By GEORGE O'GORMAN
gogorman@trentonian.com
EAST RUTHERFORD - For rookie Jayron Hosley and the Giants' defense, one week and one game made a world of difference.
When the Giants lost their preseason opener in Jacksonville last week the defense was calling its performance "unacceptable" after it gave up 156 rushing yards in a 32-31 loss.
At the same time, Hosley was in the doghouse after his muffed punt helped lead to a Jacksonville touchdown.
Last night at MetLife Stadium in the 44th annual preseason meeting with the neighoring Jets all was forgotten as the Giants dominated Gang Green by not allowing a touchdownn in a 26-3 win.
Cornerback Hosley intercepted a Mark Sanchez pass and returned it down the sideline 77 yards for a touchown, escorted the last 50 yards by teammate Osi Umenyiora.
That was after Umenyiora recorded two of the seven sacks the Giants defense recorded in just its second preseason win in six ganes against the Jets.
"That was an all-around good play by an 11-man machine," said Hosley. "We got good pressure up front whch allowed me to stick to my man.
"The quarterback threw it when he didn't want to. It was good pressure from the D-line, like I said. Then it was just going out and doing my job," added Hosley.
"As a whole, we played well on defense which we knew we had to do to win," said Jason Pierre-Paul, who had two sacks, including the first of the night on Sanchez.
"We got the pressure on him (Sanchez) like we hoped to," said defensive captain Justin Tuck. "This is the way we have to play if we want to be a good defense again. As a whole we played well tonght."
"We've still got a lot of work to do, but we're improving on the defensive side of the ball," said coach Tom Coughlin. "There were things I didn't like in the first half, like the blocked punt and the intereption. But the defense came hrough and kept them out of the end zone."
Manning, who was 7-for-14 for 62 yards during his half of action and led the G-Men on a pair of 13-play drives that led to Lawrence Tynes field goals of 35 and 38 yards, took blame or the interception that the Jets failed to cash in on.
"I tried to throw it away, but didn't get enough on it and didn't get it high enough," said Manning.
David Carr took over after halftime and completed five of nine throws for 83 yards.
Third-year QB Ryan Perrilloux, hoping to make it as the third QB this season after being cut and reigned 13 times last season, completed his two throws, including a touchdown throw to Joe Martinek, the rookie from Rutgers hoping to make the roster as a free agent. scored the only offensive toouchdown of the night when he hurdled into the end zone from the one.
No. 1 draft pick David Wilson led the run game for the second straight week with 26 yards on eight carries, while D.J. Warewas 11-fo-15, all in thefirst half when he got the majority of the work after Ahmad Bradshaw left the game after suffering a hand injury on his second carry.
Victor Cruz, who continues to have big games after the Jets, led the receivers with five catches for 51 yards, He had two receptions on each of the Giants first two dries that resulted in the Tynes field goals.
"Both defenses played well tonight," added Coughlin. "We got a chance to play a lot of people again, which is what you want to do.
"Some people stepped up and played well, especially on the defensive side of the ball. There were some individual plays that stood out."
The Giants play their final two preseason games at MetLife Stadium, hosting Chicago next Friday and New England on Wed. Aug. 29.