Sadly, after Domenik Hixon scampered into the end zone to put the Giants up 31-30 in the third quarter on Sunday, Eli Manning said he and the Giant offense knew more points were required.
“Even after we got that touchdown,” Manning said yesterday, “we kind of had the mindset, ‘Hey, we are going to need two more scores – whether it is touchdowns or field goals. This game is not over. There is still a lot of time left. We are going to need to keep going out there and scoring.’”
As it turned out, the Giants managed one more score, putting up a touchdown late in the fourth quarter, but it ended up meaning very little in their dispiriting 45-38 loss to the Eagles. Still, it was the capper on a real impressive night offensively for the Giants, who have become one of the league’s worst defensive teams – but also one of its best offensive ones.
There’s hardly perfection with the Giants’ offense right now – they fumbled three times on Sunday, and they punted on two consecutive drives after Philly took a 37-31 lead, blowing a chance to go back ahead.
But Manning and company are in the midst of a pretty impressive run, which is fortunate because the way the defense is playing, the offense has to be thriving. After managing six points in Denver on Thanksgiving, the Giants put up 31 last week against Dallas (though granted seven came on Hixon’s punt return) before exploding for 38 more on Sunday while racking up 512 total yards.
“I thought we had a winning performance on offense, but not a winning performance on defense and not a winning performance on special teams,” Coughlin said.
The offense has played three winning games in the last four weeks – right before the Broncos loss, the Giants blasted the Falcons for 34 points. And for the year, the Giants are averaging the eighth-most points in the league, putting up 26.2 per game.
“We go into these last three games knowing that we have the ability to make some big plays, move the ball and score some points,” Manning, who’s on pace to throw for 28 touchdowns and 4,081 yards, said.
For Manning – and everybody on the team really – the Giants can’t afford to stop scoring. Or to lose anymore.
“Right now every game is a must-win,” Manning said. “We are in the mindset that if we win these three games, we think we will make the playoffs.”