DETROIT – When it comes to sorting out the second tier of the NFC, there was nothing bigger than the game yesterday inside Ford Field, which is why the loser felt so very disgusted and the winner so incredibly relieved.
And so, when cornerback Sam Madison with 49 seconds remaining tracked a deflection off the hands of receiver Shaun McDonald and snared it in his hands for an interception, an afternoon of defensive dominance and high-wire anxiety ended for the Giants with a 16-10 victory over the Lions, at least one of the combatants could not deal with reality.
“We gave them the football game,” declared Lions quarterback Jon Kitna, who threw for 377 yards but was also picked off three times. “In November and December you cannot let a team beat you at your place that is not better than you. This isn’t high school football.”
That claim attracted the attention of Michael Strahan, who got up close and personal with Kitna, sacking him three times in a full day’s work that left him weary but still aching for a fight.
“Did he really say that?” Strahan asked. “I honestly, in the first half, thought that was probably one of the worst teams we were playing that was 6-3, to be honest with you. So I don’t quite understand why Jon would say that. Bottom line is, we’re 7-3, they’re what, 6-4? Maybe we’ll see ’em down the road. If that’s the case we’ll beat that [butt] again.
“Give him some New York attitude. Come to New York. This may be Motor City, but we’ll whip your [butt] still.”
The intensity after the final whistle reflected the importance of the outcome. The Giants successfully rebounded from their first-place showdown loss to the Cowboys and moved two games ahead of their nearest challenger (the Lions) in the NFC wild-card race. To do it, the Giants had to knock off a team that had been unbeaten (4-0) and averaging 31 points at home. The Giants also had to withstand the season-ending injury to linebacker Mathias Kiwanuka (broken left fibula) on the second play of the game and a third-quarter hamstring injury that sent Brandon Jacobs to the sideline.
They also had to overcome a strange offensive showing that had Eli Manning complete 28 of 39 passes for 283 yards, no interceptions but manage just one touchdown drive, forcing three Lawrence Tynes field goals to be enough for a defense that is increasingly carrying too much of a burden.
“I think I personally thanked Sam [Madison] for allowing us to get out of there with a win,” center Shaun O’Hara said. “At times it felt like trying to draw blood out of a rock.”
Although they never trailed, the Giants could not build a margin based largely on their own mistakes. They were driving in the second quarter but Sinorice Moss lost the ball on a fumble. They were driving in the third quarter but Jacobs was stripped of the ball for a fumble. When Jeremy Shockey was tackled two yards shy of the end zone, Tynes trotted out and his 20-yard field goal made it a 16-3 Giants lead with 11:15 left.
With absolutely no running game (25 total rushing yards) to fall back on, Kitna hit four straight passes on a quick-strike 82 yards drive, capped with 4:34 to go when 6-5 rookie Calvin Johnson elevated over 5-8 cornerback Kevin Dockery for a 35-yard touchdown catch.
The offense failed miserably to run time off the clock, as Manning was sacked on third down, and the Lions got another shot.
After what looked to be a bogus roughing the passer penalty on Justin Tuck, safety James Butler jumped with McDonald and came away with his first interception of the season, in the end zone. Again, the offense could not seal the deal, going three-and-out to put the ball back in Kitna’s hands with 1:25 remaining. A 27-yard completion to McDonald put the Lions in Giants territory before Madison’s interception finally silenced the crowd for good.
“They bailed us out again,” guard Chris Snee said. “We should have been able to run that clock out. We didn’t do our job.”
Manning called it “a big step for us.” Tom Coughlin said, simply, “In the NFC, it was a big game.” But Strahan was more on point. “To come into Detroit, play a team at 6-3 and win,” Strahan said, “trust me, you can’t beat that.”