Looking Back (Sept. 23) | NFL: Giants, 24, Redskins, 17
Entering its Week 3 matchup with the Redskins, the Giants defense had been nothing short of putrid, surrendering a combined 846 yards of total offense in early-season contests with the Cowboys and Packers. The unit, which blamed defensive coordinator Tim Lewis for its problems in 2006 and subsequently ran him out of town, inspired no confidence that it would stop a Washington offense with a rising star at quarterback in Jason Campbell and a Pro-Bowl running back in Clinton Portis.
But on Sunday, the defense quieted all its critics, with a fourth-quarter goal-line stand that preserved a 24-17 lead and gave Big Blue its first win of the year. The Giants trailed 17-3 at the half before mounting a second-half comeback and taking a seven-point lead into the two-minute warning. It seemed as though the defense was going to squander another game for New York, however, when the unit allowed Campbell to drive 64 yards in 1:21, setting up a first-and-goal from the Giants' one-yard line with 58 seconds remaining. But the defense, helped by the incompetence of Joe Gibbs' play-calling, made the game-saving stop, giving New York a critical NFC East win.
On Sunday, the Giants defense will have a chance to prove their performance wasn't a fluke, when they take on an Eagles team that put up 56 points on the previously-unbeaten Lions in Week 3.
Looking Ahead (Sept. 29) | NESCAC Football, Williams Vs. Trinity
After a shocking Opening Day loss to the Bowdoin Polar Bears in Brunswick, Maine, it's not about to get any easier for the Williams football team.
After snapping their 14-game winning streak against Bowdoin in Week 1, the Ephs now head to Hartford, Conn. for a showdown with the Trinity Bantams, who recently staked their own claim to the league's longest win streak - seven. A far cry from their 31-game run that coach Mike Whalen's Ephs snapped last season, but you've got to start somewhere.
Coach Jeff Devanney's Bantams head into Week 2 fresh off of a 20-0 win at Colby, sparked by a stellar outing from the reigning NESCAC Player of the Week, junior quarterback Eric McGrath. McGrath threw for a career-high 338 yards, 297 of them in the first half, on 20-for-40 passing for three touchdowns, one of them a 99-yard bomb to senior Joe Clark.
The Ephs hope to bounce back from a frustrating loss in Brunswick, one which saw eight Williams turnovers in the second half, six of them interceptions thrown by their senior quarterback, Player of the Year Pat Lucey. Despite the early struggles of Lucey and the Williams offense, they hope to return to their peak form of last season, when they led the NESCAC running away in total offense, scoring 276 points in eight games.
