numerous passing plays work even with the Patriots clogging the passing lanes, knowing that there was no running game to be had.
It was a bit deceiving. If you think back, you saw a lot of good things happening on the ground when the running backs had the ball, but some of it came about from them being receivers.
Tiki Barber caught 5 for 46 yards, Leshon Johnson had 2 for 7 yards, and Charles Way had 1 for 11 yards.
In fact, passing was the name of the game for the Giants as Kent Graham was 23 of 36 for 216 yards and 2 TDs.
In that scoring drive in the first quarter, Kent Graham was 5 of 5 for 49 yards including a 6 yard TD pass to running back LeShon Johnson.

So back to your question, how did the Giants lose this game?
It was a real battle on both sides, in fact a really good game with few penalties and no turnovers. I think ESPN mentioned that this was the only game this year without one.
Graham passed alot and would have had even more completions except that they were swatted away by some Patriot players who were really hustling. Bledsoe passed a lot also, completing 20 of 28 passes for 233 yards, but even with that, the Patriots had only one TD.

Nothing was easy for either team. New England knows they were lucky to win it, not because they didn't deserve it, but just because the teams were pretty evenly matched and it could have gone either way.
It was 7-7 at halftime. Both teams made first downs and chewed up clock as they fought for everything, and that's why it was a low scoring game.
It could have been a very different outcome if Sean Bennett didn't get injured right away or if Gary Brown was playing.
There were a few nice running bursts from time to time, but as usual nothing consistent on the ground and that's what really really hurts.

How about the defense?
They were great. Center Brian Williams bruised his right shoulder in the first quarter, but he played the rest of the game. DE Michael Strahan had a sore right elbow but played hard, Everybody was pitching in, Sam Garnes was all over the place. He had 7 tackles and 3 assists. Jessie Armstead had 9 tackles and 2 assists. Cedric Jones had 7 tackles and 1 assist, Ryan Phillips had 5 and 2 assists.
Keith Hamilton had 2 tackles and recorded the first sack by a Giants defensive lineman this season.
The defense tackled clean, and shut down drives, and they made the Patriots work their tales off in order to come away with just that one TD and 3 field goals.

How does next week look?
No offense to any Eagle fans, but their team is certainly struggling right now, and they could be just what the Giants need in breaking in Gary Brown and letting Jason Sehorn take it up a notch.

Last note
Now, only the Patriots, and Tennessee are undefeated with 3-0 records.

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