Eli Manning and Odell Beckham led a dramatic come-from-behind win over the Ravens. File Photo by Contrastphotography.com

EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. – The legend of Odell Beckham, Jr. added another remarkable chapter on Sunday.

He lost a fumble on the Giants’ first offensive play of the Giants home game against the Baltimore Ravens. In the second quarter, Beckham suffered a hip pointer that left him lying on his stomach after an incomplete pass and required a visit to the training room for an examination. He finished the half with two catches for 11 yards. While he was out of action, his replacement, rookie Roger Lewis, Jr., scored a touchdown on his first career reception.

So naturally, Beckham took matters into his own hands – and legs – in the second half despite a hip that, “was bothering me all game.” He caught six more passes for 211 more yards, including touchdowns of 75 and 66 yards, the latter on a fourth-and-one with 1:24 remaining to give the Giants a dramatic come-from-behind 27-23 victory over the Ravens in MetLife Stadium.

The Giants are 3-3 after breaking their 3-game losing streak.

Early in the season, Beckham was generating attention for penalties and confrontations with cornerbacks. Now he’s back to doing what he does best, making big plays when the Giants must have them and thrilling fans in the stadium and television viewers around the country.

“That’s what we expect him to do,” said Eli Manning, who threw for 403 yards and three touchdowns while wining his 100th regular-season game and tossing his 300th career touchdown pass. “We got some looks that we wanted. We were able to get to a couple plays that we’ve kind of had on the shelf for a few weeks, we just never quite got the looks that we wanted to get to them. Today, we got some of those and converted on them. It was good to see him make some bigtime plays in crucial moments. There’s nothing better than just catching a slant and going (66) yards for a touchdown to get the game-winning play.”

“There’s going to be a lot more downs and a lot more ups,” said Beckham, who finished with eight catches for 222 yards, the second-highest single-game total in Giants history. “Collectively as a team, we fought today for every bit of it. First play, come out, fumble. What are we going to do now? How are we going to overcome adversity? We did that. Now you just have to keep building on it. We’ve had some tough losses. There’s definitely going to be things to correct from this film and things to watch. You just keep it moving.”

That’s what the Giants had to do all day. They fell behind 10-0 early and trailed by three points at halftime. Despite his productivity, Manning threw two interceptions. The Giants rushed for only 38 yards. And the officials called a few penalties – the teams combined for 26 infractions for 230 yards – that the Giants took issue with.

The Giants took their first lead at 17-13 with 2:10 remaining in the third quarter. On the first play after a Justin Tucker field goal, Manning threw the right side for Beckham, whose double move freed him of Ladarius Webb, enabled him to catch the ball at the Baltimore 49, and outrace safety Eric Weddle to the end zone.

“Eli checked to it again,” Beckham said of the play. “This is the most prepared person I’ve ever been around in my entire life. He puts you in the right positions. He’s making all the throws. We’ve all struggled early this year. He kind of took us under his wing today. He said he was going to come out and give us his all. He led us the entire way in Eli fashion. He just put me in position. He called the double move and put it right where it needed to be.”

“I think it (Beckham’s talent) was on full display this afternoon,” coach Ben McAdoo said. “Very talented young man. He is humble in a lot of instances and he pushed through some tough times and injuries today and he really made us a better football team today. He’s a lightning rod for us. He’s a great energy source for his team.”

They needed every bit of it in a wild fourth quarter in which each team scored 10 points and the outcome was still in the balance on the game’s final play.

The tone was set on the period’s very first play, when linebacker Jonathan Casillas stonewalled Baltimore running back Terrance West for a 1-yard loss on fourth-and-goal from the one.

“It was an outside toss play and they have a good fullback,” Casillas said. “The fullback cut me and I did a good job of using my hands and protecting my legs and it was one-on-one with me and the back and I made a pretty good play.”

The Giants led, 20-16, after the teams traded field goals. Baltimore faced a third-and-four on the Giants’ 38-yard line on its next possession when Joe Flacco threw long down the right sideline for Breshud Perriman. Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie appeared to make a good play to knock the ball away, but was called for pass interference. A replay seemed to show Perriman shoving DRC, but it didn’t matter.

“When I’m running with him, he’s battling for me to get into position,” DRC said. “I’m fighting with him and he’s looking at the ball. That’s legal. You can do that. That’s what I always was told. That’s what I know. I’m not sure what he got of that. He said he got it in the beginning. That should’ve been a hold or something, definitely not a pass interference. I did think I made a good play because I held my inside position. That was critical to be inside. For the most part, I can’t argue that. It was a call that was made. I have to live with it. ”

The penalty gave the Ravens first down on the eight. Three plays later, West powered behind the left guard for a 2-yard touchdown and a 23-30 lead with just 2:04 left.

To make matters worse, Beckham’s hip was hurting.

“On the last drive, I told Roger Lewis, ‘Get your mind right, because you’re going to score the game-winning touchdown.’” Beckham said.

That wasn’t going to happen, because one of the game’s brightest stars was healthy enough to stand tall when his team needed him most. On fourth down from the Giants 34, and time running out, Manning threw a pass across the middle to a streaking Beckham. Covering corner Tavon Young was clipped by Weddle and fell down. Beckham caught the ball at the 30, faked his way past Webb, and sprinted ahead of Anthony Levine, Sr. for the deciding score as bedlam a reigned in MetLife.

“You just try to get one yard,” Manning said. “So you look at the defense a little bit – they were playing man-to-man, so (it was an) opportunity for one-on-one with your best player on a slant route. He did a good job of beating the guy and making him fall down. You hit him in stride, and good things happen. It’s tough to make a play on the safety – he outruns everybody and gets a touchdown. It was a huge play and the team needed it.”

But game was still not over. After the touchdown, Beckham was penalized for unsportsmanlike conduct for removing his helmet. The Giants had to kick off from their 20, helping the Ravens start their final possession at the 32. But the Giants finally appeared to clinch the game when Flacco threw a fourth-down incompletion – except Owa Odighizuwa was flagged for roughing the passer, another call the Giants deemed dubious. That gave Baltimore a first down at the Giants’ 24. The game finally ended safety for the Giants when Rodgers-Cromartie knocked down Flacco’s final pass in the end zone.

“It is huge,” Casillas said of the victory. “Three and three sounds a lot better than 2-4 and dropping two at home, that would have been really tough. It is not going to get easier going down the stretch for the rest of the games, so we had to win (today). Today was a must win and I think we did a good job.”

Actually, Beckham and many others did a great job.