The biggest news today is that Mathias Kiwanuka is fine following a scare on the final play of last night's 16-7 victory over Washington.

In case you missed the play, it looked like Washington's Chris Samuels grabbed Kiwanuka's leg as he went by in pursuit of Redskins quarterback Jason Campbell on the final play. I thought it was unnecessary.

Yahoo! Sports is reporting that Kiwanuka did suffer a minor ankle injury on the play. Giants' defensive end Justin Tuck expressed what I'm sure everyone felt when he saw Kiwanuka go down.

"I wish I could repeat the words that were coming out of my mouth, but you can’t put them on TV," Tuck. "The last thing we can have is a very important guy like Kiwanuka go out. To see him up and walking around was encouraging."

Here are some other stories of interest following the Giants' season-opening victory.

• The New York Post's Mike Vaccaro says it is too soon to tell what the season holds for the Giants. By the way, there are so many Giants' stories on the Post's Web site today it is ridiculous. You could spend all day there.

ELI IS THE MANN: Newsday's Wallace Matthews says Eli Manning, not that other guy who plays for the Jets, is the No. 1 quarterback in New York. I agree. He is the Super Bowl MVP, and the other guy has not played a game for a New York team yet.

BURRESS' BIG NIGHT: It was a huge night for Plaxico Burress, on the field and off. A happy, healthy Plax is a great thing to see.

FANS MAKE STATEMENT: It was a great, celebratory night. Giants' fans, though, still managed to express their displeasure with the Giants' decision to use PSLs in their new stadium.

DOMINATING 'D': SI.com's Don Banks says reports of the demise of the Giants' defense appear to be premature. That should hardly be a surprise to anyone who actually understands how deep and talented this unit actually was last season. The pass rush will be fine, provided the Giants stay healthy.

NOTE: Like this post? Click the headline, then the 'Buzz Up' logo at the top of the page. Help share it with the world by recommending it to Yahoo! Buzz.

A pretty nice start Thursday night for your defending Super Bowl champion New York Giants. An emotional entrance, a dominant first quarter, a new contract for Plaxico Burress, outstanding defense and a well-deserved 16-7 victory over the Washington Redskins.

Personally, I didn't think the game should have been that close. The Giants frittered away some opportunities to score more points, and the touchdown Washington got was set up by some bad kickoff coverage.

But, it's a victory. The first in what we hope will be many en route to proving wrong those skeptics who still doubt the ability of this team.

Let's review, in our traditional 'Kudos & Wet Willies' style.

Continue reading this post »

NEW YORK GIANTS (0-0)	GAME #1	WASHINGTON REDSKINS (0-0)
	VS.

Finally! No more talk. Tonight, we get real regular season action as our New York Giants open their title defense against the Washington Redskins.

If you want to discuss the action throughout the game here at BBV, keep a browser window open to the commentary. The comments will 'auto refresh' like a live blog.

[EDITOR'S NOTE: 'The Greek' is back for another season of 'attempting' to pick NFL games. 'Greek's' nickname is actually a joke between he and I.

'Greek' is really a Jewish guy named Bryan who happens to be a friend and golfing buddy of mine. He's a Bills' fan, and we use 'Greek' in honor of Jimmy 'The Greek' Snyder, and because his picks would otherwise go under 'Bryan G.,' which happens to be the moniker of our Buffalo Rumblings blogger.

'Greek' went 123-123-10 during the regular season, and 9-4 in the playoffs last season. Let's see how he does this time around.

Anyway, on with the picks.]

Welcome back to another season of half-assed NFL picks. This year however, I promise to use my full ass when making my picks or your money back. As we ended last season, so shall we begin this one, with one game on the slate featuring the Super Bowl Champion New York Giants. With all my pro-Giants obligations fulfilled for posting on this site, let's get to the pick for tonight's season opener.

A quick look around at what others are writing about the Giants as we wait anxiously for tonight's kickoff.

There is lots of talk about the defense of the Super Bowl title.

• The Hartford Courant wonders if the Giants are targets or underdogs.
• Gary Myers of the Daily News says the Giants don't want to hear about last season being a fluke.
• To repeat, Steve Serby of the New York Post says the Giants will need Eli Manning to be super again.
• Newsday says the Giants still have much to prove.

About tonight:

• Redskins hope new coach Jim Zorn's lack of a track record will work in their favor.
• The New York Times says the Giants and Redskins both have new looks this season.
• Here is your complete injury report. No Lawrence Tynes for the Giants, as expected.

Today marks the start of a new NFL season. No offense to the gorgeous ladies on the Washington Redskins cheerleading squad, but since it is also Cheerleader Thursday I thought today was the perfect time to re-run a photo of our "unofficial" Giants cheerleader.

