The New York Giants came out of the bye week surrounded by many concerns even as they had to face one of their toughest games of the season against the Green Bay Packers. But New York held Green Bay’s offense to just 319 yards and coasted to a surprisingly dominant victory at home (MetLife Stadium), 38-10.
Giants’ quarterback Eli Manning silenced his critics, who’d insisted he had a “tired arm,” by completing 16-of-30 passes for 249 yards and three touchdown tosses — his first pass for a score since the game-winning 77-yard connection with Victor Cruz against the Washington Redskins in Week 7.
Manning’s third touchdown was the 200th of his NFL career and surpassed former Giants’ great Phil Simms as the franchise’s all-time record holder.
“Any time you’re mentioned with Giants’ players — Phil Simms and Charlie Conerly — and some of those quarterbacks, it’s an honor,” Manning said via Giants.com. “The thing I’m most proud of tonight is the way we played and getting a win. … We finally got back to playing offense, defense, special teams… All of us playing at a high level, playing as a team. And hopefully we can build off of this momentum.”
The Giants will certainly need momentum with a daunting schedule remaining for the defending Super Bowl champions, including a timely match-up with the second-place Redskins this Monday night.
Coming into the Packers game with two straight losses, the Giants needed a big game to reconfirm their position amongst the NFL’s top teams. Such a decisive victory at Green Bay is a direct message to those with their sights set on the Giants’ Super Bowl title: “You’re going to have to beat us to take it!”
In fact, the New York’s win was likely a clear message to Green Bay as well. Packers’ linebacker, Clay Matthews, claimed that they “beat themselves” in the two teams’ postseason meeting last year, refusing to credit the Giants in their victory. The Packers could be the Giants’ greatest threat come playoff time and Big Blue wanted to make sure Green Bay knew that, if anyone was going to beat them, it was the New-York-Football-Giants.
“We were thoroughly beaten this evening. Congratulations to the New York Giants,” Packers’ head coach Mike McCarthy said (h/t Pro Football Talk). “We were beaten in every facet, really starting with myself.”
Most importantly, the Giants proved the doubters wrong. As Giants’ fans went into panic mode and analysts cited the inevitable “November swoon” and a potential collapse, the Giants fired back with an unquestionable victory and a reminder of just who the defending Super Bowl champions are.
Within themselves, the Giants knew this. But they needed to show it on the gridiron. Manning’s decision to lower his shoulder and take a hit on a scramble to ensure the first down, rather than the usual — and obvious — decision to slide, defined the team. The Giants have become: one that will never lay down and quit in the heat of battle.
The G-Men are seeking to become the first team to win the Super Bowl in consecutive seasons since the New England Patriots did so in 2004.
“We wanted to send a message to ourselves to remind ourselves that we can play good football and we can compete with any team in this league,” Giants’ receiver Victor Cruz told ESPN.com. “We just wanted to confirm that within ourselves, and I think that’s what we did tonight.”
Five tough match-ups remain on the Giants’ regular season schedule. They will need to cling to whatever kind of motivation they can take from this win to propel themselves forward with the hopes of making another postseason run.
Louis Musto is a contributor to the Sports Journey Broadcast Network covering the NFL and NBA. You can follow him on Twitter @LouisMusto.