Despite keeping the game close, the New York Giants continue their troubles on both sides of the ball in their 28-21 loss to the undefeated Arizona Cardinals.

After the game Giants Coach Ludwig said "We didn't help ourselves very much tonight.  We let them convert 3rd down after 3rd down after 3rd down.  We need to work on that.  Offensively our receivers could seem to get any separation and they shut down our running game pretty tight.  We had a chance to put some points on the board at the end of the first half but Eli tried to force it in there and it was picked off.  That was....unfortunate."

When asked if he sees any bright spots in his team, Coach said "Our special teams are doing well.  We had 2 kick off returns for touchdowns tonight; both were over 100 yards.  Blackmon and Asante each had one.  I've been impressed with Will Blackmon.  We brought him in a couple of weeks ago just to return kicks and he's been great.  This the 3rd week in a row he's returned a kick for a touchdown.  If we can put some offense together, those special teams points will become more and more valuable if we can keep games close."

The New York Giants imploded tonight in their game against the San Francisco 49'ers losing 38-14.  While the 1st quarter was all San Francisco with the 49'ers jumping out to a 14-0 lead, the Giants were able to tie the game on a 100 yard kick off return for a TD by Will Blackmon early in the 2nd quarter.

It was all downhill from there for the Giants.

Elia Manning threw 4 interceptions on the day while David Wilson fumbled a kickoff which gave the 49'ers the ball at the New York 4 yard line.

Coach Ludwig said after the game "Honestly, I'm angry.  No one, and I do mean no one on our team played well tonight.  It was a total train wreck out there.  I'm at a loss to explain how it went so wrong so quickly.  That being said, its over and now we prepare for Arizona.  Time to move forward and put this one behind us."

The New York Giants posted their first regular season win under rookie coach Ludwig with a solid 33-20 win over the Dallas Cowboys.

The Giants looked sharp while Dallas looked like a team still struggling with their playbook.  The Giants seemed to finally be firing on all cylinders with the offense, defense and special teams all contributing to the win.

Eli Manning was efficient going 9-11 for 227 yards with 2 TDs and 0 INTs.  David Wilson lead the Giants with 133 yards and 1 TD on 3 receptions.  Manning hit Wilson for a quick screen which Wilson took 79 yards for a TD in the 2nd quarter.

Prince Amukamara lead the Giants defense with 2 interceptions while Antrel Rolle posted 5 tackles on the day.  The final blow seemed to come from Giants kick return specialist Will Blackmon who returned 5 kicks for  221 return yards including a speculator 105 yard TD return in the Giants 17 point 2nd quarter.

Coach Ludwig said "I'm pleased we were able to get our fist win against a NFC East opponent.  We played pretty well across the board, although I'd like to see us run the ball better.  We'll work on that.  This is a real positive way to go into our bye week which is early this year.  We'll going to use the bye to practice hard and get ready for San Francisco."

In the opening series of the game, the Giants looks slow, confused and out of step.  Things only got worse from there.  In Coach Ludwig's regular season debut, the Giants looked little different than the team that went 4-12 last season.

Robert Griffin III and Alfred Morris had the Giants tied up in knots all day and New York were simply never able to find its footing.

Offensively, Eli Manning was 9 of 19 for 170 yards, 1 TD and 2 INTs.  The running game was lead by rookie Phillip Asante who had 47 yards on 10 carries.  The only bright spots for the Giants was the play of Victor Cruz who had 3 catches for 91 yards and a TD and HB David Wilson who returned the second half kickoff 97 yards for a TD.

After the game Coach Ludwig said "It was pretty sloppy out there today.  Our defense looked sluggish and couldn't seem to bring people down on first contact.  We need to work on that and we will.  Offensively, we got behind so early that we were playing catch-up right from the start.  Thats no way to play.  Thats not the position you want to find yourself in.  Asante looked good, I think his average carry was around 4.7 yards but unfortunately we ended up having to air it out more than we wanted.  Wilson's TD was a thing of beauty but we couldn't build on it.  We'll regroup and get ready for the Eagles next week."

The New York Giants ended the preseason on a high note by winning their final 2 games; the most recent a 17-10 workman like victory over the Oakland Raiders.

The scoreless first quarter was marred by sloppy play on both sides of the ball.  Oakland seemed to be passing to the hot dog vendor in the 3rd row while the Giants seemed to forget how tackle.

The second quarter opened with the Giants going up 0-3 but the Raiders quickly took the ball down the field eventually taking a 10-3 lead going into the final quarter.  While the Giants haven't recently been known as an offensive powerhouse, they were able to combine good defensive plays with solid offense and score 14 points in the 4th quarter, the game winning TD coming off a 17 yard run by 1st round draft pick Phillip Asante who ended the day with 59 yards on 15 carries and 2 TDs (one rushing and one receiving).

Giants coach Ludwig said "We decided to let the game rest on the shoulders of Asante in the 4th quarter and he came through for us.  He had a couple of important 3rd down conversions and 8-10 yards runs which kept us moving down field.  When he had that 17 yard run for the winning touchdown, we were reminded of why we drafted him.  He took some time to get his engine running but when he did, he performed.  You can't ask for more than that."

The Giants open the season against NFC East rival Washington Redskins.

The New York Giants travelled to St. Louis for their second preseaon game under their new head coach but the results were all too familiar with the Rams defeating the Giants 20-10.

The Giants started on the wrong foot when the Rams intercepted  Eli Mannings first pass of the game placing the Rams in excellent field position.  The Rams went up 10-0 before the Giants seemed to get their act together.  The Giants were able to close the gap and entered the 4th quarter tied 10-10 but the Rams were able to put the game away with a long TD run and a follow-up field goal that the Giants were never able to overcome.

