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By Anthony Strait
The New York Giants slogan the last two weeks have been “All in.” Sunday afternoon, the teams defensive linemen were “all in” the face of Atlanta Falcons quarterback Matt Ryan. A defensive shutout couple with Eli Manning throwing for three touchdowns and 277 yards led to a 24-2 rout in the NFC wild card game at MetLife Stadium. The win sends the GMEN off to Green Bay for a re-match with the top seed Packers next Sunday afternoon. The Packers beat the Giants back on December 4th 38-35 in the Meadowlands.
“We know they are a good team,” Manning said. “We played them tough here, did some good things here, we scored some points. We know offensively we are going to have to play strong, score some points.”
Big blue came in with the worst rushing offense in the league during the regular season but the tandem of Brandon Jacobs and Ahmad Bradshaw combined for 172 yards on the ground and swung the momentum in favor of New York. The offense got off to a slow start and even yielded the only points of the game for the Falcons, an intentional grounding call in the end zone for a safety in the second quarter.
Eli’s 14 yard scramble for a first down on the ensuing drive jump started the offense. With the running game rolling, the passing attack made big plays the rest of the afternoon as Manning won his first playoff home game.
“A great mix of run and pass and these guys have a great understanding of what our offense is,” Manning said of the help he’s receiving. “If we can get that run game going like we did in the second half, that opens up a lot of windows.”
The defensive line, finally healthy, dominated the Falcons offense as they held Michael Turner to 41 yards on 15 carries. They especially came up big in short yardage; with the Falcons facing 4th down twice deep in Giants territory Atlanta gambled on quarterback sneaks by Ryan. Both times, however, the Giants stopped them short of the first down marker. They also stopped Turner on 3rd and short in the 3rd quarter.
“That really inspired everybody, to be honest with you,” Giants coach Tom Coughlin said. “Those plays that our defense made really inspired everybody.
New York’s first score of the game came on a 13-play, 82 yard drive that was keyed by Jacobs 34-yard run and capped by Manning hitting Hakeem Nicks for a 4-yard touchdown pass to make it 7-2 Giants in the second quarter. It stayed that way until Lawrence Tynes added a 22-yard field goal to make it a 10-2 game.
The key play was the Giants stopping Ryan for the second time on 4th down and inches deep in Giants territory as Falcons coach Mike Smith passed up a field goal attempt. Almost immediately after that, Manning hit Nicks on a crossing route that he turned into a 72-yard touchdown catch. Nicks finished with six catches for 115 yards and two scores on the day. The turn of the events made it 17-2 and all but served as a backbreaker. Manning added a third touchdown, a 27 yard pass to Mario Manningham, that capped off the scoring at 24-2.
The Giants, who many left for dead after being outplayed by the Washington Redskins just one month ago, move on to the divisional round of the playoffs and legendary Lambeau Field to take on the 15-1 defending champion Green Bay Packers. The last playoff meeting between the two teams was a 23-20 overtime win by the Giants in January of 2008 en route to their Super Bowl XLII victory. The Giants are peaking at the right time on defense and the running game is finally effective after Manning carried the offense all season.
Sound familiar?
“Cold, I remember that. I remember Coach Coughlin’s face. I remember (tackle) David Diehl sweating and it froze on his hair and he had icicles on his hair,” defensive end JustinTuck said while discussing that 2007 NFC Championship game. “And I remember us winning.
“Hopefully, we can go back there and do it again.”
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