Green Bay 38 – New York Giants 35
For as bad as every other game in this afternoon time slot was, this matchup between the Packers and the “good” side of a Jeckyll-and-Hyde Giants team was almost criminally awesome. So far, it’s rating a “92” in the memorable scale by fans at NFL.com, and its reel of highlight videos contains a whopping 31 separate plays.
The scary part for the rest of the NFL is, this is what happens when Green Bay has an off day. The Packers’ run game was garbage again, as James Starks exited with an ankle injury, and Aaron Rodgers led the team’s rushers with 32 yards on the ground. And Rodgers, under constant pressure from Justin Tuck and a an insistent Giants defensive line, threw a pick and an unusually high number of incompletions, with 18 among his 46 passes.
But, you know, he had 369 yards and four touchdowns too. The fourth gave Green Bay a 35-27 lead, and a brief cover of Vegas’ 7.5 point spread, making Lawrence a very happy man. But Eli Manning, this Eli Manning, the good one that can stand tall under pressure and launch strikes to his receivers, and then bounce up from whatever hit he just took and race down the field to congratulate them.
That’s how the last few minutes of the fourth quarter looked, as Eli made throw after throw after taking hit after hit, driving the Giants to a late touchdown, and running D.J. Ware up the gut for the game-tying two point conversion.
The only problem for New York: They left 58 ticks on the clock. And that was 43 too many for an Aaron Rodgers team. Green Bay went from their own 20 to the Giants’ 29 in two plays and 14 seconds, a pair of strikes you could call surgical, except that no surgeon has ever made plays so fine while getting plowed into the turf by 300-pound adversaries. From there, it was no problem to wipe the remaining time off the clock, and get position for the go-ahead field goal. The one that preserved perfection.
It isn’t about maintaining a spotless record for Green Bay. It’s simply that they refuse to lose.
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Quick Hits on the Remaining Games
Baltimore 24, Cleveland 10
@evansilva: #Ravens finished Sunday’s win with 55:24 run-to-pass ratio. Over last three games Baltimore’s run-pass ratio is 118:74 and they are 3-0.
Arizona 19, Dallas 10
Our own Tom Gower (@ThomasGower): That Stephens-Howling TD reduced me to incomprehensibility. Seriously, #Cowboys defense?
San Francisco 16, St Louis 0
@RamsHerd: Steven Jackson could become the season’s first 100-yard runner against the 49ers. He just needs 51 more carries at his current pace.
