Giant Football Blog

Oh what might have been, Giants beat Skins miss playoffs

It was, in the end, too little too late.

The Giants got the win they needed Sunday, but not the miracle they were hoping would go with it. So their 17-14 win over the Washington Redskins turned out to be their emptiest win of the season.

Because when the Green Bay Packers finished off their 10-3 win over the Chicago Bears 900 miles away, the Giants were officially out of the playoffs for the second straight year.

They were in it to the end, though, even though that will likely be only the smallest of consolation. The Bears, just like coach Lovie Smith promised, played their starters for most of the game and were even tied 3-3 entering the fourth quarter. Not that the Giants knew it, since the Redskins were refusing to show the score on the scoreboards at FedEx Field.

But the Redskins certainly showed the highlight of Aaron Rodgers' go-ahead touchdown pass to tight end Donald Lee that sealed the Giants' fate as the 19th NFL team to go 10-6 and miss the playoffs since 1978 (when the NFL went to a 16-game season). (News)

Packers embarrass Giants 45-17

The back door to the postseason is still open for the Giants. But the walls around them are closing in fast.

And now a season of promise that was once fully in their grasp will come down to this in the final week of the season: There's nothing the Giants can do about their fate anymore. To get in the playoffs, they're going to need help.

They made sure of that Sunday day, when they continued their stunning fall from grace with a 45-17 loss to the Green Bay Packers at Lambeau Field. The Giants defense which collapsed late against the Eagles one week ago was systematically shredded by Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers for 404 yards and four touchdowns.(News)

This could be the game that cost Coughlin his job

The Giants fought all season for control of their own destiny. Then Sunday, they threw it all away.
 
And they did it with one of the most embarrassing and honorific collapses in their history, blowing a 21- point lead to the Eagles with just 8:17 to play. They gave up three late touchdowns that allowed the Eagles to seemingly force overtime.
 
But it never got there, because the Giants lost it all on a 65-yard punt return for a touchdown by DeSean Jackson with no time remaining in the game.
 
It was a disastrous loss for a the Giants (9-5), who now have almost no shot to beat out the Eagles (10-4) for the NFC East title and may even have an uphill battle just to make the playoffs at all. (News)

Giants run over Vikings 21-3

This one was worth the wait.

After a snowstorm and its aftermath forced two detours in three days, the Giants finally found their way to a football field Monday night and played their delayed game against the Minnesota Vikings.

In the end, the location did not matter. The Giants showed up.

"We knew we were going to play a game sometime," Eli Manning said. "It was just a matter of when and where."

The Giants relied on the tandem of Ahmad Bradshaw and Brandon Jacobs on offense and a smothering defense for a 21-3 victory.

The Giants sacked Minnesota's backup quarterback Tavaris Jackson four times and allowed only 164 total yards in the game.

They rendered Adrian Peterson irrelevant. He carried 14 times for 26 yards.(News)

Giants dominate Skins, win 31-7

Brandon Jacobs and Ahmad Bradshaw ran for two touchdowns apiece and the Giants steamrolled the mistake-prone Washington Redskins 31-7 today.

Jacobs ran eight times for 103 yards and scored on jaunts of 8 and 28 yards, while Bradshaw had 97 yards and TD runs of 4 and 10 yards as the Giants (8-4) moved back into first-place tie with Philadelphia in the NFC East.

A harried Donovan McNabb threw a 33-yard touchdown pass to Anthony Armstrong for Washington (5-7), which saw its playoff hopes further dimmed with its fifth loss in seven games. The Redskins had six turnovers. (Ledger) 

Giants right ship 2nd half, defeat Jags 24-20

Eli Manning and the battered offense may have just saved the Giants' season.

On a day when the mostly healthy defense was absolutely shredded by the Jacksonville Jaguars, Manning and what's left of his offense rallied out of an 11-point hole for a big, fourth-quarter comeback. And when he hit tight end Kevin Boss for a 32-yard touchdown with 3:15 remaining, the Giants had escaped with a 24-20 win.

Remarkably, on a day when the Giants' defense was barely a speed bump, they finally got it the big stop, halting the Jags' desperation drive with 1:25 remaining.

It ended when Giants cornerback Terrell Thomas sacked Jaguars QB David Garrad and forced a fumble that safety Antrel Rolle recovered.

Up until the final minutes, it appeared as if the Giants (7-4) were headed for a crushing loss , that would put a major dent in any playoff plans.

Their defense was manhandled by the Jaguars for 207 yards on the ground, including 113 from running back Maurice Jones-Drew. (News)

Giants slow Vick, killed by TOs lose 27-17

In 2008, the Giants won a challenge here when replays showed Eli Manning’s right heel was still on the line of scrimmage when he threw the ball. A penalty for an illegal forward pass was reversed, the Giants scored a touchdown and won the game.

That same heel betrayed Manning in a review tonight that helped seal a 27-17 loss to the Eagles (7-3), now the sole possessors of first place in the NFC East.

Trailing by a touchdown with 3:13 to play, the Giants (6-4) went for it on a fourth-and-6 from their own 44-yard line instead of trusting Matt Dodge to punt the ball away. It was a wise decision for a few seconds while Manning scrambled up the middle for a first down.

But Manning, never the nimblest of runners, dived head-first instead of sliding with his feet forward. The ball popped loose when he hit the ground and, because he wasn’t touched by a defender, it was ruled a fumble recovered by Eagles defensive end Darryl Tapp. (Ledger)

 

Cowboys turn lights out on Giants

The lights went out on the Giants' five-game winning streak Sunday night.

In a game that featured a seven-minute delay in the third quarter when the lights literally went out inside the Giants' new, $1.7 billion stadium, it was the Giants' defense that was in the dark against the awful Dallas Cowboys. They were lit up by Cowboys quarter Jon Kitna for as the Cowboys flipped the switch on the Jason Garrett era with a 33-20 win.

It was an embarrassing performance that included a 101-yard interception return for a touchdown by Cowboys rookie cornerback Bryan McCann, and probably left many Giants fans wondering why they bothered to turn the lights back on at all. (News)

Giants scrimmage with Seattle,win 41-7

The noisiest stadium in the NFL was as quiet as a library Sunday. The Giants made sure of that right from the start.

Playing in a building that has been a House of Horrors for them in recent years, the Giants turned the tables on their hosts in dramatic fashion, jumping all over the Seattle Seahawks in a 41-7 win. They were up 21-0 after one quarter and 35-0 at halftime.

And the Giants' fifth straight win probably could've been a lot bigger than that.

In fact, by the time Seahawks quarterback Charlie Whitehurst, in his first NFL start, completed the first passing first down of his career, the Giants had already put him in a 28-0 hole. The Giants didn't actually sack Matt Hasselbeck's replacement in the game, but they really didn't need to. They picked him off two times and held the Seattle offense to just 162 yards. (News)

Giants beat Romo-less Cowboys, turnovers still a problem

 Toward the end of the fourth quarter, Giants players were waving to fans behind the bench, slapping each other on the back and, in the case of linebacker Keith Bulluck, wishing the Texas fans best of luck in the World Series.

A few minutes later, Justin Tuck was screaming at someone on his own sideline after a Cowboys touchdown and Clint Sintim was scrambling to recover an onside kick that had bounced off his leg.

A game that should have been a lot easier was instead a 41-35 squeaker against a Cowboys team that had lost quarterback Tony Romo in the first half and had seemingly lost its pride shortly thereafter. (Ledger)