September 16, 2012
The New York Giants looking to bounce back from their season opening loss to the Dallas Cowboys turned their attention to the visiting Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Things did not start off too positive in the first half as Eli Manning committed three turnovers that all eventually led to touchdowns by the Bucks. Probably the most highlighted interception came in the final minute of the second quarter when Eli Manning was picked off at the Tampa Bay 40 by Eric Wright who returned it for a 60 yard touchdown giving the Buccaneers a 24-13 lead over the Giants at the close of the first half.
In the second half the Giants finally showed life. Down 27-19 in the fourth quarter, Eli Manning turned it on as a 80 yard pass to Victor Cruz was good for the touchdown, and the two-point conversion by Andre Brown tied the game, 27-27. Manning was not done, on the next drive, he fired a 33 yard completion to Martellus Bennett to put the Giants ahead 34-27. However QB Josh Freeman and the Tampa offense were very much still alive as a 41 yard pass to Mike Williams down the other way was good to cuff it, 34-34. The Giants offense proved resilient as they once again came down-field. On 2nd & 1 near the goal line, Andre Brown rushed in the endzone to give the Giants a 41-34 lead at that point. With the Buccaneers threatening, a call reversal on the field pushed Tampa's offense back, and a Giants interception finished it off for good. The Giants came back and held on to defeat the Buccaneers 41-34.
It was no question that it was certainly a team effort, and took a turn-around for Big Blue to make it happen. Manning spoke about the change-of-face in the tale of two halves, "I got to make better decisions, we had missed opportunities, we know we were right there in the mix", "You get frustrated in the first half you're excited about the come back and you see it happen, of course you don't always want to be in that situation". There was no doubt the second half simply could not reflect anything from the first two quarters and it did not. Manning committed 3 interceptions and only threw 1 touchdown in the first half, and turned it around as he gave up 0 turnovers and threw for 2 key touchdowns in the second leading to the win. Manning ended up with 510 yards today. The touchdowns came and was also played in part from key contributions from Victor Cruz and Hakeem Nicks. Eli proud of his receivers remarked, "Victor and Hakeem both stepped up, made some big time plays, some big 3rd down completions", and Nicks did put up some great numbers, 199 yards with 10 catches including a 50 yard catch which advanced the Giants down-field in the final go-ahead drive.
The Giants defense which did not seem effective in the first two quarters only allowed a field goal and touchdown in the second half. The leader Justin Tuck said that it was thinking and being "positive" that led them to key stops and contributions from especially rookie corner back Jayron Hosley who impressively had 5 tackles and later based it on, "preparation, watching videos, coming in here and being ready to go".
With this satisfying win, the Giants prevent the idea of going down 0-2 to start the season and even their record at 1-1. The Giants play next week in Carolina against the Panthers.
B.C Sports,
Brian Chin
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