New York Giants Official Website

 Getting Back on Track
  By Michael Eisen, Giants.com

NOVEMBER 20, 2009

EAST RUTHERFORD, NJ - Early in the season, when the Giants played struggling or rebuilding teams like Tampa Bay, Kansas City and Oakland, Tom Coughlin and the players went to great lengths to laud the strength of the opponents and to stress the importance of the games.

No such psychological gymnastics are required this week. The Giants will host the Atlanta Falcons on Sunday. Both teams are 5-4. The winner will remain well-positioned in the NFC playoff race and the loser...well, let's just say they're going to have a big hill to climb. The Giants' journey will be much easier if they can shed the weight of their four-game losing streak and return to the fine play they exhibited early in the season.

"This game means a lot to us," middle linebacker Antonio Pierce said. "For one, we need a win to get out of this four-game slump and, two, it will help us in the playoff hunt. We are tied for one of the wild card spots and you always want to win the head to head battles."

"It is an important game for us because we have to get back on track," quarterback Eli Manning said. "Obviously, it is a big one for them. We are in similar situations. We know they will come in ready to play. They have lost three of their last four and so they are going to feel they have something to prove, just like us. We've got to get back on track and start looking forward to the second half of the season."

The Giants have anticipated this game for two weeks, since suffering a disheartening 21-20 loss to the San Diego Chargers in their final game prior to the bye. The Chargers scored their winning points with only 21 seconds remaining. For the Giants, it was another in a series of haunting losses after a 5-0 start. They were routed in New Orleans and Philadelphia and fell at home to Arizona and San Diego in games they thought they should have won. The defeat to the Chargers was a difficult kickoff to the bye.

But Coughlin gave the players four days off away from the Timex Performance Center and they returned with healed bodies, renewed excitement and an optimistic outlook.

"We are looking at this now like this is a new season," center Shaun O'Hara said. "We're 5-4. There is really nothing we can do about that, we can't change it. All we can work for is going forward. I know that people want to look at stats when it comes to bye weeks, but every year the bye week is a different week. If it's early in the season or late in the season, you can't control that. What you can control is how we prepare and really how we play on Sunday. We have a great opportunity to play at home and improve to 6-4 and that's really what we are worried about."

"I think the rest helps," said punter and captain Jeff Feagles, who has studied dynamics in NFL locker rooms for 22 years. "On the other hand, you have to wait an extra week to play again. As professional athletes, that sometimes stinks because you are champing at the bit to get back out there to pretty much redeem yourself. I think it has gone well for the guys and guys have come in here a little ticked off. We understand that we have seven games to play and they all need to be seven good ones.

"I think that we need to go out and play a good game and then that confidence can really restore itself. I think guys are confident, they are flying around, heads are up and Tom has done a good job of putting it in front of us."

The Giants had as good a bye week as they could have hoped for because Dallas and Philadelphia, their two primary competitors for the NFC East title, both lost. After receiving help from Green Bay and San Diego, now it's time to help themselves.

"We don't really concern ourselves with that (the Dallas and Philly losses)," defensive end Osi Umenyiora said. "They could lose, but if we keep losing, it's not going to do us any good. So we have to go out there and win one game, take it one game at a time and if we can get this one win, we will start to worry about all those other things after that."

In Atlanta, the Giants will face a team that is also approaching dire straights. Since starting 4-1, the Falcons have lost three of four games. The defense has had trouble stopping the run, quarterback Matt Ryan hasn't been as sharp as he was earlier in the season, and Atlanta has injury issues. Most notably, Michael Turner, who has rushed for 831 yards and 10 touchdowns, has not practiced all week because of a high ankle sprain and is listed as doubtful.

"Let's be honest, of course they're a different team without him," Pierce said. "The guy ran for 1,700 yards last year. You look at his stats this year and he is on pace to have another 1,500-yard season. So when you lose a guy with the kind of capability that he has, I am pretty sure that it will affect them. But we won't look at them any differently."

Jerious Norwood, Turner's backup, has missed four games with a hip injury and also hasn't practiced. If neither of those backs play, the Falcons' rushing attack will be in the hands of No. 3 Jason Snelling.

