Issue date: 11/5/08 Section: Sports

After many exciting games and road wins during week nine in the National Football League, the season is starting to shape up. One team in particular that is a force to be reckoned with is The New York Giants.

The Giants are 7-1 after dominating The Dallas Cowgirls, oops, Cowboys, sorry about that, it's just that Cowgirls seems like a better name for Dallas after getting violated during their last game.

There are many reasons that The Giants are clearly the dominant force in the National Football Conference. One, Eli Manning continues to prove that he is a capable heavyweight quarterback with leadership qualities. After The Giants won Super Bowl XLII, Eli Manning was no longer shadowed by his brother Peyton and can now brag about how he helped lead a long-shot wildcard team all the way top the top.

Other players who are contributing to the Giants' success are wide receivers Plaxico Burress and Steve Smith, who constantly outrun defenses. Running backs Brandon Jacobs and Ahmad Bradshaw continue to plow through defenders for touchdowns. On the defensive end, Corey Webster continues to prevent the offense from scoring and make the offense run after him when he grabs interceptions (as of week nine, he has intercepted three passes).

The Giants are also the second highest scoring team in the NFL after week nine. The Giants are not usually known for their offense, but this year, that is what's keeping them dominant.

As they always though, the best offense is a great defense and that is something that The Giants have always had. Look at how The New England Patriots were stunned in the Super Bowl last year. The Giants broke through The Patriots offensive line as if it was a thin paper banner used during a pre-game entrance show. Overrated quarterback Tom Brady finally experienced what it felt like to be tackled and sacked and couldn't handle it like the pansy he is.

When you look at the rest of the teams in the NFC and the teams that the Giants are scheduled to play for the rest of the season, there just does not seem to be any competition for them.

The Washington Redskins are a hot team this year (and Santana Moss continues to impress), but the Skins lost their first game to the Giants this season 16-7. Although Washington has improved since their loss, The Redskins will still come up short against The Giants in week 13.

The Carolina Panthers could give The Giants a run for their money in week 16 since The Panthers are the second best team in the NFC, but that is only because The Panthers have played relatively weak teams so far this season. Half of the Panther's wins were won by four points or less, so unless The Panthers can fool the Giants defense, The Panthers may not necessarily give the Giants a run for their money but instead, give them running opportunities to the end zone.

Other than that, I do not see anyone getting past the Giants in the NFC.

Now over in the American Football League, there doesn't seem to be a lot of other teams that could keep up with The Giants either.

Granted, The Tennessee Titans came out of nowhere and are still undefeated after an exciting overtime win against the Green Bay Packers in week nine. Former Giants quarterback Kerry Collins has been taking charge ever since he replaced the emotionally conflicted Vince Young and The Titans show no signs of slowing down. Just like The Redskins though, The Titans have not played against a lot of teams in playoff contention.

The Titans have a good chance of going through the 2008 regular season undefeated, but remember what happened last year when The Patriots went undefeated? Yup, everyone thought they were unbeatable and yet they fall to the almighty Giants. The same thing can easily happen to the Titans.

Critics can say that the Giants embarrassed themselves when they lost to the pathetic Cleveland Browns in week six 35-14, and yes, it was embarrassing. The thing is, it was only one game and it's best for a team to make their mistakes during the regular season so the team can know what areas to improve on and fix them before the postseason. Everyone has their off days and the Giants had theirs when they played the Browns. I'd rather have that than a team like the cheating Patriots with their 16-0* record.

Look at The Giant' success during the 2007 postseason. First, they beat the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in an easy match-up, but from here on out, no one expected the Giants to go further, and look what happened.

They shocked the division-leading Cowboys and made Terrell Owens cry during the press conference afterward (which is why Cowgirls is not such a bad name for that team).

Once NFC Championships came around, everyone thought there was no way the Giants would upset the Green Bay Packers with a retiring red-hot Brett Favre. Then the unthinkable happened, the Giants won. Then the Giants go on to win and so on.

Let's face it, The New York Giants pretty much own the NFC and if the Giants win the NFC Championship, then they will beat the Titans, or whoever, in the Super Bowl. Can you say, repeat?

Nick Hunte can be reached at nhunte@statehornet.com

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