New York Giants Official Website

OCTOBER 23, 2009

EAST RUTHERFORD, NJ - Even the best NFL teams throw a clunker or two into a 16-game schedule, as the Giants demonstrated with their loss last week in New Orleans. They fell, 48-27, to the Saints when the Giants' offense and defense couldn't match the strong performance by the special teams.

Sunday night, the 5-1 Giants will attempt to rebound at home against the 3-2 Arizona Cardinals in a meeting of the last two NFC champions and current division leaders (the Cards are tied with San Francisco atop the NFC West). Both teams line up with Super Bowl-MVP quarterbacks in Eli Manning and Kurt Warner.

The Giants and their fans can be heartened by recent history, because the team has usually followed their worst performances with much better play.

In 2005, the Giants were felled by an offensive explosion similar to what they encountered in the Superdome and lost to the Chargers in San Diego, 45-23. But they won the following week vs. St. Louis and four of their next five overall on their way to an 11-5 finish and an NFC East title.

The following year, the Giants could do nothing right in Seattle and fell behind the Seahawks, 42-3, before scoring the game's final 27 points. They were off the following week, then won five consecutive games.

In 2007, they lost their first two games while surrendering 80 points to Dallas and Green Bay. But those defeats are now part of Giants' lore from that memorable season, because they were followed by a six-game winning streak that helped propel the Giants to a Super Bowl victory.

The Giants couldn't avoid a major misstep even while marching toward a 12-4 record last year. They lost a Monday night game in Cleveland, 35-14, to a Browns team that finished 4-12. The Giants responded by winning their next seven games.

With that track record, it's easy to understand why there was concern, but no panic, among the players and coaches after last week's defeat.

"It's not the first time we have been beaten like that," defensive end Osi Umenyiora said. "We have been beaten like that plenty of times since I have been here. This is my seventh year and we always find a way to rebound and come back strong from losses like that and I don't expect this week to be any different."

That sentiment was shared throughout the Timex Performance Center. The players have had a good week of preparation and are confident their talent, leadership and desire will make last week's loss an aberration and not the start of a losing streak.

"All of us have been through this," tackle David Diehl said. "Since I have been here, we haven't been undefeated, so it's one of those things. Obviously, you go out there, you want to win every game, you want to do all that stuff. It doesn't happen that way. It's all about how you respond to those losses and how you bounce back. We have been in this situation before, we have all lost games. But every time it has happened the character of this team has responded and always come back in a hard working way and in a business-like manner and made sure that we made the corrections and move forward."

"I definitely think we can take what we've done in the past and try to use it this year to bounce back and get on another roll and put another stretch together like we did last year," tight end Kevin Boss said.

Coach Tom Coughlin reminded the players this week that getting knocked down is far less important than how they respond once they're back on their feet. He demanded sharper focus and better preparation. Coughlin and his assistants identified the shortcomings that caused their downfall in New Orleans and have worked hard to correct them.

That commitment and work ethic is why the players believe they will bounce back against the Cardinals.

"It's the type of character we have on this team," Umenyiora said. "The type of people and type of personality and the coaches we have on this team. Nobody can really sit there week in and week out and think everything is cool. We have pride, we are getting paid a lot of money to win football games and we are going to go out there and try to execute better."

"I think guys came in (this week) and were focused," guard Chris Snee said. "We knew it was obviously not a game that we are proud of. But we also know that it is just one game, and game six of the year. There's no time to dwell on that with the team we have coming in."

Arizona is certainly a formidable opponent, especially in light of what happened last week. The Saints gained 493 yards, including 369 through the air as Drew Brees threw four touchdown passes. The Giants neither pressured the quarterback nor covered his receivers with any degree of success. Now here come the Cardinals, who are as committed to the forward pass as any team in the league. Arizona averages just 57.6 yards per game on the ground, but 265.2 through the air. Quarterbacks Kurt Warner and Matt Leinart have dropped back to pass 221 times, but the Cards have only 99 rushing attempts.

Of course, when your receivers are Larry Fitzgerald, Anquan Boldin and Steve Breaston and you average only 2.9 yards a carry, using an aerial attack is probably a good idea.

"I have seen flashes of them running it really well, but they just don't have the desire to run," defensive end Justin Tuck said. "I have seen it on film that if they really want to run the ball, it seems like they can do it. That's their scheme. This is a football team we are probably going to see four wide receivers more than we are probably going to see a tight end on the field. It's the NFL. You adjust and hopefully we find a way to do that and be prepared for them."

Defensively, the Cardinals are first in the league in stopping the run, giving up only 59.6 yards a game and 2.8 yards a carry. But they are 31st against the pass (265.2-yard average), meaning this could be a game in which points are scored in bunches. These two teams combined for 66 points last year in the Giants' 37-29 victory in Arizona.
 
"We have played shootout games; that is not the problem," Manning said. "We have to avoid getting down too much too early. Offensively, we have to score and hold the ball, be better on third downs, keep our defense off the field and move the ball. It is just a matter of us continuing to get our offense to do good things and score when we have opportunities."

Of course, the Giants will take a win any way they can get it. What's most important is not run vs. pass, but whether they can repeat their recent past and rebound from a poor outing with a victory.

"We don't have time to feel sorry for ourselves or lick our wounds," Tuck said. "We have quality opponents coming up back to back to back to back to back so that's one of the reasons I like it because you get a chance to come back and get a good feeling about yourself."

"We have a great challenge coming up this week," cornerback Terrell Thomas said. "We want to perform better than we did last week. But as long as we come up with a 'W,' no matter how we get it, we're going to be satisfied."

NOTES

*Linebacker Michael Boley (knee), defensive tackle Chris Canty (calf) and cornerback Aaron Ross (hamstring) have been declared out for Sunday. Tackle Kareem McKenzie, who injured his groin late in the first half last week in New Orleans, has practiced all week on a limited basis and is listed as questionable. All the other injured Giants are probable, including running back Ahmad Bradshaw, who worked in a limited fashion today and Wednesday and rested his ankle/foot yesterday.

*For Arizona, tight end Stephen Spach (ankle) will not play. Wide receiver Anquan Boldin, who injured an ankle last week in Seattle, did not practice on Wednesday and Thursday but did work on a limited basis today and is listed as questionable, as is running back Beanie Wells, who has been limited in practice all week with a hip injury.