Week 1: vs. Carolina Panthers The Giants opened their
new home in search of revenge against the Panthers, who had soundly defeated them in the last game at
Giants Stadium. In the first quarter, Carolina scored the stadium's first points as kicker
John Kasay got a 21-yard field goal. New York would answer with the stadium's first touchdown as quarterback
Eli Manning found wide receiver
Hakeem Nicks from 26 yards out. The Panthers would retake the lead in the second quarter as Kasay made field goals from 52 and 43 yards. Manning found Nicks again on a 19-yard touchdown pass with less than a minute left in the first half, but Carolina quarterback
Matt Moore completed a 19-yard touchdown pass to wide receiver
Steve Smith with six seconds remaining. The Giants would get back on top in the third quarter as kicker
Lawrence Tynes nailed a 32-yard field goal, followed by Nicks' third touchdown of the game (a 6-yard catch). In the fourth quarter, the Giants added one more touchdown as running back
Ahmad Bradshaw ran for a 4-yard score. Carolina's
Greg Hardy blocked a
Matt Dodge punt out of the end zone to round out the scoring with a safety. The Giants' historic win had come with a price, however; tight end
Kevin Boss left the game in the first quarter with a
concussion, and
Will Beatty, who filled in for Boss afterward, was benched with a broken foot. The Giants signed tight end
Bear Pascoe from their practice squad to play against the Colts.
Week 2: at Indianapolis Colts The second "Manning Bowl" was only the second time in NFL history that two brothers started opposite each other at quarterback, in a game which was expected to be an offensive struggle between Eli and his older brother
Peyton. But the Giants didn't seem to have an answer for Peyton or the Colts' running game, which was led by
Joseph Addai and
Donald Brown. The Giants were shut out at the half for the third time in their last four games (dating back to
last year) after the Colts scored the first 24 points of the night. Brown recorded a 7-yard scoring run, and
Dallas Clark and
Austin Collie caught touchdown passes of 50 and 3 yards, respectively. The Colts defense held the Giants to 75 yards of offense in the first half, including just 17 passing yards for Eli. The Giants finally got on the board on the first drive of the second half, when Eli connected with
Mario Manningham for a 54-yard strike. But on the Giants' next drive, an Eli fumble was picked up in the end zone by
Fili Moala, effectively taking the Giants out of the game. Two additional scores occurred in the fourth quarter; Peyton connected with
Reggie Wayne for a 10-yard score, and Eli threw a 31-yard touchdown to Week 1 star Nicks. On a night when almost nothing went right for the Giants,
Brandon Jacobs caused a stir by throwing his helmet into the stands in the third quarter, which he later claimed was a botched expression of frustration. The NFL fined Jacobs $10,000 for the incident.
Week 3: vs. Tennessee Titans Giants miscues were the story of this game; as head coach
Tom Coughlin would later comment, "[T]he first thing you have to do is keep from beating yourself before you can beat the opponent and we didn't do that." The Giants accumulated 417 yards of offense, including 26 first downs, but scored only twice on 8 trips inside Tennessee territory. New York quickly found themselves in a 10–0 hole after their first three possessions ended in two interceptions—one in the end zone—and a missed 53-yard field goal by Tynes. Toward the end of the first half, Tynes made a 50-yard field goal which the Giants followed up with a 10-yard Bradshaw touchdown run. But on their first drive of the second half, Bradshaw committed a
chop block penalty in the end zone for a Tennessee safety. Tennessee quarterback
Vince Young connected with
Kenny Britt for a 13-yard touchdown on the ensuing drive, and the Titans never looked back. The Giants' next two possessions ended in a Bradshaw fumble and another Tynes miss, this one from 44 yards. The Titans added a
Rob Bironas field goal and a
Chris Johnson touchdown on their way to victory.
Week 4: vs. Chicago Bears This Sunday night featured the introduction of the Giants'
Ring of Honor, which included 30 historic players, coaches, and administrators. The presence of such defensive greats as
Jessie Armstead and
Michael Strahan in the stadium that night is credited with inspiring
Perry Fewell's struggling defensive squad. The New York defense held the Bears to zero points, two first downs, and 22 yards of total offense in the first half, and sacked
Jay Cutler nine times before knocking him out of the game with a concussion. In total, the Bears put together only six first downs (one by penalty) and finished with the lowest final score of any Giants visitor since
the Eagles in 2007. The Bears went on to lose backup quarterback
Todd Collins to a hard
Michael Boley tackle; third-string quarterback
Caleb Hanie was called upon to play the fourth quarter.
Justin Tuck and
Osi Umenyiora were each responsible for three sacks on the night. Manning and the Giants offense had their own difficulties putting points on the board, but second-half touchdowns by Bradshaw and Jacobs proved enough to win this defensive struggle. Nicks also had a notable day, catching eight passes for 110 yards.
