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Week 3 Game Recap: New York Giants 24, Washington Redskins 17
What you need to know
| New York Giants |
The Giants came into this divisional contest, sitting at 0-2, and desperate for a win. Their offense did not help much in the first 30 minutes of football as they dropped five balls and fell behind early 17-3. Their second half, however, was a whole different ball game as the Giants made adjustments and successfully moved the ball, putting up 21 unanswered points en route to a 24-17 victory.
The Giants made it a point to establish the running game, in a familiar "Thunder and Lightning" form of Derrick Ward who rushed for 94 yards, and Reuben Droughns who had two one yard touchdown carries. Eli Manning had an up and down game completing 58 percent of his passes for one touchdown, while throwing two crucial interceptions. He shook off the two mistakes to orchestrate a fourth quarter drive that ended in a 33 yard game winning touchdown to Plaxico Burress.
The New York Defense, who was so brutally abused in weeks one and two, looked much improved slowing down the Redskins and holding them to a total of 17 points. They were ultimately the deciding factor, when Aaron Ross stopped Ladell Betts in his tracks on a fourth and one play from the goal line that gave the New York Giants their first victory in 2007.
| Washington Redskins |
The 2-0 Redskins looked to claim their second home victory of the season as they came out and offensively dominated the Giants in the first half. The second half of football, however, was a different story, as Washington was shut out in the second half, managing only four first downs.
Jason Campbell and Washington seemed to be out of sync, as they stalled on numerous drives and lost the possession battle. Campbell completed less than 50 percent of his passes in a 191 yard day that included one touchdown. Clinton Portis and Ladell Betts could only muster up 62 rushing yards while Portis found the end zone early in the first half. The deciding play of the game directly involved one-half of this dynamic duo, as Ladell Betts was stuffed on a goal line carry on fourth down that would have forced overtime.
Washington showed signs of dominance as it forced three turnovers and recorded two sacks in a losing effort. There was constant pressure on quarterback Eli Manning; however, they were unsuccessful in stopping the Giant's offense, giving up 24 second-half points.
What you ought to know
| QB Eli Manning, Pass: 21 - 36 - 232 - 1 TD / 2 INT, Rush: 1 - -1 - 0 |
Eli Manning shook off some early mistakes and completed 58 percent of his passes for 232 yards and one touchdown. He fumbled on the Giants second drive of the game and threw two interceptions, one of them, on a poor decision, to Sean Taylor. In the second half, however, Manning led the Giants on three long scoring drives, culminating with his only touchdown pass, which proved to be the game winner late in the fourth quarter.
| RB Derrick Ward, Rush: 26 - 94 - 0, Rec: 6 - 26 - 0 (7 targets) |
Ward had a good game amassing 120 total yards, 94 of which were on the ground. He was targeted seven times hauling in six of them for 24 total yards. He found success running against the Redskins front while most of his long runs came on delays and stretch plays. He was a clear check down option for Eli Manning and seemed comfortable catching his patented swing passes out of the backfield. He did give way to Reuben Droughns near the goal line though. He played the Tiki Barber role with Droughns grabbing the TDs like Brandon Jacobs used to do.
| RB Reuben Droughns, Rush: 3 - 3 - 2 |
Droughns was used exclusively as the Giants goal line back, rushing three times for three yards and scoring two touchdowns. Droughns benefited from two plays, both, which brought the Giants down to the one yard line, giving him an opportunity to finish off the drives.
| WR Plaxico Burress, Rec: 5 - 86 - 1 (14 targets) |
Burress turned in another solid game, despite battling injuries, as he reeled in five catches for 86 yards and one touchdown. He was targeted a team high 14 times, however dropped four balls that were thrown to him in the first half. His fourth quarter touchdown catch, which proved to be the game winner, was on a short route that allowed Plaxico to get in space and show off his speed, as he outran the Washington secondary for a 33 yard touchdown.
| WR Amani Toomer, Rec: 4 - 24 - 0 (5 targets) |
Toomer was targeted five times in the game, catching four of them for 24 yards. One reception was a nine yard completion where he was tackled at the one yard line and gave way to Reuben Droughns' second touchdown run.
| WR Sinorice Moss, Rec: 1 - 17 - 0 (2 targets) |
Sinorice Moss was targeted twice and caught one ball for 17 yards.
