Quiet Storm

Justin Tuck knows that when the Giants bottomed out at 0-6 it would’ve been easy for his teammates to “start shipping their cars home and to start planning their vacations.” A lot of others would’ve done that, because their season was over – at least that’s the way it looked.

But now, after what Tuck described as a “wonderful four weeks” — including a 27-13 win over the Green Bay Packers on Sunday at MetLife Stadium — the Giants have gone from their worst start in 34 years to “being back in the thick of the playoff race.”

And suddenly their impossible dream doesn’t seem so impossible anymore.

“Obviously we’ve still got some more climbing to do to get out of the hole we dug ourselves,” Tuck said. “But we feel confident that we have a chance now.”

The Giants, now an improbable 4-6, have a tremendous chance to make the playoffs after continuing their roll with their fourth straight victory, setting up a showdown for second place in the NFC East against the Dallas Cowboys next Sunday. They are still a game-and-a-half behind the now-first place Philadelphia Eagles, but there are still six games left.

And they can thank Jason Pierre-Paul for the chance they still have. While much of the credit for this win could go to Eli Manning (25-of-35, 279 yards) and a suddenly revived passing attack, JPP got the save for his game-changing interception and touchdown. The Packers had the ball, trailing only 20-13 with 10:55 remaining when he made a perfectly timed leap to pick off quarterback Scott Tolzien’s pass behind the line of scrimmage. He then returned it 24 yards for a touchdown to put the game away.

Pierre-Paul who missed all but one practice last week with a shoulder injury — actually called his interception in the huddle right before the drive started, and the play happened so fast he left his teammates, as Tuck said, “in awe.”

“You had to look up quick to see it,” Tom Coughlin said. “But it was a nice thing to see. ”That put a quick end to a game the Giants always seemed to be in control of, thanks to what safety Antrel Rolle called “the most complete game we’ve played as a team.” Yes, the Packers were missing starting quarterback Aaron Rodgers (and backup Seneca Wallace). But Tolzien did complete 24 of 34 passes for 339 yards. Of course, the Giants also picked him off three times.

Meanwhile, on offense the Giants resurrected what had been a dormant passing attack. It started with a 26-yard touchdown pass to Rueben Randle in the first quarter and continued with three more passes that went for 20 yards or more. Victor Cruz caught eight passes for 110 yards and Hakeem Nicks added another four catches for 50.

“We still haven’t had quite that breakout game where everyone is clicking and everyone is doing the right thing,” Cruz said. “But we’re back on track.”

For the most part they are, but they still had their nail-biting moments. Maybe the worst came near the end of the first half when they were sitting on a 10-3 lead, had the Packers reeling and were all the way down at the Green Bay 15-yard line. Nicks had oddly just taken himself out of the game and little-used Louis Murphy took his place, and of course the play went in Murphy’s direction.

But Murphy blew the route – hesitating on a simple in-cut – which crossed up Manning and led to a diving interception by Packers cornerback Tramon Williams. The Packers didn’t score off that, but they halted the Giants’ momentum, and then a 57-yard field goal by Mason Crosby at the buzzer cut the Giants’ lead to 10-6 at the half.

The Giants retook control in the third quarter, though, starting with a leaping interception by Jon Beason in the middle of the field that thwarted the Packers’ opening drive and set up a Josh Brown field goal. The Packers’ next drive ended when they tried a fake punt that Giants safety Ryan Mundy recognized, and M.D. Jennings’ six-yard run ended up a yard short of the first down.

Six minutes later, when Brandon Jacobs rumbled in for a 1-yard touchdown, the Giants had what seemed to be an insurmountable 20-6 lead heading into the fourth.

But the Pack struck quickly, with a 52-yard pass from Tolzien to Jarrett Boykin, followed by a four-yard Eddie Lacy run. Now down only 20-13, they had a chance to even things up when they got the ball back … until JPP called his shot.

“It was a huge play,” Coughlin said. “And it was exciting. And then when he ran in the end zone and the points clicked up on the board, you knew in a game like this, that would be huge.”

They were huge in a race like this, too – and the Giants are absolutely in a race now. Just a month after being left for dead, they suddenly feel very much alive.

“We always felt like we were in it,” said defensive end Mathias Kiwanuka. “There was no doubt about it. There was never any doubt we had the ability to get it done.”

“It’s good to win,” Coughlin added. “There’s obviously more to be done.”