skip to main |
skip to sidebar
Giants beat Cowboys to keep playoff hopes alive
EAST RUTHERFORD – They still have a pulse.
After a no-show on Thanksgiving night, it was safe to assume the Giants no longer resembled the team expected to contend for a Super Bowl, reduced instead to a team of underperformers.
With their season on the line and needing to make a stand and their hated rivals in the building for the final time, they kept hopes for a postseason berth alive with a 31-24 victory over the Cowboys at Giants Stadium.
It was a game filled with big plays and high on emotion, which is something that had been missing from this Giants team for nearly eight weeks. Only time will tell if this win has staying power.
The victory moved their record to 7-5 and one game behind the Cowboys with four games remaining and the tiebreaker after sweeping the season series. They can move into first place next Sunday night if they beat the Eagles and the Cowboys lose at home to San Diego.
For much of the first half, there was the appearance they despite all of their talk leading up to the game, they resembled a team still unable to get out of its own way as they punted twice and Ahmad Bradshaw fumbled while attempting to regain the line of the scrimmage on a play.
Dallas initially took the lead on 34-yard field goal by Nick Folk. On the Giants possession, Bradshaw took the toss play and was losing yardage, yet fought to make something out of the play and fumbled at his own 26 and Jay Ratliff recovered.
Cowboys coach Wade Phillips successfully challenged a fumble by Tashard Choice that the Giants recovered at the 1 and had the call reversed as his knee hit the ground before the ball come loose. From the Giants 4, quarterback Tony Romo’s found Roy Williams on a fade route in the back corner of the end zone to give Dallas a 10-0 advantage.
The Giants quickly answered with a 74-yard drive to get on the board. After quarterback Eli Manning hit Hakeem Nicks for a 16-yard pass, the Cowboys defense appeared to have him corralled for a sack, but with presence of mind, he found Kevin Boss on a dump off for 16 more. Bradshaw gained 16 more yards on a cutback run where Manning was blocking downfield.
With 1:54 left, Nicks hauled in a pass and poor tackling allowed him to go 21 yards for a touchdown to cut the lead to three.
Good fortune came on defense when Mathias Kiwanuka stripped Cowboys running back Marion Barber of the ball and Osi Umenyiora (who had been benched for Kiwanuka) recovered, returning the ball to the Dallas 28.
It took only four plays for the Giants to take the lead as Jacobs barreled to the goal line for a touchdown 14-10 lead at the half. The two quick scores negated the Cowboys 21:10 of possession.
The Giants looked to make it an 11-point advantage in the third quarter when from the Cowboys 25, Manning looked for Mario Manningham, but the pass was underthrown and intercepted in the end zone by Mike Jenkins for a touchback.
Dallas regained the lead later in the quarter when Romo faked out the Giants defense with a double fake and found Williams for his second touchdown of the game. The Giants needed only one play to strike back when Manning (11-for-25, 241 yards, 2 TD’s) found Jacobs out in the flat and with a great downfield block by Darcy Johnson and using nifty feet to stay inbounds and streak down the left sidelines for a score that energized the building.
Scoring came easy for the Giants offense on Sunday as their three scoring drives lasted the following – 1:28, 0:45 and 0:19
Folk would miss a 42-yard field goal to the left that would have made the game 21-20. Manning and the offense drove down the field and if not for a dropped pass by Steve Smith (six catches-110 yards) in the end zone, the Giants would have gone up 11. Instead, they settled for a 23-yard field goal by Tynes to make it 24-17.
The Giants forced the Cowboys into a three-and-out and punter Matt McBriar boomed a punt that sent Domenik Hixon back to his own 21. Getting out of two tackles and utilizing great blocking, he reversed his field and streaked down the right sideline for a 79-yard touchdown, giving the Giants a 31-17 lead.
Dallas scores a late touchdown on a 22-yard catch by Miles Austin. Romo, known for his struggles in December flourished on a day where the defense and special teams failed him. Throwing a season high 55 times, he completed 41 passes for 392 yards and three touchdowns without an interception.
