Giants are in good shape.
Well sort of. They have a lot of injured players, but in the standings, they are 3-2 coming off a victory over their division rival, the Dallas Cowboys, which moved them into a first place tie with the Philadelphia Eagles. Next up is a home game against Atlanta who looks to be going it, without their starting quarterback Michael Vick. If the Giants can win this one, they will have a bye week to get healthy before facing the Eagles for the first time this season, on Monday night football.

Who's hurting on the Giants.
As we said, the players are pretty banged up. Head coach Jim Fassel is concerned commenting, "We're probably going to have as many starters out this game as any week I've ever been here,"
Out for this upcoming game are tight end/safety Darnell Dinkins (foot), linebacker Nick Greisen (foot) and defensive tackle Matt Mitrione (shoulder).
Listed as doubtful are defensive end Kenny Holmes (elbow), guard Jason Whittle (back), tight end Jeremy Shockey (toe) and cornerback William Peterson (toe). Meanwhile, linebackers Mike Barrow (ankle) and Dhani Jones (hamstring) and defensive end Michael Strahan (shoulder) are all probable, with Amani Toomer having done limited practice this week because of a thigh bruise. Will Allen played through all of last week's game with a nagging groin strain.

It wasn't Vick's day.
In last Sunday's game against Tampa Bay, Atlanta's quarterback Michael Vick completed just 4-of-12 passes for 37 yards and was sacked 3 times before heading to the locker room. Vick, who came in to the game leading his team in rushing (184 yards) and the NFL in yards per carry (7.4 per), gained only 1 yard against the relentless Tampa Bay defense. He was hurt early in the third quarter when he was sacked by Simeon Rice and landed hard on his non-throwing shoulder as Rice pulled him down from behind. He suffered a slight AC separation.
At the time Vick Said, "It's really sore right now. I can't really lift my arm up. I've never really been hit like that before, where a guy falls on top of me. And I've never really had any problems with my shoulder. So I knew something was definitely wrong."
On Thursday Dan Reeves said that Vick was unable to practice for more than 45 minutes, and on Friday, Vick took no snaps at all, and Doug Johnson was named the starter for the Giants game.

Doug Johnson with the ball.
When Michael Vick was knocked out of the game, Doug Johnson took over on the next drive, and he completed his first two passes for 15 yards and 20 yards. The Falcons drive stalled, but they came away with a field goal which actually gave them the lead and Atlanta was winning 6-3 at that point.
The Tampa Bay defense wasn't about to let Doug Johnson do what Vick couldn't, and by the end of the game, Johnson had completed just 13-of-25 passes for 150 yards, and had 3 interceptions, with one of those being returned for a touchdown. For the fourth week in a row, the Tampa Bay defense has scored a TD. Tampa Bay (4-1) has allowed only 27 points in winning four straight games.

Atlanta is 1-3.
The Falcons don't have a great record, and they are in last place in their division, but Atlanta's no pushover. According to Jim Fassel, "This team should be 3-1. They missed a field goal to beat the Bears. They went into overtime and should have beaten the Green Bay Packers," he said. "I'm more worried about this game right now. We need to win this game. I want us to come off a big emotional win. I can't emphasize it enough."
Two of the Falcons losses were close ones, 37-34 in the season opener to Green Bay, and 14-13 to Chicago the week after. The Falcons slammed Cincinnati in the next game, 30-3, and were close with Tampa Bay last week until the effects of Vick leaving the game were felt.

No Vick, no sweat.
Once again, that's not how Jim Fassel sees it. He says it doesn't matter which quarterback starts and that, "There isn't a guy coaching this league that can't say a backup quarterback has beat him more than once." Perhaps the coach also remembers that the Giants saw Johnson in the third week of preseason when he opened the second half, and drove the Falcons to two field goals and a touchdown.
Also, there's that nagging feeling that Michael Vick just won't go away. "I'm looking for Michael Vick," Strahan said. "Until I see 'out' [on the injury report] and his jersey is still in his bag and not on his back ... When I see him on the sideline with a hat on his head, then I'll believe it."
Since it was Vick's non-throwing shoulder that was sprained, if he's the least bit capable, it could be tempting for Dan Reeves to toss the extremely mobile quarterback in against a tired Giants defense near the end of a close game.

Atlanta Defense.
The Falcons are ranked 9th in the NFL on defense. They are 10th in scoring defense (18.5 points a game) and 7th in passing defense (196.8 yards a game). They use a 3-4 front that has become fairly uncommon in the league. "There are bigger initial holes in there," Tiki Barber said. "The difference is there are more athletes pursuing you because there are four linebackers instead of three. They may concede giving up two or three yards, but the big plays are harder to come by."

Notes.
Since bye weeks were instituted in the NFL in 1990, the Giants have an 11-2 record (.847) in games prior to a week off.
They can tie San Francisco (12-2) for the best record with a victory on Sunday.
The Giants are 8-2 at home and 3-0 on the road in games before a bye.
Ike Hilliard has caught at least one pass in a team-record 67 straight games.
The Giants' defense ranks fourth in the league in yards allowed.
Rookie kicker Matt Bryant has been a perfect 9-for-9 on field goals, and 7-for-7 on extra points.
Frank Ferrara will get his first NFL start on Sunday.

Next Game
Next week, no game and then Oct 28, Giants at Philadelphia (Mon) 9:00 PM.

Last Week's review, game 5 - Giants 21 - Dallas 17