ATLANTA -- The Atlanta Falcons entered Monday's game with the Giants looking to hog the spotlight on the prime-time stage. Instead it was a group of players from New York -- one of the world's greatest entertainment spots -- that starred.
Giants quarterback Eli Manning threw two touchdown passes, including a 48-yard strike to wide receiver Plaxico Burress as New York (4-2) defeated the home-standing Falcons 31-10 on Monday Night Football.
As in several games this season, the 1-5 Falcons had their opportunities. The defense forced three turnovers (two interceptions and a fumble) but the offense failed to convert them into points. Instead, the return of Pro Bowl defensive tackle Rod Coleman, who missed the first five games with a knee injury, and a stellar night by second-year running back Jerious Norwood, went for naught.
Coleman started the game on defense while Norwood rushed for 87 yards on six carries and caught four passes for 51 yards.
The Giants held the Falcons to 284 total yards and got enough pressure from the defense (four total sacks) to rattle a Falcons offense that started two new tackles in Renardo Foster and Tyson Clabo.
The loss was more frustrating considering how the Falcons handled the Giants' big-name pass rush in the early going.
Quarterback Joey Harrington led a march down the field after the opening kickoff and the team took a 3-0 lead on a 47-yard field goal by Morten Andersen that just skipped over the cross bar. The drive included some of the plays Head Coach Bobby Petrino and the offense had been searching for, including gritty running by Warrick Dunn and back-to-back first-down receptions by Roddy White, who led the team with four catches for 64 yards.
The three-point lead initially did it's job, providing a spark to a Georgia Dome crowd looking for some prime time play from their Falcons.
"It was a tough loss for us tonight, but the Giants are a very good team," Harrington said. "I think we started off fine. Then it seemed as if we hit the wall in the second quarter. We have to give them credit because they stuck to their game plan and never went away from it. As a whole, our whole team effort could’ve been better and we will work on that this week. We will get in the meeting rooms this week and focus on what we need to improve on.”
Atlanta's defense responded by taking the field after the field goal and holding the Giants short of a first down on three plays. But a roughing the kicker call on Demorrio Williams nullified a Giants punt. Manning and the Giants offense made the Falcons pay, continuing an 11-play, 73-yard drive that ended when the quarterback found veteran wide receiver Amani Toomer in the middle of the end zone with a 6-yard touchdown pass.
Harrington and the offense stuck to the game plan, however, and looked to establish the run. On the next drive, it took just one play to announce the team's intentions.
Norwood took a hand off on the team's next snap and sprinted and juked his way for a 67-yard touchdown -- the longest rushing play of the year for the Falcons and the third-longest run of Norwood's career. The play also gave Norwood two of the six longest runs in franchise history.
Andersen's extra point gave the Falcons a 10-3 lead, but the Giants took momentum back quickly and efficiently.
Manning, who completed eight straight passes at one point, marched his team down field again and took a 14-10 lead on a Reuben Droughns touchdown run.
New York picked up its first sack of the day on the Falcons next drive and forced a punt. John Abraham ended the drive, however, when he notched his fifth sack of the season and forced a Manning fumble on the Giants next possession.
But the Falcons failed to put points on the board following the turnover. The team also got interceptions from cornerback DeAngelo Hall and Michael Boley in the game, but didn't manage a score outside of the first quarter.
"We fought, but at the end of the day, we just didn’t make the plays we needed to make," linebacker Keith Brooking said. "It’s a tough loss. We fought hard and I thought we gave a great effort, but they lined up and beat us physically towards the end of the game. We had a lot of plays and we wore them down, but in the end, we couldn’t stop them.”
Manning's 43-yard touchdown pass to Burress, who has caught at least one touchdown pass in every game this season, with 5:47 left in the second quarter gave the Giants a 21-10 lead at halftime and proved the major difference in the game. The Giants secured the victory with ball control, holding the football for more than 60 percent of the game and methodically pushing down field in the game's final two quarters.
“The game was 21-10 and we got a turnover with a penalty on top of it, giving us good field position," Petrino said. "We were not able to convert the third down to continue the drive. In the first half we were able to get into third-and-short or third-and-medium situations, and then in the second half our inability to convert third downs really hurt us.”
The visitors added a 32-yard field goal by Lawrence Tynes and a 9-yard touchdown run by Derrick Ward in the fourth quarter.
Toward the end of the second quarter the Falcons started having more trouble with the Giants blitz.
New York started sending linebackers and cornerbacks from every direction and late in the half picked up back-to-back sacks that left the Falcons looking at third-and-long and Harrington looking battered. The quarterback was slow to rise after Pro Bowl linebacker Antonio Pierce sacked him with 1:50 remaining in the second quarter, but he would walk off an injury and stay in the game.
Neither Harrington nor the offense were the same however, as the unit finished 3-of-13 on third down conversions and put up 14 first downs.
Harrington finished 17-of-37 for 195 yards and one interception.
“It’s frustrating," tight end Alge Crumpler said. "We’ve just got to stay the course. That’s the only thing we can do at this point. We’ve had it every which way – we’ve had close losses and we’ve been blown out. But, the bottom line is we’ve got to find ways to score and we’ve got to find ways to win games. After the way this game started, I felt like it was just going to be a good, fun game. But they just played a little bit better than we did.”
MORE FROM THE FALCONS-GIANTS GAME:
- GAMEDAY: All the coverage from the Giants-Falcons game
- STATS AND PLAY-BY-PLAY: NFL.com Game Center
- GAME NOTES: Updates and injury news from the Georgia Dome press box
- INACTIVES: Inactives and starters from Week 6
- QUOTABLE: Thoughts on the game from Falcons players and coaches
- VIDEO: Head Coach Bobby Petrino
- VIDEO: Quarterback Joey Harrington
- VIDEO: Linebacker Keith Brooking
- VIDEO: Cornerback DeAngelo Hall
- VIDEO: Tight end Alge Crumpler
- VIDEO: Running back Jerious Norwood
- VIDEO: Can't Miss Play -- Jerious Norwood
- VIDEO: Falcons-Giants Analysis
- HIGHLIGHTS: Game highlights from NFL Network