The Giants gained possession on the onside kick when Sam Hurd illegally touched the ball before it traveled the requisite 10 yards.
After loss, Giants season slowly falling apart
DENVER – Like the rest of us, each Giants player's eyes were glued to the television set during the early portion of the day.
They saw as the Packers calmly dismissed the Lions in Detroit and as they prepared to take on the Broncos later in this night, they witnessed the Cowboys making short work of the hapless Raiders at home.
Things were clear for the Giants now with both the playoff contenders winning.
Win or fall behind further.
Armed with this information, they promptly went out and played their worst game of the season.
Sure, there were losses to New Orleans and Philadelphia, but those teams were better than the team taking the field against the Giants on Thursday night. This Broncos team was losers of their last four games after a 6-0 start.
As the Giants left INVESCO Field after the Broncos drubbed them 26-6 to drop them to 6-5, if you drew the conclusion that the team was disillusioned, played as if they were disinterested, simply unprepared, or all of the above, you wouldn’t be too far from the truth.
For the fifth time in their last six games, they were losers on the field. Considering that they were a coin toss loss away last week from having lost to Atlanta the week before, several things has become evident.
One, the Giants padded their early season wins against bad competition, masking their deficiencies.
After close inspection, Washington, Tampa Bay, Kansas City and Oakland are legitimately four of the eight worst teams in the league. Combined, they total 10 wins and 31 losses. Almost everyone else in the league has beaten up on the team. It was just by coincidence the Giants had them lined up back-to-back-to-back early in the season thus inflating their record much like a college team.
Two, the Giants are not as good as we all think.
You can only use the excuse “We are better than this” for so long before it is not true anymore. Since the first loss in New Orleans, to a man this is what each Giants players has said over the last six weeks. The results however, do not bare this out.
As each game has played out, it has become obvious that the team can no longer bully opponents with their power running game. For whatever reason, the offensive line has not been able to open up the same holes this year as they have in the previous two or three seasons. This unit statistically is the most cohesive in the league, yet without getting old, they have played as if they are in decline.
Perhaps it is not Brandon Jacobs’ fault that his season has not been good. The same unit that created holes for running backs and gave Eli Manning plenty of time to throw the ball has collapsed without reason.
Without being able to run the ball, the game has been on Manning’s to win and without having much time to throw the ball, you can expect him to find many players open.
The clearest illustration came in the second quarter when Manning got pressure up the middle and sacked at his own 11-yard line by DJ Williams for a nine-yard loss. On third down, Denver brought pressure and cornerback Andre Goodman had a free run to the Giants quarterback.
Luckily, Manning was able to get the pass off without taking a safety in the end zone, but it was clear that the offensive line was just not the same.
On defense, this is clearly not the same group from the past two seasons. A combination of the loss of former defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo, the new wrinkles that Bill Sheridan is implementing, and the players that are either injured, coming back from injury and not performing, or simply underperformance have all come together to make this defense among the NFL’s worst in the last six weeks despite what the statistics say.
No longer do they get consistent pressure on the quarterback. The linebackers do not have the speed to cover. The secondary is exposed because of the play by the front seven. Setting a tone and dictating the game is something they cannot do anymore.
On third downs, they cannot get off the field. When the opposing teams get inside the Giants 20, nearly 75 percent of the time, they score touchdowns. When it comes to holding a lead, they cannot do that either.
This is of course before the poor kickoff coverage and enigmatic kicking of Lawrence Tynes.
Add all of those elements together and you have a mediocre football team and not one that had Super Bowl aspirations when the year began.
It comes to a point when either they are underachieving or simply not good enough to perform to the expectation level that they themselves have set.
With each first down the Broncos had last night on the ground. With each pass thrown to an open receiver, and the most embarrassing of them all coming in the fourth quarter when no Giants defender was within 8 yards of receiver Brandon Stokley when quarterback Kyle Orton found him on a 17-yard touchdown strike to make it 23-6, it was the final straw.
