Eli Manning

Giants at Redskins Game Story

By Michael Eisen

Sept. 25, 2014

LANDOVER, Md. – Early in the fourth quarter, it appeared FedEx Field had been evacuated, so empty were its burgundy and yellow seats. The few remaining fans were no longer singing “Hail to the Redskins,” the stadium’s chant of choice having been replaced with “Let’s go Giants!”

And go they did, from early in the first quarter until late in the fourth. With a redesigned offense that suddenly looks unstoppable and a defense that was utterly dominant, the Giants turned FedEx into their private playpen with a 45-14 thrashing of the Redskins.

The Giants have won their last two games after a shaky 0-2 start that now seems to have been the fault of imposters wearing their uniforms.

“We played well and we did a lot of very good things,” coach Tom Coughlin said.

That might be the biggest understatement of the NFL season’s first month.

The Giants dominated in virtually every phase of the game in winning their NFC East opener for the first time in four years. They ran for 154 yards. Eli Manning passed for 300 yards and four touchdowns. The defense forced six turnovers and made Washington’s star receivers, DeSean Jackson and Pierre Garcon, as relevant to the outcome as the fans marching to the exits midway through the second half.

Manning even got to dust off his rushing skills and scored on a one-yard run early in the fourth quarter, his first touchdown in more than three years.

“It’s been a few years since I’ve had a rushing touchdown but, as I told Deion Sanders, you can’t coach speed,” Manning said. “Some guys just have it and you have to break it out every once in a while.”

The Giants will be very happy if Manning keeps winning games with his arm. He spent the first half demonstrating how comfortable he is running the offense, completing 18 of his first 20 passes. And the two he missed were dropped by the intended receivers.

“I felt good in the first half,” Manning said. Moments later, Manning was asked a general question about the attack that has produced 75 points in two games.

“Yeah, I’m starting to like the offense,” Manning said. “It’s fun, each week we add some new things and what plays are going to work. Have a lot of good meetings with coach (Ben) McAdoo (the offensive coordinator), discussing, talking football, talking what plays we like, where we’re going to get to, what our checks are. It’s fun. Each week’s a challenge, each week’s a lot of movement and formations, a lot of no-huddle, and practices are fast paced. It’s exciting, it’s fun. I think guys, the offensive linemen, the receivers, they’re all starting to feel the tempo of things and see what we can do with this offense. We just have to keep working.”

Manning has numerous weapons at his disposal. Consider that wide receivers Rueben Randle and Victor Cruz combined for 14 catches and 197 yards, but each of his four touchdown passes was caught by a tight end. Larry Donnell scored three of them, the first time a Giants tight end hit that trifecta in 52 years, and Daniel Fells had the other, his third touchdown in as many games.

“It was a big night,” Donnell said. “Not just for me, but for the team also. Having a victory like that, being able to contribute and help the team like that, feels awesome.”

Manning’s five-yard pass to Donnell gave the Giants a 7-0 lead in the first quarter. Two more Donnell scores, sandwiched around Kirk Cousins’ touchdown pass to Andre Roberts, made it 21-7.

With seven seconds remaining in the half, Coughlin used his final timeout with the Giants facing a third-and-15 at the Washington 40-yard line. When play resumed, Manning threw deep down the right side to Cruz, who deftly stepped out of bounds at the 11 with one second remaining. Josh Brown then kicked a 29-yard field goal to increase the Giants’ halftime lead to 17 points.

The second half was more of the same. Prince Amukamara, Quintin Demps, Trumaine McBride and Antrel Rolle all intercepted Cousins within a span of five Washington possessions. The Giants scored 31 of their 45 points off takeaways, including two fumble recoveries (by Cullen Jenkins and McBride). The Giants have seven interceptions in two games.

“(Defensive coordinator Perry) Fewell has been challenging us to get turnovers,” Amukamara said. “Ever since last week, he said we need to be more Zack Bowman-ish. Zack Bowman is known for stripping the ball and picking the ball and we’ve just been rising to the challenge.”

Amukamara and Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie blanketed Garcon and Jackson. Garcon, who had 11 catches last week in Philadelphia, was held to two for 28 yards. Jackson, long a Giants nemesis, had one reception for nine yards, four days after scoring a touchdown on an 81-yard catch and run.

“Any time you’ve got big play guys like that, that’s a big part of their offense and if you take them out of their game, the offense tends to struggle,” Rodgers-Cromartie said. “And they did that. The main thing was just play tight coverage. Any time you’re in tight coverage, your quarterback tends to look the other way, but I definitely thought there would be more shots taken.”

Washington took the second-half kickoff and drove 83 yards in just five plays, capped by Alfred Morris’ 20-yard touchdown run that made it 24-14. When the Giants were forced to punt on their next possession, it seemed the Redskins might make it a close game. But three plays later, Amukamara intercepted Cousins.

The Giants lost a touchdown when replay official Charles Stewart ruled Randle did not have possession in the end zone before safety Brandon Meriweather knocked the ball from his hands and Kennan Robinson intercepted it. But 30 seconds later, Demps picked off Cousins and four plays later, Manning hit Fells for a two-yard touchdown, and the rout was back on.

Manning and rookie Andre Williams each scored on one-yard runs in the fourth quarter to conclude the dominant performance.

“The whole thing (was) to be able to leave here tonight and be 2-2, and 1-0 in the division,” Coughlin said. “That was huge. It’s exciting to be in the hunt, and by being able to come out of here with a win, hopefully, we have a chance.”

If they keep playing as they did Thursday, they’ll have a lot more than that.