As they passed each other in the first winning locker room either of them had been in for far too long, Antrel Rolle bent down to say something to a sitting Justin Tuck, who responded, “Yes sir, let’s keep this up.’’
At long last, the Giants did something they want to repeat. No, their 23-7 victory over the Vikings on Monday night at MetLife Stadium will not be remembered as any sort of grand triumph and no doubt the national television audience was searching for “Big Bang Theory’’ reruns as the evening droned on. But for the Giants — the previously winless Giants — finding a way to win proved impossible for six weeks, and that they finally got one, no matter how unaesthetically-pleasing, was a monumental relief.
“It’s one of those ‘Oh, this is what it feels like,’ ’’ Tom Coughlin said.
“It’s good to be smiling and have a little excitement in the locker room afterwards,’’ said Eli Manning, who for the first time this season came out of a game without throwing an interception. “Those things are fun. If you play and don’t win after a while, you kind of forget that feeling, that winning feeling. It’s good to get one right here, and we needed it, and hopefully we keep it going.”
No one doused Coughlin with a Gatorade shower and none of the Giants proclaimed anything after they played uninspired — but mistake-free, for once — on offense, miserably on special teams and fiercely on defense. As complete performances go, this wasn’t anything special, but when a team goes 0-6 and then makes it to 1-6 everything looks glorious in the immediate afterglow.
“It feels like a party in here,’’ Victor Cruz said.
“I think we have a shovel in our hands now to help us dig out of this hole,’’ said Tuck, who had a 14-yard sack of Josh Freeman to knock the Vikings out of field-goal range in the third quarter.
The Giants bottled up the dangerous Adrian Peterson, limiting him to only 28 yards on his 13 rushing attempts. The defense actually pitched a shutout, as the only Vikings points came on a punt return for a touchdown. Freeman, the Buccaneers castoff, was abysmal in his first start for the Vikings (1-5) and it is hard to believe Vikings coach Leslie Frazier actually considered Freeman his best option. But he did, and the Giants gladly accepted the gesture. Freeman completed just 20 of his 53 attempts for 190 yards and an interception.
Get this: The Giants actually won the turnover battle, 3-1, with their only miscue a Rueben Randle fumble on a punt return. After 15 interceptions in his first six games, Manning did not throw one for the first time this season. He came close, though. In the third quarter, a third-down pass intended for Victor Cruz was off the mark and should have been picked off by Marcus Sherels, who could have run all day had he not dropped the ball.
“If you keep doing the right things, it will come around, you will start to play the way that you know you can,’’ Manning said.
Leading 10-7 and mired in the offensive malaise that for some reason overtakes this team after halftime (and sometimes before halftime) the Giants were slogging along, going three-and-out on their first two possessions when Steve Weatherford sent a 57-yard punt sailing to Sherels, who had quite an adventurous evening. Sherels in the first quarter had an 86-yard punt return for a touchdown, but this time he did more harm than good. He fielded the punt, ran to the 13-yard line and then tripped and fell and the ball came loose as he hit the turf. It squirted to the 3-yard line, where long-snapper Zak DeOssie fell on it. Imagine that, the 2013 Giants on the positive end of a turnover.
Two Peyton Hillis runs later, the Giants led 17-7 with 8:37 remaining in the third quarter. Hillis, signed a week ago, had to carry the load at running back with Brandon Jacobs out with a strained hamstring. Hillis (18 carries, 36 yards, 1 TD) wasn’t very effective — he did catch five passes for 45 yards — but said, “It’s kind of like a movie.’’
Manning was far from his vintage self, but he spread the ball around and did not take many unwise chances. He directed drives of 17 and 16 plays and twice settled for Josh Brown field goals, which was better than the alternative the Giants had lived and died with previously during this sorry season.
“You know what, we’ve been left for dead but we’ve still got our heads sticking out of the ground and that’s the truth,’’ linebacker Jon Beason said. “Hopefully this is the first of many.”