The New York Giants beating the Miami Dolphins might not say a whole lot of good things about them considering their weak opponent on Monday Night Football, but Eli Manning, through the magical hands of Odell Beckham, kept their playoff hopes more than alive, finally stopping the negative momentum.
After three consecutive losses, the Giants finally win. It was probably the easiest game remaining on their schedule, and now it’s the Panthers (about to clinch home field advantage), Vikings (trying to win their division) and the Eagles (a team that’s used to ruining things for the G-Men and have already beaten them this season). Against the Dolphins, it was a must win, and the offense at least came through with a 31-24 win.
Eli Manning threw four touchdown passes with no interceptions. He wasn’t sacked. He hardly felt any pressure. The Dolphins inconsistent defensive line was just that, while Ryan Tannehill maybe managed to escape getting sacked except for once, but he felt a lot of hits from all directions throughout the game. The Giants aren’t a very good defensive team, but at least they have a D-Line that can once again get in people’s faces.
Odell Beckham made Manning look good. Manning had just four incompletions, and things are easy with Beckham waiting to catch. He caught 7 passes for 166 yards and two touchdowns. Even Ruben Randle looked like he cares for once, with just one targeted pass at him not ending as a completion. He caught one touchdown pass and so did Will Tye, as Manning finally bounced back from a rough month, and the talk about Tom Coughlin making questionable decisions is left for another day, as the Giants scored two touchdowns to win the game after falling 24-17 behind in the third quarter.
Heading into the final three weeks, their schedule is still more difficult than that of the Redskins or Eagles. They still have a pretty suspect defense, with a head coach that’s known to messing up close games in the closing minutes and at the moment, they’re not winning the tiebreak. But they have the best offense out of the three teams and some sort of aura thanks to Manning and two Super Bowls that came from nowhere. The Giants only need to somehow make everyone else they face look as bad as the Dolphins. Maybe not even the wonderful Odell Beckham is good enough for that.