How Giants' defense frustrated Brady
New York Giants outside linebacker Michael Boley gets his hand on the wrist of New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady to cause him to fumble in the third quarter. (Nov. 6, 2011) Credit: AP
It was just too easy to ignore. Less than three months after saying he considered himself in the same class as the future Hall of Fame quarterback, Eli Manning went drive-for-drive against Tom Brady in the fourth quarter to pull out a Giants win.
Eli tops Brady. Again.
But Manning didn't really beat Brady. He beat the Patriots' defense, which entered the game ranked dead last in yardage allowed. He led the go-ahead drive (twice!) and threw the touchdown passes (twice!), but it wasn't Manning who made Brady look confused and out of sync. That honor goes to the Giants' defense.
"[We] played against one of the superb quarterbacks in the history of the league and did a reasonable job," Tom Coughlin said.
"Reasonable'' might be downplaying it a bit too much. Even though they allowed two receivers to go over 100 yards and gave up 342 passing yards to Brady, the Giants' defense played one of its best games of the season in what was its biggest game of the season.
For nearly three quarters, they kept the Patriots scoreless, and they might have continued that trend if not for a muffed punt by Aaron Ross, which set up a field goal. They jostled the receivers off their routes, tackled well, did not allow a run more than 18 yards and threw enough different pressures and looks at the quarterback to make him jumpy.
Safety Kenny Phillips said last week that if the Giants could get to Brady, they could "rattle him up a little bit." He was right.
"He looked like he was a little bit uncomfortable with some of his reads," Justin Tuck said. "He took his time at the line of scrimmage. That's when you know you've given him some things that maybe he hasn't done before or he's confused a little bit about it."
This wasn't all about pressure, though. Despite only one sack among them, the front four did their thing, controlling the pocket and getting three other quarterback hits against Brady. But it was the back seven who really played to the task.
Linebacker Michael Boley caused two turnovers, tipping a pass that was intercepted by Mathias Kiwanuka and forcing a fumble on a sack that fell into the arms of rookie Jacquian Williams. Deon Grant had an interception and nearly picked off a second pass as he aborted a blitz and fell back into coverage. Cornerback Michael Coe also made a nice play, batting away a pass intended for Chad Ochocinco.
The Giants also dropped Kiwanuka into coverage much more often than earlier this season. "It looked like he was a little bit more comfortable in space, and that's a good thing," Coughlin said.
Brady misfired at an alarming rate, and the Giants could tell they were getting to him.
"He does a great job, maybe he's the best in the league, of looking at a defense and knowing what a weakness is and exploiting it," Tuck said. "I think we did a good job of disguising. I think he spent more time at the line of scrimmage checking than he had all year . . . I don't know if we did it, but I felt as if we slowed down their offense."
Even with all of that, the three turnovers, the three quarters of holding the Patriots without a touchdown, the minimizing of the big-play breakdowns that have haunted the Giants for most of this season, the defense still left the field with 1:36 remaining thinking it might have allowed Brady to throw the winning touchdown pass.
And the rest will go down in history as the day Eli beat Brady. Again.
