NFL

NOT PRETTY, BUT GIANTS BEAT 49ERS 29-17

As the closing minutes of an often sloppy, sometimes dominant and rarely comfortable game wound down, a few of the Giants admitted they glanced up at the scoreboard. Others were curious when the fans let out a cheer during a break in the game they were seeing live.

“You look and you’re like ‘Wow, Hard Knocks,’ ” Brandon Jacobs said.

That’s Jacobs’ pet name for the Cowboys and he wasn’t alone in his wonderment. The Giants defense awakened from a brief slumber by forcing a season-high three turnovers and sacking overmatched J.T. O’Sullivan six times in an uneven 29-17 victory over the sagging 49ers. There were too many penalties, a blocked field goal returned 74 yards by Nate Clements for a touchdown, not nearly enough offensive flow and perhaps another budding controversy with receiver Plaxico Burress. But the facts are the Giants are 5-1 heading into the meat of their schedule and they were fairly astonished to learn that the supposedly-mighty Cowboys were humbled in St. Louis 34-14, allowing the Giants to add onto their lead in the rugged NFC East.

“I’m not going to lie, I’m a guy who looks at the scores, and to see the way that one finished up definitely was shocking,” defensive tackle Barry Cofield said of the Cowboys, who are now 4-3.

“It means a lot to be 5-1 in the NFL,” added Jacobs. “You got teams coming out gunning for you week in and week out. We have to play way better than we played today and last week if we want to even have a shot against Pittsburgh.”

Jacobs ran for two touchdowns, Eli Manning threw a scoring pass to Burress and John Carney hit a 48-yard field goal. Manning, though, never really got cranking but he did rebound from last week’s three-interception display in Cleveland, as the Giants opted not to gamble much and frequently looked lethargic with the ball.

“Our defense played well and we didn’t,” Manning said. “That’s football.”

It was often mundane football. On defense, the Giants – with Chase Blackburn playing strongly filling in at middle linebacker for injured Antonio Pierce – completely blanketed Frank Gore, limiting the talented running back to 11 yards on 11 carries. Leading 14-10, the Giants weren’t exactly looking like anything special when midway through the second quarter Burress, running up the right sideline, got tangled with cornerback Nate Clements and believed he had induced a pass interference penalty. Instead, Burress was called for offensive pass interference, which incensed him. One play later, after a short completion to Derrick Ward, Burress mouthed off and was flagged for a 15-yard unsportsmanlike conduct penalty.

As he trudged off the field, Burress ripped off his own helmet and didn’t stop when Tom Coughlin barked at him near the sideline. Burress – who was suspended for the game against the Seahawks two weeks ago for violating team rules – turned back and over his shoulder shouted back at his head coach – it sure looked as if he used a naughty word – before taking a seat on the bench.

“That is between Plaxico and I,” Coughlin said. “We talked about it at the half. You’ve got a major competitor who was upset at some things.”

Burress, on cue, was unrepentant about the penalty and anything he said to his head coach.

“I don’t regret it at all,” he said. “I’m out there playing my tail off to make plays and I want the referees to do the same thing. When I’m out there competing and doing everything I’m supposed to do to help my team and he’s just stealing from me, of course I’m going to have something to say.”

Figure this will be an emotional week for Burress, who on Sunday plays for the first time against the Steelers, where he spent the first five years of his career.

The episode left Coughlin in a touchy mood. That his team committed 11 penalties and the offense didn’t run the ball particularly well or throw it with any consistency didn’t help.

“We’re happy with the win,” center Shaun O’Hara said. “We’re not ecstatic about some of the things that happened out there, at times.”