Giants Daily Blitz Blog

2ND QTR: Tynes ties game before halftime

SECOND QUARTER

15:00 — The Giants begin the second quarter with the ball on Washington’s 21.

14:52 — Ahmad Bradshaw picks up the first down with a 10-yard run-and-catch that was nearly stopped at the line of scrimmage.

12:46 — TOUCHDOWN GIANTS. Back from a concussion that held him out of last week’s game, Andre Brown powers in for a one-yard touchdown set up by Hakeem Nicks’ seven-yard catch that gave the Giants a first-and-goal at the one-yard line. XP is GOOD. GIANTS 7, REDSKINS 3 (Drive: 12 plays, 80 yards in 4:32)

12:00 — Linval Joseph suffers a knee sprain. His return is probable.

8:52 — TOUCHDOWN REDSKINS. Santana Moss catches a short pass from Griffin III and takes it 26 yards into the end zone. XP is GOOD. REDSKINS 10, GIANTS 7 (Drive 8 plays, 80 yards in 3:56)

*The Redskins are 4 of 5 on third-down conversions (The Giants are 3 of 4 themselves).

6:10 — Eli Manning scrambles for five yards, sliding for a first down deep in Washington territory.

3:57 — FIELD GOAL GIANTS. Lawrence Tynes makes a 27-yard attempt after Manning misses an open Victor Cruz in the end zone on third down. GIANTS 10, REDSKINS 10 (Drive: 10 plays, 63 yards in 4:52)

3:53 — Griffin III runs for 28 yards and is eventually pushed out of bounds by Stevie Brown. Alfred Morris follows up with a 30-yard gain of his own.

2:00 — Justin Tuck notches his first sack of the season for a nine-yard loss on third down.

1:54 — FIELD GOAL REDSKINS. Forbath makes a 43-yard attempt. REDSKINS 13, GIANTS 10 (Drive: 6 plays, 55 yards in 2:04)

*Taking over at the 20, Eli Manning runs the two-minute drill and marches the d Giants down the field on 6 of 9 passing.

0:07 — FIELD GOAL GIANTS. Tynes makes a 39-yard field goal. GIANTS 13, REDSKINS 13 (Drive: 10 plays, 59 yards in 1:47)

0:00 — GIANTS 13, REDSKINS 13

Inside the Locker Room: Prepping for the Redskins

DE Justin Tuck: 
On a difficult matchup…
“The game is going to come down to the wire, a game we’re going to have to play our best ball to have a chance to win and they’re going to be motivated too…”

Safety Antrel Rolle: 
On containing the Redskins’ offensive weapons…
“You know they’re a great football team. They beat us twice last year and they’ll be a better football team this year, so we definitely have our work cut out for those guys. They bring a lot of things to the offensive board…”

WR Victor Cruz: 
On being motivated after two losses last year… 
“It’s a new year and it’s a new team and you should be motivated to play any division foe so I think that in itself should be motivation for us”

DE Jason Pierre-Paul:
On preventing big plays… 
“We’re going to make the play calls that try and stop everything they’re doing and you know, it’s going to be a hard game, like I said last week, it’s going to be a hard game. Each game that we play is hard so we’re just going to go out there and play our best football.”

Top 10 Tuesday: Most Games in a Giants Uniform

In this week’s edition, Giants.com takes a look at the longest-tenured players to have ever worn the Giants uniform in terms of games played for the organization.

CLICK TO VIEW PHOTO GALLERY

1) DE Michael Strahan — 216 games played (1993-07)
2) TE Howard Cross — 207 (1989-01)
3) DE George Martin — 201 (1975-88)
4) WR Amani Toomer — 190 (1996-08)
5t) LB Lawrence Taylor — 184 (1981-93)
5t) RB/WR Joe Morrison — 184 (1959-72)
7) C Greg Larson — 179 (1961-73)
8t) DT Keith Hamilton — 173 (1992-03)
8t) LB Harry Carson — 173 (1976-88)
10) C Mel Hein — 170 (1931-45)

*Active Giants: OT David Diehl (143), G Chris Snee (128), QB Eli Manning (127), DE Osi Umenyiora (119), CB Corey Webster (107), LB Chase Blackburn (104), DE Justin Tuck (102)

Giants D preparing for the “Wild Kap”

A common saying in football circles is if you have two quarterbacks, you have none.

That’s not the case in San Francisco.

Let there be no confusion: Alex Smith is and will be the go-to man under center. Just last week he led the 49ers offense to a franchise-record 621 yards against the Buffalo Bills, improving his passer rating to 108.7. But along the road to their 4-1 start, there has been a growing package for backup quarterback Colin Kaepernick. This is becoming known as the “Wild Kap.”