| TE Jeremy Shockey, Rec: 5 - 79 - 0 (10 targets) |
Jeremy Shockey was targeted ten times by quarterback Eli Manning and he managed to grab five balls for 79 total yards. He seemed to get more downfield looks and was targeted on an abnormal number of play action passes, including his long catch of the day that was good for 27 yards.
| PK Lawrence Tynes 1 - 1 FG, 3 - 3 XP, 6 points |
Tynes was good on his only field goal of the day from 34 yards out. He also added three PAT.
| NYG Rush Defense |
The New York defense only gave up 17 points while totaling two sacks and a fumble recovery. They shut down the run for most of the day and on a fourth and goal with under 20 seconds to play, rookie cornerback Aaron Ross stuffed Ladell Betts for a game winning stop.
| NYG Pass Defense |
The secondary rose to the occasion allowing a total of only 190 passing yards.
| QB Jason Campbell, Pass: 16 - 34 - 190 - 1 TD / 0 INT, Rush: 4 - 12 - 0 |
Campbell had a rather pedestrian game completing only 16 of 34 passes for 190 yards and a touchdown. He threw no interceptions, however he did have some trouble hitting receivers in the open field, especially on the run. His lone TD came on an eight yard strike to Chris Cooley, moments after he threw a beautiful deep ball that was good for a 49 yard hook up with Santana Moss. He was able to take his team down on a game tying drive only to come up one yard shy after the Washington offense elected to go with two straight runs on third and fourth from the goal line.
| RB Clinton Portis, Rush: 14 - 60 - 1, Rec: 6 - 37 - 0 (7 targets) |
Portis had a successful game on the ground and in the air for the Washington Redskins. He saw 21 looks, including seven targets, as he amassed 97 total yards and one touchdown after an Eli Manning fumble set the Redskins up with great field position. Portis was fed the ball on two consecutive rushes from the five yard line, breaking tackles to find the end zone. With the Redskins on the one yard line and needing a touchdown to tie, Portis was spelled by Ladell Betts who was ultimately stopped, forcing the Redskins to turn the ball over on downs.
| RB Ladell Betts, Rush: 7 - 9 - 0, Rec: 1 - 13 - 0 (3 targets) |
Betts rushed seven times for nine yards and caught one out of three targets for 13 yards. He was given back to back goal line looks, which he failed to convert with time winding down and Washington needing a touchdown to force overtime.
| WR Santana Moss, Rush: 1 - 2 - 0, Rec: 3 - 82 - 0 (8 targets) |
Moss had an average day catching three of his eight targets for 82 yards, including a 49 yard pass coming from Jason Campbell that set up the second Washington touchdown of the first half. Santana looked quick and was routinely behind the coverage on deep routes, however was only able to haul in one of his long looks from Campbell.
| WR Antwaan Randle El, Rush: 1 - -1 - 0, Rec: 2 - 32 - 0 (6 targets) |
Randle El caught two out of his six looks from Campbell for a total of 32 yards. He continuously found the open spaces in the Giant's secondary, however due to Campbell's troubles throwing the ball, was unable to be more of a factor.
| TE Chris Cooley, Rec: 3 - 19 - 1 (5 targets) |
Cooley brought down three of his five looks for 18 yards and a score. His touchdown came on a nine yard reception where he found a pocket near the front of the end zone and camped out to haul in Campbell's touchdown strike. Excluding his touchdown catch, all other targets were on roll outs where he was open in the flat.
| PK Shaun Suisham 1 - 2 FG, 2 - 2 XP, 5 points |
Suisham missed his first attempt of the day, which was wide left from 39 yards out. He connected late in the second half on a 47 yard field goal, which proved to be his only one for the game. He was two of two on extra points.
| WAS Rush Defense |
The Washington defense gave up 94 rushing yards to Derrick Ward and two rushing touchdowns to Reuben Droughns.
| WAS Pass Defense |
The Washington defense played a stellar first half, only to come out and give up 24 unanswered points in the final 30 minutes. Andre Carter forced a fumble deep in Giant's territory after getting to Eli Manning, which set up the Redskins first touchdown of the game. They also managed two interceptions against the Giant's signal caller, converting two of their three turnovers into offensive points.
