Giants Want More

Now that the goal-post uprights have become too close together for their kicker to negotiate, a few stars of the New York Giant offense took aim Sunday at another kicking target:

Themselves.

Even after a 17-10 victory over Dallas at the Meadowlands -- one that gave them sole possession of first place in the NFC East -- the Giants lamented their recent inability to put points on the board. Once the highest-scoring team in the league, the Giants (8-4) mustered one touchdown on offense against the Cowboys (7-5).

“This can be one of those setup games where we feel like, oh, we conquered something,” tight end Jeremy Shockey said. “But you know what? We haven’t done anything.”

The Giants’ seven second-half drives ended thusly: punt, interception, punt, turned over on downs, missed field goal, punt, punt.

“We won the game,” receiver Plaxico Burress said, “but offensively, I don’t think anybody’s happy with the performance we put on.”

The Giants, cold as the mounds of snow surrounding the field, converted only four of 15 third downs.

“We’re still a work in progress, unfortunately,” running back Tiki Barber said.

And, as the season marches toward the finish line, the only left-right-left the Giants seem to be doing is when their field-goal unit takes the field. Kicker Jay Feely, who a week earlier missed three would-be game-winning field-goal attempts at Seattle, clanked a 33-yarder off an upright in the fourth quarter.

“He missed left last week, he missed right this week,” Giant Coach Tom Coughlin said. “Somewhere, we’re going to get this thing worked out down the middle.”

By far, the most reliable leg for the Giants on Sunday belonged to punter Jeff Feagles, who the previous Sunday set an NFL record by playing in his 283rd consecutive game. In a small ceremony before No. 284, he donated his punting shoe to the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

He should have donated it to science with a couple of the physics-defying punts he had against the Cowboys. He pinned them at the two on their first drive and the four on their last, the latter punt sucking back like a beautifully struck sand wedge.

That left the Cowboys with 96 yards to go in the final 1:22. They didn’t get a third of the way before the clock ran out. It was the first time in five tries the Giants had defeated a team guided by Drew Bledsoe, whose explanation was simple: “They just played better than we did. I’m not saying they’re a better team than we are; I’m just saying they played better than we did today.”

New York’s defense certainly did. They came at him from every angle, sacking him four times and forcing him into four turnovers -- two interceptions and two fumbles. They swarmed. They smothered. They saved the game.

On the first play of the third quarter, with the Cowboys trying to battle back from a 10-0 deficit, Giant defensive tackle Kendrick Clancy shot through a gap and stripped the ball from Bledsoe. Linebacker Antonio Pierce scooped up the fumble and ran in for a 12-yard score.

Defensive end Michael Strahan, who had two sacks, called the defense’s performance “absolutely amazing” and said the unit has made a dramatic turnaround since being shamed in a 45-23 loss at San Diego in Week 3.

At that point “I could actually say, ‘This is probably one of the worst defenses I’ve ever been on ... ‘ “ he said. “But it seems everybody has taken a lot of things that have happened to us throughout the year personally, and guys have been lights out.”

It wasn’t a bad game for the Cowboy defense either. Eli Manning completed only 38.7% of his passes, 12 of 31, for 152 yards with no touchdowns and two interceptions. Tiki Barber gained 115 yards rushing, but it took him 30 carries.

“We played well, but not as good as we should,” Barber said. “We’re as stacked at our skill positions as any team in this league. We have to find a way to utilize all of us in a way that keeps us on the field, keeps us from getting into third-and-long situations and allows us to score points when we get in the red zone.

“You’d like to say at this point of the season we’re clicking on all cylinders. But not yet.”

On defense, the knockout player of the game was Giant Osi Umenyiora, a third-year defensive end who plays opposite Strahan. Not only did he have a sack, but he showed astounding quickness for a 280-pound man. He chased down running back Julius Jones short of the first-down marker and dropped back into coverage on an incomplete third-down pass intended for tight end Jason Witten.

Umenyiora (YOO-min-YORA) has taken some good-natured grief lately about the cleats he wears, because, apparently, they’re not the type defensive linemen typically prefer.

“He wears those receiver shoes,” Strahan said. “But he was complaining his feet were cold today. He had them on the heater, and his shoes were smoking. He’s complaining his feet were freezing and I’m looking at his shoes thinking, ‘You’re wearing loafers.’ ”

Loafers, receiver shoes, whatever. They worked.

Feely, take note.