Tom E. Curran • E-mail

EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. - We’re happy, damnit! Can’t you see our smiles?! Now hit the road, ya bottom-feeders!

Not to say the enthusiasm felt a bit forced after the New York Giants pummeled and then rope-a-doped the Washington Redskins 16-7 in the NFL season opener Thursday, but coach Tom Coughlin’s postgame statements sounded like they were written by Hemingway.

“We came in to win," Coughlin said after his first regular-season game since the Super Bowl in February. "We wanted to start fast. We did start fast. We weren’t as productive as we would have liked to be in the green zone…”

Later, when asked a fairly innocuous question that included the word “complacent,” Coughlin jumped semi-ugly.

"Well, that question’s been asked (during training camp)," he said. "Sometimes I wonder if the questions are asked just to be asked and is anybody paying any attention? I didn’t see (complacency). I didn’t see it in preseason. I didn’t see the complacency and I didn’t see any of the Super Bowl stuff. I thought we addressed that early on. I thought the players did a nice job of (not being complacent); I think there is a real hunger to win with this group."

The thing that the Giants already seem to realize is that, because of the title they now hold, style points will be taken into account. There's an alert out for anything that resembles self-satisfaction or any production that features less than wall-to-wall excellence.

That’s because, as offensive tackle David Diehl said, "It’s a lot harder to stay at the top than it is to get there.” And ever-watchful are the masses for any sign of slippage.

There wasn't a hint of it at the start.

With so many fixated on how the Giants would respond to being the defending Super Bowl champions AND their loss of key defenders like Michael Strahan (retired) and Osi Umenyiora (lost for the year to injury), the G-men came out like they wanted to prove a point.

Starting hard and fast, they slammed through the Redskins like a homecoming opponent from the outset with an 11-play, 84-yard touchdown drive. But then, with the point seemingly proven, the Giants stalled some, settling for field goals at the end of long drives on their next three possessions. And then, that was it. No more points for them. And, after a late first-half score by the Redskins, no more for them either.

"Honestly, early we looked dominant and that was on both sides, but we kind of faltered there at the end," said Giants defensive end Justin Tuck, who described the team’s performance as "good enough to win."

Coughlin, it seems from the small 2008 sampling, doesn’t want to have uneven performances attributed to greater forces being at work. But it was still worth asking his players: Did they get complacent after getting up on Washington?

"They get paid too," Tuck said. "They did a good job of adjusting. They showed some different looks that slowed us down, but that’s football. Luckily, we had enough to finish it out and that’s all we’re concerned about."

"You obviously want to put more points on the board, but do I think we got complacent? No," said Diehl. "Were there errors that could have kept drives going? Yeah. This is a great starting point for us, but are we complacent with where we’re at? No."

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