Victory against Dallas Cowboys was one of the turning points for New York Giants: Eli Manning
New York Giants quarterback, Eli Manning, has said that victory against Dallas Cowboys was one of the turning points for his team in the National Football League (NFL) regular season.
He expressed these thoughts while addressing media after arriving in Indianapolis on Monday, January 30, 2012, for the Super Bowl XLVI game against the American Football Conference (AFC) champions, New England Patriots.
Giants has struggled and fought hard to qualify for the Super Bowl by stunning many observers.
The team lost its first game before winning three straight. Giants lost another game and won three more.
However, the team lost four straight games, which allowed Dallas Cowboys to gain the supremacy of National Football Conference (NFC) east division.
At that time when it was looking that Cowboys would top the division to qualify for the playoffs, Giants travelled to Dallas and outclassed the host.
The Giants were 12 points behind, but they hit back within the final five minutes of the game and scored two touchdowns to beat Cowboys (37-34).
Giants won two of the next three games after that and left Cowboys (8-8) and Philadelphia Eagles (8-8) behind to lead the division by winning a total of nine games.
Manning thinks that the victory against Cowboys really helped the team in getting back to the winning ways.
He said:
“The win at Dallas was a big one. There was a stretch there when we lost four in a row – going to play a division team, a team that was first place in the NFC East at that point.”
He added that:
“It was going to be tough to make the playoffs if we didn’t win the division at that time. We knew we had to go in and play well against a good team. They were playing good football. We got back on a winning streak – got us back to that winning feeling.
It was a big win at the time.”
Giants defeated New York Jets and Dallas Cowboys in the last two games to end the regular season on a positive note.
Manning said that the game against Jets was also an important one where the team’s defence was outstanding.
He commented about that game:
“From then on, our defence has been playing outstanding.”
In the postseason, Giants went on to defeat Atlanta Falcons (24-2), and the defending Super Bowl champions, Green Bay Packers, (37-20) to qualify for the NFC championship title.
Giants defeated San Francisco 49ers (20-17) in overtime to earn a matchup at Super Bowl XLVI against the Pats.
Giants are one win away from achieving the highest honour of the NFL and Manning wants his teammates to build on the past performance and clear the last obstacle.
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