The change in this game was the defense

Jenkins got the pick-6.

I would say you are correct. I would also add that we won the turnover differential for the first time all season AND the special teams didn't implode.

but most people felt the pivotal matchup and one where the game would be lost was Denver DL vs Giants OL. No one expected the Giants to rush for 150 yards (or whatever it was) and certainly not 120 for Darkwa.

In reality, the Denver O vs the Giants D is a good matchup and one that probably went close to how people expected other than the turnovers which was a pleasant surprise.

So while I agree with you on the play of the D, the Giants OL vs Denver DL was not a battle anyone expected the Giants to win and IMO that's the difference in the game.

Anyway....yes, I realize that they are down a receiving corps and were playing the mighty Bronco defense. Just saying that the rumors of the offense's resurrection are being greatly exaggerated, and most of the credit is due to the defense.

Everyone they have played prior to last night ran roughshod on them, 111 yards or more. Last night, 46.

I made the point a couple of times last night about the offense that you just did. We had 12 first downs and completed 11 passes. It FELT different (as arc pointed out) because we ran the ball and the OL seemed respectable.

We had two respectable scoring drives in the first half. That helped. But it was no offensive "renaissance."

Giants had a very safe strategy on offense, and they were able to execute. It would not have worked without the defense playing as well as it had.

I'm in the minority here, but although Darkwa is better for us in the short-term, I feel we we are wasting snaps on him. He's going to get hurt again. I'd rather see Gallman get his snaps, and yes, get a final determination on Perkins.

Ran the ball well and stayed with the run.

3 and outs.

Interceptions and fumbles for the D.

No turnovers.

No bad offensive decisions to cost the game

to take a 10-0 lead, and those drives were time consuming, clock eating, moving the chains type drives that made them look like they actually had an identity, and that was without their top 3 receivers.

I agree the defense came to play, but give credit where it is due, at least.

was that the Giants were able to play better early. The 17-3 halftime lead was great, and changed the way the game felt. The first drives that lead to a 10-0 lead made a huge difference, and the pick-6 was something we'd been waiting for all year.

It wasn't the play of the offense, it was WHEN the offense played well that made all the difference in how the game felt, imho.

if you swapped the offensive production in the fourth quarter with the first quarter, it would have felt almost exactly like the other games. We wouldn't be gloating today, but feeling like we stole one that Denver gave away.

to prevent short fields. Also good with time of possession. First couple of weeks they didn't do either. It felt like we were in the shadow of our own goal line all the time in the first couple of games.

The 17 yard run off the goal line last night was a huge play in the field position battle. Something we could not do earlier in the year.

That is true and it set the tone.

But on 11 offensive possessions, the Giants also had four 3-and-outs and had two other drives that ran just four plays and another with just five plays. They only had one drive with over 10 plays.

If the defense played like they did last night the past three weeks, I think we would be 4-2 right now. I think that is the point Greg is making.

People will bring up the offense, especially the OLine and running game. And while they do deserve credit, the difference in this game was the defense not only showed up, but actually got some turnovers AND scored some points. That's something the defense hasn't done at all up to this point, except last night.

In comment 13651519 Eric from BBI said:

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If the defense played like they did last night the past three weeks, I think we would be 4-2 right now. I think that is the point Greg is making.

That's exactly it. They've had fourth quarter leads for four straight weeks, but only made it hold up this once. I wish I had an explanation for the sudden turnaround, but I don't.

In comment 13651519 Eric from BBI said:

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That is true and it set the tone. But on 11 offensive possessions, the Giants also had four 3-and-outs and had two other drives that ran just four plays and another with just five plays. They only had one drive with over 10 plays. If the defense played like they did last night the past three weeks, I think we would be 4-2 right now. I think that is the point Greg is making.

That's fine, but also worth noting that they were playing against the number one ranked defense in the NFL, who was at home. And Mile High is a hard place to win. We've only done it one other time, the Gary Reasons hit game in 1989.

not 23.

In comment 13651526 Greg from LI said:

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In comment 13651519 Eric from BBI said: Quote: If the defense played like they did last night the past three weeks, I think we would be 4-2 right now. I think that is the point Greg is making. That's exactly it. They've had fourth quarter leads for four straight weeks, but only made it hold up this once. I wish I had an explanation for the sudden turnaround, but I don't.

