Game 27: Giants 13, Ravens 12

Baltimore will start from around their 25. Jared Gaither starting at LT. Matthias Kiwanuka stuffs Willis McGahee for a loss after a false start by the rookie Ben Grubbs. A screen goes nowhere; third and a mile. Steve McNair hits Demetrius Williams for about 15. I'm not going to criticize that. A - there was a LOT of distance to get. B - it gave the punter some room, which was the main concern.

Giants take over inside their 10. Eli hits Michael Jennings for a nifty sideline catch for about 20. Jacobs bashes twice, but the 2nd time is only for 1, and on 3rd-and-3, Eli's pass is knocked down at the line.

McNair hits Todd Heap for a 1st down. McGahee grinds 7 out up the middle and 3 more for another 1st. McNair then goes up top, a poor throw into double coverage picked off by Sam Madison, who was in much better position to catch it than the intended receiver.

Giants take over around their 25. Incomplete, delay of game. Giants O moving like clockwork.
Ravens have two guys across the line to take Brandon Jacobs down on 2nd-long. Terrell Suggs hasn't been stopped yet. Amani Toomer comes up a yard short on 3rd down. Looks like we're in for a defensive struggle.

Mike Anderson replaces McGahee and promptly snaps off 10 and 22 yard runs. A Giant blitz on 3rd-and-5 forces a dumpoff to Clarence Moore that only gets 4. A McNair sneak on 4th-and-1 comes up short. Giants take over at about their 20.

Eli loses the ball on the handoff and Haloti Ngata comes up with it to give Baltimore the ball back in the red zone.

Giants pounce on Anderson for a 7-yard loss, then force an incompletion with a blitz. Nothing doing on 3rd down and Stover hits a 33-yarder to open the scoring. 3-0 Baltimore.

Eli wheels out of a shirttail sack and hits Shockey for 18. Jacobs isn't finding room to run anywhere. Suggs takes him down again for a loss. A Bart Scott offsides is the NINTH penalty of the first quarter, which mercifully ends with the Ravens ahead 3-0.

Jacobs now cracks a draw across midfield for about 15. Jennings has a couple of catches from Eli,
but it's Steve Smith who takes a well-placed throw from Eli in the end zone between defenders for
a NY TD. 7-3, Giants.

Kyle Boller replaces McNair and immediately has to scramble, just for 1. Barry Cofield POUNDS
McGahee on a draw. Willis has not gotten going at all: 6 rushes, 2 yards. Screen to Musa Smith on 3rd-and-18 unsurprisingly does not get the first.

Giants get ball back, but they're dropping like flies. Will Demps is out with a stinger; lucky it wasn't
much worse with that sloppy head-first tackle. Sam Madison tweaked a hammy, and Michael Jennings, we hardly knew ye; out for the season with a ruptured Achilles.

Penalties drive the Giants back behind their own 20, but Eli spears Michael Matthews on 3rd and long
for the 1st. Rueben Droughns is the new RB. Ravens have been called for defensive holding a couple
of times. This one is the 14th accepted penalty of the half. 1st down Giants across midfield. Steve Smith's out the rest of the game with a concussion. Just when I was about to say how efficient Eli's been tonight, and how comfortable he looks, Jarret Johnson smokes Kareem McKenzie for a sack/fumble. Giants get it back, run a we-surrender screen, and punt. Smith suffered the concussion on his TD. The refs have called a billion penalties this half, and nobody called Ed Reed for elbowing Smith in the head.

Boller moves Baltimore smoothly out to midfield before he gets BURIED by Fred Robbins. But he hits Devard Darling for the first on 3rd-and-long. Boller looks much better than I'm used to seeing him look. Kevin Dockery nicely knocks down another 3rd-and-long pass to stop the Ravens at the Giant 30, but Matt Stover hits the 47-yarder to close the gap to 7-6 Giants.

With about 1:20 left in the half, Jared Lorenzen (Hefty Lefty) comes in for Eli. The Giants just run out the clock and take the 7-6 lead into halftime. Easily more penalties than points in the half.

