Palladino: Eli, Giants Leaving 2013 Disaster In Their Dust
By Ernie Palladino
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In other years, it would have been just like the Giants to lose a game like Sunday's.
Banged-up Falcons line. A team that can't seem to win on the road.
The Giants would have been easy pickings.
Not this year, though. Not Sunday. In their come-from-behind, 30-20 win over the Falcons, they showed for the third straight week that 2014 might just be a lot different than 2013.
They're 3-2 now, and though they still have stretches where both offense and defense appear vulnerable, the Giants have made enough plays to put them over the .500 mark for the first time since 2012. And if that doesn't seem like such a long time ago, just remember how close last year's nightmare looked when they were 0-2 and searching for a clue after the first two weeks.
Instead, they came up huge at a point in the game where doom loomed large. Antone Smith had just burned them on a 74-yard touchdown catch-and-run made possible by the beneficence of Antrel Rolle, who missed a tackle just short of the first-down marker. Just 5:37 remained in the third quarter and the Giants trailed 20-10.
And then the tide turned, as they say. The defense, which had stood up to two deep, second-quarter drives and convinced the Falcons to settle for a pair of 20-yard Matt Bryant field goals, rose up and held Atlanta to three straight drives without a first down.
They can thank Johnathan Hankins for putting a cap on the defensive effort, sacking Matt Ryan on fourth-and-1 from the 29 with 4:34 remaining in the game as the Falcons trailed by a touchdown.
But they can also thank Eli Manning and his offense for converting the Falcons' lost momentum and turning it into their own whirlwind. And it was a pack of youngsters who helped out the quarterback.
Odell Beckham Jr., debuting impressively after missing all but a handful of training camp practices and the first quarter of the season with a bad hamstring, was targeted deep twice on the answering drive to Smith's touchdown, and he drew a 26-yard pass interference call on cornerback Robert Alford on the second one.
That eventually led to rookie running back Andre Williams showing his power and will as he bulled over from the 3 to pull the winners within 20-17.
The defense executed a three-and-out as Robert Ayers charged in on Matt Ryan on third down and caused him to throw it into the turf.
Then, Beckham completed his introduction to an appreciative fan base with a 15-yard touchdown catch for the go-ahead score.
Atlanta couldn't do a thing with their next possession as Damontre Moore tripped up Ryan for a three-and-out, and Josh Brown's 50-yard field goal turned punter Matt Bosher's 28-yard shank into a 27-20 lead.
And Hankins effectively ended it all with his sack on fourth-and-1 from the Falcons' 29 with 4:34 remaining in the game. The wisdom of coach Mike Smith's decision to go for it so deep in his territory, with so much time on the clock and down by a touchdown will be debated in a more southerly location this week. For the Giants, it kept them securely in the lead until Brown's 27-yard field goal iced it on the Giants' final possession.
"We won a game that was tough to come back and win, and we did that," Tom Coughlin said.
Perhaps it wasn't as impressive as the Browns' record comeback, but the only record Coughlin cares about at this point is one that indicates wins and losses. At 3-2, with Manning credited with a fourth-quarter comeback the likes of which fans have rarely seen in years, the record looks good.
Three games and rolling.
Nope. It's not 2013 anymore.
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