The Sports Xchange

EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. — So who exactly are the New York Giants?

After seven weeks of play, they’re currently sitting alone atop the NFC East division, which of course is the best place to be if they aspire to break a playoff-less stretch dating back to 2012.

However, coming off a 27-20 win against the Dallas Cowboys that was less than impressive from a numbers perspective has people wondering just what head coach Tom Coughlin has in this team.

“We play hard,” he said. “It’s not always pretty, (but) we have a bunch of guys who love the game, like what they’re doing, and play hard. That’s a pretty good starting point.”

One adjective that has been attached to his team that Coughlin doesn’t necessary agree with is “lucky,” especially against a Cowboys team that was able to move the ball with success and whose defense was able to shut down the Giants’ passing offense by holding quarterback Eli Manning to 13 completions on 24 attempts for 170 yards, and top receiver Odell Beckham Jr. to four receptions for 35 yards.

“There’s a lot of hard work that went into winning that game,” Coughlin said. “It had nothing to do with luck; it had to do with us being in the right spot at the right time.

“I attribute that to the turnovers and to the lack of penalties and us not turning it over-that’s not luck, there’s a lot of hard work involved in that. So we won the football game, (and) we won it in a forthright manner.

With all that said, neither the players nor the head coach are content with the status quo.

“We have to just move forward, but you take it and you understand that you put yourself in the situation again and you try and learn and correct it,” said Beckham Jr.

“I think we’re doing that and it’s just one of those things where the road to construction is never really finished. We’re still building, and we’re still constructing, and setting our path to where we want to go.”

REPORT CARD VS. COWBOYS:

–PASSING OFFENSE: C. Quarterback Eli Manning only completed 113 of 24 pass attempts for 170 yards, as the continued attention being paid to Odell Beckham Jr. combined with the lack of a consistent second receiver to draw some of the attention away from Beckham have hurt this unit. What also hurt this unit this week was the pass blocking. Manning, sacked twice, was often under pressure or hit, thus having little time to allow for the deep pass to develop.

–RUSHING OFFENSE: B. The Giants finally turned to Orleans Darkwa to jump-start their sluggish run game and he didn’t disappoint, finishing with 48 yards on eight very decisive carries and one touchdown. The Giants also wisely ran the majority of their rushing attempts between the tackles rather to the outside, and that paid dividends as well. The Giants finished averaging 5.3 yards per carry, one of their best marks of the season. However, they also left a lot of yards on the field as the starting duo of Rashad Jennings and Andre Williams each failed to average more than 4.0 yards per carry in their limited touches.

–PASS DEFENSE: C. Despite the three interceptions, including the pick-six by cornerback Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie, the Giants continue to struggle defending the middle of the field. As usual, tight end Jason Witten, the Cowboys’ most productive receiver in this game, abused New York’s linebackers in coverage. There were also a few poor angles taken by the safeties, and there as some sloppy tackling that resulted in Giants players either falling to the ground or being dragged along for the ride.

–RUSH DEFENSE: D. After starting out on fire, the Giants’ run defense has slowly been disintegrating. New York allowed its third straight 100-yard rushing performance to an opponent. While the Cowboys’ offensive line is probably the best in football right now, the Giants’ softness on the edge, their inability to shed blocks and play sound gap control have all contributed to the rising average rushing yards per week against them.

–SPECIAL TEAMS: B. While everyone is applauding the 100-yard kickoff return for a touchdown, there were some things on this unit that continue to be a concern. The first is Josh Brown’s kickoffs, which really haven’t been great all year. Brown inexplicably sent one out of bounds, which gave the Cowboys the ball at the 40, a huge no-no. Also of concern for a second straight week was the punting by Brad Wing, who while still up among the league leaders in balls placed inside of the 20, took until his third of five punts to really get into a groove this week.

–COACHING: B-plus. The coaches really need to re-think this insistence of sticking with a running back by committee approach in which they’re trying to spread out an average 25 runs per game among four healthy running backs. What’s particularly perplexing is that when one of the backs establishes himself as the hot hand, the coaches almost always move away from that guy, such was the case against Dallas. Defensively, the tackling and fundamentals have become sloppy after looking much sharper in the early part of the season. Also, the with very little pass rush to speak of, it will be interesting to see if defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo has anything left in his bag of tricks to stimulate the pass rush.