The 49ers have schemed their 2011 second-round draft pick out of Nevada-Reno into the offense this season, primarily coming in the form of the triple option. From there, Kaepernick has rushed nine times in the past two games, finding the end zone in both. This package was not in place the last time the Giants faced them and is part of an overall effort to improve the offense from a year ago.

“I think they’ve added some – ‘trick’ is not the right word – some scheming problems to complement what they did last year,” Justin Tuck said. “They have some things in there that look exactly one way and it’s a complete opposite from what that play was supposed to look like. So I think their coaching staff did a great job of putting in a scheme that can confuse defenses at times, but the biggest thing is just playing more physical. That’s what they respect. That’s what they know. The teams that have had success with them have done that.”

Although he did not play in the second and third games of the season (which included their only loss to Minnesota in Week 3), Kaepernick has rushed 10 times for 106 yards in 2012 and has completed one of two passes for seven yards.

It’s just another wrinkle for the Giants to study when preparing for the No. 1 rushing offense in the NFL, which averages 195.8 yards per game and has outscored its last two opponents, 79-3.

“He just adds a different aspect, kind of like when we played Carolina,” Michael Boley said in reference to Cam Newton, whom the Giants held to six yards on six rushing attempts in a Week 3 victory. “He turns into a running back, and it gives them that read zone option. It gives them the ability to do that. And they had some success with that the last couple weeks.”

Inside the Locker Room: Tuck, Bradshaw, Pierre-Paul

As the Giants move closer to Sunday, player speak about facing their Week 5 opponent, the Cleveland Browns…

DE Justin Tuck
On 2008 loss to the Browns…
“We definitely didn’t forget about it, that’s a good lesson for us to learn, I think a lot of people look at that record and see an 0-4 team and that this is going to be a cake walk and that couldn’t be farther than the truth, five or six plays and they could be 4-0.”

DE Jason Pierre-Paul
On how he’s feeling on the field…
“I feel like I’m kind of stressed a little bit, I made an oath to myself to go out there and have fun. I’m going to go out there and have fun like last year, just running around like a little kid.”

RB Ahmad Bradshaw
On getting the ground game going…
“I mean that’s just the key, we want to go in early and start fast. If we can do that, I think we’ll be succesful. We work hard, we finish on this team. If we can just get it to the end we’ll be fine.”

Inside the Locker Room: Keeping an Eye on Vick

DE Justin Tuck and DE Osi Umenyiora on containing Eagles Quarterback Michael Vick:

Tuck:
“I think Vick is the guy that you think of as a mobile quarterback, he can be a game changer when it comes to being on his feet. Obviously everyone knows how strong his arms are, but when you talk about a mobile quarterback, he is the guy that pops in your head first…”

Umenyiora:
“Cam and Carolina were basically running a college offense, draws and the lead ups and all the stuff like that. Vick is a pro-style offense, he’s just a mobile quarterback…he can pass, pocket pass also. He’s more effective, or he’s more dangerous when he leaves the pocket.”

RB Ahmad Bradshaw talks about returning after missing Week 2: 
“Just getting ready you know, it’s a big game for me, I’m ready to get back in the game. It’s a division opponent and I think it’s a big contest for our team.”

Daily Blitz: Bradshaw gearing up for Eagles

Another road game in primetime has The Bulldog gearing up.

Ahmad Bradshaw, who missed last week’s game in Carolina due to a neck injury, said he’ll be ready for Sunday night’s game in Philadelphia.

“You can guarantee it,” the running back told Stephen A. Smith and Ryan Ruocco Tuesday on ESPN New York 98.7 FM. “You can guarantee I’ll be there. I’m a fighter and I’ll be out there fighting with my team.”

After the Giants’ 36-7 win in Carolina, Bradshaw hopes to keep the momentum going as the team looks for its third win in a row.

“We’re going to go in with confidence,” Bradshaw said. “We’re going to go in ready to win. We know the Eagles can play at any time. They can be a great team; they can be one of the best teams out there at any time. And our plan is to go in with a great game plan and attack. We’re the away team. We play good away. We’re not worried about that. We’re ready to go.”

Bradshaw also said he doesn’t expect anything different in terms of his usual workload along with Andre Brown, who rushed for 113 yards and two touchdowns in his place last week. Coupled with wide receiver Ramses Barden’s breakout performance with Hakeem Nicks and Domenik Hixon sidelined, Bradshaw had faith in the team’s depth to get the victory.

It also never hurts to have No. 10 back there.

