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New York Giants vs. Pittsburgh Steelers: 5 key plays

A look back at the key plays in the Giants' loss to the Steelers on Sunday.

Jim O'Connor-US PRESSWIRE

After re-watching the Pittsburgh Steelers-New York Giants game I've learned that the guy in the Steelers backfield is Isaac Redman, and not Jerome Bettis as I had previously thought. I am not sure how to explain his performance now.

It's that time of week again where I take a look back at the New York Giants previous game and highlight five key plays that decided the outcome of the game. For the first time in awhile, I'm choosing five plays that decided the loss, it's not as nice of a feeling.

On the bright side, the Eagles, Cowboys, and Redskins all lost this weekend to NFC teams this week keeping them behind the Giants and adding a conference loss to their records.

What happened to this division. Didn't it use to be good?

1. Eli Manning throws an interception on a pass intended for Victor Cruz

In the first quarter Eli Manning threw his last catchable football of the game. Unfortunately, it landed into the hands of Ike Taylor, the Steelers cornerback. After the Steelers had been struggling on offense, turning the ball over and generally not blocking well, the Steelers immediately ripped off a 17-yard run and then dinked and dunked their way down the field for their first touchdown. I've always felt that right after a turnover the defense is a bit out of rhythm and the Steelers were able to capitalize.

2. Martellus Bennet, and then David Diehl, commit false start penalties

After taking an early 7-0 lead, the New York Giants scored 14 straight unanswered points and looked primed to add more. After a (questionable?) pass interference on Domenik Hixon the Giants were sitting with a 1st and 10 at the Steelers 34-yard line looking to add more points and keep the momentum before consecutive false start penalties, at home I should add, pushed the Giants back 10 yards. They gained their original yardage back and settled for a long field goal, which fell short.

The Steelers completed a couple of passes and kicked a field goal heading into halftime.

3. Mike Wallace scored a 51-yard touchdown on a slant

The Giants defense had settled down forcing a couple of punter. They after half time, despite being put in bad field position before the Steelers called the perfect play on a Giants blitz. Mike Wallace made a couple of guys miss and used his terrific speed to race to the end zone, for perhaps the biggest momentum-changing play in the game.

4. Defensive holding penalty is called on Jayron Hosley

The Steelers needed seven yards for a first down driving at the end of the game to tie up the game with nine minutes left in the fourth quarter. They got five. Oh, but what's that? A defensive holding penalty and a subsequent touchdown? For the final go-ahead score.

5. Giants allow Steelers to kill the clock off a busted run up the middle to seal the victory

Despite the poor offensive performance for much of the game, there had to be a feeling that if the Giants got the ball back they would make things interesting. Eli Manning had spent the whole afternoon playing such a convincing Blaine Gabbert I was convinced the Steelers were not prepared for Eli to break out of character and drive the ball right down the field. But the Giants defense was fooled by the Steelers creative play call or run up the middle for 20 yards a clip.

The other play I considered was the missed connection between Rueben Randle and Eli in the end-zone.

What play did I miss?