New York Giants Official Website

NOVEMBER 22, 2009

EAST RUTHERFORD - That sound you heard from here late Sunday afternoon was the Giants' collective exhale.

The Giants wasted a 14-point fourth-quarter lead, won an overtime coin toss to keep a red-hot offense off the field and watched Lawrence Tynes - who earlier had missed from 31 yards - kick a 36-game field goal with 3:54 elapsed in overtime to give the Giants a much-needed 34-31 victory over the Atlanta Falcons in Giants Stadium.

The victory was the Giants' first since Oct. 11, ended their four-game losing streak and improved their record to 6-4, one game behind Dallas in the NFC East race.

"It's nice to win, we were miserable around here for a month, it's nice to win," said Coach Tom Coughlin, whose team plays Thursday night in Denver.

"It has been a long time," said Eli Manning, who threw for a career-high 384 yards and three touchdowns. "Someone said it had been 42 days since our last win. It has felt like it, too. There are not many better feelings than being in a locker room after a win, seeing the high fives and the smiles, especially when you haven't had that feeling in a while. It was much-needed and we worked hard these past two weeks to get to this situation. Overtime, we got the ball first and went down there and did what we had to do to win the game."

That includes Tynes, who missed his fourth field goal inside 40 yards this season, including his short try in the second quarter.

"I knew that was going to haunt us even though we were up 14," Tynes said. "I knew I had to make amends and fortunately I got an opportunity to do that.

"I am very, very glad and we are very unfortunate to have gotten the ball in overtime because of the way the Falcons were moving the football in the last quarter. I think if they get the ball, they would have a pretty good chance of scoring. I am just glad we won. I will fix whatever I need to fix, but I need to stop missing those short ones."

Manning's three-yard touchdown pass to Madison Hedgecock increased the Giants' lead to 31-17 early in the fourth quarter. But the Falcons responded with a 12-play, 65-yard drive that ended with Matt Ryan throwing a four-yard touchdown pass to Eric Weems. The Giants then held the ball for less than three minutes before punting.

Atlanta took possession at its own 24-yard line with 3:42 remaining. Ryan converted two third downs on another 12-play drive and threw an 11-yard touchdown pass to tight end Tony Gonzalez to tie the score at 31-31 with only 28 seconds remaining.

"We have to find a way to get a stop," defensive end Osi Umenyiora said. "The offense put us up by two touchdowns and we let them drive the ball down. But they are a good football team, there is no question about that. They have a good quarterback, we let them get back on track a little bit, which I am disappointed in. But the most important thing is we got the victory and we are happy about that."

When the captains met at midfield for the overtime coin toss, Ryan called tails, as he did prior to the opening kickoff. It came up heads for the second time and the Giants got the ball for what would be the only possession in overtime.

On third-and-two-, Manning hit Hakeem Nicks for a seven-yard gain to the Giants 48-yard line. The next play was a 29-yard pass up the right side to Mario Mannigham (six catches for 126 yards).

"Mario ran a great route," Manning said. "Really, just had a fade route and I threw it to his back shoulder. He made a great adjustment and got a great release off the corner. He adjusted well, got some more yards after the catch, and so that was a huge play."

The Giants gained five more yards before Tynes came on to kick the field goal that gave the Giants their much-needed win.

"It's been a tough month around here," guard Chris Snee said. "Things went so well in the beginning and then obviously we hit a rough patch and hopefully this will steer us in the right direction."

"Both teams came into a must-win game today," said linebacker Michael Boley, who had 13 tackles, including a sack, in his first game against his former team. "And for it to come down how it did, it was real exciting. It was one of those games where a lot of plays were made by both teams on either side of the ball. This was like a shot of penicillin for us today. For me, personally, I'm very proud of this team and the way all of our guys played today. They showed a lot of heart and a lot of character."

Manning, who had his first 300-yard passing game at home after eight on the road, threw two touchdown passes of 28 and four yards to tight end Kevin Boss and three yards to fullback Madison Hedgecock, Brandon Jacobs scored on a two-yard run and Tynes kicked two field goals for the Giants.

"It feels a lot better (to play well in a victory)," Boss said. "It makes it a whole lot sweeter. It's always nice to contribute to the victory. Having that win, finally getting that monkey off our back, feels real nice."

In addition to Ryan's touchdown passes, Atlanta scored on a pair of rushing touchdowns by Jason Snelling and Jason Elam's field goal. The Falcons fell to 5-5 but play their next three games at home. Snelling started because both Michael Turner and Jerious Norwood were inactive with injuries.

