Following the Giants overtime victory against the Bears in Week 13, here is how the experts reacted to how the team played:
Kicker Aldrick Rosas was Mr. Money once again, hitting field goals of 57 (a career-long and a Giants franchise record), 37, and 44 yards without so much as breaking a sweat. Rosas, who broke Ali Haji-Sheikh's franchise record for longest field goal—Haji-Sheikh kicked two field goals of 56 yards in 1983—has only missed one field goal this year.
File this in the amazing but true category: WR Russell Shepard wasn't supposed to be a receiving option on his 49-yard TD catch from Odell Beckham. Was supposed to stay in + help on Khalil Mack. Shepard saw open space, went for it. Nobody complained when he came back to sideline
We mentioned Beckham as superhuman earlier. Saquon Barkley makes two supermen in the Giants' skill-position group. His 29-yard burst up the right sideline in overtime was almost as crazy as the third-down hurdle he had over the head of Bears safety Adrian Amos in the third quarter. Credit to Pat Shurmur, too, for keeping the Giants engaged through a really rough start to the season that could've been a "here we go again" situation for the guys who were there last year.
How did the members of the Giants' offensive line respond to their toughest challenge of the season? While they were far from perfect — they did allow three sacks, and Manning has been brought down a career-high 41 times this season — they held their own against Khalil Mack and company for the majority of the afternoon. They also helped Barkley gain 125 rushing yards on 24 carries.
Undrafted rookie CB Grant Haley entered Sunday as the Giants' highest-graded defender, according to Pro Football Focus, and will likely see his grade jump exponentially after the finest performance of his young career. The Giants frequently sent Haley on blitzes from the nickel cornerback spot, and he ultimately picked up his first career sack, in overtime. Haley seems to have secured the Giants' nickel cornerback spot for the rest of the season, and if his high-level of play continues, he just might play himself into a future in that role in 2019 and beyond.
Ogletree has had a frustrating season, but part of his value is how smart a player he is. He reads offenses so well, and his teammates say he's good at putting them in the correct positions. Occasionally it leads to a big play too. He read Daniel's eyes perfectly on the second play of the game, stood his ground and got his hands up to knock down the pass, pick it off and return it eight yards for the pick-six. He had another interception later on a leaping, one-handed grab (although he needed his second hand to actually pull it in).
In a wild roller-coaster matchup, the Giants weren't too scared of who the Bears are and made sure everyone around the league held off for at least another week before crowning the team from Chicago. The Giants eventually won in overtime despite allowing the Bears to roar back down 10 points with less than two minutes remaining in regulation. New York pulled off an impressive win against a superior opponent with timely plays on offense and a swarming defense, which produced five sacks and two interceptions, both by linebacker Alec Ogletree, who returned one for a touchdown. The Giants (4-8) haven't been the model of consistency this season, and Sunday's win could have many wondering where this type of performance has been hiding.
