Manning: get off his case, says Kev

The Giants are the defending Super Bowl champions - although you wouldn't know it! They are starting the season as one of the most disrespected returning Super Bowl winners in NFL history and that is great for them because it has given them something to grab on to.

Kevin Cadle
Quotes of the week

WASHINGTON @ NY GIANTS
Live on Sky Sports
12am, Friday, Sky Sports 1

Also see

• Schedule
• On Sky TV
• Messageboards

This is a great match-up to start the season.

All four teams in the NFC East could potentially make the play-offs and that is what it's all about. The Giants proved last year you don't have to win the division or be the best in the Conference - all you gotta do is get to the dance and take it from there!

These two know that a 4-2 record in the East will be enough not only to do that, but also leave someone sat at home come play-off time.

Of the four in the division though, I think the Redskins have got the least right now and well the Giants, they are the defending Super Bowl champions - although you wouldn't know it!

They are starting the season as one of the most disrespected returning Super Bowl winners in NFL history and that is great for them because it has given them something to grab on to.

Their offence is back on the attack, defensively they have made some corrections and additions over the summer, plus they have a massive chip on their shoulder because nobody is giving them any respect.

A lot of people are looking down on the Giants but for some reason I just think they are going to be OK.

But they have lost Michael Strahan, who was their inspirational leader, their heartbeat. They've lost Osi Umenyiora who led them in sacks last year and when you lose your two best defensive 'bookends, where do you go from there?

Offensively, people are looking for Eli Manning to step out of his brother's shadow, but look at the last game of last season in the play-offs and he has already done that. He threw 10 touchdowns and only two interceptions during that stage and won MVP at the Super Bowl, so people also need to get off his case!

It's time to accept that the way Eli looks is not the way he feels. People say he is not emotional enough, he just has one look on his face, but people have to accept that is Eli Manning and just let him be again.

And don't expect anything different from this Giants side. What they found last year is what brought them their success.

Clicked

Defensive co-ordinator Steve Spagnuolo brought some of that Philadelphia mentality of attacking the quarter-back and after the first two games of the season when they gave up 40-45 a game, all of a sudden it clicked for them, so they will stay with what brought them to the party.

They can hit their opponents in a variety of ways and that's one thing team's know when they face the Giants, so they have to respect them. Even if they don't use them all, their opponents still have to be worried about those options, so I don't see them changing much there either.

As for the Redskins, we've seen them on Sky Sports in pre-season and I know a lot of people say those games don't matter, but I would have to disagree with them. For some teams it matters a lot and for Washington, with a new coach, a new offensive system trying to get their quarterback Jason Campbell up to scratch, it does mean something.

We saw them in first pre-season game, they looked decent. They were scoring well, but it was more the second and third units that were doing it and we also saw them in the last pre-season game when they just didn't look good at all. Basically that gives them a week to get it together and get out of the doldrums.

They have added a lot of new guys but they are all rookies, like Malcolm Kelly and Devin Thomas. People always get excited about the debutants, but that is just what they are - they haven't proved anything. You get excited when you hear these names pulled out of the draft but the reality is very few of them live up to the hype in that first year.

Problems

They've got a two-pronged running attack to call on but it still leans towards Clinton Portis. It's almost a three or three-and-a-half-to-one ratio from Portis to Ladell Betts, whereas most teams try to keep it two-to-one.

Your two running backs should average 4.0 to 4.5 yards as well and these two guys together only averaged 3.7, so we're not talking about a great running game and the one thing they need to have this year.

The Redskins also have problems with their offensive line, having lost two of them on the right-hand side last season. Jon Jansen is back, but is not up to scratch so they have moved him all around and still haven't found a place for him.

So you just wonder with the new scheme, an offensive line that is really not in sync yet which will not help Jason Campbell, a running game that is good but not top-class, what is going to happen with this football team this year.

And right now the same could be said of their coach. Just like the rookie players, Jim Zorn is an enigma. He was a talented NFL quarterback, started for about eight years, so he understands what he has to be about the game but now he has to lead a whole group of men in a different scenario.

He has never been an offensive co-ordinator, the guy that calls the plays. It's gonna take some time for him to get his feet wet and find out who can trust. Every time a first-year coach steps in he's gonna have some growing pains; sometimes they get lucky and figure it out real fast but for the majority of them, it don't happen like that.

Cadle's call

I've got to go with the New York Giants. They are at Giants Stadium, so their fans will be pumped up and of course they are the defending champions. But no-one seems to be giving them any credit for that and that means they have got something to prove. Right now, more so than the Redskins.