"Run the damn ball. That is the plea to offensive coordinator Kevin Gilbride with only a handful of days remaining before the start of the 2011 season, which kicks off with one of those you-better-not-lose games against the Redskins on Sunday at FedEx Field.

Yes, yes, we all know it's a passing league and no one is going back in time to where Eli Manning can pull a Bob Griese or Bart Starr and chuck it 15 times a game. Eli's going to chuck it around 500 times this year, but the best way to enhance his chances is to ease the burden on him by allowing him to hand it off to Ahmad Bradshaw and Brandon Jacobs.

Last year, the Giants ran it 480 times and passed it 539, the type of balance Tom Coughlin wants from his attack. Gilbride has long-since shed the pass-happy Run-and-Shoot operation he ran with the old Houston Oilers back in the early 1990s and, despite the heat he regularly receives from fans, knows how to set up an opposing defense. In previous years, Gilbride felt he had an advantage with the assembled talent at receiver and tight end and was eager to exploit those mismatches."