Team Giants

Giants - Ravens Game 10 preview

Giants (8-1) vs Baltimore (6-3).
The Ravens won their fourth straight game last week with a 41-13 win over the Houston Texans. Their rookie quarterback, Joe Flacco, threw two touchdown passes and their defense pulled in four interceptions. The Giants beat the Eagles last week 36-31. They had the ball for almost 40 minutes in a game that was much closer than it should have been. One early interception on Eli Manning put Philly at the Giants 9 yard line to set up a touchdown and an Eagles 7-0 lead. Later a fumble by Brandon Jacobs gave the Eagles another shot in Giants territory, which they also converted to a touchdown. The Giants went ahead and the Eagles had one last shot to pull this game out close to midfield with 2 minutes left, but Brian Westbrook was stopped twice on a 3rd and 3 and then a 4th and 1.

Giants - Running.
Can the Giants impressive rushing unit, Brandon Jacobs, Derrick Ward and Ahmad Bradshaw break through any defense in the league? Well, almost. They are ranked first in the NFL in rushing yards per game (168.9), and yards per carry (5.2). They were pretty effective last week against a tough Philly defense, but the Ravens are number one at stopping the run. Does evenly matched defense beat offense? Against the Steelers (second vs. the run) the Giants accumulated just 83 yards on the ground, their low for the season. Jacobs rushed for only 47 yards on his 18 carries.

Giants - Passing.
With the Giants running game being so successful, Eli Manning has not thrown for more than 200 yards in his last five games. This week that may have to change. Manning is up against a pass defense that ranks 9th in the league and they are tied for 2nd in interceptions with 14. The Ravens have been giving up bigger pass plays in their last few games as some injuries mount up. There's been a lot of talk about how Plaxico Burress has been drawing a lot of coverage and that's why his production has been low. Others have been making more catches instead and that's fine considering the Giants overall record. In this game where the running game will be hard to make fly, Manning's passes will have to, but still, the Giants are ranked 20th in the league with only 22 passes over 20 yards, and 15 of those came in the first five games of the season

Ravens Offense.
To put things in perspective, you have to realize that the Ravens are coming off their worst season (5-11) since their first ever in 1996 (4-12). They thought they made strides in 2006 when they traded for Steve McNair who lifted their offense up to 17th place for their best finish since 2001, but everything fell apart last year. Head coach Brian Billick couldn't keep the offense going and Eagles assistant coach John Harbaugh took his place. In April, McNair decided to retire. Overall the Ravens are ranked 16th in the NFL and their strength is their running game which is ranked third. By contrast, their passing is ranked at 28th, averaging 173.4 yards a game. They're breaking in a rookie quarterback and the focus is more on mistake free football than yardage, which lately has worked very well for them. Over the last four games they are 4-0 and quarterback Joe Flacco has thrown for six touchdowns and 112 consecutive passes without an interception.

Ravens Quarterback Joe Flacco.
First there was the relatively unknown 'Joe the plumber' and now there's 'Joe the quarterback'. Actually Joe Flacco was really first on the scene, taking over the quarterback job for the Ravens on opening day. He was drafted 18th overall out of the University of Delaware, and has now started in all nine games. Flacco's first start came about because of a season-ending shoulder injury to Kyle Boller, and illness to Troy Smith. The Ravens have been trying to develop a premiere quarterback for a long time and at one point even imported former Giants head coach, quarterback guru - 'don't throw off your back foot' - Jim Fassel, to help guide them along. (no longer).
The current quarterback mentor is assistant coach Hue Jackson who tutored quarterback Carson Palmer at Southern California, and then helped develop him with the Cincinnati Bengals. Anyway, Flacco ran for a 38-yard touchdown in his first NFL start, has been doing very well for being thrust into the fire early on in his rookie career, and maybe the Ravens have finally found the one missing piece to their offensive game puzzle.

Ravens Defense.
The Ravens have given up an NFL-low 65.4 rushing yards per game, and have not given up more than 76 in any one game so far. They can also stop the pass, but Eli's brother, Peyton Manning was able to throw for 271 yards and 3 touchdowns in a one sided 31-3 win over the Ravens, right before they went on their four game win streak. The Ravens have beaten Miami, Oakland, Cleveland and Houston. Eli is probably the toughest quarterback they will have come up against since facing his brother.

Ravens Ray Lewis.
Fans certainly remember Ray Lewis, the Super Bowl XXXV MVP, who led an inspired Baltimore defense to a crushing 34-7 win over the Giants. He was quick to point out after that game, "You go down against our defense, you're in a whole lot of trouble. We've dominated people like that all year. And they didn't score on us. Make sure you quote that. They didn't score on our defense." You may be thinking the 13 year veteran should be appearing on 'Dancing With The Stars' by now, but think again. He's still very actively playing football and just last week 'twinkle toes' pulled in two interceptions. His next appearance will be on Sunday when he'll be looking to tango with the Giants offensive unit.

Tiki Barber - Tough Talk.
Sure Tiki does puff pieces for NBC, but did you catch him after the Giants game last week. He pulled no punches stating that Andy Reid had become predictable. Maybe that's what Tiki's going for - He's setting himself up to be the Mike Wallace of Sports Talk. Sure, but after awhile, maybe no head coaches will want to give him an interview. Andy Reid might not. Tom Coughlin declined last year, and Eli Manning took a 'Tiki" hit, but he's a player and handled it just fine, just as he always does.

NFC East.
The Eagles (5-4) play at Cincinnati (1-8) the same time as the Giants on Sunday at 1:00PM. The Cowboys (5-4) and Redskins (6-3) are coming off their respective bye weeks and will play each other at Washington at 8:15 PM. The Giants, Eagles and Redskins are all favored to win their games.

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Notes.
Giants are ranked third in the NFL with 30 sacks.
They had no sacks against Donovan McNabb and the Eagles last week.

Ravens defense has registered 28 consecutive games of not allowing a 100-yard rusher.

Ravens have scored at least 27 points in four straight games -- a franchise record..

Ravens cornerback Frank Walker and inside linebacker Nick Greisen are former Giants draft picks who played for coach Tom Coughlin.

Next Game
Nov. 23 Giants at Arizona at 4:15PM.
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Dec. 7 Eagles at Giants at 1:00PM.
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