Week 5: at Houston Texans The upstart 3–1 Texans were slightly favored in this matchup, but the Giants took control of the game right away. They scored touchdowns on three consecutive drives in the first half, including two Nicks receptions of 6 and 12 yards. This was Nicks' second consecutive 100-yard receiving game, and he was now among the top 10 receivers league-wide in receptions, receiving yards, receptions of 20+ yards, and receiving touchdowns for the season. Jacobs also contributed a 1-yard touchdown run in the first quarter. In the third quarter, former Giant
Derrick Ward provided Houston with their first touchdown of the day, but the newly dominant Giants defense did not allow any further damage. Smith's 4-yard reception late in the fourth quarter sealed the victory for the Giants.
Week 6: vs. Detroit Lions Hoping to increase their winning streak the Giants played at home ground for an NFC duel with the Lions. In the first quarter the Giants trailed early as quarterback
Shaun Hill made a 14-yard touchdown pass to wide receiver
Nate Burleson. They replied when running back
Brandon Jacobs got a 4-yard touchdown run. They took the lead with quarterback
Eli Manning making a 33-yard touchdown pass to wide receiver
Mario Manningham. The lead was cut when kicker
Jason Hanson nailed a 50-yard field goal. The Giants continued to score in the third quarter with Manning finding tight end
Travis Beckum on a 1-yard touchdown pass. The Lions responded in the fourth quarter with quarterback
Drew Stanton completing an 87-yard touchdown pass to wide receiver
Calvin Johnson, but the Giants pulled away with Jacobs making a 6-yard touchdown run. The Lions tried to rally but only came away with another 50-yard field goal by Hanson giving the Giants the win. With the win, the Giants improved to 4–2.
Week 7: at Dallas Cowboys Turnovers had been a nagging problem for the Giants all year, and it seemed their first division game of 2010 would be no exception; their first two drives ended in interceptions off receivers' hands, giving the struggling Cowboys an early 10–0 lead. The Giants finally got on the board late in the first quarter courtesy of a 7-yard Nicks reception. Following a Giants fumble in the second quarter, Dallas quarterback
Tony Romo was hit hard by linebacker
Michael Boley and left the game with a
clavicle fracture (Notably, Romo was the fifth quarterback the Giants defense knocked out of a game this year, after Moore, Cutler, Collins, and Hill). After Cowboys kick returner
Dez Bryant returned a Dodge punt 93 yards for a touchdown, the Giants scored two consecutive touchdowns; an 8-yard pass to Nicks and a 14-yard pass to Smith. The Giants opened the second half with two more back-to-back touchdowns; a 25-yard pass to Manningham and a 30-yard Jacobs run. The Dallas offense, now led by veteran quarterback
Jon Kitna, showed signs of life in the fourth quarter as Bryant caught two 15-yard touchdown passes. But two failed onside kicks allowed the Giants to log their third straight win over their divisional foes and the fourth win of their current streak. New York went into their bye week tied for the best record in the NFC.
Week 9: at Seattle Seahawks Seattle quarterback
Charlie Whitehurst's first career start was one to forget; the Giants defense held
Matt Hasselbeck's backup to just 113 passing yards in New York's biggest win of the year to this point. The Giants scored 38 unanswered points in the first three-quarters, including touchdowns by four players; two Bradshaw runs, a 46-yard pass to Nicks, and short touchdown passes to Smith and Boss. Whitehurst finally recorded his first NFL touchdown pass in the fourth quarter, connecting on a 36-yard pass to receiver
Ben Obomanu. But the Giants put together a 13-minute drive, in which all snaps were taken by
Sage Rosenfels, to take nearly all the remaining time off the clock. The Giants had earned their first win at Seattle since 1981, and extended their winning streak to five games.
Week 10: vs. Dallas Cowboys A power outage that disrupted play in the third quarter served as a fitting metaphor for the Giants' general lack of power on the field this night. Smith was sidelined by a torn
pectoral muscle suffered during practice, and backup receiver
Ramses Barden saw his season come to an end during this game by way of a torn
Achilles tendon. Former Giant
Jason Garrett was making his head coaching debut for a Cowboys team revitalized by the firing of head coach
Wade Phillips one week earlier. The Dallas defense held the Giants to just 6 points in the first half, aided by cornerback
Bryan McCann's 101-yard
"pick 6" from his own end zone. In a dimly lit third quarter, after a bank of lights went dark,
Felix Jones extended the Cowboys' lead to 20 points on a 71-yard touchdown reception. Only after a total blackout caused an eight-minute play stoppage did Manning finally put the Giants' first touchdown on the board, in the form of a 5-yard pass to Manningham. The teams continued to trade touchdowns; a 24-yard pass from Kitna to Austin was followed by a 35-yard reception by Boss. But the Giants' turnover problem resurfaced in the fourth quarter, where a fumble and an interception ended up costing them any chance at a comeback.