Now they find their season potentially on the line at home in 10 days against the Cowboys. Win that game and they can breathe for another week.
They no longer control their own playoff fate and must now rely on other to do the work for them.
A loss next Sunday may provide the final nail in the Giants season coffin.
This year is free-falling fast and has no end in sight.
Giants dominated by Broncos, playoff hopes diminish
DENVER – Consider the Giants season on life support.
Maybe the team enjoyed too much turkey as part of their Thanksgiving dinner. Whatever it was, there was no sign of them on the field from the opening kickoff as they saw their chances to make the postseason for the fifth straight season officially on the precipice.
Seeing their record drop to 6-5, the Giants saw themselves dominated in all three facets of the game losing 26-6 to the Broncos at INVESCO Field. The loss dropped them two games behind the Cowboys, whoa had beaten the Raiders earlier in the day and one game behind the Packers, who defeated the Lions.
Not since losing 27-6 to the Eagles in 2004, had the Giants scored as many as they did on Thursday night.
The first half was a disaster for the Giants reminiscent of the blowouts they suffered in New Orleans and in Philadelphia during the teams four game losing streak.
Nothing went right and if it were not for the Broncos own ineptitude, the score would have been worse.
An ominous foreshadowing of problems for the Giants came on the teams opening possession. After Eli Manning found Hakeem Nicks for a six-yard completion on first down, the offense needed to call a timeout 32 seconds into the game.
The first three drives of the game resulted on only one first down and the Broncos took an early 6-0 lead on two field goals by kicker Matt Prater.
Things went from bad to worse when the Giants appeared to have their second first down when running back D.J (originally known as Danny) Ware on third-and-5 ran for a first down, but had the ball dislodged by Broncos linebacker Mario Haggan and Brian Dawkins recovered the fumble at the Giants 38.
Four plays later, Denver stuck it in the end zone. Brandon Marshall set up the score when he hauled in a one handed 28-yard reception to put the ball on the 10. Two plays later, running back Knoshown Moreno run off right tackle into the end zone for a 13-0 advantage.
Another field goal by Prater gave Denver a 16-0 lead at halftime. Their defense rendered the Giants offense useless, holding them to 38 total yards and 3 first downs.
These were the results of the Giants first six possessions: punt, punt, punt, fumble, punt, punt.
Not good.
Denver tried to allow the game to be close in the third quarter when cornerback Terrell Thomas intercepted quarterback Kyle Orton’s pass and returned it to the Giants 40. Manning and the offense converted the turnover into a 39-yard field goal by Lawrence Tynes to make it 16-3.
After the defense forced another punt and the Giants started at the own 14 and moved the ball to the Broncos 20. A touchdown would have brought the game to within one possession. However, penalties as they have during this losing skid would afflict them. Kevin Boss held on first down. Steve Smith committed offensive pass interference on the same play Ware suffered a concussion. Eventually, they had to settle for a 52-yard field goal by Tynes to trim the deficit to 16-6.
The final nail came early in the fourth quarter when the Broncos calmly moved the ball inside the Giants red zone. Facing third-and-8 from the 17, Orton found a wide-open Brandon Stokley on a slant pattern to up the lead to 23-6.
On the play, Denver ran three receivers to the right but as Stokley made his break to the inside, no Giants defender covered him, allowing him to waltz into the end zone untouched.
With no threat of running game the entire night (57 yards), the offense needed to pass on nearly every down (six rushing attempts in the second half). Unable to get separation from the Broncos defensive backs, the Giants could do anything on offense (267 total yards).
Elvis Dumervil came around the left edge to sack Manning on the next possession and Denver recovered the ensuing fumble to seal the game with just over nine minutes remaining. Prater’s fourth field goal of the night finish the scoring, upping the margin 20 points.