"They are still going to run the football," Umenyiora said. "They have an outstanding offensive line. I think Michael Turner is an outstanding running back, but I think their scheme dictates how many yards he is able to get. I think whoever is back there, if they keep running their same schemes, is going to be pretty effective. We don't worry about who is back there. I think they are going to come in here and run the football anyway, no matter who they have got back there and we are going to be prepared for that."

Atlanta uses a lot of pre-snap shifting, deception, misdirection and occasionally a no-huddle attack in an attempt to befuddle opponents.

"They're just different wrinkles," Pierce said. "Most teams just come up and line up and have typical guard pull and a simple base power running game. This team likes to throw almost gadget runs at you, but they want to see where your eyes are. If you don't have your eyes in the right place and where they need to be, then you could get fooled."

The Giants have worked hard this week to guard against that. They believe the bye week self-scouting they did will help improve their performance inside the 20-yard line on both offense and defense. Every player on the 53-man roster was healthy enough to practice this week. Cornerback Aaron Ross should play for the first time this season. The Giants are at home.

Perhaps most important, the Giants insist their confidence level is as high now as it was when they were beating those struggling teams and soaring to a 5-0 record. Everything is in place for another turnaround, this one in the right direction. Now the Giants have to execute it.

"I know myself and I know the guys next to me and I know the guys in this locker room are going to fight," O'Hara said. "I also know that this is a good football team - despite what people say, what people write, what people want to think. This is a good football team. Good football teams can lose football games and still be good teams. If you play bad football, that is what you deserve. If you turn the ball over in the first quarter, you are going to find yourself down 14-0 and that is a tough hole to climb out of, no matter what team you are. The one thing is this team has faith in each other that we are a good football team, that we have the talent and that we can win football games. Now the key is just going out and executing."

"All we can control is what the Giants can do," Manning said. "We've got to control our play and go out there and play well. It starts this week - we've got a big game versus a team that we don't play very often. They are coming to Giants Stadium. It is our job to go out there, play well, handle our business and everything else will work itself out."

NOTES

*Michael Strahan, the Giants' career leader in games played (216) and sacks (141.5) and a captain on the 2007 Super Bowl championship team, watched practice today. When Coughlin brought everyone together for the post-practice huddle, he asked Strahan to address the team.

"It was a surprise - I didn't expect to do it," said Strahan, who also hung out in the locker room after practice. His name among those of the Giants legends that have been painted in the locker room. "I just came in to see the guys practice. I'm here to watch my first practice since I retired (after the 2007 season). Coughlin pulled me to the middle of the circle and he stepped back. I'm thinking, 'What are you stepping back for - you want me to speak?' He started laughing. So he kind of threw me into it."

Strahan then delivered an impromptu, passionate speech that will certainly inspire former teammates and newcomers alike.

"That's what I do," he said. "I'm a motivator. That part will never leave. My whole thing is it's confidence. Not just confidence in yourself, but confidence in each other. They're talented, we all know that. They're as talented as any team in the league. It's just a matter of believing in their talent and the talent of the guy next to them. If they do that, they'll be just fine."

*Cornerback Aaron Ross is listed as questionable for the Atlanta game, but he has practiced all week and expects to play for the first time this season. Ross missed the first nine games with a hamstring injury.

"I feel really good," Ross said. "Out there running this whole week my hamstring stayed very loose. I'm happy. Everything is on the up right now. They're working me in different spots and right now it's looking like if I am healthy, I will (play)."

Coughlin hasn't definitively said that Ross will play, saying instead he thinks it will be a game time decision.

"As far as I can tell, he is making progress," Coughlin said. "When he comes out and runs around he hasn't been set back that I know of. He hasn't said a word of that."

*The only other players on the injury report are Manning (foot) and Ahmad Bradshaw (ankle/foot), who are both listed as probable.

*For Atlanta, wide receiver Brian Finneran (knee) will not play. Turner (ankle) has not practiced this week and is listed as doubtful. Safety Erik Coleman (knee), Norwood (hip) and White (knee) are all listed as questionable.

*The Giants will host their 13th annual food drive when they host the Falcons on Sunday. Fans are encouraged to bring canned or non- perishable food to Community FoodBank of New Jersey trucks parked at each entrance to the stadium. All collected food will be donated to the Community FoodBank of New Jersey, a division of America's Second Harvest, who will then distribute it to local food banks in the area.

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