Giants dominate second half, hold off Redskins
Associated Press
Associated Press
LANDOVER, Md. -- First-and-goal at the 1. Fifty-eight seconds left in the game. A defense that had stunk up the NFL for two weeks was on the verge of blowing the game.
What was it like in the New York Giants defensive huddle?
"If I put you in that huddle, your ears might bleed," defensive tackle Barry Cofield said. "At that point, it's not about technique, it's not about the call, it's all about getting fired up and realizing what's at stake. We just came off the ball and did what we had to do."
Four plays later, the defense ran off the field celebrating a 24-17 victory over the Washington Redskins, a had-to-have win Sunday that kept the Giants from sinking into a deep hole in the NFC East.
"Amazing way to win a game," quarterback Eli Manning said. "Give a lot of credit to our defense for hanging in tough. To get a goal-line stand to win a game, you can't beat that."
The Giants (1-2) trailed 17-3 at halftime, giving them 10 quarters in a row of going-nowhere football to start the season. In the second half, however, a defense that had allowed 80 points in the first two games shut out Washington and allowed only 81 total yards.
Meanwhile, the offense found a way to master third-and-long against a Redskins defense that had allowed only one touchdown all season. The Giants converted seven straight third downs -- all but one of them was third-and-5 or longer -- to put together three touchdown drives.
Plaxico Burress, who had three drops and no catches in the first half, had five receptions for 86 yards in the second. The ankle injury that caused him to miss two practices last week didn't seem to affect him on the game-winning score -- a 33-yard catch-and-run in which he received the ball in the left flat and sidestepped Carlos Rogers before dashing to the end zone with 5:32 to play.
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