Until they can string three or four quality victories together – hell, even two – they are what they’ve been since the Nineties. Manning and Coughlin were under pressure when the Giants opened 0-6 two years ago and 0-2 last season.
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That is … Reliably, wildly inconsistent from week to week.
In a game that they were heavily favored, against a team that has blown a pair of chances to be undefeated this season, the Buffalo Bills from Weeks One and Three were nowhere to be found at Ralph Wilson Stadium on Sunday. The Falcons have been in tight games, and this looks like another.
The franchise has made gradual, impressive headway toward shedding its 21st-century persona of being Not almost Good Enoughs. For the second week in a row, they looked like a team simply better prepared and more fired up to play than its opponent.
The Bills got within a touchdown with just under 10 minutes to play when Taylor lofted a 23-yard touchdown pass to Williams wheeling out of the backfield.
The Bills’ focus needs to be on owning that, and fixing that.
Following a 40-32 loss to the Patriots in Week 2, the Bills bounced back in a big way last week with a 41-14 win at Miami.
The Giants, a team that has taken a lead into the fourth quarter in all four of its games only to let it slip away in the first two and almost lose it last week, finally put it all together. Tyrod Taylor has emerged as a sound QB for Buffalo. The players seemed to hold themselves more accountable than the head coach of the team did. It was his first return since December 29, 2013 for New England vs. Buffalo.
After another three and out by the Bills offense, New York would take over and go on a 10-play, 76-yard scoring drive capped off by a Rueben Randle touchdown reception from Manning to put the Giants up 16-3.
I don’t believe anybody at One Bills Drive would take an order from me, and if I did have influence then I’d probably want to speak with whoever is in charge of casting Rex Ryan’s sidekick in those Tops Markets commercials. Or in the league this year.
The Bills are 7-2 against the spread in their last nine games.
The Giants’ defense stifled a Bills offense that had averaged more than 33 points through its first three games.
Defensive end Kerry Wynn, who was all over the field, leading the team with eight tackles, two of which were for big losses. I have no doubt the Bills will continue to play hard, but I worry about them continuing to play dumb and dirty.
Ryan really likes his second-round corner, who likely will get a few help in bracket coverage against Beckham.
“I’m proud of the way this team played“, Ryan said in his postgame press conference. Piles of penalties and poor play added up to a lot of punts in the second half. I’ll sit back and take it any day of the week and bring on the next team. Greg Roman did not do a good job of calling diverse plays to get the ball into the end zone.
“(Is) 17 penalties ridiculous? Is 17 penalties ridiculous?
“They were saying it was over out there”, Pugh said. “Eventually we’ll find a way to eliminate penalties”.
Justin Pugh could tell things were getting out of hand.
Only Williams didn’t leave it at that. Of course, good-looking trends can turn into garbage, and we’ll see if this one is valuable.
“Lots of different people contributing”.
Like the officials, he all but said.
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“In games where clearly you have to stop the run, I think that’s where it all starts”, Coughlin said.
