NFL Highlights: Late TD By Kevin Boss Puts Giants Over Jags
With the New York Giants down 17-6 at halftime, they rally and come back to beat the Jacksonville Jaguars 24-20, and for the first time in a while, they did not have a single turnover.
The Giants displayed a great deal of team effort. They were really struggling in terms of their offensive line, with their left tackle
and backup left tackle gone, so they didn’t really have any continuity in terms of their running game.
But they really got a boost from Brandon Jacobs. With Tom Coughlin putting him in the starting lineup, he averaged over six yards per carry. Ahmad Bradshaw also had a great rushing game, averaging five yards per carry.
So the Giants are getting back to being a physical team. After all, physical is how the Giants play football.
Most analysts were surprised at the Giants, since they didn’t decide to use the pass rush against Jaguars QB David Garrard until later in the game. But the later pass rushes actually were the biggest factor in their victory.
In the beginning, the Giants were trying to mix the game up, first opting more for coverage plays instead of blitzing like they did against Michael Vick and the Philadelphia Eagles in their loss last week.
However, their coverage plays were effective, because they were able to keep the ball in front of them and keep their team in the game until their offense started playing better.
So the Giants improved to 7-4 and the Jags fell to 6-5, which is a huge loss for them as they try to find a spot in the AFC playoffs.
When they were behind by 11, Coughlin wasn’t the only person in the locker room who was trying to get the Giants to play better. Even louder that Coughlin was Justin Tuck, who had a clear simple message: “Stop playing like garbage.”
Luckily for the Giants, they got the message and came back to save their season with only five games left.
"I talked about how you allow somebody to come into your house and take over," Tuck said after the Jaguars had taken a 17-6 halftime lead. "At that point, they were doing just about whatever they wanted to do. We couldn't allow ourselves not to be on the
same page."
"I told them I was playing like garbage," Tuck added. "I told them we were playing like garbage. In the second half, we've got to pick it up. I just tried to create a spark, and it worked."
"That [win] was something that we needed," Coughlin said. "We needed to rise up and have a finish like that. We're all aware of the circumstances that we're in, that the division is in, that the conference is in, and we needed to keep pace."
With the Giants behind by three and less than four minutes left in the game, Kevin Boss brought the Giants back from a two game losing streak.
They Giants were at third and 10 with 32 yards still to go till the end zone.
"He saw it," Manning said of Boss. "He went up the field looking for the ball and I got it to him."
Boss made the reception at the 25 and was nearly taken down by safety Courtney Greene.
"He almost brought me down," said Boss, whose holding penalty cost the Giants a first-half touchdown. "I was kind of fumbling and stumbling to keep my feet and get in the end zone."
Greene took the blame for the loss.
"I just missed the tackle," said Greene, who led the Jaguars with 11 tackles.
"This is a team that's been in Super Bowls and been in a lot of playoff runs, so we can't let up on a team like that," Jaguars defensive end Jeremy Mincey said of the Giants. "It's a sign of maturity. We have a lot of growing up to do all across the board."
The Giants will play their next game at home against the Washington Redskins on December 5, while the Jags will be at LP Field against the Tennessee Titans.
Stay tuned!
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