NY Giants-Eli Manning and the New York Giants defeat the Washington Redskins on Sunday night 24-17. In the beginning, it was like watching a battle between two of the worst teams in the league to see who couldn’t shoot themselves in the foot more…
BUT…things started to turn around for the Giants, despite Eli Manning’s third-quarter interception. Where he rushed to throw the ball to a well-covered Rueben Randle’s outstretched arms. Eli was excellent the rest of the game…finally. He missed only six passes and was able to spread the ball around to seven different receivers. One being Andre Brown who had a pair of touchdown runs, including a 1-yarder early in the fourth quarter that put the Giants ahead for good. Eli Manning completed 22 of 28 passes for 235 yards. His performance was especially impressive, given the heavy pressure he faced at times. It was the Eli Manning we’ve been waiting to see this whole season.
As for their defense, it wasn’t a very good start but the Giants were excellent the rest of the game, mainly due to a strong pass rush. Justin Tuck, who had a stunning four sacks in the second half, including two on critical third-down plays that forced punts, primarily supplied the pressure and helped shut down Robert Griffin III in the second half. Robert Griffin III was 16 for 17 at halftime, but he went 8 for 15 in the second half, and the Redskins managed only 95 total yards after halftime.
While the Redskins were busy dropping passes, accumulating penalties and making other costly mistakes. The Giants played a relatively error-free game. The win keeps the Giants (5-7) two games behind NFC East leaders Dallas Cowboys and Philadelphia Eagles. While the Redskins (3-9) were eliminated from the postseason for the 17th time in 21 years. If this was an indication of how Big Blue will play out the rest of the season, even with their playoff chances remote, it will at least be encouraging to watch a team that is still clearly motivated to win.
Chrissy Kim: PureSportsNY