The Giants' Losing Streak Comes to an End—Barely

Eli Manning threw for 384 yards, three touchdowns and led the Giants on a game winning overtime drive yesterday afternoon at the Meadowlands.

Let’s elect him New York’s athlete of the year right now.

Let’s roll out the red carpet for him every time he walks in and out of Giants Stadium for the rest of his career.

Let’s begin praising him as the best pig skin tosser in New York since Broadway Joe.

Or…let’s just be thankful that our $100 million quarterback finally played like, well, a $100 million quarterback.

Yesterday afternoon Manning did exactly what you’d expect your $100 million franchise quarterback to do.  He took his team by the reins and led them to their first victory in nearly six weeks.  

The Giants’ running game was non-existent and the defense was suffering yet another fourth quarter collapse.  So, despite Coach Coughlin’s admission that he didn’t have enough confidence to turn to Eli with the game on the line two weeks ago against the Chargers, he had no choice but to turn to his $100 million man this past Sunday.

And Eli delivered.

It was an ugly win for a team that’s been playing ugly football for more than a month now, but it was a win all the same—even if it was likely determined by the overtime coin toss.  

There was little to suggest that had the Falcons won the overtime coin toss, Matt Ryan would not effortlessly lead them right down the field for a third consecutive time.

Although the Giants avoided becoming the first team in NFL history to go 5-0 and then lose their next five straight games, we shouldn’t view this victory as anything more than it was.

Our franchise quarterback simply played like a franchise quarterback, and the defense still appeared to be in a state of complete disarray.

Cautiously optimistic would be the best way to describe the feeling of most Giants fans as the team prepares for Thursday night’s showdown with the Denver Broncos.

However, cautiously optimistic is a very large step up from being ready to toss in the towel.

The Giants live to fight another day, thanks in large part to Matt Ryan's call of "tails"—and the coin landing with heads pointing towards the sky.