The Giants stole one yesterday from the Bears, but the football gods probably had a say in this one. The Bears victory last week against Denver can generously be called fortunate. Two KO returns by Hester, a blocked punt leading directly to a TD, and finally a last play, fourth down, finger tip grab in the end zone to send the game to OT were all needed by Chicago. So yesterday’s outcome was NFL justice, so to speak.
While Eli gets the headlines for two fourth quarter TD drives, the real credit should go the defense which played valiantly all day. With Manning bumbling and stumbling for three quarters (and three turnovers), the Giants defense continually made plays to keep the contest a two possession game at 16-7. They kept getting the ball back in the offense’s hands, and the offense just kept giving it right back to Chicago. Until the final eleven minutes. Thankfully, the coaching staff tried something different and went to a hurry up. It first got them in the end zone on a simply terrific catch by Amani Toomer (which replay had to overturn) and then on a well crafted drive resulting in a one yard TD run by Reuben Droughns.
Right before the touchdown to Droughns, some serious discussion had to take place on the Giants’ sideline. After getting a first down at the one yard line at the two minute mark, the Giants had three options. One, kneel on the ball and run the clock down to almost nothing and kick a FG to win the game. The Bears owned just one time out. Second, kneel down on first down only (making Chicago use the timeout), and then try to score on the next two plays. If you score, the Bears are out of timeouts and need a TD to win. If you don’t score, the clock will run down to almost nothing anyway and you still have the FG to fall back on. Third, just go for the TD and take your chances with Hester and the Bears offense (with one timeout). The Giants choose not to mess around and go for the score, which I believe the Bears let them get because they wanted to ball back with time on the clock. While I have no problem with this option (the Giants defense was playing terrific), I was not amused that they actually kicked to Hester on the ensuing kickoff. The short kick was only returned to the Chicago 42 (two yard worse than kicking out of bounds), but why even take the chance? That was wayyy to risky. The fact of the matter is almost of this late game strategy is due to Hester’s great ability, so why kick it to him? In regards to just kicking the FG, considering the snap on the previous extra point was high and then almost missed by Tynes, I don’t think it was an option in Coughlin’s eyes. Personally, I would have went with option #2.
Finally, kudos to David Tyree, who’s been pretty invisible all year. He got a hand on a punt in the second quarter to create a short field and help get the Giants that first score. Then he had two grabs on the winning drive, including a nice catch and run to get the Giants into prime FG range. I am pretty sure he replaced Moss, who we really have to start wondering about. The Giants desperately need Steve Smith to get healthy and give Manning another target he has confidence in.
