The Giants won and the Redskins, playing for the first time under coach Jim Zorn, were fortunate to appear to be close, because that 16-7 seemed more like 36-7.

Since then, the Redskins have won seven of 10. Unfortunately for them, the Giants -- with the exception of a Week 6 hiccup in Cleveland -- have dominated the NFC.

Which brings us to today's game in Landover, Md., where the 7-4 Redskins need to beat the 10-1 Giants to maintain a share of the NFC's sixth and final playoff berth.

The rematch finds the Redskins a three-point dog with bruises along both sides of the line -- starting with tailback Clinton Portis, who leads the NFL with 1,206 yards.

"I don't think I am the only one banged up," said Portis, whose sprained left knee has been weekly fodder for D.C. media. "The whole NFL is banged up."

Certainly the Giants are hurting, but the difference is New York has depth that few teams can match.

Pro Bowl end Osi Umenyiora was lost in August to a knee injury, and the Giants still have the fifth-ranked defense in the NFL.

Oversized tailback Brandon Jacobs has a bad knee, and the NFL's fifth-ranked offense still can plug in Derrick Ward behind quarterback Eli Manning.

Since stumbling at Cleveland, the Giants have won six straight -- including the last five games against teams with winning records, a rare streak in the parity-happy NFL.

"We knew that five weeks ago -- that it was going to be a tough road ahead of us and we were going to be playing a lot of good teams," Manning said. "And it is going to continue."

Over the next month, for sure, and probably well into January.

LOOKING AHEAD

The Giants need one win over the final five weeks to become the fifth team to win a Super Bowl one season and improve its record the next.

The others were the Steelers in 1975, the 49ers in 1989, the '98 Broncos and 2007 Colts. All but the Colts repeated as Super Bowl champs.

TIME FLIES WITH BIG BEN

A victory today in New England would be Ben Roethlisberger's 48th in five seasons as the Steelers' quarterback -- tying him with Otto Graham (1950-54), Dan Marino (1983-87) and Tom Brady (2000-04) for the most by a quarterback in his first five seasons in the league.

Roethlisberger certainly would earn the record at 49, considering Pittsburgh still has games against 8-4 Dallas, 7-4 Baltimore and 11-1 Tennessee before finishing the season against the 4-7 Browns.

BLIND SQUIRREL ALERT

The Chiefs, losers in 19 of their last 20 games, have won five straight at Oakland, today's stop on their slide deeper into the abyss.

WHO KNEW?

Lance Moore, once an afterthought on the Saints' depth chart, has caught at least one touchdown in each of his last four games while highly touted teammate Marques Colston did not catch his first TD pass until the second half of Monday's 51-29 rout of the Packers. Then, too, Colston -- the third-year pro out of Susquehanna Twp. -- missed five games with a thumb injury, which moved Moore into the lineup. ... The Manning brothers, Peyton and Eli, and Kansas City's Tyler Thigpen (how did he get in this group?) have each thrown a league-high nine TD passes in November. ... A victory tonight at Minnesota would be the Bears' 700th, an ongoing NFL record. An FYI: Win No. 1 came in the season opener 88 years ago with a 20-0 shutout of the Moline Tractors. Win No. 2 came the following week against the Kewanee Walworths 25-7. Apparently, Wheaton High had a scheduling conflict that day.

ANDREW LINKER: 255-8289 or alinker@patriot-news.com