The New York Giants are well aware of what they will be up against Sunday when the travel to Seattle to face the NFC West-leading Seattle Seahawks. They know better than to look at last week's 33-3 loss by the Seahawks to the Oakland Raiders and conclude that they can chalk this one up as an easy victory.
That ugly loss by the Seahawks was in Oakland. All three of Seattle's losses have, in fact, come on the road. The Seahawks are 3-0 at Qwest Field. Besides which, the Giants have a veteran team that is well aware that Qwest Field has been a house of horrors for them.
No one who was there can forget the 11 false-start penalties against the Giants in their 2005 game at Qwest – including the Giants. They followed that with three more in their game at Qwest the next season. That’s 14 of the league-high 99 false-start penalties against visiting teams at Qwest in the past 5½ seasons (Mall of America Field in Minneapolis is second with 89).
"We’re 0-2 since I’ve been here out there," Giants right guard Chris Snee told reporters who cover the team on Monday. "The last time, 13 penalties, something insane like that."
Actually, it was 16 penalties for 114 yards in 2005, including the 11 false starts; and eight for 63 yards in 2006, including the three false starts.
"It’s loud, man," Snee said. "It’s been a few years since I’ve been out there. I remember the first time I went out in ’05, I had never seen anything like it. That’s why it has the reputation it does. We’ll have to do our best to try to quiet it."
Giants coach Tom Coughlin is telling his team it must have "poise in the noise" this weekend.
"The way we look at them is that they are 3-0 at home. They have an incredible plus-eight in turnovers at home, 12 of their 13 takeaways are at home, they've averaged 27 points a game, they've given up 12 points a game, they have an incredible kickoff return average of 44.5 yards at home. They average over 10 yards per punt return at home. They've played very well," Coughlin said. "We know very well the environment we're going into. It is a difficult place to play - it's loud, all of the above, so we're preparing for a team that is 3-0 at home, and I know that they will rally around the fact that they are going to play at home."
The Giants are likely to be without starting center Shaun O'Hara, due to a Lis Franc injury. Quarterback Eli Manning said he is not worried about communication with backup center Adam Koets.
"It shouldn't be a problem with the center, he should be able to hear me fine. It shouldn't affect our offense in any way," Manning said. "We've played in loud places before so we know what to expect and how we have to prepare this week to get ready."