props to SoZkillA for posting the link but I thought this deserved its own thread. I think it's safe to say that the 2011 NYG @ Dallas comeback win is the greatest regular season moment in NYG history. If you want to split hairs we could say it's the best NYG regular season game during the modern NFL era.
Think about the stakes and what was won and lost that night. If the Giants lose the season is over. No East title. No wild card win. No NFC title. No Super bowl title. Eli's heroic season is wasted. JPP's heroics are lost. Tuck never has a chance to run off 4 good playoff games and pad his super bowl sack numbers. Nicks doesn't put together a postseason for the ages. Cruz doesn't get to catch 10 passes in an NFC title game. No super bowl salsa. No Eli magic at Indy. Fewell likely does not survive. Shit who knows if Coughlin even survives a lost 2011 campaign. If Dallas can hold a 12 pt lead they are the East Winners. They are hosting a playoff game. The entire NFC East landscape hangs in the balance with Dallas taking a 12 pt lead with 5:40 left in the 4th.
Think about the individual performances in this game. All the big plays. The close calls. The Romo misfire to Austin that all but seals it. The Eli 4th quarter magic. The shots of Jerry Jones and Co. in the booth. The drama. JPP blocking a FG to win it....on and on and on. This game did not have much defense but it pretty much had it all.
With everything at stake and the manner in which NY pulled this sucker out, I have a hard time saying this is not our finest regular season moment in at least 30 years, and probably longer. Other games that come to mind are 1981 at home against Dallas---a game that really started it all. But the Giants did not win a division title that day or even win more than one playoff game off that victory. Another game that comes to mind is NYG @ RFK 1986. This game all but launched the Giants to the East title, home field and a world title but this game did not determine the season like 2011's game did. If the Giants lose to the Skins they still have a season. If they lose to Dallas we lose everything.
The 2011 win at Dallas gets lost in the shuffle somewhat because it was sandwiched in between two historical postseason runs but I don't think there is any question that the impact that win had was enormous. Historical impact. The fallout is still being felt. Rob Ryan is out of Dallas. Romo is wealthy but still can't escape the label of not good enough while Garrett is on the hot seat. On the other side, Coughlin and Eli are nice and comfy shining their 2 super bowl rings.
Lets put it this way, if there was one regular season game you had to give back, this is the one you wouldn't give back. This win carried the most weight. And I love that it came at Dallas....again. I just love crushing that team so damn much.
2011 comeback at Dallas - (
New Window )
One downside is just how often #31 got burnt. I appreciate Ross' contributions to the Giants, but even on those highlights, he had what seem to be a number of bad plays. (Maybe he didn't get the backup help he was supposed to--I can't see from these videos, but he didn't look very good.)
No game comes close. If you had to pick one game not to give back, it's this one. There are dozens of classic NYG games that i'm proud to have witnessed but this game here is the tops. There is absolutely no question that a loss means we don't go on to win a super bowl and the manner and team they did it to....it's a slam dunk in my eyes. It's the greatest regular season moment in NYG franchise history during the modern era. Eli's biggest comeback in terms of what was at stake and the degree of difficulty.
I'm slightly biased because of my disdain for Dallas but that really doesn't matter here.
This is a game we will be talking about 30 years from now. If you ask me there are 6-7 epic games in the Eli era and this game is that same class along with supe 42, supe 46, playoff Lambeau 2008, playoff dallas 2008 and playoff san fran 2012. Close, classic, dramatic games
That's why for many of us, beating Dallas in the 2007 playoffs was as elating an experience as winning the SB.
such a great game
The Giants' offense did very little in the second half except score one short field touchdown. The 'Boys for the rest of the game kept getting the ball back with better and better field position, but Romo could not get the score, really beginning the Romo choke legend.
Everyone mentions the Austin "drop", but few remember the Cory Webster dropped Pick 6 in the second quarter.
It's crazy...this game is beginning to feel dated (not a slight on Eli, and don't even mean this in a football sense -- just in a time sense, more tied to personal memories but I'm sure you guys can relate).
But I HATE Dallas.
And even when knucklehead Mario dropped that touchdown, as annoyed as I was, I had a calm feeling deep down, "That's OK, Eli will just do it again."
And, of course, he did.
I'm starting to get hopeful about T2....dammit i'm setting myself up for misery.
After the Giants block the field goal to end the game, I wanted them both retained. My wife is looking at me strangely, by how vociferously I am defending him after wanting him fired. I have to explain that any team that can comeback like that with a little over 5 minutes left, down by 12, they need to keep the coach.
That's the last time I will ever lose faith in Coughlin.
So easy to lose this game in the lights of the subsequent Jets and Dallas games the next few weeks and of course the dramatic postseason. If you really sit down and calculate things it's a slam dunk that this is the best regular season moment in NYG history. All the drama and individual efforts and what was at stake...It directly led to a NYG Eastern title, knocked Dallas the fuck out and led to a NYG super bowl title. Without it we are toast. Simple as that.
Man I love when this team makes its bones on the back of Dallas. It's fucking glorious.
The music kind of covers it, but I love 2 of Collinsworth's lines during the last two drives:
"Eli Manning is doing the impossible ... again!"
"This is as good of a quarterback performance, in the clutch, with the season on the line, that I have seen in a long, long time."
Also, after the last TD, the way Eli walks off the field, with everyone giving him daps and he just starts barking at the defense to hold the lead this time. Absolutely wonderful.