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Giants (0-3) vs Chiefs
(3-0)
Last week Andy Reid's players ensured
their new head coach was paid respect due when facing his old
team for the first time. The Kansas City Chiefs showed the Philadelphia
Eagles that they had embraced Reid's winning philosophies, coming
away with a 26-16 victory.
Last week the Giants gave one of their worst performances ever
in a game against the Carolina Panthers. Both teams went in with
0-2 records looking for their first win and the Panthers got it
bigtime with a 38-0 victory in front of their loyal, and likely
surprised, home crowd.
Kansas
City Chiefs.
Put a head coach with a 4-12
record in charge of a 2-14 team and what do you get? A 3-0 team.
What? Andy Reid was the head coach of the Philadelphia Eagles
for 14 years until he was fired last December. Reid had guided
his Eagles team to 140 wins and 6 division titles, with the last
one as recent as 2010. Still with all that, he could never bring
home the big one, the Lombardi Trophy. Although Reid got them
to the Super Bowl once, the Eagles are one of the few teams to
have never won one. Still, the Philadelphia fans greeted their
long time head coach with a standing ovation. Reid was the winningest
coach in their franchise history, a winner in their eyes.
Just to prove it, he notched up another one, this time against
his old team. At the end of the game Eagles quarterback Michael
Vick and Reid embraced. Reid had reached out to Vick and brought
him back into the game of football after his prison term. In his
last two years with the Eagles, Reid was 8-8 and 4-12 and he was
gone. Vick during that time threw 24 interceptions and fumbled
21 times for his coach and in doing so maybe
inadvertently cut Reid loose. One thing for sure is that Reid
is enjoying his own prison break' from Philadelphia with his 3-0
Chiefs.
Chiefs
offense.
Compared to the defense and special teams unit the offense is
the weakest part of this undefeated team, but as all coaches say,
'You have to win the turnover battle'. The Chiefs are 3-0 and
have not yet committed a turnover. Last season they
turned the ball over 37 times and finished 2-14. Quarterback Alex
Smith is smart and he plays it safe and doesn't throw the ball
downfield all that much. He can do that because his productive
running back, Jamaal Charles, is a great outlet and is also the
second leading receiver on the team. Smith takes off at the right
times and enough so that he has become the second leading runner
on the team. All this has the Chiefs at above average in rushing
yards and way below in passing yards.
Chiefs
defense.
This defense is running hot
right now. Last week they sacked Michael Vick six times, scored
a touchdown on an interception return, and forced three other
turnovers. In three games they have 15 sacks, 7 1/2 from linebacker
Justin Houston, who feasted on Vick with 4 1/2 and he now leads
the league. The Chiefs played their game early last week and had
the opportunity to watch the Giants play in Carolina. If he did
so, Houston is probably worried.
That worry would be that he might not be the sack leader this
week since everyone seems to get a hand on Eli Manning these days.
Seriously, this is a dangerous defense led by a head coach who
knows how to play these Giants. The best way for the Giants to
slow down the Chiefs defense is to make a statement with David
Wilson. The Chiefs have a low rated rush defense and and give
up almost 6 yards per carry. Get the ball to him any way you can
and bigger things will open up for Eli Manning.
Giants offense.
Eli Manning
finished last week going 12-for-23 for 119 yards and an interception
and he was lucky for those numbers, as during the game Manning
was sacked 7 times and with 6 coming in the first 17 minutes.
This offensive line was blown away from the start and whatever
they were doing out there, they never had a chance to establish
any kind of offense. Once again the running game got nowhere,
and what's going to change this week? It turns out quite a bit,
but not because of any master plan, only due to injuries that
have starters guard Chris Snee and center David Baas out for this
game.
Center Jim Cordle might get his first start, as well as James
Brewer switching to guard. Second-year lineman Brandon Mosley,
who was on injured reserve last year, and
even David Diehl whose been out with a thumb injury, might be
called on because it's 'all hands on deck' at this point. The
offense has averaged just 4.45 plays per drive this season, which
puts them last in the league. It doesn't matter how good your
quarterback or running backs or receivers are if you don't give
them a chance to do their jobs.
Giants defense.
The Giants as a team have
allowed more points and committed more turnovers than any other
in the NFL. This defense is certainly not being helped out with
these 'extra opportunities' to rush back onto the field that has
been afforded them. They are tied for last place in the league
with 3 sacks and although Alex Smith is a more sackable target,
then some that they've faced, he also uses his feet. The defense
will have to be alert playing him as well as watching out for
Jamaal Charles and receiver in Dwayne Bowe. They say that Jason
Pierre-Paul is coming along better each week. This would be a
good time for him to show it.
Giants Yaysayers.
They lost the first game to the Cowboys, a division team. Those
things can go either way, They lost the second to Peyton Manning's
Broncos. That team is on track to go all the way to the Super
Bowl and the rest of the NFC East teams will take their licks.
The third game was a disaster with the Panthers having a big edge
with Chase Blackburn on their side. Even changing signals, after
eight years he knows what he sees when they line up in front of
him and that tipped the scales.
Giants Naysayers.
This team is old and last week showed it. Kevin Gilbride runs
plays that the fans can call at home. Jerry Reese should not have
let Osi Umenyiora, Ahmad Bradshaw and Martellus Bennett walk.
- (OK enough of the nay-saying for this report. The Giants need
a win).
Overall
One team is 3-0 and the other
0-3 so it's easy to jump to conclusions. Why even play this game?
The Eagles were able to run big on the Chiefs, but Eli Manning
and David Wilson are not Michael Vick and McCoy. Despite his 14
yard run last week Manning would pass on taking off on a regular
basis. Now if Wilson could even come close to what McCoy did,
158 yards on 20 carries, that would be plenty enough to let Manning
do what he really does best. That's providing the offensive line
shows up this week.
You don't like to hear that only 3 of the 115 teams starting at
0-3 over the last 23 NFL seasons made it to the playoffs, but
look at the horse race these Giants are in. The NFC East has a
combined record of 3-9. The Cowboys are riding high, owning two
of those wins. It's entirely possible that by the end of this
weekend the Giants, Eagles and Redskins will all be 1-3 sitting
right behind a 2-2 Cowboys team.
NFC East
The whole division is on the road
this Sunday. The Giants play at 1pm and all the rest have 4:25pm
start times. The Eagles (1-2) face the Broncos (3-0). The Cowboys
(2-1) are up against the Chargers (1-2), and the Redskins (0-3)
are going for their first win against the Raiders (1-2). The Cowboys
are the only division team favored to win their game. 
Check out.
The Team
Giants Store, and see some of the really unique items we put
together.
There are some items you certainly haven't seen elsewhere, and
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Giants DVDs
and Posters.
TeamGiants on Twitter.Notes.
Giants Eli Manning has been
sacked 11 times this season, tied for second most in the NFL.
Chiefs haven't started 4-0 since
2003 when they went 9-0.
Chiefs Justin Houston last week
was named AFC Defensive Player of the Week.
Chiefs Andy Reid has won 7 of the
last 9 matchups with the Giants while with the Eagles.
Next Games
Oct 6 - Eagles at Giants
Giants Tickets - Buy
or Sell
Oct 10 - Giants at
Chicago.
Giants Tickets - Buy
or Sell
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