New York Giants head coach Tom Coughlin said Wednesday that the 1-4 Detroit Lions, who invade New Meadowlands Stadium Sunday to face the Giants, are much better than their record indicates.
"As you know, they made a lot of moves after last season. It looks to me that they've benefitted greatly by it. We've looked at the controversial play where Detroit had the ball in the end zone against Chicago this morning. We looked at the completion of the Green Bay game this morning. We see the way in which all of their games with the exception maybe of the Minnesota game have been played very well, very competitive, with opportunities for Detroit to win," Coughlin said. "So, they are a much-improved football team. Their draft choices and their additions have really made them play outstanding football, so we prepare ourselves today for a very good Detroit team."
You might accuse Coughlin of blowing smoke here to ensure his team does not let down after two straight impressive victories. But the Lions are coming off an impressive 44-6 drubbing of the St. Louis Rams, and have had opportunities to win all but one of their five games thus far.
Coughlin saw lots of things to worry about while watching the film of the Detroit-St. Louis game.
"They were outstanding. They moved the ball, they played great defense, they had a 105-yard kickoff return, they did a lot of very, very good things in that game," Coughlin said. "Detroit has a number of playmakers."
The Giants, 3-2, are tied for first place in the NFC East. They have a division game coming up next week at Dallas, their first of the season. Coughlin, though, would not be baited into peeking ahead.
We're very well aware of what's going on in the division. We talk about it every week, every Friday, sometimes on Monday we talk about it," Coughlin said. "We're aware of wins, losses, how people are doing, how they're not doing and we talk about that, but to that extent, we're interested in who we're playing - the Detroit Lions."
Sunday's game time is 1 p.m. ET.