The supposed strength of the Giants team, its running game and offensive line, was again non-existent. Brandon Jacobs ran only 11 times for 27 yards. Manning, pressured all night from a combination of Denver’s coverage schemes and blitz packages was 25-of-40 for 230 yards and an interception.
Now trailing by two games in the NFC East, the Giants find themselves on the brink of division extinction if they lose to Dallas in 10 days.
A season with so much promise at 5-0 has gone astray.
The clock is now ticking on the Giants season.
Giants win, but problems still linger
EAST RUTHERFORD – Lawrence Tynes lined up for a 39-yard field goal in overtime. If the kick were good, the Giants would snap their four game losing skid.
A miss would give the ball back to Atlanta and with the way the defense was playing in the fourth quarter, would all but assure another devastating loss that have ended their playoff hopes.
The kick was good.
With the ball going through the uprights, the team could finally congratulate each other in victory. At 6-4, they could have something positive to look reflect upon.
However, a victory covered up some of the team’s biggest problems that did not find a cure.
Eli Manning was playing one of the best game had ever played inside Giants Stadium and his touchdown pass to Madison Hedgecock had just given the Giants a 31-17 lead with 12 minutes remaining. The task of the defense was to make one stop and the game would have been over.
Falcons quarterback Matt Ryan drove his team down the field 65 yards to cut the deficit to seven points with 6:01 left and after the Giants offense stalled at their own 41 and punted the ball back to Atlanta with 3:24 left.
76 yards separated them from the tying score. The defense of the Giants gave up points to the Falcons on each of their last three drives to the tune of 17 points and there didn’t appear to be much of a chance they were going to stop them here.
As expected, Ryan directed his offense towards the end zone and scored when Tony Gonzalez for an 11-yard touchdown strike to send the game into overtime.
To the Giants luck, they were able to win the coin toss in overtime and without current rules to give each team a possession otherwise, the Falcons would have won the game.
Manning (25-of-39, 384 yards) efficiently moved the offense in sudden death and Tynes won it with his right foot. After 42 days, the Giants were finally back in the win column. It wasn’t too long ago where even in victory, there were plenty of issues with the team to complain about. While one should never complain about a win, this game came away with more questions than answers as they continue with six more “one game seasons”.
First, what happened to the defense in the second half?
At no point did the Giants make a stand and force either a punt or a turnover. Pressure applied to Ryan was non-existent in the final 30 minutes as he was able to find open receivers all over the field. After holding Atlanta to just one third down conversion in six attempts in the first half, the Giants defense could not get off the field in the second. The Falcons converted 8-of-10 and committed four defensive penalties.
Second, what happened to the Giants running game?
After 10 games, it is obvious now the offensive line that dominated last season has gone AWOL. Whether teams have countered everything the Giants did well, or are simply being beat at the line of scrimmage by defenders.
Once again, the pronounced strength of the team, its running game, has not been the same. Brandon Jacobs’s pile pushing style of last year has not appeared this season. Perhaps the loss of Derrick Ward hurts more than anyone could have realized. Ahmad Bradshaw has been serviceable, but in has not been able to replicate the production Ward brought to the offense last year.
Most of the penetration on the Giants running plays have come straight up the middle and guard Rich Seubert and center Shaun O’Hara have had subpar years after being recognized (in O’Hara’s case) as a Pro Bowl player in 2008.
There have been very few explosive running plays out of either Jacobs or Bradshaw and this stunning inconsistency has put the game on Manning to deliver a performance as he provided Sunday. The problem is that yesterday was a rather comfortable day at Giants Stadium for throwers because the wind was not a factor.
The final three home games for the Giants will begin December 6 against the Cowboys and the percentages are likely that wind and other weather elements will be in place. Without a running game of any consistency, eventual failure is sure to come, as Manning is sure to have an off game.
Not having a good enough defense (worst in the NFL in the red zone) combine that with the current plight in the red zone on offense (despite converting 3-of-5 chances Sunday) and the Giants have a lot more problems than solutions.
