RG3’S NIGHT: Robert Griffin III, pointing to the sky after the game-winning touchdown in the fourth quarter last night, gets congratulations from the Giants’ Justin Tuck (above) after the game. (Getty Images)
RG3’S NIGHT: Robert Griffin III, pointing to the sky after the game-winning touchdown in the fourth quarter last night, gets congratulations from the Giants’ Justin Tuck (inset) after the game. (AP; Getty Images)
LANDOVER, Md. — They sang “RG3, RG3, RG3” as they filed jubilantly down the ramp inside FedEx Field, and when Redskins 17, Giants 16, was over, Justin Tuck wasn’t any less angry at the football gods for putting RG3 between him and the Lombardi Trophy.
“I still am mad,” Tuck said, with maybe a half-smile.
The Giants wanted this one, wanted to show the super quarterback that he is unable to leap tall Supermen in a single bound, even if he is faster than a speeding bullet. That maybe one day his time will come, but that day is not here. A prince not yet fit to be king.
And RG3 crowned them when it mattered. Ruined their grand plans to put the NFC East out of reach.
“It’s always going to be frustrating to play a quarterback like him, that even when you’re playing your best ball, he can outrun you to the edge and prolong plays,” Tuck said. “There were some plays in there we should’ve had sacks that he outran us. There’s some plays in there we should’ve tackled him but he outran us. But, you know, I think as we continue to play him and get more adjusted to what he likes to do, I think we’ll play better.
“If he stays healthy, he’s gonna be a havoc on defenses for a long time.”
RG Whiz.
Now you see him, now you don’t.
Now he has the ball, now he doesn’t.
Now he has 72 of the Redskins’ 204 rushing yards and you don’t know what the hell hit you.
RG Glee.
Who out-Eli’d Eli Manning.
“They wanted it more than us,” Mathias Kiwanuka said.
It was the fourth quarter and it was Giants 16, Redskins 10, and RG3 showed you why he is born for this stage and these moments.
With major help from sidekick Alfred Morris, Griffin capped a 12-play, 86 yards, 6:38 drive by faking a handoff to Morris, bootlegging right, and with Keith Rivers bearing down on him, casually flicking an 8-yard TD pass to Pierre Garcon. Then he knelt and pointed to the heavens, soaking in the sweet sounds of FedEx Field erupting in a chorus of “Hail to the Redskins.”
Manning could not answer back.
“We have to play better football,” Manning said.
RG3 wouldn’t let him have one last chance to answer.
He hit Garcon over the middle for 17 yards on second-and-8 at the two-minute warning.
FedEx Field sang, “RG3, RG3, RG3.”
Three Morris rushes later, he was RG Knee.
“It was a couple times we had the perfect play call, he just outran us to the edge and things like that,” Tuck said, “and that’s the frustrating part.”
Griffin’s electric 45-yard romp around left end positioned the Redskins at the Giants 15 midway through the third quarter.
That’s when all hell broke loose.
Morris rushed around left end and fumbled, courtesy of Chase Blackburn. Before it was ruled that Rivers recovered at the 9, Linval Joseph reached into the pile and pulled the leg of Will Montgomery, who responded with a kick to the groin. Joseph started to respond in kind but held back.
An ominous sign that RG3 is leading a charmed life came earlier when he ran an option around left end and, as he was sprawling onto his back, fumbled — into the arms of Josh Morgan, who weaved his way 13 yards into the end zone to make it Redskins 7, Giants 3.
Manning rallied back then. On third-and-10 at his 27, he found Victor Cruz deep down the middle for 30 yards. Manning hit Martellus Bennett, all alone in the end zone, and it was Giants, 10, Redskins 7. Griffin quickly tied it with two completions to Garcon worth 53 yards and it was 10-10.
Manning took over at his 24 with 35 seconds left in the first half and three timeouts remaining. A 13-yard run by Bradshaw emboldened Manning. Tom Coughlin used his first timeout. Manning found Rueben Randle for 13 yards. Coughlin called his second timeout. Now it was third-and-10 at midfield with 12 seconds left. And Manning threaded the needle over London Fletcher to Bennett for 24 yards. Coughlin called his third timeout with four seconds left. Giants 13, Redskins 10 as the first half expired.
“It’s definitely tough to stay healthy in a league running that kind of an offense, but if he can do it, he’ll have a lot of great years ahead of him,” Kiwanuka said.
King for a day now. King for a decade, maybe.