EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. -- Its not supposed to work. Every bit of NFL front-office history has taught us that you cant go out and fix your problems with one big free-agent offseason. Build through the draft, thats the way to go. Free agency is for augmentation, not foundation building.So no, the New York Giants couldnt have seen this coming. Even after doling out top-dollar deals for three defensive free agents and a generous one-year deal for one of their own, veteran defensive end?Jason Pierre-Paul, the Giants themselves couldnt have known it would turn out like this.You hope so, linebacker Jonathan Casillas said Sunday afternoon, after he and the Giants defense had delivered a second straight stifling victory over an NFC division leader, this time a 17-6 win over the Detroit Lions. You always hope its going to work, when you bring in new guys, but you never know for sure.The Giants didnt know for sure in March, or even in September. But they know now. They know they can win games with defense -- even in a down year for QB?Eli Manning, one in which the offensive game plan increasingly seems to be, Just protect the ball as best you can until Odell Beckham Jr. makes a play.You can spend a good chunk of the NFL season trying to figure out who you are. But by this point, if you want to do big things, you have to know who you are. The Giants know.Our mindset is to stop the opponent, to not let them score, said Landon Collins, the second-year safety whos emerged as a Defensive Player of the Year candidate after a rough rookie season. You obviously want to be one of the top defenses in the league, but our mindset is, Get a stop on third down. Get a stop. Get our offense back on the field in good field position.You can point to the performances of free-agent signings Olivier Vernon, Damon Harrison and Janoris Jenkins?as the reason this defense has jumped from league-worst to good-enough-to-beat-anybody in just one year. And theres some validity there. All three of those guys have played brilliantly, so far justifying the Giants decisions to spend whatever it took to get them.But its more than that, as it must be. The Giants defensive turnaround has to do with Collins being in the right position, and having a season under his belt so his heads not swimming the way it was last season. It has to do with the mindset of someone like Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie, the veteran cornerback who lost his job to rookie Eli Apple but stepped in when Jenkins left Sundays game due to injury. It has to do with young, untested defensive linemen like Romeo Okwara and Owa Odighizuwa playing better since Pierre-Paul got hurt.When your number is called, you can either go down or go up, Collins said. And a lot of us have been moving up.This kind of thing feeds on itself, and you can see it in a Giants defense that held Dallas to seven points a week ago and Detroit to six Sunday. Manning entered Week 15 ranked 26th in Total QBR and 23rd in yards per attempt, and the Giants still sit at 10-4, one victory away from qualifying for the playoffs for the first time since 2011. They left MetLife Stadium on Sunday afternoon with the knowledge that, if Dallas slips up Sunday night against the Buccaneers, they could still win the NFC East.But the reason for the Giants success is that they havent been distracted by big-picture stuff. Defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo, himself a coaching reclamation project after presiding over defenses that set records for futility in New Orleans and previously with the Giants, has found a way to keep his charges focused on and dedicated to their individual jobs from play to play and week to week.Weve got a lot of guys at their positions being asked to win one-on-one battles, and were winning them, Casillas said. [WR]?Golden Tate had a day today, and that happens sometimes, but the good thing was it was only him. We basically bottled up everybody else.Tate had 122 yards from scrimmage. No other Lion had more than 52. QB?Matthew Stafford, the king of the fourth-quarter comeback this season, threw for a pedestrian 273 yards on 24-for-39 passing?with an interception. The run-challenged Lions managed 56 rushing yards on 19 carries. Down four points in the fourth quarter, a team that has come back to win in eight of its nine victories this season instead saw its deficit grow thanks to big-play Beckham, who one-handed the game-sealing touchdown.We just have a relentless mentality, Rodgers-Cromartie said. Nobody wants to be the guy who goes out and lets down the team. Thats the way were going right now, and thats special.The Giants defense, long an Achilles heel, has a special feel to it. Playing without Pierre-Paul the past two weeks and now facing the possibility of playing without Jenkins, who injured his back and has only?three days to recover before the Thursday night game in Philadelphia, they seem convinced they can deliver.It wasnt supposed to be like this. The Giants were supposed to have an explosive offense and hope the defense could just rise from the back of the pack to the middle. Instead, theyre in December and the defense is carrying the offense. Theyll take it. Its an NFL era in which championships can once again be won with defense, as the 2015 Broncos proved. And while this years Giants have a long way to go before they can compare themselves to that group, theyre in a position now where they dont wonder whether they can stop anybody when it matters. They know they can. Cheap Curry Shoes Shoes . Kozun faked to the forehand and beat Monsters starter, Calvin Pickard, pad side in the second round for the winner. 