Grading the Giants

OFFENSE

C Eli Manning was impressive, completing 31 of 45 passes for 349 yards and two touchdowns. The rest of the offense was shaky. Hakeem Nicks, Mario Manningham and Jake Ballard each dropped long passes and the running game flatlined again. Ahmad Bradshaw was courageous to play through his foot injury, but he was ineffective for most of the game with 50 rushing yards on 13 carries. Brandon Jacobs had four carries for 10 yards.

DEFENSE

B Another day, another 100-yard rusher. This time it was Reggie Bush who had them for 103 yards. Quarterback Matt Moore added 31 rushing yards, some of them scrambling away from pressure and eluding sacks but one a 1-yard run for a touchdown on fourth down when the Giants had no containment on the outside. After the Dolphins scored a field goal on their opening second-half drive, though, the defense stiffened.

SPECIAL TEAMS

B+ If the Giants could get a return game going, they'd get an A. Aaron Ross appeared to have room to run with his punt returns but averaged just 7.0 yards with a long of 10. Devin Thomas had a 40-yard kickoff return, but twice was stopped inside the 20. Kicking has been strong, though, as Steve Weatherford put three of his four punts inside the 20. Lawrence Tynes was good on field goals from 25 and 29 yards and has converted a franchise-record 135 extra points in a row.

COACHING

B Tom Coughlin wants balance in the offense, so sometimes that means running the ball even though the running game is ineffective. There should not be any shame in being a passing team. Coughlin said that he went for it on fourth-and-9 from the Miami 34 in the first quarter because he thought the FG attempt would be out of Tynes' range into the wind. Even so, they did a good job of not panicking and sticking with the plan throughout the second half, particularly on defense.