It’s A little frightening when you think about it now, but Eli Manning came into Sunday’s game against the Packers thinking his legs might be just as much of a weapon as his arm.
“I knew versus this team there would be some possibilities for me to run,” Manning was saying after the Giants had dispatched the Packers 27-13 to win their fourth straight game after a 0-6 start. “If they’re going to drop everybody back and if I could step up, there would be some chances for me to run and get some first downs.”
Fortunately, for the Giants it didn’t come down to that. Manning running the football is unnerving for two reasons: For one, the Giants don’t want to expose him to injury. Secondly, Archie Manning, he ain’t.
Officially, Manning ran once for 3 yards, though he had what would have been a 17-yard scramble in the first quarter nullified by a penalty.
“I felt fast there,” Manning joked. “But I’m sure I’ll look on film and realize I’m not fast.”
He’ll also see on film an offense that’s starting to resemble what he and the coaching staff envisioned when the season began; an offense that’s balanced and opportunistic, and free of the multiple turnovers that have crippled it in past games.
Manning completed 25-of-35 passes for 279 yards and one touchdown with one interception. But he spread the wealth, completing passes to nine different receivers, led by Victor Cruz, who caught eight for 110 yards. The passing game was complemented by a running game that produced 78 yards, while the one interception — on a misread of wide receiver Louis Murphy Jr. — wasn’t costly.
“We’re starting to play the way we expect to play,” Manning said. “We’ve got a good run going. We are playing better. We’ve got to make sure we keep practicing well and make sure our preparation is outstanding and keep finding ways to win games.”
You can tell the Giants feel like they’re as Manning said, “back in the mix.” The Cowboys (5-5) come to MetLife Stadium next Sunday offering the Giants (4-6) a chance to put some real teeth in their comeback season.
Until now, the Giants have been cautious about not looking too far in front of them. They put “blinders on,” Justin Tuck said, and took one game at a time. Now THE Game has arrived.
“We knew we had a tough challenge to get back into the mix,” Manning said. “All we could do is try to get one win at a time. We’ve done that these last four weeks. We’ve still got a lot of digging to get back out of the hole we made for ourselves. But we’ve got four in a row and that’s a good feeling. We’re just going to keep fighting and keep getting better and keep winning.”
Maybe the football gods are getting even for all the bad karma the Giants endured earlier in the year when they couldn’t get out of their own way, opening the season with six straight losses and Manning was drowning his team in interceptions.
Since then, the Vikings decided to start Josh Freeman when he wasn’t ready, then Michael Vick was sidelined for the much of the rematch with the Eagles; and the Raiders came to town with only three quarters of decent football in them.
On Sunday the Packers were without All-Pro quarterback Aaron Rodgers, who missed the game with a cracked collarbone, leaving Scott Tolzien, a former practice-squad player, to make his first NFL start.
At this rate, the Cowboys might consider putting Tony Romo into witness protection to make sure he stays healthy for Sunday’s game.
“It’s going to be a big game,” Manning said.
Bigger than anyone could have expected.