There was certainly a chance — more than a chance, a distinct possibility — the Giants wouldn’t get here. Wouldn’t get close. They were too far gone to save their season and, perhaps they haven’t just yet. But their 11th game will be a huge one and who could have imagined that?
Giants versus Cowboys is the next game on the schedule and is now an honest-to-goodness battle with playoff-contention ramifications. Sunday night, the Giants made sure to keep alive this strange roll they’re on, as the two long arms of Jason Pierre-Paul reached up and plucked a Scott Tolzien pass out of the air and raced 24 yards for a game-sealing interception return for touchdown in a 27-13 victory over the Packers. That earned the Giants the glorious pressure of a late-November tussle that means something.
“It’s a division game and it’s for all the marbles,’’ linebacker Jon Beason said. “The winner is going to go on and still have a chance, and the loser is probably going to be left for dead.’’
That the Giants weren’t left for dead after their gone but not forgotten 0-6 start is a credit to (at times) good football, good fortune and good riddance to many, but not all of the problems that stuck to them like Velcro. They played perhaps their best game of the season in disposing of a sagging Packers team forced to deal with the loss of star quarterback Aaron Rodgers to a fractured left collarbone. The Giants were burned too often by Tolzien — making his first NFL start — but picked him off three times. The second one, a Pierre-Paul gem with the Giants hanging onto a not-so-steady 20-14 lead with 10:49 remaining, turned into the most exciting play in a season that is starting to bubble with possibility.
“It’s been a wonderful last four weeks for us,’’ Justin Tuck said.
“To get in the division [versus the Cowboys] and to have an opportunity, it’s something we’ve pointed to,’’ coach Tom Coughlin said. “Each game is so precious right now, we’re just excited to have a little bit of momentum going.’’
The Giants at 4-6 have not yet wiped clean the stain of their 0-6 start, but they are the hottest team in the NFC East. Up next are the Cowboys, who are 5-5 and were resting up on their bye. It won’t be a battle for first place, though. The Giants on Sunday got no help from the Eagles, who improved to 6-5 to move into sole possession of first place in the division with a 24-16 victory over the Redskins.
Now alone in third place ahead of the Redskins (3-7), the Giants can move into a tie for second place if they can beat the Cowboys at MetLife Stadium.
“We’re 4-6, we haven’t saved anything yet,’’ said Antrel Rolle, who notched a late interception of Tolzien. “We’re going out there and we’re fighting.’’
The injury to Rodgers has ruined the season for the Packers (5-5), who have lost their last three games. The Giants never sacked Tolzien and at times he shredded them (339 passing yards, including 117 to Jordy Nelson), but he wasn’t going to be able to get much accomplished as long as running back Eddie Lacy (14 rushes for 27 yards) was getting pounded by the Giants run defense.
Eli Manning, throwing the ball with more rhythm than he has in months, hit Rueben Randle on a 26-yard scoring pass for a 7-0 first-quarter lead. With cornerback Sam Shields a surprise scratch with a hamstring injury, the Packers had no one to deal with Victor Cruz. His 30-yard reception led to a Josh Brown field goal to make it 10-0. A Brandon Jacobs 1-yard touchdown plunge extended the Giants lead to 20-6.
There was plenty of tension in the building when Lacy’s bullish 3-yard scoring run with 12:43 remaining trimmed the Giants’ lead to 20-13. The tension didn’t dissipate when the Giants then went three-and-out, with Manning getting sacked twice.
Soon the tension was replaced by jubilation.
Tolzien from his own 30-yard line looked to his right to throw a quick out to tight end Andrew Quarless, but Pierre-Paul, limited all week by a sore shoulder notched his second career interception return to ensure the Giants were safe.
It was the second of three interceptions the Giants had off Tolzien but the only one called beforehand in the huddle.
“I read the formation, the tight end, how he was set, and I caught the ball,’’ Pierre-Paul said of his second career touchdown, his first coming last season at Dallas against Tony Romo. “As soon as I caught it, I knew it was a touchdown. I’m not a receiver or anything, but I knew it was a touchdown.’’