Warmed up, and ready to go
The Giants spent most the first quarter a week ago against the Atlanta Falcons getting a feel for the game. They didn’t need that yesterday. Eli Manning started fast, using designed rollouts to complete his first two passes as the Giants took a 3-0 lead, and then turning to Hakeem Nicks on a crossing pattern that — after Nicks bounced off Packers safety Charlie Peprah — became a 66-yard touchdown. But the most important, and mystifying, play of the first 15 minutes came when Deon Grant appeared to strip Greg Jennings and Kenny Phillips picked up the loose ball. But one of the officials jumped in late and declared Jennings down by contact. Tom Coughlin challenged the ruling, but it was upheld. The Packers responded to the break by working the ball down inside the Giants’ 10-yard line on a quick pass to James Jones. Then the teams switched sides.
SECOND QUARTER
Eli saves his best for the last
The first and last play of the second quarter were touchdowns, and both represented significant momentum shifts. John Kuhn caught an 8-yard touchdown to draw the Packers even at 10-10. But the play of the first half came on the final snap, when Eli Manning threw a ball up for grabs in the end zone and Hakeem Nicks’ hands, facemask and chest worked in concert to collect the touchdown. That gave the Giants a 20-10 lead, and shocked the Lambeau crowd. Manning finished the half with 274 yards. Moments before the Nicks catch, the Giants seemed content to run out the clock, but Ahmad Bradshaw’s 23-yard gain made the last-gasp throw an option. In between, the Giants survived a Manning interception in the Packers’ half of the field and turned a Kuhn lost fumble — the first of his career — into a field goal by Lawrence Tynes.
THIRD QUARTER
It looked worse than it was
This is where you expected the game to tilt in the Packers’ direction. They took the ball first and figured to get their offense going. Unfortunately for Green Bay, the Giants also got their pass rush going — and it saved a touchdown. Aaron Rodgers had Greg Jennings breaking free behind the secondary for a score. But Osi Umenyiora got there first, forcing a fumble that Deon Grant recovered to end one drive. The Giants then stiffened later in the quarter and held Green Bay to a field goal. The Giants ran all of six plays from scrimmage in the third, and watched the Packers pick up seven first downs and hold the ball for 11:11. But the Giants still held a 20-13 lead when the 45 minutes of game time were in the books. Rodgers had two scrambles for first downs in the quarter — his fourth and fifth first downs of the game.
FOURTH QUARTER
Textbook job at closing it out
The first five minutes essentially made the next 10 all but a formality. First, Michael Boley’s sack of Aaron Rodgers on fourth-and-5 — a gamble, for sure, by Packers coach Mike McCarthy with his team still only trailing by one score — gave the Giants the ball. And on third-and-1 on their next possession, Eli Manning and Mario Manningham were in complete sync. A 9-yard gain extended a possession the Giants eventually turned into another Lawrence Tynes field goal — and a two-score edge at 23-13. The Giants turned another Packers fumble — they lost six in the regular season and three yesterday — into a Manning-to-Manningham touchdown and later tacked on a running score. Meantime, Rodgers was sacked twice and intercepted. It capped the fourth stellar defensive outing in a row.