“It starts with Eli Manning,” Bradshaw said. “He gets us going. He gets the offense going, and when the ball is in his hands, I don’t think anybody on this team has any worries. With us guys, everybody takes a loss, everybody gets hurt, a teammate gets hurt on every team. We just have on this team a lot of guys who are willing to step in and play their role. Just like Andre against the Panthers, he had a great game, he stepped in and he stepped up for us. We’ve seen a lot in Andre in that game, and I’m glad he had that game. It gave him a lot of confidence.”

QUICK HITS

» Cruz-in’ back to career-making spot [Paul Schwartz, New York Post]

Lincoln Financial Field is the home of the Eagles but it was where Cruz was born, in an NFL sense.

» Tuck’s R.U.S.H. charity turns five [Ohm Youngmisuk, ESPNNewYork.com]

Top 10 Tuesday: Sack Leaders

With defensive captain Justin Tuck one rush away from moving into sixth place on the Giants’ all-time sack list, we take a look at the top 10 pass rushers in franchise history.

CLICK TO VIEW GALLERY OF TOP 10 PASS RUSHERS

*Taylor had 9.5 sacks as a rookie in 1981, the  year before they became an official statistic.
**Mathias Kiwanuka is currently 11th (27), and Jason Pierre-Paul has climbed to 14th (22.5) in his third season.

Giants vs. Bucs Live Blog: 1st QTR

0:00 — GIANTS 6, BUCCANEERS 3 (key stat: Tampa 0-2 on third down conversions)

0:56 — LB Chase Blackburn sacks QB Josh Freeman for a loss of 7 yards, the first of the game.

2:58 — FIELD GOAL GIANTS. Tynes 24-yard FG attempt is GOOD. GIANTS 6, BUCCANEERS 3 (drive: 12 plays, 63 yards in 5:48).

*Giants fail to capitalize on a first-and-goal at the 2.

5:50 — Ahmad Bradshaw sparks the crowd with a 12-yard run after Cruz’s 20-yard catch-and-spin-and-run (broke four tackles).

7:21 — Rookie RB David Wilson gets his first carry since his fumble in Week 1 — a 4-yard counter.

8:53 — FIELD GOAL BUCS. Tampa Bay responds with a 45-yard FG. GIANTS 3, BUCCANEERS 3 (drive: 7 plays, 60 yards in 4:01)

*Tynes is 2/2 on the season after going a perfect 8/8 in the preseason.

12:48 — FIELD GOAL GIANTS. Lawrence Tynes’ 37-yard FG try is GOOD. GIANTS 3, BUCCANEERS 0 (drive: 6 plays, 51 yards in 2:17)

14:22 — WR Hakeem Nicks looking healthy as ever with a 40-yard leaping catch from Manning on the second play of the game.

15:00 — Game Day Captains: DT Linval Joseph and WR Victor Cruz in addition to season captains QB Eli Manning, DE Justin Tuck, and LS Zak DeOssie Tampa Bay wins the toss, elects to defer. Giants will defend the west goal.

This week’s game will be the 18th regular season meeting between the two teams, with the Giants leading the series, 11-6. In the last meeting, the Giants defeated the Buccaneers, 24-0, in Week 3 of the 2009 season in Tampa.

Kickoff: 1 p.m. ET

Location: MetLife Stadium, East Rutherford, NJ

TV: FOX - This week’s game will be broadcast nationally with Joe Buck calling the action, Troy Aikman serving as the analyst and Pam Oliver handling sideline duties. (click here for full TV & Radio listings)

Weather: Sunny. Mild. 64 °F, Wind: 6.89 mph/NW

FLIP CARD CHANGES:

NEW YORK

» CB Jayron Hosley (start in place of Prince Amukamara)

TAMPA BAY

» RT Demar Dotson (Jeremy Trueblood)

Giants choose pregame playlist

Giants players lent their musical tastes for the pregame music inside MetLife Stadium before taking on the Tampa Bay Buccaneers at 1 p.m. ET. Here’s what they chose from their iPods to warm up to:

» Eli Manning: “We’re Not Gonna Take It” by Twisted Sister

» Victor Cruz: “HYFR” by Drake feat. Lil Wayne

» Osi Umenyiora: “Shimmy Shimmy Ya” by ODB

» David Diehl: “’Till I Collapse” by Eminem

» Hakeem Nicks: “I’m A Go Getta” by Lil Wayne

» Justin Tuck: “New Day” by 50 Cent feat. Dr. Dre & Alicia Keys

» Jason Pierre-Paul: “Awooga” by Calvin Harris

» Antrel Rolle: “Forget tha Otha Side” by Trick Daddy

DOWNLOAD THE GIANTS “ALL IN” PEPSI ANTHEM BY TRAVIE MCCOY