Hedgecock's first touchdown of the season increased the Giants' lead to 31-17 with 12:08 remaining in the fourth quarter. The score ended a nine-play, 79-yard drive that included a perfect 27-yard Manning pass up the left side to Manningham on third-and-one. An 18-yard pass to Boss put the Giants on the three and Hedgecock caught Manning's short pass for the score on the next play.

"It was kind of a rub route," Hedgecock said. "They went and they doubled Kevin Boss and forgot about me."

Elam's 25-yard field goal lifted the Falcons to within 24-17 with 1:57 remaining in the third quarter. Before the kick, Atlanta drove 70 yards in 17 plays and was aided by three Giants penalties. The Falcons converted a third-and-10 when Ryan threw a 14-yard pass to Michael Jenkins.

Atlanta was set up with a first-and-goal at the eight, but two incomplete passes followed Snelling's one-yard run and Elam came on to kick the field goal.

Jacobs' short touchdown run increased the Giants' lead to 24-14 with 8:36 remaining in the third quarter. The big back took a handoff from Manning, made a quick right turn and stepped untouched into the end zone. He then ran over and flipped the ball to his wife, Kim, who was sitting in the first row above the west end tunnel.

The Giants marched 74 yards in five plays, the first of which was Steve Smith's terrific catch on the left side of a Manning pass for a 51-yard gain. Smith beat cornerback Chris Houston on the play. Ahmad Bradshaw then ran 12 yards to the 11.

Houston was penalized for interfering with Manningham in the end zone, giving the Giants a first down on the one. Jacobs lost a yard on first down, then scored on the next snap.

Snelling's two-yard touchdown run had moved the Falcons to within a field goal at 17-14 with 11:43 remaining in the third quarter. On third-and-goal, Snelling took a handoff and bulled his way over left guard into the end zone.

The Falcons took the second-half kickoff and moved 63 yards in eight plays, including Ryan passes of 28 yards to Jenkins and 23 yards to Justin Peelle.

Boss' second touchdown reception of the game, with 14 seconds remaining in the second quarter, increased the Giants' halftime lead to 17-7. At the half, the Giants owned sizeable advantages in yardage (232-97), passing yards (187-45) and first downs (14-8).

On third-and-goal from the four, Boss found an opening at the goal line and caught Manning's pass for the score. Boss is the second Giant with two touchdown receptions in a game this season; Steve Smith did it at Kansas City on Oct. 4 on catches of three and 25 yards. The last Giants tight end with two scoring catches in a game was Jeremy Shockey on Oct. 15, 2006 - also against Atlanta. Shockey scored on receptions of two and four yards.

The Giants' 34-yard drive was set up by a takeaway. Justin Tuck sacked Ryan for a one-yard loss and forced a fumble that was recovered by Umenyiora.

Manning threw to Manningham for 10 yards, then picked up a mishandled shotgun snap and handed the ball to Danny Ware for a 13-yard gain to the 11. Manning hit Smith for a seven-yard gain two plays prior to the touchdown.

The Giants regained the lead at 10-7 on Boss' 28-yard touchdown reception with 7:01 remaining in the second quarter.

On first down, Manning threw to the right sideline for Boss. The tight end caught the ball at the 10, faked his way past safety Erik Coleman at the five and stepped into the end zone for his third touchdown of the season. It was the longest touchdown catch of Boss' career, easily beating a 19-yarder vs. Washington on Dec. 16, 2007.

The Giants traveled 52 yards in just three plays on their way to the touchdown. Jacobs ran for four yards and after Smith's holding penalty sent the Giants back to their 42, Manning connected with Hakeem Nicks up the left sideline for a 30-yard gain. Boss scored on the next play.

"The first (touchdown) is something we run quite a bit," Boss said. "We kind of mixed it up this week and put in a different formation. We got down there, close to the end zone and I tried to do all I could to get in there. The second one, it's a play that we have in nearly every week. It's been pretty successful for us. We had the chance to run it and I kind of had my fingers crossed that we'd run it down there when we got down there close. Eli just put it on me, where no one else could get it."

Atlanta had taken a 7-3 lead on Snelling's seven-yard touchdown run with 13:58 remaining in the second quarter. On second-and-goal, Snelling took a handoff and burst through a gaping hole on the Falcons' right side for an easy score. The Falcons drove 65 yards in nine plays, the longest being an 18-yard pass from Ryan to Peelle, the backup tight end. Snelling ran for 31 yards on the drive.

Tynes put the game's first points on the board with a 39-yard field goal with 2:54 remaining in the first quarter. Before the kick, the Giants drove 64 yards in 11 plays, including 16-yard receptions by Domenik Hixon and Manningham.

Both kickers also missed field goal attempts in the second quarter. Tynes pulled a 31-yard try wide left and Elam was wide right on a 35-yard attempt.