In a Week 12 home game in November, the New York Giants were at their lowest point after a 41-17 thumping by the Minnesota Vikings. Early in the fourth quarter, Eli Manning sat on the ground looking up, bewildered by yet another interception returned for a touchdown. This one was Chad Greenway’s 37-yard pick, run and score, making it 41-10.
“When you throw four interceptions, it’s never a good day,” Manning said after the game.
It was the fourth interception of Manning in the contest and the third returned for a TD. New York had lost for the second time in three games, and its promising 6-2 start was a distant memory.
If New York fans and media were hard on Manning and the Giants before, the Vikings game topped everything.
But all was not lost.
The next week, Manning was awful through three quarters at Chicago but rallied the offense on two late drives in the fourth quarter to come away with a 21-16 victory. The Giants went on to win two of their next three games to make the playoffs before meeting New England in the regular season finale.
And if there’s such a thing as moral victory, it came in that last game, a 38-35 loss to the Patriots. The Giants held a 28-16 lead in the third quarter. Manning threw four touchdown passes.
“We didn’t win the game, but if you saw everybody in the locker room, everybody was excited,” Manning said. “I never saw a locker room so upbeat after a loss, because we played so well, did some good things and hung in there in a game where we didn’t have to play. We wanted to. We wanted to come out and play well, and we did that.”
The New England game was a confidence builder. It was a booster shot that propelled the Giants to three straight road wins during the NFC playoffs. Manning hasn’t thrown an interception throughout the postseason after getting picked off 20 times prior.
New York will have its hands full with the Patriots in Super Bowl XLII. But it’s a different team, loaded with confidence. And the Giants can thank the Patriots for letting some of that confidence rub off on them.
Brady ready: The New England media and Patriots fans can relax. They were on edge last week when Tom Brady was seen wearing a protective boot on his right foot while delivering flowers to his supermodel girlfriend, Gisele Bundchen, in New York.
“It’s feeling good, I’ll be ready to go,” Brady said in a press conference on Sunday. “I’m not concerned about how it’s going to affect my play. This won’t keep me out.”
Brady’s injury, apparently a high ankle sprain, was suffered in the third quarter of New England’s 21-12 victory over San Diego in the AFC title game. After missing three practices last week, Brady returned to the field on Monday, fully participating in practice. He had a slight limp and his ankle was taped.
Chargers to play in London: The NFL is expected to announce on Friday that the San Diego Chargers will play the New Orleans Saints in London next season. It will be the second NFL regular season game played outside of North America, following the New York Giants-Miami Dolphins game in London last October.
The game is expected to be played at Wembley Stadium on Oct. 26 and would be one from the Chargers’ road schedule.