Oct 212012
 

Giants Survive Scare from Redskins, Win 27-23: It required some late-game dramatics, but the New York Giants defeated the Washington Redskins 27-23 earlier today at MetLife Stadium. The win improved the Giants overall record to 5-2 (1-2 in the NFC East).

The Redskins out-gained the Giants in total net yards (480 to 393) with a dramatic advantage in net yards rushing (248 to 64). But the great equalizer was the Redskins turned the football over four times while the Giants turned the football over twice.

There was only one punt by either team in the first half and that was by the Giants on their first drive. The Redskins scored on all three of their first half possessions, driving 93 yards in 17 plays to set up a 20-yard field goal, driving 80 yards in eight plays to score on a 26-yard touchdown from QB Robert Griffin III to WR Santana Moss, and then driving 55 yards in six plays to set up a 43-yard field goal. The problem for the Giants’ defense was stopping the run as Washington ran for 146 first-half yards, 93 by HB Alfred Morris and 42 by Griffin.

Meanwhile, after punting the ball away on their first drive, the Giants also scored on their three remaining possessions of the first half. The Giants drove 80 yards in 12 plays and HB Andre Brown scored from 1-yard out. New York also added two field goals by driving 63 yards in 10 plays to set up a 27-yard field goal and then driving 59 yards in 10 plays to set up a 39-yard field goal at the end of the half. The Giants could only manage 30 yards rushing in the first half and had to rely on the passing game with QB Eli Manning completing 17-of-26 first-half passing attempts for 186 yards.

At haltime, the score was tied 13-13.

All of the game’s six turnovers came in the second half. After punting the ball away on their first possession to start the third quarter, the Redskins then turned the football over on their next three possessions. DT Linval Joseph forced Morris to fumble and the loose ball was recovered by LB Michael Boley at the Giants’ 41-yard line. S Stevie Brown intercepted Griffin and returned the pick 41 yards to the Redskins’ 35-yard line. DE Jason Pierre-Paul then caused Griffin to fumble and Joseph recovered the loose ball at the Giants’ 29-yard line.

Meanwhile, the Giants were only doing a little big better than the Redskins. After punting the ball away on their first possession in the second half, the Giants also turned the ball over twice on two of their next three possessions – both interceptions by Manning. However, the Giants did go up 20-13 after the interception by Brown. The Giants drove the remaining 35 yards in seven plays with HB Ahmad Bradshaw scoring from one yard out.

But then Manning’s second interception gave the Redskins the ball at the Giants’ 32-yard line. The Redskins could not pick up a first down but did get a 45-yard field goal out of the possession to cut the Giants’ advantage to 20-16 with 5:21 to play.

The Giants failed in their efforts to run out the clock. After picking up one first down, Manning’s 3rd-and-1 pass to WR Hakeem Nicks fell incomplete and the Giants were forced to punt.

Starting from their own 23-yard line with 2:59 to play, the Redskins drove 77 yards in seven plays and 1:27 to take the lead 23-20. On the drive, Washington overcame a 4th-and-10 from their own 23 with a 19-yard pass as Griffin was scrambling for his life. Then Griffin ran for 24 yards. Two plays later, Griffin hit Santana Moss for a 30-yard touchdown over CB Jayron Hosley.

The Giants got the ball back with 1:32 left on the clock. After an incomplete pass, Manning miraculously hit WR Victor Cruz for a 77-yard touchdown pass to regain the lead 27-23.

Still there was 1:13 left on the clock. Starting from their own 20-yard line, the Redskins picked up 12 yards on their first play. After an incomplete pass, Griffin found Moss over the middle for 11 yards, but Moss was stripped of the ball by LB Chase Blackburn. Hosley recovered the fumble at the Redskins’ 43-yard line to end the game.

Offensively, Manning finished the game 26-of-40 for 337 yards, 1 touchdown, and 2 interceptions. Cruz caught 7 passes for 131 yards and a touchdown. TE Martellus Bennett caught 5 passes for 79 yards and Nicks caught 5 passes for 53 yards. Bradshaw only managed 43 yards on 12 attempts while Brown rushed for 17 yards on 5 attempts.

Defensively, both linebackers Michael Boley and Chase Blackburn accrued 10 tackles each. Defensive ends Jason Pierre-Paul, Justin Tuck, and Osi Umenyiora each had a sack. Blackburn (2), Pierre-Paul, and DT Linval Joseph all forced fumbles with Boley, Joseph, and CB Jayron Hosley all recovered fumbles. S Stevie Brown had an interception.

Highlights/lowlights of the game are available at NFL.com.

Head Coach Tom Coughlin’s Post-Game Press Conference: The transcript and video of Head Coach Tom Coughlin’s post-game press conference are available at Giants.com.

Post-Game Player Media Q&As: Transcripts and video clips of the following player media Q&As after the game are available at Giants.com:

Post-Game Notes: Inactive for the Giants were WR Jerrel Jernigan, TE Adrien Robinson, OT James Brewer, DE Adewale Ojomo, DT Rocky Bernard (quadriceps), LB Jacquian Williams (knee), and S Kenny Phillips (knee).

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Eric Kennedy

Eric Kennedy is Editor-in-Chief of BigBlueInteractive.com, a publication of Big Blue Interactive, LLC. Follow @BigBlueInteract on Twitter.

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