Week 11: at Philadelphia Eagles The Eagles were coming off their highest-scoring game of the year, having put up 59 points against the Redskins on Monday night. By contrast, this Sunday night game was a defensive struggle in which the Giants held the normally speedy
Michael Vick to 34 rushing yards and no passing touchdowns. After Vick scored the first points of the game on a 4-yard run, the focus moved to the defenses and the kicking games. The Giants defense saved their offense from two-second-quarter turnovers by forcing several
David Akers field goal attempts, blocking one to end the first half. After losing
Ellis Hobbs to a neck injury sustained on the second-half kickoff, Philadelphia put together a drive that consumed more than eight minutes of clock, but were still held to another Akers field goal. The Giants' offense finally came to life on the next drive, as Manning connected with Beckum for a short touchdown. In the fourth quarter, Umenyiora forced the Eagles' first turnover of the year, stripping the ball away from Vick to set up backup receiver
Derek Hagan's first touchdown catch of the year (Hagan had been cut by the Giants prior to the season, but was re-signed the week before, after the extent of Barden's injury became apparent). Later, on a fourth down play, Eagles rusher
LeSean McCoy ran for a 50-yard touchdown, which wide receiver
Jason Avant followed with a two-point conversion catch. Unfortunately, as was the case last week in East Rutherford, the Giants thwarted their own comeback attempt with turnovers, committing three in the last five minutes of the game (including an interception which Philadelphia's
Asante Samuel fumbled right back to the Giants). The crusher was a fourth-down play on which Manning successfully rushed for the first down but fumbled while sliding headfirst; by rule, had he slid feet-first, the play would have been over and no fumble could have occurred. The Eagles turned the gift fumble into a game-clinching field goal.
Week 12: vs. Jacksonville Jaguars Coach Coughlin's former team dominated the Giants
in 2006, when he faced them for the first time. For this rematch, the Giants were without their two star receivers; Smith's pectoral injury caused him to miss his third game, while Nicks underwent treatment for
compartment syndrome caused by a leg injury in Philadelphia. The Giants had signed
Michael Clayton during the week to bolster their receiving situation, but he saw little action in this game. For the first three-quarters, the Jaguars' defense held the Giants to three Tynes field goals; this was now the third straight game in which the Giants were held to 6 points or fewer in the first half.
Rashad Jennings and
David Garrard provided Jacksonville with two rushing touchdowns to take a 17–6 lead at halftime. The offense finally came to life at the end of the third quarter, when big plays by Jacobs and Boss set up a 26-yard Manningham touchdown reception followed by a two-point Bradshaw run. Later in the fourth quarter, Manning led the Giants down the field on a 6-play, 61-yard drive, culminating in a go-ahead 32-yard touchdown catch by Boss. The Jaguars threatened a comeback, and even made it into New York territory after the two-minute warning. But
Justin Tuck,
Antrel Rolle,
Jason Pierre-Paul, and
Terrell Thomas combined to sack Garrard on three consecutive plays, the last of which resulted in a fumble that was recovered by Rolle. The Giants had won their first turnover-free game of 2010, and tied the Eagles for the division lead.
Week 13: vs. Washington Redskins The Giants needed this division win to keep pace with the Eagles, and they had no trouble getting it. The rushing duo of Bradshaw and Jacobs combined for 200 yards and all four touchdowns (two each) as high winds discouraged Manning's passing game. For the first time this year, the Giants scored on each of their first two drives, taking a 14-point lead before the Redskins even managed a first down. From that point, the New York defense dominated, forcing six fumbles, recovering four, and intercepting two
Donovan McNabb passes. Former Redskin
Devin Thomas made an impact in his Giants debut by blocking a
Hunter Smith punt to set up Tynes' field goal and wrap up a crucial win. Notably, the Giants now were 3–1 all-time against potential
Hall of Fame coach
Mike Shanahan.
Week 14: at Minnesota Vikings Originally scheduled for 1 pm. EST on Sunday, December 12, this game was moved to Monday night after severe blizzard conditions in the
Minneapolis-St. Paul area that forced the Giants to spend the night in
Kansas City after their flight was diverted, while the operators of the
Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome asked for more time to clear all the snow from the stadium's bubbled roof. The roof later collapsed, forcing the NFL to use
Ford Field in
Detroit as an alternate site. The game aired on
WNYW in
New York City,
WXXA-TV in
Albany, and
KMSP-TV in
Minneapolis-St. Paul, along with the Fox affiliates in
Duluth,
Mankato and
Rochester. But even the disaster in Minneapolis was overshadowed by another major headline: Vikings quarterback
Brett Favre was listed as inactive for this game, ending his historic streak of
297 consecutive starts.
