Over the course of roughly two and half weeks, the Giants have risen from the abyss to prosperity—or at the very least to a promising future. This assement may be somewhat hyperbolic, but no one can argue that after losing their first two games of the season in a distressing manner, the Giants have regrouped and are now, simply from an observational standpoint, debatably the best team in the NFC East.
A team’s status in the NFL can be tenuous and volatile, resembling a graph measuring an erratic stock. But after a decisive 32-21 win over Washington in week three, the Giants thoroughly outplayed the Buffalo Bills, led by former Jets head coach Rex Ryan, on the road this past Sunday, earning a 24-10 victory and moving them into a 2-2 first place tie with the Dallas Cowboys and Washington.
The disjointed Philadelphia Eagles, a team expected to be a Super Bowl contender entering this season, are last in the division at a somewhat shocking 1-3. Up next for the Giants will be the struggling 1-3 San Francisco 49ers at MetLife Stadium at 8:25 p.m. in New Jersey.
Tom Coughlin has utilized his vast experience and long cultivated leadership skills to galvanize the Giants after an alarming 0-2 start. The head coach is acutely aware the Giants have played well enough to be 4-0. But there is a fine line between defeats and victories, and a team remaining self-assured or being filled with self-doubt.
“It shows grit,” Coughlin said Sunday when asked about the Giants’ pronounced turnaround. “We are the team I thought we used to be. To be honest with you, we didn’t practice as well as we wanted to early in the week. By the end of the week we did, and I told them that before the game started. Our meetings have been very good. They’ve done a great job. They’re battlers.”