Giants inspired by defensive stands

It wasn't about technique. It wasn't about timing. It wasn't about physical strength. Chris Canty said stopping a pair of fourth-and-inches plays that were a big part of Sunday's Giants win had nothing to do with those elements.

"The key to stopping fourth-and-1 is heart," Canty said. "You've got to want to stop them more than they want to get that one yard. There's nothing fancy. You put your hand in the dirt and it's attack."

The Giants did that twice. The first time was in the second quarter when, after a series of shifts trying to draw the Giants offside, Matt Ryan tried a quarterback sneak from the Giants' 24. Jason Pierre-Paul pushed up the middle and linebacker Michael Boley flew over the top of the line of scrimmage to stop the advancement and stuff the play.

With the game still in the balance in the third quarter, the Falcons again tried a sneak, this time on fourth-and-inches from the Giants' 21. Ryan took the snap and tried to push forward but was stopped by Pierre-Paul and Canty.

"The two fourth-down stops were just outstanding and both were in the shadow of the goal line as well," Tom Coughlin said. "That really inspired everybody, to be honest with you. Those plays that our defense made really inspired everybody."

There was a third as well. Chase Blackburn stuffed Michael Turner on a third-and-1 run. The Falcons didn't even think about going for it on fourth down that time, instead punting the ball away late in the third quarter.

The Giants also had a key fourth-and-inches stop on a quarterback sneak by the Cowboys' Tony Romo last week as they won the NFC East title and clinched a playoff berth. On that play, Boley dived over the top of the pile and pulled Romo backward.

"We always talk about 'just give us a stand,' whether that's fourth-and-1 or fourth-and-goal," Justin Tuck said. "Just give us a stand, something to put our backs to. We did a good job of not allowing them to get any penetration. Ryan didn't have nowhere to go and that's pretty much it."

The Giants started the week by referring to the Falcons' offensive linemen as dirtbags. After the game, Osi Umenyiora suggested that their attempts to squeeze an extra inch from the defense on those sneaks was somehow uncouth.

"It was rude," Umenyiora said of the insult. "But the guys inside, Linval [Joseph] and Canty, they stepped up and just mushed them back."

Umenyiora said he knew it was a back-breaker for the Falcons, especially the second one, when the game still was in reach at 10-2.

"If you go for it on offense and the team stuffs you, I mean, how do you respond from there?" he asked. "It's hard to recover from something like that if it happens over and over again. It's basically the team telling you that they're stronger than you and you're not going to run this ball on us. And once that happens, it's only downhill from there for the opposing team."