Twice during yesterday’s NFC Wild Card game at MetLife Stadium, the Falcons went for it on fourth-and-1, a clash of wills and a test of heart. And twice, the Giants stuffed Atlanta cold, the Falcons’ will found wanting and their heart found lacking.
“The key to stopping fourth-and-1 is heart. You’ve got to want to stop them more than they want to get that yard,’’ said Chris Canty, whose Giants showed plenty of heart in their 24-2 rout.
And the image of the Giants sprinting off the field in celebration and the Falcons trudging off in frustration told the tale of the beating more than any words.
“It was crazy, man. … They tried to come out there and impose their will on us, show how strong they are. To push them back like that gave us a lot of confidence,’’ said defensive end Osi Umenyiora, who called Atlanta’s attempts to ram the ball down the Giants’ throats not once but twice both rude and disrespectful.
One can add ill-fated, unlike coach Tom Coughlin’s decision to go for it on fourth-and-1 from the Falcons’ 4-yard line late in the second quarter, a play which Brandon Jacobs converted to set up the Giants’ first touchdown.
“We’ve got heart,” Umenyiora said. “We won’t take nothing from nobody. We weren’t going to get pushed around. I think we went out there and showed that.”
On the first play of the second quarter, Atlanta coach Mike Smith opted to go for it on fourth-and-1 from the Giants’ 24 and called a quarterback sneak. Matt Ryan was stuffed by Linval Joseph and Michael Boley, the latter of whom also had stopped the Cowboys’ Tony Romo on a fourth-down play in the regular-season finale.
“[A fourth-down stop is] big,” Boley said. “For a team trying to get something going, it kind of deflates you. It was big, us coming up with those stops. First, we were thinking they were going for the field goal, and then here they come, want to go for it on fourth down. It was definitely a big momentum-changer.’’
Smith called for a sneak again on fourth-and-1 from the Giants’ 21 with 4:16 left in the third quarter, and once again Ryan didn’t extend the ball. He was stopped short by Chase Blackburn and Jason Pierre-Paul.
“There were people trying to run the ball on us and we came out and said, ‘You can’t run the ball on us,’ so that’s what we did,’’ Pierre-Paul said. “We made a statement: Fourth-and-1, we’re going to continue to play great football.’’
Three plays later, Eli Manning threw a 72-yard touchdown pass to Hakeem Nicks to make the score 17-2.
“The two fourth-down stops were just outstanding and both were in the shadow of the goal line as well,’’ Coughlin said. “That really inspired everybody.’’