New York Giants face Broncos on Thanksgiving, hope defense can shut down Denver's offense

The coaches were back at work on Sunday night an hour after the Giants finally ended their month of misery. But at least for the first time since early October, they returned to work happy."Today was a lot more fun, I'll tell you that," Tom Coughlin said after Monday's practice. "(Winning) makes it easier to do everything. I thought the coffee was better this morning."

They needed a good cup coming off a night of little sleep as they tried to quickly get ready for a very short work week. But even that taste wasn't enough to mask the bitterness of the Giants' defensive performance. For the second straight game, the defense was pushed around on a late fourth-quarter touchdown drive. Yes, the Giants got away with it this time, thanks to an overtime coin flip and a Lawrence Tynes field goal that gave them a much-needed 34-31 win over the Atlanta Falcons. But as good as that felt, the defense knows it has issues. And with a Thanksgiving night game in Denver looming, the defense also knows there isn't much time to work it all out.

"It was a bitter taste," said cornerback Terrell Thomas. "It was a great win for our team, but we definitely like the way we finished. We would've loved to end it 31-24 with the Giants making a great stop at the end. But we didn't do that." No, instead they let the Falcons march 76 yards in 12 plays and 3:14 to tie the game even though, as Coughlin said, "There were enough opportunities to make plays, to stop a drive or at least create a long fourth-down situation."

It wasn't just the final drive, either, since the Giants gave up 255 second-half yards and allowed the Falcons to score on all four of their second-half drives (three touchdowns, one field goal). Those struggles were the biggest reason why the Giants blew a 14-point fourth-quarter lead.

"You'd like it to be a safe lead, but we didn't do everything right," said defensive end Mathias Kiwanuka. "I'm not going to lie about that. But the key thing we take away from this game is it's a win. By no means are we saying it's a good game or a complete game, but it's a step in the right direction. We're on track."

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