Tarvaris Jackson, who was 2–0 in his career against the Giants, started in Favre's place. Once again, the Giants drew strength from their running game, as Jacobs and Bradshaw combined for 219 yards rushing and two touchdowns. In the second quarter, Jacobs created his longest play of the season, a 73-yard run that set up his own short touchdown. After a by-now-typical shaky start from Manning that involved two interceptions, Manning closed out the first half with a 6-yard touchdown pass to Boss (Incidentally, news about another streak was lost in the talk about Favre: Manning was making his 100th consecutive start tonight). Bradshaw's touchdown came in the third quarter, on a 48-yard run that was also his longest of the season. The New York defense had an especially memorable night, holding the normally dominant
Adrian Peterson to his lowest rushing output of the year, a paltry 26 yards. Umeniyora,
Barry Cofield,
Rocky Bernard,
Dave Tollefson, and
Jonathan Goff combined for four sacks, and
Keith Bulluck contributed an interception. Unfortunately, the injury bug hit the Giants again in several key places. Special-teamer
Clint Sintim's season ended with a
torn ACL, and Bradshaw and Manningham both left the game early with injuries to the forearm and
hip flexor, respectively. Diehl, Nicks, and Smith returned from their injuries, but Smith suffered a new injury to his
hamstring. Whether these players will be available for the crucial division game in Week 15 has yet to be determined. With this win, the Giants rose to 9–4 and ensured that they would improve on the previous season's record of 8–8.
Week 15: vs. Philadelphia Eagles Coming off their win over the Vikings the Giants played on home ground for an NFC East rivalry rematch against the Eagles. The Giants suffered
their worst loss of the season, blowing a 31-10 fourth-quarter lead and allowing a punt return for a touchdown as time expired in regulation. In the first quarter the Giants took the early lead as quarterback
Eli Manning completed a 35-yard touchdown pass to wide receiver
Mario Manningham. The Eagles responded in the second quarter with kicker
David Akers getting a 34-yard field goal, but the Giants extended their lead after Manning found Manningham on a 33-yard touchdown pass, followed by kicker
Lawrence Tynes nailing a 25-yard field goal, then with Manning getting an 8-yard touchdown pass to wide receiver
Hakeem Nicks. The Eagles cut the lead with quarterback
Michael Vick making an 8-yard touchdown pass to wide receiver
Jeremy Maclin, but the Giants scored with Manning finding tight end
Kevin Boss on an 8-yard touchdown pass. However, they failed to maintain this lead with Vick making a 65-yard touchdown pass to tight end
Brent Celek, followed by his 4-yard scramble for a touchdown and then his 13-yard touchdown pass to Maclin to tie the game at 31. After the Giants went three and out
Matt Dodge's punt was returned 65 yards for a touchdown by
DeSean Jackson, giving the Giants a loss, and thus bringing their record down to 9–5.
Week 16: at Green Bay Packers Hoping to rebound from their loss to the Eagles the Giants flew to
Lambeau Field for an NFC duel with the Packers. In the first quarter the Giants trailed early with quarterback
Aaron Rodgers completing an 80 and a 3-yard touchdown pass to wide receiver
Jordy Nelson and to wide receiver
James Jones respectively. The Giants replied to tie the game with quarterback
Eli Manning throwing a 36 and an 85-yard touchdown pass to wide receiver
Hakeem Nicks and
Mario Manningham. They had further problems with fullback
John Kuhn getting an 8-yard touchdown run, followed by kicker
Mason Crosby getting a 31-yard field goal. The Giants cut the lead with kicker
Lawrence Tynes nailing a 38-yard field goal, but fell further behind with Rodgers completing a 1 and a 5-yard touchdown run to tight end
Donald Lee and to Kuhn respectively. This was followed by Kuhn getting a 1-yard touchdown run. With the loss, the Giants fell to 9–6.
Week 17: at Washington Redskins Hoping to clinch a playoff spot the Giants bused to
FedExField for a division rivalry rematch against the Redskins. The Giants took the lead as kicker
Lawrence Tynes hit a 20-yard field goal. This was followed by
Brandon Jacobs getting a 2-yard touchdown run. The lead was narrowed when quarterback
Rex Grossman threw a 1-yard touchdown pass to tight end
Fred Davis, but the Giants extended their lead with quarterback
Eli Manning connecting to
Mario Manningham on a 92-yard touchdown pass. The lead was narrowed in the fourth quarter as Grossman completed a 64-yard touchdown pass to wide receiver
Anthony Armstrong, but the Giants defense held them on for the win. Despite the win, the Giants failed to make the playoffs after Green Bay defeated Chicago. The Giants finished their regular season with a 10–6 record.
John Mara announced
Tom Coughlin would return as head coach next season. ==References==