Notes and statistics from the Giants' 24-14 loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers at Heinz Field:
*The Giants six-game winning streak was snapped and they fell to 8-4. They are three games behind NFC East leader Dallas with four games remaining. The 11-1 Cowboys visit MetLife Stadium on Sunday night.
The Giants lost in Pittsburgh for the first time since Nov. 21, 1971. However, that's not as impressive as it seems. Since then, the Giants have played here in 1991, 2008 – and Sunday.**>> WATCH GIANTS VS. STEELERS HIGHLIGHTS**The Giants won the coin toss and deferred taking possession of the ball until the second half for the fifth time this season. They are 3-2 in those games. The Steelers punted on the opening possession of the game, and the Giants punted after taking the second-half kickoff.
*The Giants trailed at halftime, 14-0. It was their first scoreless opening half since Nov. 29, 2015 at Washington, where they trailed after two quarters, 17-0, in what became a 20-14 loss.
*The Giants did not score a first-half offensive touchdown for the fourth time this season, including their victory against New Orleans on Sept. 18 (when they scored on Janoris Jenkins' return of a blocked field goal), and their losses in Minnesota on Oct. 3 and Green Bay on Oct. 9.
*The Giants finished with 234 yards, their second-lowest total of the season. They gained 232 yards in their 17-10 victory against the Rams on Oct. 23 in London.
*The Giants rushed for 56 yards, ending their streak of consecutive 100-yard games at three.
*The Giants' 178 net passing yards was their lowest total since they threw for 157 yards against Dallas on Oct. 25, 2015.
*The Steelers rushed for 117 yards, the first Giants opponent to pass the century mark since Green Bay on Oct. 9. The Giants held six consecutive opponents to less than 100 rushing yards, their longest such streak since the final six games of the 2000 season.
*Le'Veon Bell had all but one of the Steelers' 30 rushing attempts (the other was a Landry Jones kneeldown on the game's final play). Bell ran for 118 yards, the first Giants opponent to reach triple digits since Minnesota's Adrian Peterson rushed for 109 yards on Dec. 27, 2015.
*The Steelers took a 2-0 lead when Giants left tackle Ereck Flowers was penalized for holding James Harrison in the end zone with 3:04 remaining in the first quarter. Offensive holding in the end zone results in a safety. It was the first safety scored by a Giants opponent since Dec. 22, 2013, when Eli Manning was sacked in the end zone by the Lions' Nick Fairley in Detroit.
*Manning completed 24 of 39 passes for 195 yards, two touchdowns and two interceptions for a passer rating of 69.9. It was Manning's second consecutive sub-200 yard game, the first time that's happened since Oct. 19-25, 2015 vs. Philadelphia and Dallas. In a victory last week in Cleveland, he threw for 194 yards.
*Manning increased his season total to 3,097 passing yards, his 12th consecutive 3,000-yard season. He is the fourth quarterback in history with at least 12 straight seasons with 3,000 passing yards:
Number Player Seasons
18 Brett Favre 1992-2009
13 Drew Brees 2004-2016
13 Peyton Manning 1998-2010
12 Eli Manning 2005-2016
*With 8:21 remaining in the second quarter, Manning's pass for Larry Donnell was intercepted at the 2-yard line by linebacker Lawrence Timmons, who returned it 58 yards. That ended a streak of 72 consecutive passes by Manning without an interception. Manning had last been picked off by Cincinnati's George Iloka with 11:22 remaining in the fourth quarter of the Giants' victory on Nov. 14.
*Manning threw touchdown passes of 13 yards to Rashad Jennings in the third quarter and one yard to Sterling Shepard with 26 seconds remaining in the game.
*Shepard, who did not have a reception last week in Cleveland, caught four passes for 21 yards. The touchdown was his sixth of the season.
*Jennings' touchdown reception was the second of his eight-year career. The other was a 51-yard catch-and-run on Oct. 4, 2015 in Buffalo.
*Odell Beckham, Jr. tied his season-high with 10 receptions (he also had 10 vs. Cincinnati) for 100 yards. It was his third 100-yard game of the season and first since his 222-yard performance vs. Baltimore on Oct. 16, the first of the Giants' six consecutive victories. That was also the Giants' most recent 100-yard receiving game until Sunday.
