GLENDALE, Ariz. — Eli Manning insists he never flashed back to his previous game in Glendale. Everyone who watched him Sunday must have.
Manning threw for three touchdowns in his return to the scene of his Super Bowl MVP performance and the New York Giants beat Arizona 37-29 to snap the Cardinals’ seven-game home winning streak.
“It’s just a totally different feel, it’s just a different time,” Manning said. “You never really compared it to the last time we were here. We knew we’d have a tough contest with Arizona.”
Defensive end Justin Tuck, though, admitted to “a little deja vu.”
“Once you got back out here, you see the field and this stadium looking like a space ship, you start to think about that night and how it felt,” he said.
With starting running back Brandon Jacobs out with a knee injury, the Giants took to the air to win their sixth in a row. Manning completed 26 of 33 for 240 yards with no interceptions as the Giants moved to 10-1, tied for the best record in the NFL.
“He just continues to do whatever has to be done to win a game,” New York coach Tom Coughlin said.
Kurt Warner, under fierce pressure most of the afternoon, was 32-for-52 for 351 yards and a touchdown for Arizona (7-4). He was intercepted once and fumbled once, both leading to Giants touchdowns.
“They’re a good defense and we matched up with them very well and went toe to toe with them for 60 minutes,” Warner said. “Of course, you never want to go away a loser and that part is disappointing. I think you leave from this game and move ahead. If we eliminate some of the mistakes we can play with anybody in the league.”
Besides the turnovers, the Cardinals allowed two long kickoff returns to set up scores.
“Whenever you can put our offense in that type of field position, it’s a great thing,” Tuck said, “especially with the weapons that we have.”
On the field where they upset New England in last season’s Super Bowl, the Giants (10-1) took the lead late in the first half and never relinquished it.
“That’s a well-coached football team with a tremendous amount of depth that doesn’t make many mistakes,” Arizona coach Ken Whisenhunt said. “To me that was the key today. We just made too many mistakes.”
In the second half, Manning completed 16 of 18 for 156 yards and two scores.
Warner topped 300 yards for the fifth consecutive game, one shy of the NFL record he shares with Steve Young and Rich Gannon. Warner’s 5-yard touchdown pass to Anquan Boldin cut the lead to 34-26 with 4:02 to play. The Cardinals’ subsequent onside kick bounced off the hands and chest of Arizona’s Ralph Brown and was recovered by Chase Blackburn for New York.
“It hit the ground and came up on me quick,” Brown said. “I felt somebody coming up on me on the right. When it came to my hand, I kind of looked away and it bounced off my hands.”
John Carney’s third field goal, from 33 yards, put the Giants ahead 37-26 with 1:55 remaining.
Neil Rackers’ third field goal, a 44-yarder, cut it to 37-29 with 32 seconds left, but New York’s Steve Smith recovered the onside kick.
Already without Jacobs, the Giants lost wide receiver Plaxico Burress early in the game when he aggravated a hamstring injury.
Still, Manning had plenty of targets. Domenik Hixon had kickoff returns of 83 and 68 yards and caught six passes for 57.
Six plays after the second-half kickoff, Tuck stripped the ball from Warner and Mathias Kiwanuka recovered for New York at the Cardinals at the Arizona 40. On third-and-2, Manning threw 30 yards to Smith at the Cardinals 2. Manning’s two-yard touchdown toss to Madison Hedgecock boosted New York’s lead to 24-12 with 10:35 left in the third quarter.
Arizona went 90 yards in nine plays, cutting the lead to 24-19 on Tim Hightower’s 1-yard TD run. But New York took the kickoff and went 80 yards in 10 plays for the score, Manning throwing 10 yards to Kevin Boss to make it 31-19 with 11:15 remaining.
Carney’s 27-yard field goal with 6:17 put the Giants up 34-19.
The lead changed hands five times in the first half.
J.J. Arrington, who had a 93-yard kickoff return for a touchdown against Dallas, returned one 55 yards to the New York 42. Hightower scored on a 4-yard run. But holder Dirk Johnson bobbled the snap on the extra point, and Johnson’s desperate pass sailed over the head of a would-be receiver. The botched play left Arizona leading 9-7.
Hixon took the next kickoff 83 yards to the Arizona 17, leading to Carney’s 33-yard field goal and a 10-9 lead.
The Cardinals went ahead 12-10, then Hixon’s 68-yard kickoff return to the Cardinals’ 32 set up Manning’s 12-yard TD pass to Amani Toomer.
Notes: Larry Fitzgerald caught his 400th career pass. He is the
youngest player to do so at 25 years, 119 days. He also reached the mark in 71 games, faster than anyone in league history but teammate Boldin (67 games). … The Giants lost LB Jonathan Goff with a hamstring injury in the second quarter. … The Cardinals have just four days before a Thanksgiving night game at Philadelphia.
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