Halftime adjustments amaze again in comeback win
EAST RUTHERFORD >> What more is there to say about the Giants’ amazing start under Brian Daboll?
The first-year head coach’s calling card has been halftime adjustments, as the Giants came into Sunday’s home game having outscored opponents in the second half, 7039, for four wins in five games. And it was obvious they would need to excel in that area again to upset the Ravens at MetLife Stadium.
But lightning couldn’t possibly strike twice after the Giants’ stunning win against the Packers last Sunday in London, could it?
Think again.
With an offense that delivered 17 second-half points and a defense that forced two turnovers in the final moments, New York regained its edge down the stretch and knocked off Baltimore, 24-20, in simply unbelievable fashion.
“They allow us to go out there and play confident. I feel like they’re always going to put us in the best position to be successful,” said rookie wide receiver Wan’Dale Robinson, who returned from a three-week injury absence and scored his first touchdown. “Each and every half, they’ve shown us at halftime that we can always come out and do that. It’s a really good feeling to know that your coaches just believe in you and they just trust you to do what you’ve got to do.”
When the Ravens (33) took a 20-10 lead with 12:54 remaining, it looked like lights out for the Giants (5-1). They were averaging only 3.5 yards per play and had few answers for All-Pro tight end Mark Andrews, who had just scored a touchdown and become the first Giants opponent this season to surpass 100 receiving yards.
But this team not only doesn’t quit — it refuses to lose.
The offense promptly churned out 75 yards for its longest drive, the defense exploited a bad snap as Julian Love corralled an interception on Lamar Jackson’s panic throw, Saquon Barkley soared through the air for the go-ahead touchdown after a pass interference in the end zone, and lastly, Kayvon Thibodeaux swatted Jackson for a strip-sack that resulted in a game-ending fumble recovery by Leonard Williams.
Just how the Giants drew it up, right?
“The conversation on the sideline the whole time was, ‘We’ve been there before. We’ve been down before,’” safety and captain Xavier McKinney said. “As a leader, I just wanted to give encouragement and let everybody know that we’re still in the game.”
Even after the Giants scored their second touchdown of the fourth quarter, the Ravens still had 1:43 on the clock and two timeouts, not to mention the 2019 NFL MVP.
Jackson was 12-0 as a starter against the NFC coming into Sunday, but New York put an end to that streak by generating better pressure up front. The defense limited Jackson to 68 passing yards in the second half, and 121 of Baltimore’s 211 rushing yards came before halftime.
Love’s takeaway and 27-yard return with 3:04 left was the Giants’ first interception of the season — and it could not have come at a better time. Then once the Giants took the lead, they were determined to not let Jackson have the last laugh.
“Finish the game,” McKinney said of the defense’s mindset. “We know that it comes down to us, and we like to have that pressure on us to be able to make that last play. For us, it was just one more stop and that’s all we needed. We got it done.”
Offensively, the Giants totaled 168 fewer yards than the Ravens but were opportunistic and more explosive in the second half, namely by getting the ball in the hands of their superstar running back.
Barkley had six carries for 14 yards in the first two quarters and 16 carries for 69 yards after that. And he could have had a second touchdown after Jackson’s fumble near the end of the game, but Barkley instead made an unselfish team play by stopping short of the end zone so that the Giants could simply run out the clock.
Baltimore largely took away quarterback Daniel Jones’ scrambles — his six rushing yards were his fewest of the season — but the Giants stayed patient and methodical, no more evident than in their 12-play drive ending with Daniel Bellinger’s 10-yard touchdown catch that started the late comeback.
“The coaches, they go in there and they meet, and then they come out here and just kind of give us the rundown of anything that might be new, anything that we thought was working, anything that we think might work,” Robinson said in explaining of what transpires at halftime. “Just kind of going from there and just kind of talking to all the coaches and everybody to be on the same page.”