The win is nice. However, they have six games left to fix these problems.
Tynes FG in OT stops 4-game slide
EAST RUTHERFORD - At the rate the Giants were going for nearly six weeks, any win is a good win.
How they got it done would not matter. They got it done.
It took a game-winning walk off field goal by kicker Lawrence Tynes to get it done along with the fortunate bounce of the coin, but the Giants (6-4) ended their drought of 42 days and four games without a win by beating the Atlanta Falcons 34-31 at Giants Stadium.
The game would not have needed the extra session if the Giants defense, originally the team’s backbone, now playing the role of "liability", did not allow the Falcons to score two fourth quarter touchdowns in the game's final seven minutes to erase a 31-17 deficit forcing overtime.
By winning the coin toss, the Giants offense, not meeting much resistance from the porous Falcons pass defense all day, quickly marched down the field into field goal range for the winning kick.
In the first half, the Giants as a whole resembled the team that was 5-0 to begin the season. After an initial bad decision by Eli Manning on the offenses' first possession to throw an interception on third-and-29 play instead of playing field position, the groans from the crowd in The Meadowlands had the feeling of "Here we go again".
The Falcons did not take advantage and Tynes connected a 39-yard field goal to give the Giants an early lead. Atlanta responded by driving 65 yards in nine plays as fill in Jason Snelling scored untouched on a 7-yard touchdown run up the middle to make it 7-3.
In the second quarter, Tunes missed a 31-yard attempt. However, after a gaining great field position at their own 48 after a Falcons punt, quarterback Eli Manning drove the offense down, connecting with Hakeem Nicks (5 catches – 65 yards) for a completion of 30 yards. On the next play, Manning found tight end Kevin Boss open on the right sideline, stiff-armed cornerback Eric Coleman to the ground on his way to a 28 yard touchdown catch to take a 10-7 advantage.
Late in the half, a sack by Justin Tuck forced a fumble that Osi Umenyiora recovered at the Falcons 34. Six plays later, Manning once again found Boss (5 catches, 76 yards, 2 TD’s) in the end zone for their second touchdown connection and 17-7 halftime lead.
The Falcons cut the lead to three at the start of the third quarter when Snelling scored his second touchdown of the game on a one-yard run. The Giants came right back, driving 74 yards. Steve Smith (four catches – 79 yards) beat cornerback Chris Houston on a 51-yard catch to get down to the Atlanta 23. With the ball at the two, Jacobs found open space after running through a leg tackle and walked into the end zone standing up to increase the margin back to 10.
After Jason Elam’s 25-yard field goal cut the Giants lead to 24-17, the offense drove down the field again, this time 79 yards as Manning found fullback Madison Hedgecock for a 3-yard touchdown with 12:08 remaining to give the Giants a 31-17 cushion.
Quarterback Matt Ryan calmly moved the Falcons offense to within a touchdown when on a 12-play drive, he found open receiver Eric Weems on a four-yard touchdown pass and put the game in the hands of the Giants offense to run out the clock if they could pick up several first downs.
After picking up only one first down on their next possession, the Giants punted the ball back to Atlanta with 3:42 left up by 7 points and the ball resting at their own 24.
On a third-and-4 at the Falcons 40, Ryan found Roddy White for 22 yards to the Giants 38. Two plays later, tight end Tony Gonzalez hauled in a 14-yard reception to the Giants 24. With 0:35 remaining, Ryan found Gonzalez in the back of the end zone covered by two defenders for the game-tying touchdown to send the game into overtime. 
The Giants won the coin toss and with the way their offense consistently moved the ball the entire game, it was difficult seeing them losing the game. After Manning (25-of-39, 384 yards, 3 TD’s) found Nicks for a first down to the 48, Manning found Mario Manningham (six catches – 126 yards) for 29 yards down to the Falcons 23.
