The wind was swirling, light rain was falling, the boos were cascading down and the Giants were losing, in dreary fashion, to the Raiders, who thrive on the East Coast as often as vampires enjoy a nice walk in the midday sunshine.
The season they were so desperate to save was about to crash and burn away, with irrelevance beckoning before the first frost. A lost fumble by Jerrel Jernigan on the opening kickoff handed the Raiders seven points, a turnover from Peyton Hillis gave the Raiders three more and, the piece de resistance, another hideous Eli Manning interception for a pick-six gifted another seven points to the Raiders. The third quarter was nearly drained, the Giants trailed by six, another crummy Steve Weatherford punt put the Raiders in Giants territory and the first game in a three-game homestand at MetLife Stadium was turning into a desultory mess.
Was there anyone out there to save the season?
“One of the things we talked about at halftime was, and the one who was really emphasizing it the most was T-2, he was saying ‘We got to get a turnover, we got to get a turnover,’ ’’ defensive tackle Cullen Jenkins said.
The Giants call cornerback Terrell Thomas “T-2,’’ and the comeback kid, battling back from two ACL surgeries, came up with the play that saved the Giants. He completely diagnosed a third-down pass from gimpy Terrelle Pryor, knowing exactly where the ball was going and picked off a throw intended for Denarius Moore. Thomas then cut and weaved his way on a 65-yard return to the Oakland 5-yard line. Andre Brown, another comeback kid, scored a moment later on a 1-yard touchdown run, the Giants led 21-20 with 2:15 left in the third quarter and never trailed again in a 24-20 victory that keeps alive a very strange push forward.
“We certainly don’t make it easy on ourselves,’’ Tom Coughlin said.
Easy hasn’t accompanied the Giants into this season and after a 0-6 start, the reclamation project continues. But the Giants are now in a third-place tie with the Redskins in the NFC East and are in sight of first place in the division, 1 1/2 games behind the Cowboys and Eagles, both 5-5.
This all must mean the Giants are back in it.
“Not at all,’’ Thomas said. “We’re 3-6, you know what I mean? We’re not close to it. We got some work to do. We’re just happy we’re playing Giants football again, we’re giving ourselves an opportunity.’’
Don’t look now, but up next is a home game against the battered Packers, who will arrive next weekend with Scott Tolzien set to become the Packers’ third starting quarterback in three weeks. Tolzien replaced an injured Seneca Wallace, subbing for an injured Aaron Rodgers, and completed 24 of 38 passes for 240 yards, a touchdown and two interceptions in the Packers’ loss to the Eagles, and was named Green Bay’s starter afterward.
“It means a lot,’’ Antrel Rolle said. “We started off horribly, at the beginning of the season. Were 3-6, were moving in the right direction; but we still haven’t done anything yet. That’s our mentality.’’
No one is looking too far ahead, with good reason. To slide past the Raiders (3-6), the Giants needed to rely on two once-broken players — Thomas and running back Andre Brown, to continue to help fix the season. In his first game of the season after suffering his second broken left leg in the summer, Brown did more than anyone could have expected or anticipated. Coughlin during the week joked Brown would get 40 rushing attempts and no one was laughing when he got a career-high 30 and did all the dirty work in a bullish 115-yard outing to bail out his quarterback and several horrid special teams plays.
“We’re finding ways to win and that’s nice and obviously we’ve won three in a row but we still have to figure some things out,’’ Manning said.
The troubling season for Manning continues. He completed only 12 of 22 passes for 140 yards and a touchdown lob to Rueben Randle, and his misread on a pass intended for Cruz late in the second quarter was turned into a 43-yard touchdown return for cornerback Tracy Porter, who similarly intercepted a Peyton Manning pass and denied the Colts a Super Bowl title in 2009 with a pick-six to seal it in the fourth quarter.
In the fourth quarter, with a chance to put the game away on the Oakland 5-yard line, Manning on third down threw far too wide of an open Cruz. “If it was on me, I could have walked in,’’ Cruz said.
The Giants settled for Josh Brown’s 23-yard field goal and a four-point lead, which held up after Rolle’s sack of Pryor for a 9-yard loss, and on the next series a strip-sack of Pryor by Mathias Kiwanuka that was recovered by Jenkins with 3:21 remaining.
“I think we’re definitely still in the mix, still in the hunt,’’ Cruz said. “Obviously a few things have to happen but we just got to take care of what’s in front of us.’’