A look back at the Giants 37-29 victory over the Cardinals:
PLAY OF THE GAME:
Domenik Hixon’s 83-yard kickoff return in the second quarter. With the Cardinals leading 9-7 a kickoff by Neil Rackers was fielded by Ahmad Bradshaw and returned 21 yards to the Giants 22-yard line. A penalty flag was thrown on the play, offsides on the Cardinals. The Giants accepted the penalty, Rackers kicked off from his 25-yard line and this time Domenik Hixon fielded the ball back at the goal line. It proved to be a costly penalty when Hixon burst through the initial wave of Arizona defenders and appeared to have clear sailing down the left sideline before Antrel Rolle finally tackled Hixon on the Arizona 17-yard line. The Giants offense sputtered and had to settle for a John Carney field goal.
“The 10 guys up front did a heck of a job blocking,” Hixon said. “A couple of times I don’t think I was touched until the last guy got me and that’s on me to make him miss. They did their job, I just have to finish it off for them.”
QUOTE OF THE DAY:
“That’s why we’re a team. That’s what a team does, when guys are out someone else steps up.”
Guard Chris Snee, commenting on the absence from the offense of running back Brandon Jacobs and receiver Plaxico Burress, who both were out with injuries.
BREAKDOWN:
This was not the typical game the Giants want to play. They want to pound the ball on the ground, but without Brandon Jacobs and with the Cardinals stuffing the box with eight defenders it was practically impossible to get much accomplished in the running game. No problem. The Giants simply shifted gears and asked Eli Manning to beat the Cardinals with his arm. He did, completing 26 of 33 passes for 240 yards, three touchdowns and no interceptions. There was all this talk leading into the game how Manning had very few 200-yard passing games and all sorts of concern that perhaps the Giants were getting a bit stale in the passing game. In a game they needed to get yards and points through the air, they did it with ease, with Manning compiling a quarterback rating of 127.3.
UP NEXT:
It’s back to the familiar environs of the NFC East with a trip to Washington to face the Redskins. The Giants in the season opener beat the Skins 17-6 and it appeared that Jim Zorn in his first game as head coach did not have a handle on his new team. Zorn regrouped and the Redskins are one of the more surprising teams in the league. The Skins (8-3) came back to beat the Seahawks to remain three games behind the Giants.