On fourth-and-5, Tynes came on and after an Atlanta timeout; he drilled his second game winning field goal of the season, this one from 36 yards to allow the Giants to emerge victorious.
The win keeps the Giants breathing in the playoff hunt. At 6-4, they remain one game behind Dallas, who beat the Redskins 7-6. Currently, there is a three-way tie with Philadelphia and Green Bay.
Going conservative in end costs Giants
EAST RUTHERFORD – After three straight losses, the season needed saving.
For most of the game, the Giants had sloppily played their way back to where they had finally taken the lead late in the fourth quarter. It was 17-14 and the defense, who was maligned the last three games for their atrocious play, was now slowing down the high-powered San Diego offense.
Phillip Rivers was looking to drive his team down for the game tying score, but his first pass over the middle was intercepted by Terrell Thomas, who took the ball down to the Chargers 4 with 3:14 remaining.
This was the chance for the Giants to close the game as Mariano Rivera did for the Yankees during their run to a World Series championship just four days prior. Punch the balls into the end zone to take a two score lead and erase the bad memories of the three games.
On first down, Brandon Jacobs got the hand off and plowed his way down near the 1, but the yellow flag came out and Chris Snee was called for a holding penalty that would back them up 10 yards.
Now it was first-and-goal from the 14, eliminating nearly all of the Giants goal line plays. Red zone offense all season has plagued them and the smartest observers could have predicted that this was not going to end well. 
However, what played out over the next three plays is going to be the question as long as the season continues to go as south.
On first down, Eli Manning found Hakeem Nicks on a wide receiver screen gaining nothing.
On second down, the Jacobs takes a shotgun handoff and runs up the middle for five yards.
You figured they were going to throw the ball into the end zone on third down now. There could be no other option, could it? Unless you have a special running play call in the book, getting nine yards isn’t the easiest thing in the world.
So what does Offensive Coordinator Kevin Gilbride relay to Manning on third down? A running play!
Not just any run, but the same play that was just run on second down!
Instead of putting the ball in their $97.5 million quarterback to win the game, they handoff to Jacobs who gains five yards down to the Chargers 4, a strangely conservative call where they would now be forced to kick a field goal to take an insignificant 20-14 lead.
The difference between 17-14 and 20-14 when you are under two minutes is irrelevant. Either a field goal ties the game or a touchdown beats you entirely assuming the Chargers leave you enough time on the clock to come back.
Coughlin and the coaching staff (who have been either in a slump or all taking a mid-season vacation) somehow did not do deductive reasoning on this. As soon as Lawrence Tynes made the 22-yard field goal to make it a six-point game, and the feeling of an impending loss was coming.
Had they gone for a touchdown on fourth down, three things could have happened.
One, either they score and go up by two scores.
Two, they could have been stopped short and turned the ball over on downs.
Three, a turnover that either would have given the Chargers the ball.
By choosing not to throw the ball into the end zone and subsequently kicking the field, the Giants played to the old cliché of “playing not to lose”.
San Diego now had the ball at the 20 with 2:05 remaining and one timeout. Rivers, without needing to be conservative as many teams do when they are trailing by three points, was forced to go for broke.
At the Giants 49 with 1:04 left, Rivers found Antonio Gates for a first down to the 39, but when Justin Tuck could not get up and lay on the turf, the Giants were charged a timeout that became advantageous to the Chargers because it gave them time to regroup and they still have their own timeout.
Darren Sproles got free down the middle of the field for 21 yards, then Vincent Jackson beat Corey Webster for an 18-yard touchdown to tie the game, and kicker Nate Kaeding’s extra point gave San Diego the lead.
While all of Giants Stadium stood in stunned disbelief, not many people could really have been surprised. The seeds were planted for this loss on the last possession. Nine penalties for 104 yards and the inability to convert on third down situations (5-for-14) allowed this game to put be in this predicament.
The Giants are no longer a good enough team to overcome ineptitude and bad coaching decisions. Four losses in a row to good teams after whipping up on the equivalent of 1-AA squads eliminate any good feelings that you have about this team.
