Giants Pitch Shut Out In Tampa Heat

GIANTS 24

BUCCANEERS 0

The Giants huffed and they puffed, and they blew the Buccaneers pirate ship down this afternoon in Tampa Bay.

The Giants defense dominated the Buccaneers even without the services of Justin Tuck and Kenny Phillips. Big Blue surrendered only five Buc first downs, and 86 total yards of offense. The Buccaneers leading passer? Chris Johnson, who completed four of 10 passes for 36 yards.

Offensivlely, the Giants merely dominated. They held the ball for 43:38, as Ahmad Bradshaw and Brandon Jacobs ran all over the Buccaneers porous defense. Jacobs opened the scoring with a six yard touchdown to give the Giants a 7-0 lead in the first. He ran for 92 yards and showed no signs that his recent back injury was a problem.

As for Bradshaw, he went nuts on the Bucs. Bradshaw had 104 yards on 14 carries, averaging 7.4 yards per carry.

Eli Manning had a nice afternoon as well, throwing for 161 yards and two TD's. In the second quarter, Manning hit Steve Smith from four yards out to give the G-Men a 14-0 lead. Later, Manning hit Sinorice Moss for an 18 yard touchdown to give New York a 24-0 lead. Moss had become the forgotten man, with Smith and Mario Manningham stepping up as the Giants top two receivers in the early season, so it was nice to see him step up to the plate today and make a big catch.

The Giants now improve to 3-0 and look poised to start the year 5-0, with Kansas City and Oakland on the horizon. Box Score.