Manning threw for 337 yards and four touchdowns, including two to Odell Beckham Jr., without an interception, and he was not sacked.
Advertisement
With the Vikings firmly in the Wild Card race and the Giants in the middle of a three-way scrum for the NFC East title, the National Football League has flexed the December 27 Minnesota-New York game at TCF Bank Stadium to Sunday night.
EAST RUTHERFORD, New Jersey – For all the Giants offense accomplished in their 31-24 win over the Dolphins, Tom Coughlin was grateful Tuesday for two plays that involved neither a pass nor run.
In the fourth quarter, Eli Manning zinged a ball to the corner of the end zone and Beckham made one of the most impressive catches with his feet you’ll ever see. “We thought it would be a big play, but I didn’t think he would be that open”.
Manning finished the game with a quarterback passer rating of 151.5, marking his best performance since the 2009 season.
The Giants (6-7) broke a three-game losing streak and are tied with the Redskins and Eagles for the lead in the woeful NFC East.
Flowers allowed three quarterback hurries and a hit in the win over the Dolphins, garnering a negative game grade from Pro Football Focus.
One of the biggest questions after Monday’s loss was why running back Lamar Miller had just five carries in the second half after rushing seven times for 69 yards and two touchdowns in the first half. The last time Beckham jr. recorded less than 100 yards receiving was in October.
“We just didn’t make enough plays”, Jones added.
For a team that had to exorcise a season’s worth of fourth-quarter demons, the now 6-7 Giants couldn’t have scripted a better confidence-building conclusion to Monday’s game.
The sad thing is after all the offseason moves – signing defensive tackle Ndamukong Suh, drafting wide receiver DeVante Parker, trading for wide receiver Kenny Stills, drafting defensive tackle Kenny Phillips, signing tight end Jordan Cameron, etc. – this could be the worst Dolphins team in four years.
As was previously mentioned, Miller was having a great game before the Dolphins inexplicably stopped handing him the ball.
Miami safety Reshad Jones blamed miscommunication. He can’t catch, he can’t block, he can’t gain yards and now we have realized he cannot even take handoffs.
His final catch, a diving grab on third down at midfield, sealed the victory with less than two minutes left.
The teams were tied 17-17 at the half as Miller had scoring runs of 14 and 38 yards, and Miami also got a 36-yard field goal by kicker Andrew Franks. With 4:39 left to kill at their own 20, an 8-yard pass to Beckham set up one key first down.
Odell Beckham knows what’s coming. They still have a pretty suspect defense, with a head coach that’s known to messing up close games in the closing minutes and at the moment, they’re not winning the tiebreak.
Coughlin was asked if the Giants could just start planning to play Flowers each week, knowing the ankle will give out at some point. Rashad, running. Eli getting us in the right formations, the right play calls.
Advertisement
It doesn’t matter that in Week 15, Beckham Jr. will draw arguably the new best cornerback in the game, Carolina’s Josh Norman.
