The Giants have started off the ‘09 season where last season ended, winning games – discounting that playoff game. If you’re a Giants fan you have to be excited about the way this team is playing. Even with a banged up roster (Ahmad Bradshaw showed up to camp this week with his right foot in a boot; adding to the long list on the team’s injury report), this team has continued to execute the same type of play which led to a Super Bowl two seasons ago.

I don’t think there is another team that plays better together than the Giants. The only superstar that they really have is Justin Tuck but beyond that they don’t have a gun-slinging quarterback, super-shifty running back, a hard hitting linebacker, or an elite wide receiver; but this team just flat out wins. Say what you want about the ineptitude of the Bucs, but to hold an NFL team to under 100 yards for an entire game is impressive (for a comparison, the Lions’ lowest total yards output in a game last season was 154 yards against the Titans). By the way, the Giants were without a healthy Justin Tuck last Sunday.

Where I’m really impressed with this team, though, is on the offensive side of the ball. Eli Manning has done a fantastic job running the offense. He’s the third highest rated QB in the league, has a 5:1 TD to INT ratio, and has only been sacked one time. Of course, the offensive line has a lot to do with all of that; particularly that last stat. The receiving core has also done a great job. This unit came into the season with pretty low expectations but they have done a good job at running after the catch. I’ve always been a fan of Steve Smith and I think he’ll be the one WR on this team who will consistently put up solid numbers. I’m very surprised, however, how great Mario Manningham has been. He doesn’t have the greatest hands in the world but he’s very difficult to tackle after the catch. This unit should improve as the season progresses especially once Dominik Hixon and Hakeem Nicks return to the field.

The area where the offense needs to improve, though, is the running game. Brandon Jacobs and Derrick Ward made up the best ground attack in the NFL last season; right now the Giants rank 8th. That’s not bad, but where they need to get better is in the red zone. The Giants have run for only 1 touchdown this season. They have struggled so far to score TDs when they get in the red zone (see the Cowboys game). When they had Plaxico, Eli used to be able to just toss up that fade and Burress would go get the ball. Without this safety net, Jacobs and Bradshaw have to pound the ball those final 20 yards into the end zone.

The next two weeks will be key for this team’s playoff hopes as well. After they play Kansas City and Oakland, their schedule gets extremely difficult. They still have 4 division games left and the only opponents with losing records left on their schedule (after the Raier game) are the Cardinals and Panthers. If they could start the season out at 5-0, it would give them a lot of wiggle room for this tough stretch.  If they went 5-6, for example, after the Oakland game the Giants would end up with a record of 10-6. That should be about good enough to make the playoffs but considering the how well the team is playing now, I doubt they finish any worse than that.