No explanation, but one guess is Denver doesn't seem like a team that can really play catch up. Once the Giants forced them into pass first and took them out of their comfort zone they became easier to defend. Also the underrated field position battle finally seemed to be helped out by Wing.

Broncos averaged over 125 yards per game running the ball before the game, they were held to under 50.

In comment 13651524 Dave in Hoboken said:

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People will bring up the offense, especially the OLine and running game. And while they do deserve credit, the difference in this game was the defense not only showed up, but actually got some turnovers AND scored some points. That's something the defense hasn't done at all up to this point, except last night.

All true, but this was the first game they got to play with a LEAD all season, you win as a team.

In comment 13651489 Eric from BBI said:

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I would say you are correct. I would also add that we won the turnover differential for the first time all season AND the special teams didn't implode.

It is a variety of things. The defense got off the field. Some 3 and outs, turnovers etc. Play we have not seen all year. The offense ran the ball effectively and controlled field position. Sullivan made a difference in his plan and execution and staying with the plan not trying for too much. This was a team win.

You can say the same thing about the "D" as you can about the "O". The defense gave up over 400 yards.

This was more of a TEAM win than anything.

The offense was able move the ball and score early. That was huge for a road game in a tough stadium against a tough D with no WRs playing.

The Defense was able to keep the Broncos off the score board and stop their running game.

The special Teams was able to kick some long Field Goals and not do anything stupid.

This was more of a TEAM win than one side or the other propelling the team.

It made Denver abandon the run game and the lead allowed us
to run the ball more . Were not gonna win a ton of games with the weapons we have now unless we can continue to be able to run the ball and the turnovers keep coming . Engram will get
much more attention now and the WR's need to step it up .
I think they need to use Perkins on some 3rd downs as a receiver and see if he can replace Vereen . No sense in letting him rot on the bench . Agree with Eric you kinda cross your fingers with Darkwa . I think we still need a quality back someone to hit the HR and has power to take a
FT role .

When they were down 20-3 and the Giants were in prevent mode.

If the defense is going to play like that every week, which they did last season, they were good enough to carry the team last year.

The defense played up to its potential even if it was vs a scrub qb and a team who absolutely overlooked us. The offense to me did nothing...Scored under 20 again. Played with zero pressure due to how great the defense was. Ran well but a couple of those runs led to bulk of yards. I did not see anything from the offense except they did not turn the ball over and got out of the way of the defense. I do not expect the Giants defense to play that well for many games except if the qb sucks

we lost all the NFL wrs.

but the defense looked like their old selves

suffered earlier this season because the offense couldn't get their heads out of their asses. Complimentary football was played yesterday.

The Giants played the best defense in the AFC, arguably the entire NFL.

They had practice squad guys playing WR vs the no fly zone.

The OL pushed around Denver's front and ran the ball extremely well. Better than Dallas or anyone else fared so far this year. Pass pro was very solid -- Von Miller made what, one play?

Eli and the passing game moved the ball enough to chew clock and keep the defense honest.

They didn't score 30, but they coached and played a very good game. They played with an 80s Giants identity, and they'll be in every game going forward if they can maintain that level of play.

"Identity" - sure, only 260 total yards and 16 points, but now they have an identity!

but not break D. Kept them out of the End zone which was huge. They still gave up way too many deep catches to Thomas. The safety needs to do a better job there. A guy like Thomas needs to be doubled. Also Spags blitzed more with effective results. JPP played his best game of year. The Giants need to figure out a better way to cover TEs and RBs because Robinson is not getting it done this year and RBs and TEs are killing us every game. It will be more of the same this week with Graham and company coming to town!

The O did a good job controlling the flow of the game, but they actually only scored 16 points, Jack Rabbit scored on the INT. 16 points will not win most games for them. It showed that we had no WRs, as they were covered well all night

In comment 13651613 Greg from LI said:

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"Identity" - sure, only 260 total yards and 16 points, but now they have an identity!

Do you feel like they've had one on offense for the past 4 5 games? Hell the past season and a half, outside of chuck it to Beckham and hope he takes it to the house?

helped ensure that the defense wouldn't be gased at the end.

You're always posting nostalgic bullshit and here the Giants played a classic 80s style game, and you're not happy with the offense. What did you expect them to do? Did you expect Rodger Lewis to go for 150 and 2 scores vs the best secondary in the league?

The Giants ran the ball extremely well, controlled the clock, made a few key passes, and played great defense. That's an identity.

I care about results. If the defense had been playing like this all along, we'd be having very different conversations today.

