Giants on roll; Texans-Titans; Moss-Brady remain hot

Michael Strahan and the Giants' defense have fueled a five-game win streak. AP

Musings, observations and the occasional insight in the aftermath of an NFL weekend that so rudely interrupts our baseball-crazed revelry here in Boston ....

• Just wondering, but what happened to that Tom Coughlin death watch in New York? The Giants have won five in a row and no one's offering dire-sounding opinions about their head coach's job these days. Joe Torre didn't make it, but it looks like Coughlin might survive and prosper in Gotham.

New York took San Francisco apart 33-15 at Giants Stadium on Sunday to improve to 5-2, and the best news is that the resurgence is being fueled by defense. After giving up 80 points in the course of starting 0-2, the Giants have held four of their past five opponents to 17 points or fewer, with only the Jets breaking the trend in their 35-24 loss two weeks ago.

The G-Men have played their way back into the thick of an NFC East race that once looked like it would belong to Dallas. The Giants are just a game behind the Cowboys and suddenly their Week 10 showdown in the Meadowlands is shaping up as a potential battle for first place. New York should enter that game still very much on a roll, because the Giants have two consecutive bye weeks between now and then.

Two bye weeks? True. The Giants play the woeful Dolphins next week in London, and then they get their real weekend off in Week 9.

• It's pretty apparent that the NFC East is back. Three of the division's four teams are at least two games over .500. Only the Eagles are struggling, and I could make a convincing case for any of the other three teams winning the division. Dallas has lost some of its mojo the past three weeks, but the Cowboys are still 6-1 and dangerous. The Giants and Redskins are playing quality defense in the division that has always rewarded just that in the season's second half. And despite the Eagles 2-4 record, I refuse to totally discount Andy Reid's team after last year's late-season revival. Philly has a knack for getting things fixed and rolling in November.

• Houston's 29-point fourth-quarter showing against Tennessee, which led 32-7 entering the final 15 minutes, was remarkable for so many reasons. But here are my two favorite nuggets from a game that the Titans won 38-36, on Rob Bironas' NFL-record eighth field goal, a 29-yarder at the final gun:

-- Entering the day, Texans backup quarterback Sage Rosenfels, a seven-year NFL veteran, had thrown 10 career touchdown passes in the 18 games. He threw for four in that fourth quarter alone, to four receivers, and added a two-point conversion pass. Rosenfels' career high for a season was four touchdown passes, with Miami in 2005.

-- Houston didn't start as well as it finished. Starting quarterback Matt Schaub twice left the game due to injury in the first half, with Rosenfels replacing him. The Texans' offense had just 24 yards in the first two quarters, with Houston's only score coming on linebacker DeMeco Ryan's 26-yard fumble return. The Texans rolled up 309 yards of offense in the second half.

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