Giants tame Lions
Giants just a win from playoff berth thanks to more dominant defense
Leon Hall drills the Lions’ Zach Zenner, forcing a fumble, which Olivier Vernon (inset) recovered to keep Detroit out of the end zone, in the Giants’ pivotal 17-6 win at MetLife.
The Giants were already ahead 7-0 when Matthew Stafford and the Lions’ offense took the field for the first time and it did not take long to notice something special was going on.
“The first play of the game when they were on offense was so loud, compared to the way it usually is,’’ center Weston Richburg said. “It was awesome.’’
A bit later in the game, Richburg and left guard Justin Pugh were looking around at the sights and sounds of MetLife Stadium on a gray and damp Sunday afternoon and decided they had never experienced anything like this before.
“Me and Weston were saying to each other ‘This is the craziest I’ve seen the stadium,’ ’’ Pugh said. “It’s exciting and it rubs off on us and we’re ready to go out there and keep this thing rolling.’’
Rolling is a good way to describe what is going on with the Giants. They moved ever closer to their first playoff berth in five years with another dominating defensive performance, keeping the Lions out of the end zone in a 17-6 victory that puts the postseason within their grasp.
The Giants clinch an NFC wildcard spot if they beat the Eagles on Thursday night in Philadelphia, no other help required.
“OK, I didn’t know that … cool,’’ Richburg said.
“This might be the first time you hear a player not complain about a Thursday game because I wish we were playing right now,’’ said Odell Beckham Jr., who contributed a spectacular one-handed grab he turned into a 4-yard, game-securing touchdown with 5:47 remaining.
In consecutive weeks, t he Giants defeated two f irst-place teams, holding the Cowboys to seven points and the Lions to six. There is some seriously fearsome defense being played by the guys in blue. The Giants did it last week (and again this week) without injured Jason Pierre-Paul and did it this time mostly without ace cornerback Janoris Jenkins, who took a knee to the back early in the second quarter and did not play the rest of the way.
“I think everybody is elevating their game because we’re talking about two of the best players in the game, not just on our team, that we’re missing,’’ Jonathan Casillas said.
“The defense, they hold teams to six points, we’re going to win a lot of ballgames,’’ Ben McAdoo said. “Defense played lights out.’’
The Giants (10-4) have won eight of their last nine games.
“Any time you get 10 wins in any season it’s not an easy thing to do, for any team, especially in this division and in this conference, in this city,’’ Victor Cruz said. “To do it here, to have 10 wins and to be in a position to hold our destiny, we can make it to the postseason, that’s exactly where we want to be.’’
Once again, there was nothing at all dynamic from the offense, but there were also no turnovers and Eli Manning (20-of-28, 201 yards, two TDs) was coolly effective. He completed his f irst 11 passes, dropped a perfect pass to Cruz for 29 yards and then lofted a fade to rookie Sterling Shepard on the opening scoring drive. In the fourth quarter, to put the game away, Manning’s 25-yard floater to Beckham on a corner route — set up Beckham’s masterful left-handed grab for the deciding touchdown.
“Eli dropped a dime,’’ Beckham said of the corner route.
In between, the Giants did not do a whole heck of a lot with the ball in their possession. They ran it slightly better (114 yards), with rookie Paul Perkins showing some wiggle. Once again, though, this was a victory constructed by a superb defensive showing.
“I just look at it week by week and understand our defense is playing good and we have to play smart offensively,’’ Manning said.
Stafford had no trouble throwing the ball with torn ligaments in his right middle finger, but he had all sorts of trouble moving the ball on the Giants.
“They’re really good defenders, probably the best we’ve played all year long,’’ he said.
Golden Tate ran free on a 67-yard catch-and-run in the second quarter and only an all-out sprint by Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie — who blew the assignment on the play — saved a touchdown, as he caught and tackled Tate on the 11-yard line.
“That play never should have happened, but I just kept fighting and made sure I caught him before he got the touchdown,’’ RodgersCromartie said.
On the next play, veteran Leon Hall — subbing for Jenkins — forced a fumble by Zach Zenner in the end zone that Olivier Vernon recovered to turn back the Lions.
Rodgers-Cromartie with 1:58 intercepted Stafford in the end zone to snuff out the Lions one last time.
“I haven’t played really in a meaningful game in my career,’’ said Pugh, a first-round pick in 2013. “We started out 0-6 my rookie year. And then we were out of the playoffs the last two years in the last three weeks of the season. To play in a game like this, a little playoff atmosphere, the fans were unbelievable.’’