"Derrick Ward gets happy go-jacky on the Panthers Defense like a donkey eatin' a waffle."

Sweet sassy molassy; get out the checkbook and pay grandma for the rubdown. For the second consecutive week, I was forced to stay up late on a Sunday night to watch the Giants. This time, my team didn't look like a collective ball of ineptitude. I should rephrase that, for one half and an overtime period they didn't look like a collective ball of ineptitude.

Last night, the Giants decided to stick with their game plan which was the following: "we're going to run the ball down your throat; come try and stop us". Even when down 21 to 10 and the game looked like it was starting to get away from them as the Panthers had scored touchdowns on their first three possessions, the Giants stayed in character as a running team and with that plan set in motion they ran to the tune of over 300 yards as a team ultimately beating the Panthers in overtime, 34-28.

Now, while I realize that the outcome of this game could have been a whole hell of a lot different had John Kasay nailed his attemted 50 yard field goal with 9 seconds remaining but it certainly is nice to see the Giants regain a bit of their swagger. The difference maker for this team simply put, is Brandon Jacobs. When you have the power to pound a defense and run through a stacked 8 man defensive front, it just opens everything else up. True, the team does miss Plaxico and his ability to draw coverage, but Jacobs is all energy, power, and anger rising, and this is something that the team needs and gets with him in the lineup.

While Jacobs was the back that brought the much needed energy to the entire Giants Offense (i.e. Shockey's role but without the bitching and all the dropped balls), the man who really benefited from Jacobs being back in the lineup was Derrick Ward. The past few weeks with Jacobs on the sidelines, Ward was the featured back and without Jacobs's punishing runs wearing down the Defense, Ward almost looked a step slower. Last night was the exact opposite. Jacobs ran for 80 something tough yards and three touchdowns and Ward was able to hit every hole the Offensive Line created hard and was in the secondary before the Panthers Front 7/8 often knew what was going on out there. Hell, he had runs of 34, 22, 37, 51, 14, and 17 yards last night, the majority of which were in the Second Half when he tends to do most of his damage as a change of pace back.

I'm just glad that the Giants remembered how they are capable of playing and despite all the team has endured the last few weeks, they were able to step up and play when it mattered. They may not be in the same place as they were earlier in the season, and as mentioned this win did come down to a missed field goal in the closing seconds, but this team set out to do something last night (run the ball) and I guess 300+ yards, well that means they succeeded. You know what I always say: "In my book, you gotta get to White Castle before the weirdos show up."