Team Giants

Giants - Steelers Game 7 preview

Giants (5-1) vs Pittsburgh (5-1).
Last week the Pittsburgh Steelers took on the winless Cincinnati Bengals and left them still winless. The well rested Steelers were coming off their bye week and even without all their starters returning, they easily moved on to their eighth consecutive win at Cincinnati's Paul Brown Stadium 38-10. They'll be taking on the Giants on their home field this Sunday. The Giants bounced back from their recent Monday night loss with a 29-17 win over the San Francisco 49ers. That put them at 5-1, but also ends the season long streak of facing teams without a winning record.

Giants Untested?
They say that timing is everything, and you could say that the Giants were hitting it just right with the schedule they had. So far things have been tough only when they made it tough on themselves. The counterpoint is that last year the Giants were faced with the quite the opposite. They were at a disadvantage on the road for their whole championship run. Well sooner or later you hit up against the stronger teams, and the Giants will start that this Sunday against Pittsburgh and then continue with two division games on the following weekends.

The Quarterbacks.
Both Eli Manning and Ben Roethlisberger were drafted in 2004. The Giants had their eyes on Eli, and say they had Roethlisberger rated as their number 2 quarterback choice. They were both named as starters in their rookie year and went head to head when the Steelers came to Giants Stadium in December. Pittsburgh won that game 33-30. We called it like this - "Roethlisberger was making deep plays all day long even though he was chased down and sacked 3 times. One time Roethlisberger just tossed it up and it could have been anybody's ball, but instead it went for a long completion between two Giants defenders. This game was there for the taking today, and the secondary just gave it away. On the plus side, the Giants played a hell of a game in the face of adversity, injuries, long losing streaks and what have you. Eli Manning looked like he's figuring things out..." Both quarterbacks have since led their teams to Super Bowl victories and will meet up again for the second time in their careers.

Pittsburgh.
This team leads the league in total defense (228.3 yards per game) and pass defense (158.7). In five of their six games this season, opponents were held to less than 100 yards rushing. On offense, Ben Roethlisberger has been sacked 18 times, but still has managed to complete 63.2 percent of his passes and has thrown for nine touchdowns against three interceptions. Mewelde Moore, their third-string running back filling in for injured Willie Parker, rushed for 120 yards and two touchdowns last week. Overall, this team has been solid for a very long time. They won their 18th division championship since the 1970 merger last year which is more than any other team in the NFL. They are true competition.

Giants.
Their defense can bring real pressure, and the last time Pittsburgh faced a blitzing defense like the Giants was when they played Philadelphia. Roethlisberger was sacked eight times and gave the Steelers their only loss to date (15-6). Last week the Giants defense forced three turnovers, had its third six-sack game of the season and held their opponent to just 35 yards rushing. The Giants offense is overall ranked second in the NFL with an average of 395.0 yards a game. They rank first in rushing at 169.7 yards per game and that goes straight up against the Steelers’ second-ranked run defense (69.7 yards per game). The passing game has been off lately and Manning had his worst game in that Monday night loss. He played a bit better against the 49ers last week, even with the added pressure he was getting, and has been sacked just 6 times to date.

Plaxico Burress.
He's played on both these teams, having been with the the Steelers from 2000-2004. Burress has had his ups and downs this season and seems to be a bit off since his two-week suspension. Manning seems to be forcing the ball to Burress, maybe to keep him focused. He missed some practice this week with a stiff neck and aching shoulder and has been in the news a lot lately. The NFL just hit him up for $45,000 in fines this week for three game related incidents. It will be interesting to see what kind of reception Burress gets in Pittsburgh and how it will affect his game play. He says, "I think it is going to be fun. They won a championship without me. (But) I didn't have any hard feelings. I just kind of motivated myself a little bit more to go get winning." The Giants could sure use an "A" game from Burress this week.

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 each sale helps out our site.

Notes.
Giants are 5-1 for the first time since 1993.

Giants under Tom Coughlin are 28-15 when they score first and 12-15 when they don't.

Giants Eli Manning led the Giants to a Super Bowl victory and was the MVP (2007).

Steelers Ben Roethlisberger was the youngest quarterback to win a Super Bowl (2005).

Steelers Hines Ward has caught at least one pass in a team-record 152 consecutive games.

Click on the Team Giants logo to be informed of all Giants game previews, reviews and off season football news.