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One week after it looked like the Giants made a huge mistake in not drafting their quarterback of the future, Davis Webb reminded everyone why it might have been a little ridiculous to write him off after one preseason game.

Don't overreact to this one either, but the 23-year-old Webb looked like a completely different quarterback on Friday night in Detroit when he started in place of resting veteran Eli Manning. He looked calm, comfortable and poised -- a stark contrast to the wild, amped thrower he was a week ago. And he completed 14 of 20 passes for 140 yards in the Giants' 30-17 win over the Lions.

It wasn't an insignificant performance either. Though it won't mean much in the big picture of who gets to succeed Manning in a few years, this performance re-established Webb as the likely backup this season. That was in question after his disastrous, 9-for-22, 70-yard performance in the preseason opener against the Browns. At the very least, he opened the door that night for rookie quarterback Kyle Lauletta.

But in this game, Webb showed off all the progress he insisted he made this offseason. He was accurate. He was mobile. He made the right reads. And he was resilient. On his second drive, he was sacked and seemingly fumbled on the first play, but a replay review called it an incomplete pass and gave him a second chance. So he took advantage, going 7-of-10 for 65 yards and leading a 17 play, 79-yard drive that took 9 minutes and ended with a touchdown pass to running back Wayne Gallman.

In short, Webb looked like he belonged. It'll take more than that, of course, for him to cement his place as Manning's eventual successor. But one step at a time. And the first step is to convince Pat Shurmur that if Manning gets hurt this season, Webb is the guy that should go into replace him. A week ago he didn't look ready for that.

On Friday night, he turned his fortunes around.

17 plays, 9 minutes. @davis_webb5 and @wayne_kanye cap the drive #NYGvsDET pic.twitter.com/0nToW1qT7Y
- New York Giants (@Giants) August 17, 2018

Here are some more notes and observations from the Giants' second preseason game:

Smart decision by Shurmur to sit Odell Beckham Jr. (ankle), Saquon Barkley (hamstring) and Manning (age). There's nothing they could gain in a game like this that's worth risking their availability for Opening Day. They are the Giants' Big 3. If any of them aren't available in Week 1, this could be a very long season.
Linebacker Kareem Martin looks like he's going to be a huge addition to this Giants' defense. He and Olivier Vernon are getting a ton of pressure from the edges, and Martin in particular has been strong against the run, too. Add in what has the potential to be a dominant three-man defensive line -- Damon Harrison, Dalvin Tomlinson, rookie B.J. Hill -- and it's easy to see why so many are excited about the front five. If new defensive coordinator James Bettcher is as aggressive as he's promised, the Giants' pass rush could be outstanding again.
With Martin and Vernon on the outside, this has the potential to be the best linebacking corps the Giants have had in years. But Alec Ogletree on the inside is going to be key to that and he has had issues in the first two game, particularly in coverage. Against the Lions, RB Theo Riddick put an open-field move on Ogletree and burned him en route to a 42-yard pass play. It was reminiscent of Ogletree getting beat by Browns TE David Njoku last week. It's only two plays, but the Giants have been bad in recent years against tight ends and with underneath throws that turned into big gains. If Ogletree struggles there, teams will exploit it.
In the first two games, the Giants' offensive line has been pretty good -- on the left side. The same can't be said of the right side where guard Patrick Omameh has had some issues and tackle Ereck Flowers is ... well, let's just say that he's no better on the right than he was on the left. At least the quarterback will be able to see the rush coming this year. But the Giants are going to have to run a lot to the left side.
The rookie Lauletta had a tremendous cut-back move on his 14-yard touchdown run in the third quarter. He made three Lions missed. The safer -- and veteran -- move would've been to keep going toward the corner and go outside to avoid the hit. But he scored, so who can argue? Other than that, he didn't do much. He was 2-for-5 for 27 yards through the air.
Barkley and Jonathan Stewart are the Giants' 1-2 punch at running back, but don't count out Gallman from having something of an impact this season. He has speed and moves, and he continued to stake his claim for some action by rushing five times for 26 yards and catching two passes for 9 yards.

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