The first half ended as ingloriously as it began for the Giants — with a turnover leading to a Raiders touchdown.
There was the fumble on the opening kick that Oakland turned into seven points. Then, 88 seconds before halftime, Eli Manning reverted to Bad Eli and threw an interception to Tracy Porter, who raced 43 yards for a touchdown.
The Raiders, up 17-14, then opened the third quarter by putting together their best drive of the game and were nestled at the Giants’ 1-yard line on first down.
“This group, like [coach Tom] Coughin said, when we’ve had enough, we’ll put our foot down and we’ll make stops,” Giants defensive end Mathias Kiwanuka said. “And that’s what we’re doing now.”
Let the stopping begin.
Oakland’s Rashad Jennings took the first crack at the Giants defense, going left. Stuffed, for no gain by Jacquian Williams and Jason Pierre-Paul.
“We always say it don’t matter where they put the ball, just go out and play defense,” linebacker Jon Beason said. “You go out there, try to hold them to three but if you can’t, onto the next drive.”
The Giants would hold them to three, a critical development in the 24-20 victory Sunday at Met Life Stadium.
But there was more before the Raiders summoned Sebastian Janikowski and settled for the field goal. On second down, Terrelle Pryor tried to hit Denarius Moore in the back of the end zone over the middle. Moore juggled and dropped. Third down.
“If you’re not 100 percent solid into in and trying to get the ball back for your offense, then you’re not going to be successful,” Kiwanuka said.
The Giants got a break on third down with a false start against Oakland. Third and six.
“That was huge,” Coughlin said.
Pryor scrambled, tried to hit Rod Streater short of the end zone, but the threw was low and incomplete. The Giants declined a holding call. The Raiders took three points, going up 20-14 and keeping the Giants within a single score.
“It was huge,” Beason said of the stand. “Any time you can go out there, backs against the wall and make a play it’s always a good thing.”
As peppy as the Giants felt about stopping the Raiders drive that started the third quarter on the Oakland 20, those denied felt like they were chewing tinfoil.
“It’s frustrating,” Jennings said. “First and goal. You want to believe you can punch it in. We’ve got a physical group up front. We’ve got a talented quarterback, talented receivers who can catch. There are no excuses for not being able to get in the end zone and that’s starting with myself.”