With all the talk about Michael Vick and Alex Smith not getting enough protection from the refs (that's right, the 49ers have the same complaint), I got to wondering, how much abuse is Eli taking this year? We all know he's getting sacked far more than in the past. So I decided to dig around and check the stats.

In 2011

vs Washington : 4 Sacks, 7 QB Hits

vs St. Louis: 3 Sacks, 4 QB Hits

vs Philadelphia: 4 Sacks, 6 QB hits

In 2010

vs Carolina: 1 Sack, 3 Hits

vs Indy: 4 Sacks, 7 Hits

vs Tennessee: 2 Sacks, 7 Hits

So even though Eli is taking an extra 1 1/3 sack per game, he has taken the same number of hits! In total he's absorbed 4 more contact plays than last year (excluding running plays and INTs)

But I also wanted to know, how does it compare to all of last season? So I checked season averages.

Here we are seeing a bit more of a difference, but not horrific. Approximately 5 extra hits per game, last year a freakishly low 4.7 contact plays per game, this year a more normal 8.8.

And I'd be remiss if I didn't remind you that his INTs have dropped from 6 to 2.

So based on a 3 game sample, the simple answer is no.

Eli isn't taking a beating, our OL isn't pass blocking demonstrably worse than the beginning of last year.

However, last season the pass blocking improved, and they had a stretch where Eli wasn't sacked and was hardly hit. So the question going forward is, can the OL improve a bit to reduce the number of hits, and can Eli throw the ball away a bit more. If the answers to those questions are yes, then we may well see a Giants offense better than we have ever seen.

My projections for Eli based on the first 3 games are very similar numbers to last year, just 10 INTs instead of 25 and all the yardage and TDs with fewer pass attempts. If the pass blocking improves, and they can increase their pass attempts (though I'm not sure TC or the NJ winter will ever encourage that), We might see 4200-4500 yds passing, 34-36 TDs (reminder that's somewhere around top 20 all time), and10 INTs.

It's an exciting week to be a Giants fan.

Bring on the Cardinals!

(Note the numbers for hits and sacks were gotten using the NFL Game Books available at NFL.com)