Far be it for me to ever suggest that the New York Giants take any advice from New York Jets coach Rex Ryan. On top of which, let's never expect Giants' offensive coordinator Kevin Gilbride to accept suggestions from any member of the Ryan family.
That said, Ryan did say something during his Monday press conference that perhaps the Giants could find instructive. The Jets' coach was asked if he had watched any football on Sunday when the Jets had their bye. Specifically, he was asked if he had watched the Pittsburgh-New England game, a 25-17 victory by the Steelers. Ryan said he had watched part of it.
"That was a great formula. I love it. Pittsburgh has the formula to beat New England. I'll give them credit for it. I don't know what the time of possession was, but man, I'd sign up for that one," Ryan said. "I mean they did a great job. The offense kept the football forever. The defense really challenged New England. But it's much easier said than done."
Pittsburgh held the ball for an astounding 39:22, giving the ball to Tom Brady and the Patriots for only 20:38. What is really instructive, and should give the Giants reason to believe they can do something similar, is how the Steelers accomplished that feat. Ben Roethlisberger passed 50 times while the Steelers ran the ball only 23 times for 98 yards.
Hmmm ... that sounds an awful lot like what a certain team we know did on Sunday when it passed the ball 45 times and ran only 23 in a 20-17 victory.
"You just know that their offense is high-powered. They have the ability to score a lot of points," Giants' quarterback Eli Manning said earlier this week. "We go into the game thinking we have to be smart, we have to take care of the ball, you can't give [Brady] a short field, give him more opportunities. You have to try to keep the ball in our hands as long as possible. When we get opportunities to score, when we get into the red zone, we have to get touchdowns."
New England is last in the league defensively, giving up 424.1 yards per game. The Patriots are also last in the league against the pass, giving up 323.1 yards per game. Considering those numbers, the success the Steelers had last Sunday throwing the ball, and the way the Giants' offense has performed so far in 2011 it would seem like the Giants' best bet on Sunday is to just put the game in Manning's hands.
That has been a good idea pretty much all season, and it looks like the way to go again on Sunday.