"It's great to be young and a Yankee."

I'm starting to run on fumes. I thought yesterday was exhausting, but that was before I was introduced to the frantic rush that was today. The Giants game just ended about a half hour ago, but I'm starting the recap now because I haven't yet eaten today and figured that there was a good chance I'd just pass out on my desk if I didn't set aside a few minutes to lock up some Taco Bell.

Which I ddi. And now the batteries are halfway recharged.

Here we go:

• The Giants defense is stunning. And I'll concede that half of this is because the Skins looked pathetic, but even in a vacuum, the NY D is unrelenting, unyielding, and, for lack of a better word, tight as hell. Assuming hell is uber-tight.

• Lawrence Tynes is like Shortie in Indiane Jones and the Temple of Doom. Everyone is always looking at him like he's a nuisance that's holding us back and creating more problems, but actually he's pretty solid and valuable. 40% of today's points came from his field goals, one of which was a 45 yarder. Not to mention he had the all important first score of the Giants season. And there's that whole stat that the team who scores first wins the game 80% of the time.

• It is so so so nice to see Osi again. He's so good. When it was announced he was out for the season last year, there really was somewhat of a diminished vigor about our chances for a repeat. But look how good the NFC champs did! And now with him back on the field, he's not wasting any time reminding anyone of his unassailable value to this team. A hat trick, if you will:

• Eli Manning completed 20-of-29 passes for 256 yards with a touchdown and an interception.

• I liked what I saw from Manning. He's a tough kid. I can't imagine it was easy finding WRs downfield, going from having Plax/Toomer down there to having ??? down there. The top draft pick Nicks looked like he was going to be one of the best hopes at filling the receiver voids, but as mentioned in previous post, it was a bit of a blow to see the rook get carted off the field in his first pro game with a sprained left foot. I'm not entirely sure the status of him as of yet, the reports are pretty noncommittal and vague.

• I liked how Eli worked the field though. Undeterred, he spread the ball around and hooked with Steve Smith for 80 yards and hit Mario Manningham in the first with a 30 yard TD pass. Manningham's gonna be good for this team. He plays Coughlin's game and he's quick, aggressive, and seems to have some sharp intuitiveness about him.

• The Chris Samuels-Osi match-up was obviously dominated by Osi. I've been fascinated by the left tackle position ever since I read "The Blind Side" (thanks, Duck), and you're seeing more and more how unbelievably consequential this role is. Wearing my LT jersey all day, ("you look ridiculous"--Laur), I was thinking about Theismann and how poor protection ended his career, to say the least. Osi's not LT, but he's bank for this team for certain.

• Washington's line on the day: 272 yards, sacked 3 times, 2 turnovers

• Who called the Skins' game for them today? Anyone? Keira Knightly? Yoshi? The G-men are good, but the Skins made them look insurmountable, due largely to the fact the play calling was so poorly executed, that you had to wonder if it was some kind of reverse psychology strategy to throw NY off. Either way, bad knowledge, Skins.

• Corey Webster and Santana Moss get into a scuffle. And it may have been symbolic about how the Gmen are going to head into their season. No holds barred. Never stop attacking.

Texts between me and my sister:

Laur: Whats doing.

CYC: Watching Giants with Mo.

Laur: Cool.

CYC: Yeah he weirdly likes NFL Sunday more than baseball.

Laur: [picture message] My cats and I do not like NFL Sunday.