3rd quarter - Giants cross midfield before Edgar Jones sacks Lorenzen, which is quite a feat. Derrick
Ward running well. A late hit by Grey Reugamer forces NY into 2nd-and-27. Ravens swarm Lorenzen for a sack around the 40 and force a punt.

After a DPI, a 3rd-and-6 sideline throw by Boller is high and outside, and Baltimore punts again.

Giants 3-and-out when Gerome Sapp sacks Lorenzen on a blitz. Couple of guys came in untouched.

New Raven backfield of Drew Olson at QB and Corey Ross at RB. Greg Pruitt Jr totally hears footsteps on a screen pass he lets fall incomplete on 3rd down for our third-straight 3-and-out. And this is the national game of the week! Viva preseason!

Giants haven't kept the Ravens out of their backfield on a play yet this half. They're punting again
after a drop by David Tyree, who's not shining tonight. 5 straight 3-and-outs.

Ravens continue to do nothing with fine field position. Adrian Awasom (no relation to late pro wrestler Mike Awesome) hits Olson as he throws on 3rd-and-2 to generate our SIXTH straight 3-and-out.

RYAN GRANT GETS A FIRST DOWN. RYAN GRANT GETS A FIRST DOWN. RYAN GRANT GETS A FIRST DOWN. 19-yard run. Dwan Edwards roughs Lorenzen with a hit to the head, and NY's across midfield. Lefty's woozy, but Giants call a pass anyway and he just misses a bomb to Anthony Mix. Third down after a quick screen runs out the third quarter. Lorenzen scrambles for 14 up the middle for 1st down. Ravens then sack Lorenzen behind the 30 on 3rd down. Josh Huston hits a 50-yard FG. The Giants 10-6 lead in this game now looks like a 30-6 lead in most other games the way these teams are moving the ball.

Yamon Figurs takes a well-blocked kick return out across midfield, though. Troy Smith's in at QB and immediately gets sacked by Tyson Smith. Ross gets most of it back on a draw. Smith rolls and hits Kendrick Ballantine for Baltimore's first 1st down of the half. Manny Wright clotheslines Ross to the ground on 1st down for a loss. Backup kicker Rhys Lloyd hits a 42-yarder to keep the game tight at 10-9.

Tim (Husband of Elizabeth) Hasselbeck getting his first preseason action at QB. Ahmad Bradshaw
makes the play of the night, a 43-yard sweep right and run up the sideline. Big block by Charles Davis, I believe. Giants inside the Raven 20. A Hasselbeck scramble gets them a new set of downs inside the 10. Baltimore blitzes a 3rd down screen attempt for an incomplete, and Huston is called in to convert from 27. It's a veritable shootout now. 13-9 NY.

Just under 6:00 left as Smith takes over at his 30. 20 to Matt Willis. If Baltimore does keep a 3rd
QB, (they only kept 2 last year), I'd lean toward Smith. Another 1st down to Willis. Another pass
to Damien Linson gets Baltimore inside the Giant 25. 3rd-and-7 screen for Ross is too strong and
incomplete, and for some reason, Baltimore is kicking again here with 2:44 left. Lloyd hits a mid-30s FG to make it a 13-12 game.

Ravens curiously kick deep. Giants take over at 20. Baltimore obviously's playing for the defensive stop, which is altogether possible tonight. Giants help them with a false start, but Bradshaw gains 14 on the draw, and Hasselbeck sneaks for the first down.

You know, after Reggie Bush sends the cow to Peyton Manning's room in the commercial, the obvious next move is for Peyton to send Reggie a 300-lb stripper, either gender.

The Giants can't grind out the first down after the 2:00 warning and punt to Baltimore with 0:29 left. EJ Underwood immediately takes Figurs down on the punt return for no gain. Sack by Marquise Gunn effectively ends it for NY.

25 combined points, 23 combined penalties. Viva preseason! Giants run defense was noticeably better, allowing just 75 yards total. Willis McGahee had 4 yards on 7 touches and I still drafted him in FFL like an idiot. The game was mostly a defensive struggle and neither team showed much on offense. For Baltimore, nice game for Kyle Boller, dominating game for Terrell Suggs. Wish there was more to say, but this was a lousy game.

27 down, 38 to go. Up next: Pittsburgh-Washington.