Manning silences critics to spark NY Giants comeback
SAN FRANCISCO: Eli Manning shrugged off speculation about his future to lead the New York Giants to a come-from-behind 27-23 victory over the San Francisco 49ers at Levi’s Stadium on Monday.
Giants quarterback Manning, who has faced mounting calls to be benched in recent weeks, held his nerve to conjure a late gamewinning drive and give New York only their second win of the season.
The two-time Super Bowl winners found Sterling Shepard for a three-yard touchdown pass to seal a nine-play 75-yard drive which put the Giants ahead with just 53 seconds remaining.
Manning finished with three touchdowns and 188 yards from 19 completions as the Giants improved to 2-7 in the NFC East. San Francisco fell to 2-8 and remain at the bottom of the NFC West.
“I’m just happy to be playing football,” Manning said afterwards when asked about recent criticism.
“This is what I love to do. I have great teammates, great support. Hopefully we can keep this feeling going.”
Earlier, Robbie Gould had opened the scoring for the 49ers with a 53-yard field goal before the Giants took the lead near the end of the first quarter when Manning connected with Odell Beckham Jr for a 10-yard touchdown.
San Francisco were back in front in the opening minutes of the second quarter when running back Matt Breida crashed over from three yards out for a touchdown.
An Aldrick Rosas field goal tied it at 10-10. Gould’s second field goal put San Francisco 13-10 ahead at half-time, and the 49ers stretched their lead to 20-10 midway through the third quarter with a second touchdown from Breida.
But just when San Francisco appeared to be taking control, the Giants offence finally managed to string a scoring drive together.
Beckham grabbed his second touchdown of the night on a 20-yard pass from Manning and then Rosas added a field goal to tie it at 20-20.
Gould’s third field goal of the night put San Francisco ahead 23-20 with 2:46 remaining, but Manning produced an ice-cold final drive to hand New York the win.