The New York Giants started the season on a terrible stretch and while things were not so pretty on Monday night, the team finally has its first win of the season after defeating the Minnesota Vikings 23-7 and while the playoffs are obviously very far out of reach, the team now can at least say they aren't as bad as the Jacksonville Jaguars.
Fans are obviously happy with the win after starting 0-6, but anyone who saw the game on Monday knows it was tough to watch football-wise, but in the NFL a win is a win and no matter how ugly it was, I'll take it. Eli Manning had two passes that should have been picked off, but for the first time since like, I don't know, last season, the ball finally bounced the fight way for the Giants. Two interceptions didn't get made, a muffed punt by the Vikings was recovered and the team also got another fumble to make it two for the first time this season.
Rueben Randle made a nice touchdown catch and Peyton Hillis gained some tough and ugly yards while also scoring a touchdown. Even if he had two passes go bad, it was nice to see Eli Manning have ONE game with ZERO interceptions and while he fumbled once, rookie Michael Cox ran hard all night even if he didn't gain many yards. The Vikings are terrible, so it's not like the defense is back or anything, but just mentally it must be nice to shutout a team, as the SPECIAL teams was the only thing that worked for the Vikings (SIDENOTE--the Giants cover unit is terrible, that's three returns now. This is for another post, but AHH they are frustrating). Justin Tuck getting a sack is always nice since it's a rare occurrence these days and also props to Antrel Rolle, who had an interception on a nice play that was well deserved, as he is one player that has held his weight with his performance this season.
Yes it was ugly, yes it was terrible, but it was a W. The team can't win two, three, four, five games this season without winning one first and this was one they HAD to win because obviously they were 0-6, but also because it was set up that way. The team played Thursday and then has the Monday game, giving them a long week, the Vikings has a new quarterback in Josh Freeman that was still getting used to the offense (UH yeah), the team was coming off of a bad loss and Adrian Peterson was a bit banged up. Luckily the Giants got the win and now they have an away game against the Eagles that is a MUST win before the bye week and then they have Oakland, Green Bay and Dallas at home all in a row. Just when you thought things got easy...but hey, a Win is a Win.