Giants' D overwhelms Kitna, Lions
DETROIT -- Michael Strahan showed he's still got it, just days before he turns 36 and in a year he pondered retirement.
Strahan had a season-high 3 sacks, helping the New York Giants beat the Detroit Lions 16-10 Sunday to gain the advantage in the NFC wild-card race.
"From the time he got off the bus, he was very focused," said teammate Sam Madison, who had 1 of the victory-sealing interceptions in the final 2:04. "He was very energetic. He was the Stray of old."
New York (7-3) broke a third-place tie with Detroit in the conference and improved its chances of making the playoffs. In the Super Bowl era, 78 percent of teams that won seven of their first 10 games ended up in the postseason.
The Giants lost their first two games, won six straight, then lost to Dallas for a second time before handing Detroit its first defeat at home.
"We'll take the 7-3. I'm too tired to worry about how we got there," Strahan said.
The Lions (6-4) dropped back-to-back games for the first time this year, and took it hard after losing their other three games by double digits.
"Yeah, it's more difficult because that is not a better football team than us," quarterback Jon Kitna said. "We gave them the football game."
Strahan took offense to Kitna's take on the game.
"I honestly thought in the first half that was one of the worst teams we played that was 6-3," he said. "I don't quite understand why Jon would say that.
"Maybe we'll see them down the road and if that's the case, we'll beat (them) again."
Detroit might need to beat the NFC North-leading Green Bay Packers (10-1) at home on Thanksgiving to maintain a realistic chance at making the playoffs for the first time since 1999.
"Is the season over? Absolutely not," said offensive tackle Jeff Backus. "It's one stumble in our path."
The Giants leaned on their defense to block Detroit's road to success.
Strahan and Co. put pressure on Kitna, forcing him out of the pocket to rush throws.
When Kitna did have time late in the game, Madison and James Butler came through for the Giants with key interceptions to shut down a team that had been scoring in bunches at home.
"They scored 31 points a game here," Strahan said. "The way we played today we should be very happy."
The win came at a price: running back Brandon Jacobs was sidelined in the third quarter with a left hamstring injury and linebacker Mathias Kiwanuka broke his left leg early in the game.
New York coach Tom Coughlin wasn't sure how serious Jacobs' injury was, but said Kiwanuka may be done for the season.