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Coughlin knows Giants need to score more points

By Ed Valentine
This fumble by Sinorice Moss resulted in one of several missed scoring opportunties for the Giants Sunday.
Jon Kitna's mouthing aside, Sunday's 16-10 victory over Detroit should not have been anywhere near that close.

Had the Giants offense taken advantage of its opportunities in the first three quarters, then not completely vanished late in the game with a chance to run out the clock, the Lions would have been hopelessly blown out. Instead, they had a chance right up until Sam Madison's interception in the final two minutes.

Head Coach Tom Coughlin was asked a number of questions about the offense during his Monday press conference, and admitted that offensively the Giants did not measure up.

"We were not very opportunistic on the offensive side. We had fumbles in deep territory with opportunities to maybe kick field goals at the very least, so I was disappointed in that. ... Not enough production on offense, not very good to be honest with you, not enough production in the fourth quarter. As any competitor would tell you, there isn't anybody on the offensive side that liked the way the game finished from that standpoint in terms of not having the ball in our hands and having to put our defense back on the field."

Recognizing the issue is one thing, fixing it is quite another. Fixing it is another, especially with the Giants dwindling number of weapons at running back and wide receiver.

It sounds as though Brandon Jacobs is unlikely to play Sunday against Minnesota due to his hamstring injury. Derrick Ward, who filled in so well early in the season, is also still on the shelf. That means Reuben Droughns and the untested rookie Ahmad Bradshaw would have to carry the load.

Coughlin expressed confidence in both.

He said Droughns has "played well for us now in the situations where he has had an opportunity."

He also indicated the Giants have been looking for ways to get Bradshaw involved.

"He would be ready. We have used him in certain situations even more than you have seen in the game. We have had things ready from a practice standpoint that haven't been used. He is ready."

At wide receiver, Plaxico Burress is increasingly limited by his ankle injury and Steve Smith remains sidelined. The result is that the deep ball has pretty much disappeared from the Giants arsenal.

That needs to change.

"Certainly I would like to be more aggressive, to have a situation occur where we had more points on the board at halftime," said Coughlin. "We felt like we left some points on the field that could have been taken advantage of. We will continue to look at that."

I would hope to see some deeper throws to Sinorice Moss and, if he is on the field, some plays designed to get Bradshaw in open space. The Giants need to find new ways to hit some big plays and make things a little easier on their defense.

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