What Noise? New York Giants Quiet Seattle Noise Early

The cliche, Any Given Sunday, was gone from the start as the New York Giants told the Seattle Seahawks, Not This Sunday.

The talk all week was about how the Giants would handle coming off a bye and dealing with the noise at Qwest Field in Seattle. Known as one of the noisiest buildings in the NFL, the Giants knew they had to take the crowd out of the game earlier. That’s just what they did.

How about three touchdowns and a 21-0 lead after just one quarter? That will certainly quiet the home crowd.  Eli Manning and the Giants were in control from the start.

Two rushing touchdowns by Ahmad Bradshaw with a 46 yards TD reception by Hakeem Nicks sandwiched in between and the Giants had all the scoring they needed. That was not all they would get however.

Two more touchdown passes from Manning in the second quarter gave the Giants a 35-0 halftime lead.  Steve Smith caught a six yard touchdown from Manning with 9:15 to go in the quarter and tight end Kevin Boss scored with :53 seconds left on a five yard grab.

Kicker Lawrence Tynes would add two field goals in the third to wrap up the scoring for New York. The Giants once again showed they can move the ball in many ways. The versatile offense had 290 yards passing by Manning and 197 total rushing yards.

Ahmad Bradshaw finished with just 57 yards on 19 carries but Brandon Jacobs ran for 78 yards on 11 carries.  Nicks led all receivers with six catches for 128 yards.

The Giants were able to move the ball however and whenever they needed. They had 30 first downs in the game compared to Seattle’s eight. The Giants were 6-of-13 on third downs and converted 1-0f-2 fourth down attempts.  In all, the Giants offense totaled 487 yards.

The defense did it’s part as well. Perry Fewell’s unit surprisingly did not get any sacks on Seattle’s QB Charlie Whitehurst but held the Seahawks to just 162 yards. Seattle did not score until a 36 yard touchdown pass in the fourth quarter when the game was well out of reach.

The Giants defense held Seattle running back Marshawn Lynch to just 48 yards on 11 carries and intercepted Whitehurst twice. Corey Webster and Terrell Thomas grabbed the interceptions.

It was a complete team effort, one that quickly too the noise factor out of play.

The only question remaining right now is, are the Giants the NFL’s best team? Might be to early to make that claim, but they are certainly one of the best teams in the NFC.

Next week the Giants host the Dallas Cowboys, a team struggling very badly.