Eli Manning, Giants manhandle Redskins

While Plaxico Burress was busy shooting himself in the thigh with his illegally concealed weapon, the rest of the New York Giants were up to their usual dominant tricks.  On Sunday they easily defeated the Washington Redskins 23-7 behind Eli Manning’s best passing performance of the season and a suffocating run defense.

The Giants won their 7th straight game and improved to 11-1 on the season.  The win at Washington’s FedEx Field also gave them an impressive 15th victory in their last 16 road contests dating back to last season.  The team has given a lot of credit for their consistent high level of play to a “pep talk” by head coach Tom Coughlin where he evoked the Michael Jordan era Chicago Bulls as a team to emulate.  According to receiver Armani Toomer, that has set the tone for the team’s play this year:

“That really kind of set our whole season going and focused in the right direction. And we've been answering every call ever since."

Eli Manning threw for 305 yards on 21/34 passing with one TD and one interception.  The real difference in the game was the Giants’ punishing run defense, which held the Redskins to 92 yards on the ground and limited Clinton Portis to a season low 22 yards. 

After the game, linebacker Antonio Pierce dismissed the talk of Burress’s dubious marksmanship serving as a distraction:

"Come Sunday, 1 o'clock, when the whistle's blowing in between those lines, and you're in the stadium, that's the only focus you've got. That's the only thing this team ever does is focus on our opponent and the challenge that's at hand. We had a lot of challenges obviously going into this game."

Washington dropped to 7-5 with the loss, though Clinton Portis said that it was premature to write off the Redskins:

"There's still a long road ahead of us. We're not out of the playoffs. Back two weeks ago, everybody was crucifying the Cowboys. Now they're back to America's greatest team. Now we're in the same situation."

The Redskins will take the hour long drive up I-295 next Sunday to play the Baltimore Ravens, before traveling to Cincinnati the following weekend.  They’ll return home for a game against the Philadelphia Eagles on 12/21.  The Giants have a tough scheduling stretch ahead of them as they host Philadelphia on Sunday before traveling to Dallas the following week.  They’ll return home to play the Carolina Panthers on 12/21.