1. Even though I called a 34-14 win by the Redskins yesterday, I was in complete shock throughout the final five to ten minutes of the game. With no wins against the Giants since 2007 and their relative dominance over us going back even further, it was very surreal to see us absolutely have our way with New York. It was a very weird feeling. Not only did we win, but it wasn't as a result of some ridiculous sequence of bizarre events in the final seconds that left us on the winning side. We won the game. Though the final remained in doubt late into the game, you could argue that we won handily. And everyone chipped in (except one guy who failed to chip one in through the uprights...but there is no need to harp on that...it's not like we have had bad luck with kickers over the years...)
2. Our offense seemed to get rather comfortable as the game wore on, but you can't talk about "winning handily" without a tip of the hat to Antrel Rolle. If Rolle makes a smarter play, the Giants get the ball back down by a touchdown. Instead, Rolle commits the foolish personal foul and we go on to seal the victory. To me, this was the play that broke the backs of the Giants.
3. The blocked field goal was also a treat, and is probably right there with the Rolle penalty as the most influential plays of the second half. For my money, there are few greater sights than that of Tom Coughlin in complete disbelief as his team falls apart at the seams. He has absolutely revolutionized the look of hapless indignance.
4. We have been hearing a lot about how depleted the New York defense was yesterday, but nobody wants to really trumpet how our defense dominated a Giants offense that was not at all depleted. I applaud Rex Grossman and his offensive teammates for taking care of business against a defense that certainly had a few deficiencies. But can we please not discount what the Washington defense did against an offense that has been known to drop 50 or more points on us in the recent past? In case you were worried that the Redskins merely went "safe" with their selection of Ryan Kerrigan, please rest easy. He only scored the game-winning touchdown. (And how about the seventh-rounder, Chris Neild?)
5. I spent a good deal of time watching the sideline yesterday. One of the hallmarks of our team over the last handful of seasons has been the hot mess that has developed outside the white lines. Confusion, chaos, discord and distraction have all been the main characters in the Greek tragedy that has been our sideline situation. I am relieved to report that--at least from my perspective--things looked very much under control all day long. Mike Shanahan was calm and collected and the players fed off of it. I think we only committed three penalties? It probably won't always be that good, but this is a definite continuation of what we saw in the preseason. Discipline, order and purpose were all on full display. It was amazing.
6. Welcome to the party, Fred Davis. Watching his number get called yesterday in important situations was a real pleasure. Chris Cooley showed why he has a reputation for battling through injuries to stay on the field. I am not sure if they showed the television audience, but he was gimpy running on and off the field all day. Cooley and Davis were on the field together for a number of plays, but Davis proved to be almost impossible for the shorthanded Giants to cover. I think that it is clear the Shanahans kept the lid on Davis as much as possible in the preseason. The way he got his numbers yesterday didn't even seem that hard. If and when Kyle Shanahan wants to, you get the idea they could probably call Davis' number twice as many times with similar success.
**Today's topic: How weird was that feeling after the game? We won by two touchdowns over a divisional opponent that--although injury-plagued--looked capable of continuing their run of dominance over us. Our basement-dwelling defense from a year ago shut out Eli and company in the second half. It is like...we have a real team.