*Beckham's 100-yard game was the 18th of his career. That broke a tie with Homer Jones for third on the Giants' career list and moved him into a tie with Victor Cruz at No. 2. Amani Toomer holds the franchise record with 22 100-yard games.
*Beckham's season totals are now 75 catches for 1,015 yards and eight touchdowns. He is the first player in Giants history to begin his career with three consecutive 1,000-yard receiving seasons. Beckham is the fifth player in NFL history with at least 1,000 receiving yards in each of his first three NFL seasons, joining A.J. Green, John Jefferson, Randy Moss and Mike Evans. Green and Evans are active with Cincinnati and Tampa Bay, respectively, and Evans accomplished the feat when he passed the 1,000-yard mark last week.
*For the second time this season, Cruz played but did not catch a pass. He was not targeted once.
*Pittsburgh tight end Ladarius Green caught six passes for 110 yards, including a 20-yard touchdown. He was the third opposing receiver to gain at least 100 yards vs. the Giants this season, joining Green Bay's Randall Cobb and Cleveland's Terrelle Pryor. Green is the first opposing tight end to go for a 100 since Philadelphia's Zach Ertz in the 2015 season finale (when he had 152 yards).
*Timmons' interception led to Pittsburgh's first touchdown, on a 22-yard pass from Ben Roethlisberger to Antonio Brown. As he often does, Steelers coach Mike Tomlin elected to try a 2-point conversion, but Roethlisberger's pass to Brown was incomplete. It was the first failed 2-point conversion by a Giants opponent since Nov. 8, 2015, when a potential game-tying pass by Tampa Bay quarterback Jameis Winston for Russell Shepard fell incomplete.
*Olivier Vernon twice sacked Roethlisberger, his fifth consecutive game with at least one sack. He has 7.0 sacks in those five games and a team-high 8.0 for the season.
*Cornerback Eli Apple, the Giants' first-round draft choice this year, got his first career interception when he picked off a Roethlisberger pass intended for Eli Rogers with 44 seconds remaining in the third quarter. He also got his first fumble recovery when he fell on a ball that Jonathan Casillas had dislodged from Bell midway through the third quarter.
*Three of the starting defensive linemen were helped off the field with injuries during the game, but only Jason Pierre-Paul, last week's NFC Defensive Player of the Week, who hurt his groin in the second quarter, did not return. JPP said he would undergo an MRI on Monday, but said he expected to play against Dallas next week. Tackle Johnathan Hankins (bruised thigh) and Damon Harrison also left the game, but returned.
*Cornerback Leon Hall was in uniform for the first time since Oct. 23 against the Rams. He was inactive the previous four games. Hall substituted at free safety for starter Andrew Adams and had one solo tackle.
*Cornerback Coty Sensabaugh did not play in the second half after suffering a rib injury in the first half.
*The Giants' game captains were John Jerry, Harrison, and former Steelers punter Brad Wing.
*The Giants' inactive players were guard Justin Pugh (knee), linebacker Mark Herzlich (concussion), safety Nat Berge (concussion), defensive end Owa Odighizuwa (knee), guard Adam Gettis, wide receiver Tavarres King and quarterback Josh Johnson.
*Gettis was inactive one week after making his first NFL start at left guard in Cleveland. Marshall Newhouse, who was inactive last week with a knee injury, made his second career start at left guard – the first was two weeks ago vs. Chicago.
Pugh missed his fourth consecutive game with a sprained knee suffered vs. Philadelphia on Nov. 6.
Herzlich did not play for the first time since Dec. 7, 2014 at Tennessee, also because of a concussion.
*Linebacker Eric Pinkins, who was signed off the practice squad on Tuesday, made his Giants debut on special teams. It was his first regular-season game since Jan. 3, 2016, when he played for Seattle at Arizona
*Another linebacker, Deontae Skinner, signed off the practice squad yesterday for the second time this season, also played in his first game in a Giants uniform, and first in the NFL since Oct. 26, 2014, when he played for New England against Chicago. Skinner was credited with two special teams tackles.
*The Giants lead the all-time series, 44-30-3, including 22-14-3 in Pittsburgh.
