In what was routine for Eli Manning last season, the Giants (5-2) signal-caller rallied his team for yet another late, game-winning touchdown drive Sunday—this time capping a wild final few minutes—for a 27–23 win over Washington (3-4) at MetLife Stadium.
“Something we’ve been really good at over the years is the two-minute drive when the game’s on the line and making plays when we need to make plays,” said Manning, according to the Giants’ website. “That was a huge play.”
Manning finished 26/40 passing for 337 yards—including 77 on the final drive.
Eli who was credited with a league-high eight game-winning drives last season did this one in near-record time finding Victor Cruz over the middle for a 77-yard touchdown on the second play of the series. Cruz, who simply outran the defense on the play, scored a touchdown for the fourth straight game and finished with 137 yards receiving on seven catches.
“As I was going vertical, I just saw that the safeties were wide and they were outside of the numbers, and I saw the middle of the field wide open, so I just took it,” said Cruz. “I just kept going vertical and Eli saw it the same way.”
The play happened just 19 game-seconds after rookie sensation Robert Griffin rallied the Redskins for a shocking seven-play 77-yard touchdown drive to give Washington their first lead (23–20) since the first half while silencing the once-raucous stadium. The drive included a fourth-and-ten conversion—their third fourth-down convert of the quarter—deep in their own territory on a play where Griffin scrambled from the pocket and sidestepped several lineman before finding tight end Logan Paulsen for a 19-yard pickup.
“I had no reads and I took off to the sideline just trying to give guys a chance to get open,” said Griffin. “I made (Jason) Pierre-Paul miss there and got it to Logan (Paulsen). It was a good job of everyone staying alive on the play and never giving up.”
