Giants Dominate Seattle

The Giants had some ghosts to exorcize on this trip to Seattle to face the Seahawks. They had played here in 2005 and 2006, losing both times. Knowing once the place got rocking and the crowd noise level rises to the loudest in the league, they needed to get off to a quick start.

Swooping in on the Seahawks in the Pacific Northwest, riding a four game winning streak, the Giants wasted no time in taking control. They exploded to an early 21-0 first quarter lead, in a dominating, balanced performance on both sides of the ball in a 41-7 victory.

Eli Manning led his offense to touchdowns on five consecutive first half possessions with one of his most efficient games.

Defensively, the Giants made Seattle backup quarterback Charlie Whitehurst look like this was indeed his first NFL start, allowing the Seahawks to run only 37 total plays, giving up only a touchdown in garbage time. Seattle was held to 162 total yards, mostly coming in the fourth quarter with the game out of reach.

Manning connected on 21 of 32 passes for 290 yards and touchdown passes to Hakeem Nicks, Steve Smith and Kevin Boss. Ahmad Bradshaw ran for two touchdowns, leading the rushing attack that produced 197 yards. Brandon Jacobs powered for 78 yards and D.J. Ware added 66 on the ground.

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With center Shaun O’Hara out, the coaches did a great job of shuffling players along the offensive line. Rich Seubert moved from left guard to center, David Diehl went from left tackle to left guard and Shawn Andrews went from the bench to left tackle. With all these changes, the offensive line did not miss a beat, showing great depth and versatility.

The Giants compiled 30 first downs, 487 total yards and held the ball for 42:34. The Seahawks could only manage 49 rushing yards and Whitehurst completed just 12 passes for 113 yards and was picked off twice.

The 35-0 halftime lead was the largest for the Giants since Nov. 29, 1959, when they led the Redskins 38-0 in a game they won 45-14.

Will Blackmon made his Giants debut as the kickoff and punt returner. He had a 22 yard return in the third quarter. Lawrence Tynes was 2-2 on field goals, from 25 and 20 yards.

Punter Matt Dodge did not attempt a punt in the first half and booted a 50 yarder in the third quarter.

The only bad news came on the injury front. David Diehl was lost for possibly a few weeks with a hamstring tear and fellow offensive lineman Adam Koets came out of the game with a torn ACL, and was put on season ending injured reserve. Kevin Boothe was activated to take Koets’ place.

Next game: The reeling Dallas Cowboys, visit East Rutherford on Sunday November 14th at 4:15 PM ET.

By: Mitchell D. Schlau
ProFootball-fans.com New York Giants Correspondent