Buccaneers vs. Giants 2012: Eli Manning Overcomes Shaky 1st Half, Throws 510 Yards in Wild 41-34 Win (via sbnation)
Even in the modern, pass-happy, NFL a quarterback putting up 510 yards passing in a game is something you would really expect to see in a video game. That, though, is what Eli Manning did Sunday in the New York Giants' back-and-forth 41-34 victory over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on Sunday.
[Related: Manning's performance, by the numbers]
"It's fun. As a quarterback you like to throw it. You like to be in that mix and spread them out and see what they're doing; have some runs, have some throws, and mix things up and obviously it's fun when guys are getting open and guys are making plays and you're seeing things - you get to fight back and especially the first half, you're frustrated and you're angry and then you get the excitement of coming back and see it happening. See the rally happening, see your defense get fired up and our offense thought their defense was getting tired there.," Manning said. "We thought we'd be able to sit back there for a little and make some decisions, so it's not the situation you always want to be in, but it can be fun."
Of course it isn't fun when you throw three first-half interceptions, which Manning did, and have your team fall behind 27-13 against a team you should beat, getting perilously close to falling to 0-2 on the season. But, then, it sure is fun when you can roar back from that and overcome it.
"Obviously you go into halftime saying "I've got to make better decisions," and I kind of started to see some things they were doing, started to make some adjustments and said we're going to be okay and here's how we're going to attack it and we had some good drives, we were moving the ball well at times, we just kept settling for field goals, had some missed opportunities down in the red zone, and so we just knew we could get back in the game," Manning said. "No one wants to start 0-2. We've obviously done it before and made a run and got into the playoffs and stuff, but it's a big win and especially after the first half and playing poorly, and last week not playing well; to get back to that level of playing good football and that second half was really good."
Manning, of course, set an NFL record iwith 15 fourth-quarter touchdown passes a season ago and led six fourth-quarter comeback victories.
He did it again Sunday, and because of that the Giants won a game it looked for a long time they would lose. And they come out not having to dig out on an 0-2 start to the season.