NY Giants win 4th straight
ATLANTA -- Eli Manning made enough good throws to overcome some glaring mistakes. Joey Harrington didn't have much time to do anything.
Manning threw a pair of touchdown passes and set up another New York TD with 3 straight completions, leading the New York Giants to their fourth straight win, 31-10 over the hapless Atlanta Falcons on Monday night.
Manning hooked up with Amani Toomer on a 5-yard scoring pass during a wild first quarter in which the teams combined for 24 points.
Before the half was done, Manning went deep for a 43-yard touchdown to Plaxico Burress that gave the Giants (4-2) a 21-10 lead.
The Giants quarterback threw 2 interceptions and had another turnover when John Abraham knocked the ball out of his hands just before his arm went forward on an attempted pass. The way Atlanta (1-5) was playing offense, it didn't matter.
Manning was 27-of-39 for 303 yards, his most since a 312-yard performance against the Cowboys in Week 1.
Playing behind a patched-up line, Harrington was sacked four times, had several passes deflected at the line and did plenty of scrambling to avoid New York's fearsome pass rush, which had tied a league record with 12 sacks of Philadelphia's Donovan McNabb two weeks earlier.
The Falcons, who were starting two new tackles because of injuries, actually did a better-than-expected job keeping Osi Umenyiora, Michael Strahan & Co. away from Harrington. That was largely because Harrington went with quick drops and short passes, not leaving much time to open up the passing game.
Harrington was 18-of-39 for 209 yards. He lost 28 yards on sacks, and the Falcons were totally inept after their quick start. They managed only 159 yards and 9 first downs over the final three quarters, most of them coming after the Giants already had put the game away.
After yanking Harrington the previous week in favor of Byron Leftwich, the Falcons didn't have any other options against the Giants. Leftwich was designated as the third quarterback because of a sore ankle, and backup Chris Redman has not played in a game since 2003.
The Falcons started quickly, jumping ahead on Morten Andersen's 47-yard field and reclaiming a 10-7 lead when Jerious Norwood broke off 67-yard touchdown run on the first play from scrimmage after Manning's TD pass to Toomer.
New York bounced back to take the lead for good before the quarter was done. Brandon Jacobs broke off a 20-yard run and Manning completed three passes for 56 yards, the last of them a 17-yarder that Toomer gathered in at the 1 and managed to drag both toes along the turf before tumbling out of bounds.
Reuben Droughns powered over on the next play, and the Giants were up 14-10 and on their way.
Derrick Ward added New York's final score with just over 3 minutes remaining on a 9-yard run.