This is not the failure of one individual, but a collective breakdown from every facet and it all manifested itself in the last 3:14 of this game.
It may have taken the season with it.
The question becomes whether the Giants are even a good team anymore.
Chargers rally for last second touchdown to stun Giants
EAST RUTHERFORD – Last week was described as “rock bottom”.
What do we call this?
After appearing to rally midway through the fourth quarter to take the lead and then having the chance to put the game away late, the Giants gave the Chargers life.
Taking advantage, San Diego took the ball and moved it down the field 80 yards for the winning score with 0:29 remaining for a 21-20 victory at Giants Stadium that may have effectively ended the season for Big Blue.
Losers of three straight the Giants were looking to get on the winning track and on the first quarter were moving the ball efficiently before being stopped at the Chargers 21 on a third-and-1 play when Ahmad Bradshaw was stopped short of the marker. On the fourth down, holder Jeff Feagles was unable to get a good grip on the ball after the snap, negating a field goal attempt by Lawrence Tynes.
Late in the first quarter, San Diego would take the opening lead. Receptions of 16 yards by Vincent Jackson and 19 yards by Antonio Gates moved the ball to the Giants 10. Utilizing a play fake, Jackson beat cornerback Corey Webster in the back of the end zone for a touchdown for a 7-0 lead.
The Giants countered with another long possession to tie score. Quarterback Eli Manning found Steve Smith for 19 yards and Darcy Johnson for 14 more. On third down, Manning found Smith on a skinny post for six-yard touchdown catch to even the score at 7-7 by halftime.
Both teams exchanged punts for most of the third quarter. A bad punt by Feagles gave the Chargers great field position as their own 49. A pass interference penalty on Webster on a pass intended for Jackson placed the ball on the 1, and two plays later Rivers found wide open third string tight end Kris Wilson for a touchdown to go back up 14-7.
The Giants answered with a 38-yard field goal by Tynes to trim the deficit to four. Following that, the defense made a stand, getting three-and-out on a sack by Fred Robbins and a nine yard loss when Justin Tuck tack Darren Sproles in the backfield.
Starting from the Chargers 39 after the punt, the Giants would take the lead when Manning (25-for-33, 215 yards, two touchdowns) found Kevin Boss in the back left corner of the end zone to make it 17-14.
With 3:30 to go, Rivers was looking to direct his offense to the tying score, but his first pass was intercepted by Terrell Thomas who returned it all the way to the Chargers 4.
A touchdown would have made it a 10 point game and almost assure the Giants a victory. After Brandon Jacobs (11 carries, 67 yards) gained three yards, the play negated due to a holding penalty on guard Chris Snee that backed the offense up 10 yards. 
After a reception by rookie Hakeem Nicks netted no yards, the Giants strangely went conservative, opting for two running plays out of the shotgun to Jacobs on second and third down. This led to a 22-yard field goal to up the margin to six with 2:07 left in the game as Coach Tom Coughlin put faith in his defense that had limited San Diego’s offense to 146 yards through nearly 58 minutes.
Rivers (24-for-36 for 209 yards, three touchdowns) and his offense took over at their own 20 with one timeout needing a touchdown to win. Receptions by Malcolm Floyd of 12 yards and Antonio Gates of 10 yards placed the ball at the Giants 39. Rivers would then find an open Sproles over the middle for a 22-yard reception down to the Giants 19. On the next play, Jackson (five catches-58 yards) beat Webster again and with no safety help over the top hauled in the pass for a touchdown. The extra point gave San Diego a one-point lead and the eventual victory.
The Giants go into the bye week at 5-4, losers now of four in a row and only the second team in league history to win their first five games and then lose their next four. Because of the Cowboys win, they trail by two games in the loss column.
After the week off, the Giants will host the Atlanta Falcons in the Meadowlands in a game that can make of or break their playoff hopes.
