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When Chris Snee completed his early warm up, he took a seat on the Giants bench and watched the games flashing across the jumbo screens at empty MetLife Stadium. He trained his eyes on the games played by the Cowboys and Redskins, the two teams hot on the trail of the first-place Giants.
“You can see what was taking place,” Snee said. “They were losing when I came in, and they won when I came out. Not the ideal situation.”
Not ideal at all. Then the Giants took the field, and before six minutes had elapsed, Eli Manning was getting intercepted by Elbert Mack for a 73-yard return and a quick 7-0 Saints lead. This is where bad meets worse.
“We throw a pick-6, literally as I’m standing out there on the screen they show Washington won, Dalllas won, so here we are,” reserve offensive lineman Jim Cordle said. “All of a sudden, boom, we hit one. Whatever happens in the next few games, we can remember that was the spark that gave us a chance.”
Boom, indeed. Thirteen seconds after Manning put the Giants in a hole, rookie David Wilson sprung them out of it with a 97-yard eruption for his first NFL kickoff return for a touchdown. Wilson never stopped running all game in a record-breaking performance, the Giants never stopped scoring, and they made sure status quo in the NFC East was maintained with an explosive, rain-filled, 52-27 punishment of the gasping Saints.
“We’re a fighting team,’’ safety Antrel Rolle said. “We’re going to fight until the end, and we will be the last team standing.’’
It was Rolle who challenged his teammates to get nastier and play with more of a “dog mentality,” and he practiced what he preached, causing a fumble and recovering one. It was Wilson, though, who turned into the breakout star, scoring three touchdowns. It has been a first year filled with frustration for the first-round pick, but anything he had bottled up he poured all over the Saints.
He was outrageous with kickoff returns of 58, 97 and 52 yards, showing speed most only dream of having. With Ahmad Bradshaw limited by an achy knee, Wilson carried the load on offense, rushing 13 times for 100 yards and two touchdowns. He punctuated all three of his TDs with a backflip, which isn’t easy to do.
“I didn’t have the greatest start for a rookie, and rookies have little room for error,’’ said Wilson, whose 327 all-purpose yards set a franchise record. “I had to gain the coaches’ trust again. I stuck with it.’’
Wilson helped the Giants pile up their most points since the final game of the 1986 season and more points than the Saints scored in beating the Giants 49-24 last season in New Orleans.
“We were licking our chops for this game,’’ Rolle said.
At 8-5, the Giants maintained their one-game lead in the division on the Redskins and Cowboys, both 7-6.
At first, the early games looked great for the Giants, until they turned into double disasters. The Cowboys, trailing all game, came back to beat the Bengals 20-19 on Dan Bailey’s last-second field goal.
The Redskins, trailing the entire second half and losing Robert Griffin III to a knee injury, came back behind backup QB Kirk Cousin to force overtime against the Ravens then pull off a dramatic 31-28 victory.
If the Giants had lost, they would have dropped into a three-way tie and actually been in third place based on tiebreakers.
Several players said they didn’t know and didn’t care about the early scores.
“It didn’t have any effect on us on the field,’’ coach Tom Coughlin said. “Some of them may have known, but I didn’t pay any attention to it. What happened?’’
Informed both the Cowboys and Redskins won in dramatic fashion, Coughlin said, “On the last play? But we won, too, didn’t we?’’
The Giants won — beating Brees for the first time — because they forced four turnovers, including two interceptions of Brees by safety Stevie Brown, who set a Giants single-season interception yardage return record along the way. They also won because Manning threw scoring passes to four different players as the Giants came up big but didn’t gain any ground.
“It never works out for us that way,’’ Snee said. “I fully expect this to go down to Week 17.’’
Big kick-backs
The Giants set a team record for kick-return yardage yesterday. Here’s a look:
15:00, 1Q — David Wilson returns opening kickoff from 2 yards deep in end zone to Saints 44 for 58 yards
9:38, 1Q — Wilson fields at 3-yard line, returns 97 yards for touchdown (pictured)
9:46, 2Q — Wilson returns from 2-yard line to Saints 46 for 52 yards
1:57, 2Q — Wilson returns from 11-yard line to Giants 31 for 20 yards
7:21, 3Q — Jerrel Jernigan muffs kick at 20-yard line, recovered by Giants Jim Cordie at 23 (no return)
1:51, 3Q — Jernigan returns from 15-yard line to Saints 25 for 60 yards
Total : 5 returns for 287 yards (57.4 average)
paul.schwartz@nypost.com