For those of you new to the site I know the Giants don't have cheerleaders. This is a young lady we Photoshopped last year and -- by vote of Big Blue View Nation -- tabbed as our official cheerleader.

Go Giants!

If you are a member of the Big Blue View Fantasy Football League don't forget to set your lineup prior to Thursday night's season-opener.

I have no clue how this will play out, but it should be fun.

WIN TC's NEW BOOK! Random House has been kind enough to make a few copies of Tom Coughlin's new book, "A Team To Believe In," available to members of Big Blue View Nation. Stay tuned this weekend for details on how you could win a copy of a book that takes us on the road to the Super Bowl title from Coach Tom Coughin's perspective. It will probably be a "write the best caption" type contest, but we'll see.

HELP! I am still looking for a member of BBV Nation who might be interested in putting together an occasional logo or graphic for the site. I can do it if I need to, but it's not my greatest skill. If anyone is willing to help out occasionally, e-mail me at bigblueview@gmail.com.

ON THE FIELD: Ralph Vacchiano has notes from the final full practice before Thursday's season opener against Washington.

SHOP AT BBV! Don't forget to shp for all your Giants' needs at the Big Blue View online store. Click the 'Get Your Giants' Gear' graphic in the left rail to shop for giants merchandise, or anything for any of your favorite teams. Yours truly does get 10% of anything you purchase, and I do appreciate it.

WE COULD HAVE TOLD YOU: In a move that should hardly shock any Giants fan, the Oakland Raiders have cut former Giants' No. 1 pick William Joseph.

Our New York Giants have not gotten a ton of respect considering they are defending Super Bowl champions. At least one writer, though, has recognized that the championship has brought something to the team that had not been there previously -- swagger.

Even without two big-name pass rushers from a year ago - Michael Strahan retired to the television booth, and Osi Umenyiora suffered a season-ending knee injury during the preseason - the Giants roll into Thursday's season opener against the visiting Washington Redskins with enough confidence to fill Giants Stadium.

"We've been in the playoffs three years in a row, won the division once and won the Super Bowl, so this team knows what it's like to play in big-time games," middle linebacker Antonio Pierce said.

That experience showed at the end of last season. The Giants had not won a playoff game since 2000 and fell in the wild card round the previous two seasons but knocked off Tampa Bay, Dallas and Green Bay before the monumental upset of previously undefeated New England in the Super Bowl in Glendale, Ariz.

"There's definitely a feeling of [confidence]," coach Tom Coughlin said. "We've worked hard to make sure that the mental approach is exactly the same. I don't think any of our guys are stuck in hindsight. We're constantly pounding on the now, and I think that message has been well received. We do have some people that have displayed mental toughness, perseverance. We've handled some things and handled them well."

No one more so than quarterback Eli Manning, who turned an average regular season (23 touchdowns, 20 interceptions and a 73.9 passer rating) into a Hall of Fame postseason. In the four wins, he passed for six touchdowns and one interception (with a 95.7 passer rating), and he picked up a Super Bowl MVP award.

Associated Press Eli Manning threw for six touchdowns in four postseason games last year.

"The quality of his play, his play under pressure, his taking care of the ball, all of those things not only gave the rest of the team confidence, but also the play of everyone around Eli gave him confidence because he doesn't have to make every play," Coughlin said.

It certainly helps Manning that the three-headed backfield of Brandon Jacobs, Derrick Ward and postseason surprise Ahmad Bradshaw returns, along with a solid line and veteran receivers Plaxico Burress and Amani Toomer.

"You can tell they're a veteran team," Redskins coach Jim Zorn said. "They do things at a very high rate suddenly at the snap of the ball. On defense, they're relentless. They're showing that they're a team to be dealt with."

Losing the 22 sacks of Umenyiora and Strahan hasn't fazed Pierce. In their place, Justin Tuck and former linebacker Mathias Kiwanuka will line up at the two defensive end spots. Tuck finished second on the team behind Umenyiora with 10 sacks last season.

"There's a sense of calmness," said Pierce, a former Redskins linebacker. "We had a lot of fuss going on early in the season [a year ago], especially Week 1. We didn't know if the coach was going to get fired. We didn't know if Strahan was going to be back. We had a new defensive coordinator [Steve Spagnuolo]. We had a lot of miscommunications, misalignments, assignment errors in the first two or three games. This year, we shouldn't have those problems. I don't that see that much of a dropoff."

Now, we just have to see what that swagger translates to on the field. I can't wait for Thursday night!

[Note by ETVal, 09/02/08 12:44 PM EDT ]

Jacksonville Jaguars' ofensive lineman Richard Collier is in critical condition after being shot several times early this morning.