After the game Giant's Coach Ludwig told the press "Defensively we played pretty well.  Eli put the defensive unit in a tough spot with that interceptions right out of the box but they played well across the board until that long run at the end.  We generated 3 sacks, 2 interceptions and lots of pressure on the QB.  Those are the things we strive for each week in practice.  We just need to hold it together late in the game."

While Ludwig had soft praise for defense, he wasn't so kind to his offense which looked out of sync much of the game.  "We can't put 10 points on the board and expect to beat anybody in this league.  Our offensive line didn't give Manning or Nassib much time.  I also expected to see a bit more out of our 1st round pick, HB Phillip Assante by now (33 yards on 11 carries).  We also missed 2 field goals - yes, they were long ones but thats why we brought Gould here in free agency - to make kicks like that so yes, I am disappointed in that respect."

When asked if the rookie coach is desperate for his first win, Ludwig said "Desperate?  No.  I wouldn't say desperate.  Its still preseason and until the end of the game we were competitive tonight and we're hoping to get some additional free agent talent here in the next couple of days.  I'll be desperate if we're losing games in the regular season but not now.  Not yet."

In their first pre-season game under rookie head coach Ludwig, the New York Giants fell to the visiting Miami Dolphins 28-17.

Coach Ludwig said after the game "While we lost the game, overall I saw some good, positive things out there tonight.  I was very pleased with our newest wide receiver Kurtis Green who we selected in the 4th round."   Green seemed faster than Miami expected and always appeared open at the right time finishing the game with 6 receptions for 116 yards.

First round draft pick HB Phillip Asante had an unimpressive 10 carries for 24 yards but brought the crowd to its feet when he took a quick screen pass 25 yards for his first touchdown as a New York Giant.  Coach Ludwig also praised his kick off return team who had almost 200 yards and seemed on the verge of taking one all the way on every kickoff.

Ludwig stated "I said I wanted us to be competitive and tonight we were.  Defensively we need to get some free agents in here to help us.  We got burned on a couple of plays but we can make adjustments.  I didn't see anything out there tonight that can't be fixed with the right mix of players, practice and coaching.  Now its on to St. Louis."

The 2014 draft is complete and in a surprise to many observers, the New York Giants went offense all the way taking nothing but offensive players in all 7 rounds.  The Giants drafted the following players:

Round 1 - Phillip Asante, HB
Round 2 - Jaren Helmsetter, TE
Round 3 - Doran Cheeseborough, LG
Round 4 - Kurtis Green, WR 
Round 5 - Yao Olamfortone, HB
Round 6 - Emmanuel Odighizuwa, FB
Round 7 - Addison Cox, TE

While many Giants fans were shocked that the team used it's first round draft pick on HB Phillip Asante, while completely ignoring the teams defensive needs Coach Ludwig said "We have some pretty big holes on both sides of the ball and felt that it was in our best interest to secure young offensive talent via the draft and address our defensive issues via free agency."

When asked why the Giants would take a HB in the first round while other higher rated players remained available Coach Ludwig stated "We needed a HB so why would we draft for a position we don't need to fill at the expense of passing up a quality player at a position we do need to fill?  I don't see the logic in that."

Coach Ludwig continued "In each round of the draft we looked at what our specific position needs were and what players were available.  We then matched player to position.  It was pretty straightforward."

When asked about the strategy of drafting only offensive players the Coach said "Well, I believe in getting young talent on the offensive side of the ball.  Fresh legs can do wonders for an offense especially late in the season  We looked at some free agents but the combination of their price and age lead us to conclude that we were better off drafting what we needed and working to ensure they become the kind of long term players we believe they can be."

When asked if the were any surprises on draft day, Coach Ludwig said "Well to be honest we were pretty surprised that LG Doran Cheeseborough was still on the board on in the 3rd round.  We knew he was an excellent player but didn't spend a lot of time scouting him simply because we didn't think we would be in a position to take him but we got lucky.  Sometimes things just fall into your lap."

The Coach continued "Defensively, I'm not against free agency to get experienced players on defense who can hit the ground running and know where to be on any given play.  Youth on offense and experience on defense.  That's where we're going this year.  We're speaking with some free agents at the moment and will know where we stand in a couple of days.  We know we won't get everyone we want but you do your best and the chips will fall where they may."

When asked what Giants fans can expect from their team and it's new 1st time, rookie head coach, Ludwig said "Well, I'm taking over a team that went 4-11 last year so there is clearly a lot of work to do.  On offense, we're looking to build a running game which will help us control the clock.  We're also going of to use a lot of high percentage passes and will move the ball around to a LOT of different players.  This will keep legs fresh late in the game and not let the defense key in on 1 or 2 guys.  

This off-season one of our free agent signings was Robbie Gould who is one of the best kickers available.  We didn't sign a lot of free agents but we especially went out of our way to sign him.  We feel he may be the difference in several games this year.  A good kicker is a rebuilding team's best friend."

On the defensive side of the ball we need to drastically reduce allowing the other team to convert 3rd and 8 or 3rd and 10 situations.  We need to get our defense off the field as soon as possible.  Defensively I can live with a "bend but don't break" approach."

When asked if he has anything to say to the rabid Giants fans who want success now and will call for the rookie coach's head if the team suffers another embarrassing season, Coach Ludwig said "I wasn't here last year but it's pretty clear that it was pretty ugly.  The fans won't want to hear this but at times this year it will be pretty ugly as well.  We're rebuilding and the first step to building a successful team is to work on the fundamentals and that's what we're going to do.  It's not flashy and doesn't sell tickets but it's necessary to successful long term success.  Our goal this year is to be competitive.  If we can be competitive then we'll find ourselves in position to win our share of games."

We'll get a look at the "work in progress" New York Giants and their rookie head coach when they take on the Miami Dolphins in their first pre-season game tonight.