Away Advantage: Eli Manning, Giants Continue Road Run With Wild Card Win
January 6, 2008 by David Kindervater
Filed under N.Y. Giants, Tampa Bay Buccaneers
Blogging the National Football League, Blogging the NFL
The N.Y. Giants continued their road game success today with a 24-14 Wild Card win over Tampa Bay. And because the rest of their Playoff path will be played away from Giants Stadium, consider this team a legit contender for the Super Bowl. Now an astonishing 8-1 in road games this season, the G-men continue to thrive away from home. The only game they lost this season was at Dallas. And guess where they travel next? That’s right, to Texas Stadium to play a Cowboys team they are 0-2 against this season. Will the third time be a charm? My gut tells me it will. Quarterback Eli Manning agreed:
“We love playing there, we love going down to Dallas. There are no secrets. It’s a tough challenge against Dallas, we know that. We played them two times; maybe the third will be the charm.”
The NFC Playoff race is wide open. There’s no good reason why the N.Y. Giants won’t rep its Conference in Arizona. You know, I watched Eli carefully today. I watched every down he played and while he didn’t do anything spectacular, he managed the game well and didn’t commit any turnovers. Eli finished 20 of 27 for 185 yards and two TDs. But his most important stat was no INTs. He did make some awful throws that left me shaking my head, but they fell harmlessly incomplete. Still, they were throws he should’ve made. But as long as Eli protects the football and the Giants are able to run with big Brandon Jacobs and Ahmad Bradshaw, I’m not sure anyone in the NFC can stop them.