Or maybe you want to think about who was NOT on the field for us at WR. Either way, taken as a big picture view, the offense improved its performance significantly over the first five losses by being able to run the football. The formula was dictated by the losses at starting WR and the coaches adapted to their set of players and IT EFFING WORKED. What a pleasant surprise and I believe it is repeatable. Seattle will be a good test.

for all of us that want to make Sullivan a "folk hero", there are equal amounts of posters, like yourself, who claim that he sucks, so you accuse others of trying to prop him up, you yourself are trying to tear him down as to not have to admit maybe he wasn't as bad an alternative as you've been saying.

the scoreboard. No turnovers, run the clock, win field position.

In my opinion, the short drive where we got the ball from our 1 to our 30 (or whatever) was huge. It doesn't look like anything in the stats, but it was huge for time and for field position.

It was nice to see. The play of the defense was still much more crucial to the win.

they were playing against the number one ranked defense, on the road, who was also coming off a bye, without all three of our starting WR's.

Wouldn't kill you to give the offense a little credit.

Maybe Simien just isn't as good as Winston, Dak, Wentz, Rivers, or Stafford? He made 2 bigger, and relatively unforced, turnovers than all 5 of the others put together while also lacking their arm talent to threaten downfield. The only way he was able to get the ball downfield was by letting Thomas win 50-50 balls and once the WR's and OL got banged up he's just not good enough to overcome that.

That's not to say I disagree with the point that if the defense played this well the team would be 4-2 or 5-1 because they would. If JPP played the way he did last night they'd have at least 1 more win. Part of them playing better likely also related to playing from ahead instead of from behind all game. Both units played their cleanest game of the season and that combination complimented each other's success. The offense's improvement from the Dallas game without OBJ to last night was glaring though, and I consider that the most noteworthy development.

for more power packages. This is a running team now and Darkwa health is key.

Yeah the D played better and like was expected day one of this season. The OL looked good too. The coaching also improved. Football is a team sport. The results are what you get when you put it all together.

In comment 13651640 Britt in VA said:

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they were playing against the number one ranked defense, on the road, who was also coming off a bye, without all three of our starting WR's. Wouldn't kill you to give the offense a little credit.

Exactly. By the responses today you would have thought we lost 17-10.

and coaching is realizing what you have and the opponent's strengths, the situation. We obviously weren't going to throw the ball 35 times this game with JV receivers going against the best secondary in football. We took our chances when necessary, played within the game and beat them soundly. What else do you want? Our offense isn't going to be that great without Beckham and Shepard. But, it can certainly be perhaps competent enough.

was also field position. We got 3 and outs on defense, which made the offense not start at the damn 5 on every drive. Getting a 3 and out to start the game and then a nice drive for points changes the WHOLE game. It does.

In comment 13651606 WillVAB said:

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The Giants played the best defense in the AFC, arguably the entire NFL. They had practice squad guys playing WR vs the no fly zone. The OL pushed around Denver's front and ran the ball extremely well. Better than Dallas or anyone else fared so far this year. Pass pro was very solid -- Von Miller made what, one play? Eli and the passing game moved the ball enough to chew clock and keep the defense honest. They didn't score 30, but they coached and played a very good game. They played with an 80s Giants identity, and they'll be in every game going forward if they can maintain that level of play.

So you expect all future opponents to NOT be up for the Giants?

But it did look much healthier than at any point so far this season I thought.

Whateve they did last night, they did with WRs off the street, new playcaller and reshuffled o-line.

Not bad.

In comment 13651583 NYSports1 said:

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The defense played up to its potential even if it was vs a scrub qb and a team who absolutely overlooked us. The offense to me did nothing...Scored under 20 again. Played with zero pressure due to how great the defense was. Ran well but a couple of those runs led to bulk of yards. I did not see anything from the offense except they did not turn the ball over and got out of the way of the defense. I do not expect the Giants defense to play that well for many games except if the qb sucks

For the most part, offensive line won the physical battle which is the first time this has happened in a long time. The offense (narrowly) won time of possession and played exactly the kind of game it needed, considering the WR situation. One of the key plays, imo, was the first down run on third down in the series after the goal line stand. Not taking anything away from the great team defense last night but Semien is the least of the QBs we've faced and so far. I think he has to play with the lead to be effective and he never had that opportunity. I don't think you can underestimate the importance of the offensive line not getting blown up.