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The memory of how Michigan lost to Michigan State last season is one of those indelible moments that never goes away.Only 10 seconds away from winning, the Wolverines watched punter Blake ONeill bobble a snap and inexplicably fumble the ball into the arms of Michigan States Jalen Watts-Jackson, who returned the ball 38 yards for the winning score as time expired.The Spartans insane 27-23 victory marked their seventh victory in the last eight meetings with the Wolverines. The teams meet again Saturday in East Lansing (Noon ET, ESPN) and the Michigan players are certainly anticipating the opportunity to exact revenge.Senior safety Dymonte Thomas was on the punt team and has replayed last seasons final play in his mind countless times.I was on the field when that play happened, Thomas said after last weeks 41-8 trouncing of Illinois. I just couldnt believe what took place, and we had that bye week after, and during that whole bye week thats the only thing I thought about. I couldnt think about anything else and couldnt wait to get revenge.Next Saturday, weve got our chance and our opportunity, and so Im just excited and ready to go out and play with these guys. I love my teammates, and I love the way that we are playing together, and its going to be fun playing next Saturday, especially since its a rivalry game.Michigan State (2-5, 0-4 Big Ten) has endured a down season to reduce the luster of this seasons matchup. The Spartans have lost five consecutive games, including four by double digits.The college football power in the state has seemingly switched hands with the Wolverines (7-0, 4-0) ranked second in the nation in only their second season under coach Jim Harbaugh.But Harbaugh isnt about to view the Spartans as anything but a super dangerous opponent.It doesnt matter whats happened before this week. For us or for our opponent, it never does, Harbaugh said at a press conference. (What matters) is what happens on the game day. We know the task in front of us. We know the challenge.Its up to us to go out there and prepare for that game so we can go out there and be confident, execute and have a chance to be successful.The Michigan State players know they are viewed as disappointments but also are aware that ending the current slide againnst their main rivals would be particularly sweet.ddddddddddddAnd a good number of them, such as senior linebacker Riley Bullough, have never walked off the field a loser against the Wolverines.Bulloughs lineage of family members as Spartans includes older and younger brothers, uncles, his father and a grandfather.Ive been watching this game ever since I can remember, obviously been a Spartan fan my entire life, and growing up, it seems like it was Michigans game, Bullough said at a press conference. They were in control of the series when I was young, but thats kind of turned in the last few years, so to kind of be a part of that has meant a tremendous amount to me.So this game is huge for us this week and our entire season, I think, so were going to go out and play hard and do everything we can to get a win.Bullough was ejected for targeting in last weeks 28-17 loss to Maryland as Michigan States woes continued.We need to stay together, and we need to understand that we lost the football game, not one specific person, we lost the football game, Spartans coach Mark Dantonio said. If we can at least all accept responsibility in that, then I think we all move forward.Redshirt freshman Brian Lewerke will be the starting quarterback, making his third career start against perhaps the toughest defense in the nation.Michigan allowed only 172 yards against Illinois, marking the fourth straight game that the unit gave up fewer than 200 yards.The Wolverines rank first in the nation in scoring defense (10.0 points per game), total defense (207.0 yards per game), passing defense (111) and third-down conversion defense (13 percent). Michigan also ranks fourth in rushing defense at 96.0.Its a tribute to all of our hard work in the spring and the summer, cornerback Jourdan Lewis said. Its paying off right now, the fruits of our labor.Sophomore outside linebacker Jabrill Peppers, who has 10 tackles for losses, continues to dabble on offense while flashing his gamebreaking return skills.Sophomore quarterback Wilton Speight has thrown 13 touchdowns and been intercepted only twice for an offense averaging 48.7 points per game. ' ' '