New York Giants Find Offensive Balance, Sparks Huge Game from Eli Manning

The New York Giants found balance on offense, and with it, a 31-24 victory over the Miami Dolphins in a must-win game that keeps New York in a three-way tie with Washington and Philadelphia for the NFC East lead.

The Giants, who have been striving for balance on offense all season, are now 5-0 in games played this year in which the difference between the rushing and passing attempts is seven or less either way.

Opponent	Rushing Attempts	Passing Attempts	Result
Washington	31	32	Win
at Buffalo	28	35	Win
Dallas	25	24	Win
at Tampa Bay	33	40	Win
at Miami	32	31	Win

Giants head coach Tom Coughlin, who on Friday told reporters that his team would try to run the ball against Miami’s 30th-ranked run defense, saw his team have some success in that regard once they pared down the bulky four-man committee.

Although New York only averaged 2.9 yards per carry when it was all said and done, that average was dragged down by the combined one rushing yard on seven carries by the trio of Andre Williams, Shane Vereen and quarterback Eli Manning.

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Rashad Jennings, who made a strong case for being the “hot hand” had one of his best showings this year, rushing 22 times for a season-high 81 yards (3.7).

“Yes, that’s complementary football. That’s how it should look," Jennings said. "That’s what we are capable of doing. Since we have proven it we have to keep that stamina.”

Because of the success with the running game, the passing offense came through with 337 yards, 166 of which came from receiver Odell Beckham Jr., whose back-to-back second-half scores of six and 84 yards pulled the Giants from behind and eventually put them in the lead to stay.

“Yeah, just a little double move,” Manning said of Beckham’s 84-yard score which broke a 24-24 tie and gave the Giants the winning edge.

“They were playing quarters and the safety was getting low, and just got him. Kind of ran a slant and go off him. It’s something we haven’t practiced in a while, but we talked about it, talked about it today with the guys, it might come up if they want to play some quarters.”

Ultimately, the balance on offense allowed the Giants to run an uptempo game that wore down the Dolphins’ defensive front late in the game as Manning and the Giants converted two out of their three third-down attempts to keep the Dolphins offense on the sideline.

Lynne Sladky/Associated Press

“That’s my quarterback. I expect that from him,” said defensive end Jason Pierre-Paul, who along with the rest of the defense forced a three-and-out from Miami to give the Giants offense the ball back with 4:39 remaining for a drive that ran out the clock. 

On the second of those third-down attempts, a 3rd-and-3 from the Dolphins’ 48-yard line, the Giants decided to throw the ball, with Manning connecting with Beckham, who managed to get his hands underneath the ball as he slid to make the five-yard reception. 

“I think we had to throw it. We had to throw, we had to get the first (down),” Manning said when asked why they threw the ball instead of running it in that situation.

“Let’s be aggressive and go get the first and win the game. That was the opportunity. We’ve been throwing the ball well, getting completions, had a one-on-one matchup with Odell versus a corner, and we took it, and we made the play.”

With that play, the Giants, who ESPN noted had at least six missed tackles about midway through the second quarter (h/t Jordan Raanan, NJ Advance Media), didn’t have to see the field again, with the victory put on ice.

“Our guys have hung in there. They’ve taken all the shots from the outside and they’ve continued to work hard, believing they can win and tonight that’s what it took,” said Coughlin.

“We’ve played a bunch of games where at halftime we were well in the game and leading many of the games, but we hadn’t done that in the second half so it was good to see that tonight.” 

Patricia Traina covers the Giants for Inside Football, the Journal Inquirer and Sports Xchange. All quotes and information were obtained firsthand unless otherwise sourced.

Follow me on Twitter @Patricia_Traina.