Best: Can Giants really be this good?

Even for the best teams, the 21st century NFL is a weekly struggle in which victories often are a matter of a favorable late bounce or two.

(That includes you, J-E-T-S.)

It's that reality that makes the Giants' five-game winning streak so startling.

Factor out mostly self-inflicted setbacks such as turnovers, penalties and special-teams breakdowns, and they have bordered on dominant.

As they did in Houston a month ago, the Giants demonstrated Sunday what they can do when they do not make life difficult for themselves, routing the Seahawks, 41-7, after leading 35-0 at halftime.

It came so easily, it was a bit surreal.

Seattle's famed "12th Man'' fans went home early, leaving behind a contingent of Giants supporters to cheer their heroes as they walked off Qwest Field with the team's first victory in Seattle since Eli Manning was 10 months old.

Before they left, Seattle fans had been reduced to cheering for a Giants false-start penalty in the third quarter, long after crowd noise realistically could have had anything to do with it.

Coach Tom Coughlin gamely tried to find flaws in the near-flawless performance, mentioning the one turnover, a false start, a long kickoff return by Leon Washington and a couple of red-zone failures.

But most players couldn't help but concede that all is going pretty darn well, thank you.

"It didn't matter who was in there; it could have been [Matt] Hasselbeck, it was going to be the same outcome,'' safety Antrel Rolle said, referring to overwhelmed backup quarterback Charlie Whitehurst.

So how good is Big Blue?

"We're definitely a top-notch contender'' was as far as Rolle would go. "As long as we keep playing team ball, the sky's the limit.''

Quarterback Eli Manning said "it's fun'' playing the way the Giants have of late, but he added, "We just have to keep hungry and play like we're desperate for a win every week.''

He also said it is important that players "don't start thinking we're good right now.''

The best protection against that should be the veterans, including Manning, who have seen the team repeatedly get off to strong starts under Coughlin and finish strongly only some of the time.

But that sort of caution might be a tough sell after a statistical squashing in which the Giants outdid Seattle 30-8 in first downs, 487-162 in total yards and 42:34-17:26 in time of possession.

"It's a pretty good feeling, to be honest,'' tight end Kevin Boss said. "All 11 of us believe we're going to score a touchdown on every possession, and we were pretty close to doing that tonight.''

As illustrated by Whitehurst's struggles, the single best thing the Giants have going for them in trying to keep this up is that unlike many teams, including the others in their division, they have a quarterback fully in charge and seemingly indestructible.

Manning was sharp throughout and avoided the interceptions that have plagued him all year, working his chemistry with receivers by regularly throwing accurately to their back shoulders.

Even after yesterday's plus-2 turnover differential, the Giants are minus-3 for the season, which is unusual for a 6-2 team. But when you average 401 yards to your opponents' 251, you can cover up a lot of mistakes.

Minimize those mistakes and, well, what happened here spoke for itself. But I'll say it anyway: At the season's midpoint, the Giants have made their point: They are the best team in the NFC.