Giants averaging 36 points in last four games

It's Tom Coughlin's job to look at ways to improve, not things to be happy about. He sees the blowout of the Seahawks and is bothered that the Giants had to settle for two second-half field goals inside the 10.

"We did take a little step back on that," he said Monday, regarding the team's ranking in red-zone touchdown percentage.

He looks at the game against the Cowboys two weeks ago and cringes at the turnovers that represent lost possibilities for points.

But he also sees that the Giants scored 41 points in each of those games, and that they are averaging 36 points in their last four. Not since the regular-season finale and three playoff wins during the 1986 Super Bowl run have the Giants scored more points in a four-game span than they have in the past month. And if you want to consider only regular-season stretches, you have to go all the way back to the first four games in 1968 to find a Giants team more prolific than this one has been.

The last time the Giants (6-2) scored 40 or more points in back-to-back games, as they did against the Cowboys and Seahawks, was in 1966. And both of those were losses - 72-41 to the Redskins and 49-40 to the Browns - in a 1-12-1 season.

"I don't think anything changed," Coughlin said of the difference between scoring nine touchdowns in the first four games and 18 in the most recent four, all of them on offense.

"It's just the opportunity to continue to practice and play. And it's the ability to make the corrections and the ability to take a group of outstanding players and allow them to grow together. It's a matter of seeing the execution and the performance improve . . . to lengthen out each time we play and to stretch ourselves to four quarters of production instead of the spotty way in which we had been performing earlier in the year."

When things go badly, players and coaches in these parts generally suggest they have strayed away from "Giants football." That's shorthand for a physical brand of play that usually has more to do with running the ball, playing stout defense and generally grinding out wins.

Lately, though, that's changing. The Giants have the second-best offense in the league based on yards per game, the third-best rushing attack and the seventh-best passing game.

Even Eli Manning, the perpetual little brother, is putting together stats that could make him a legitimate MVP candidate. He's on pace for career highs in touchdowns, yards and completion percentage. He even has one more touchdown pass than his brother Peyton (only Drew Brees and Philip Rivers have more).

"We have the running game going and have some receivers who can make plays downfield for us," lineman Rich Seubert said. "When we're clicking on all cylinders, we're a tough offense to stop."

The key, Coughlin said, is not to stop.

"I hope we're getting better and I hope we're ascending," Coughlin said. "It certainly is the time of the year when it is necessary for us to ascend."