Giants guard Geoff Schwartz suffers foot injury in preseason game against Jets. Photo by Al Thompson

EAST RUTHERFORD: Even if it is just a preseason game, winning is always a great feeling.

The Giants, considered by many observers as a team not going anywhere in 2014, are 2-0 in the preseason and feeling pretty good about themselves right now, at least to a point.

“It’s different than the regular season, the preseason we’re back to camp,” guard Geoff Schwatz said after the Giants pulled out a comeback 20-16 win over the Pittsburgh Steelers (0-1) at MetLife Stadium Saturday night. “It’s nice we won but we have a lot to improve on so it’s a little different feeling from the preseason to the regualr season.”

The Giants ran 62 offensive plays in their preseason game against Pittsburgh Saturday night. On 61 of them, they gained a total of 239 yards, or 3.9 yards a snap. But it was that 62nd play that gave the Giants a shot in the arm.

The offensive line had a lot to do with the Giants success.

“I think that our goal every week is to get better,” Schwartz said. “I think we got better this week. It might not have shown some of the times, we had some penalties and stuff like that, but I thought as a whole we opened up some running lanes and we were good at pass protection which is what we need to do every week.”

One lane opened in the first quarter was a big one. Schwatz and his linemates, which tonight included left tackle Charles Brown, Schwartz at left guard, center J.D. Walton, right guard Brandon Mosley and right tackle Justin Pugh set up a play on the first snap of their second series, when Rashad Jennings took a handoff from Eli Manning, blasted through the space created by Mosley’s block on Lawrence Timmons and outran cornerback Cortez Allen for a 73-yard touchdown and a 7-3 Giants lead.

Jennings’ run was the longest play of the game and the longest executed by the Giants’ starters in two games.

“It was a play that Eli (Manning) made sure we were in the right play,” Jennings said. “It was perfect. Offensive line beat the double team. A puller came around and put a body to clear the hole and it gave me an opportunity for a one on one. One-on-one battles, you have to win, and that’s what I did. The rest was just a race.”

Jennings has been touted as a power back who gets the tough yards inside. But once he was in space, he turned up the speed and outran everybody.

“One thing I run around the locker room and say before games is, ‘Don’t let anybody define you,’” Jennings said. “You get a lot of labels as a player and an athlete. He is a physical runner, he is this, he is that. All positions. Same thing for me, I always want to be a complete back. That is what I want to prove in the league and that is the only thing I am going to settle for, so regardless what you are perceived as, it is more how you look at yourself. This is the beginning, we are still learning and growing and have a lot of stuff that we make sure we take care of, myself included. We are happy where we are at, but we are not satisfied.”

Jennings’ touchdown marked the second year in a row a Giants back ran for a long touchdown in a preseason game; last Aug. 24, David Wilson scored on an 84-yard run vs. the Jets.

The Giants rushed for 171 yards on 31 carries, a 5.5-yard average that was obviously boosted by Jennings, who had 85 yards on five rushes.

“I think the running game was good and we had a couple other good runs,” Manning said. “We got called for holding on a couple things, and we have to get rid of those penalties. But it seems like we’re getting good push and whenever you have a running back break a long one for 70 yards or 80 yards, whatever it was, that’s always a great thing to have: to go be able to hit that big play and hopefully we can get a few more of those and also be a little bit more consistent offensively.”

“I liked to see the 73-yard touchdown run,” coach Tom Coughlin said. “That was fun. I wish I had seen more of them.”

Manning played the first four series, but threw just two passes and didn’t complete either of them. He was also sacked once. Roethlisberger made a cameo appearance on the Steelers’ opening possession and also threw two passes. He completed one, a screen to Dri Archer, who turned it into a 46-yard gain, setting up Scott Suisham’s 26-yard field goal that gave Pittsburgh its only points of the half.

This was the first time Manning played in a preseason game without completing a pass. His previous low total in a preseason game was two completions, which occurred three times, most recently in the 2013 opener, at Pittsburgh.

“I’m not totally shocked,” Manning said. “Obviously, it’s not the ideal situation, but when you only have two attempts, there’s that possibility.”

Backup Ryan Nassib entered the game with 10:35 remaining in the second quarter and again had the longest stint of the Giants’ three quarterbacks. He completed 12 of 21 passes for 81 yards. But a pass he threw in the fourth quarter was ruled to have been thrown backward, which is a fumble. Howard Jones scooped up the ball and returned it 28 yards for a touchdown, giving the Steelers a 16-13 lead. The play was upheld after a replay review.

“Ryan did a good job,” Schwartz said. “We put a lot on the quarterback mentally. He did a good job of getting us into the right plays and hemade some good throws, he escaaped pressurte a few times.”

Curtis Painter followed and completed all seven of his passes for 68 yards, all on the game-winning drive that ended with his three-yard touchdown pass to Corey Washington.

Running back Kendall Gaskins rushed for 46 yards on 10 carries and caught three passes for 19 yards.

The Giants, who squandered a 13-3 advantage, went on to win, 20-16, on Corey Washington’s three-yard touchdown reception with 2:50 remaining in the game.

*The following Giants did not suit up for the game: Wide receivers Odell Beckham Jr. and Trindon Holliday; tight ends Daniel Fells and Xavier Grimble; linebacker Jon Beason; tackle Will Beatty; running back Peyton Hillis; cornerback Trumaine McBride; and defensive linemen Mike Patterson and Kelcy Quarles.
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