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Eli Manning Turns It Around, Giants Beat Bears
Eli Manning was far from perfect, but he got it done for the Giants. (AI Wire photo)
This was Eli Manning's stats line: 16-for-27 for 195 yards with two interceptions and a lost fumble. The bad stuff came first. He saved the best for last with two late touchdown drives as the New York Giants (8-4) fought back to knock off the 5-7 Chicago Bears 21-16.
"It's easy to forget bad plays," Manning said. "And to be a quarterback, to be a football player, you have to be able to do that. You have to be able to forget the week before. You have to be able to forget the play before and just move on and work out the next play."
The win was enormous for the G-men as they move two games ahead in the race for the NFC wild card. As for the Bears, they find themselves in sole possession of last place in the NFC North, behind Detroit and Minnesota, who are both at 6-6.
"We'll continue to play until they tell us we're out of it," Bears coach Lovie Smith said. "Winning out would've pretty much guaranteed us getting in. You just have to keep playing and see what happens."
In other NFL action:
- Edgerrin James rushed for more than 100 for just the second time this season and the Arizona Cardinals (6-6) held on to beat the 7-5 Cleveland Browns 27-21. "We turned the ball over, we muffed punts, we had penalties," said Browns coach Romeo Crennel. "We didn't do a good enough job coaching, we didn't do a good enough job playing."
- Devery Henderson fumbled a toss from Reggie Bush, which allowed Tampa Bay to drive for a touchdown with 17 seconds left and lift the Buccaneers to a 27-23 victory. Backup QB Luke McCown was great in relief of Jeff Garcia, going 29-for-37 for 313 yards, two TDs and a pick.
- JaMarcus Russell got his first taste of NFL action, but it was Josh McCown who was Oakland's best quarterback as the Raiders beat the Denver Broncos 34-20. McCown finished 14-for-21 for 141 yards and three scores. As for Russell, he completed four of his seven attempts for 56 yards. "I tried to tell myself just to relax," Russell said. "It's same thing that you do each and every day in practice. That's exactly what it felt like."