Eli Manning and Odell Beckham Jr. put on a show on Monday night.
The franchise quarterback had as many incompletions as touchdowns with four of each, and the wide receiver caught two of them as he continued his historic pace for a second-year player. But most importantly, the Giants won for the first time in more than a month and stayed alive in the playoff hunt with a 31-24 victory over the Dolphins.
"It's a big win," Manning said. "We obviously knew what happened [Sunday] in the division, the other teams, so we had to stay on track. It was a big win also for the fact that it came down to the fourth quarter and we had to make some plays and we had a four-minute drive at the end there where we had to get some first downs to keep the ball and we did that."
With that, here's what experts and analysts around the NFL are saying about Big Blue:
"It goes back to seeing Tom Coughlin walk into our production meeting. He was grumpy, he still believes in his team, he knows they had a good week of practice, he's been through all this adversity before, they have that thick skin that it takes to be a championship team, and they are far from out of this. If Eli Manning continues to play like he played tonight, I don't care what their defense does.
"I think the no-huddle was huge. It wore Miami out. Ndamukong Suh, I don't think we brought his name up more than one or two times. They negated the pass rush, they found some balance, and Eli Manning's preparation was showcased tonight."
"Eli Manning had played in 181 regular-season games prior to Monday night. He had never produced a performance quite like the one he hung on the Dolphins. The Giants QB completed 27 of 31 passes for a completion percentage of 87.1, the highest single-game mark of his career. He threw for 337 yards and four TDs (and no interceptions), including two clutch scoring strikes to the incredible Odell Beckham Jr., as New York kept pace in the NFC East race with a 31–24 win."
"I do think that they're a dangerous team, and I don't think anyone wants to face Eli in the playoffs, especially when you've got Odell that, even when he's double-covered, he gets open. Nobody wants to face that, and the Giants' pass rush is starting to wake up. JPP [Jason Pierre-Paul] is starting to get home a little bit. Cullen Jenkins came alive last night and he had a couple big hits on [Ryan] Tannehill. So those are the two things that really put the Giants ahead of some other teams."
"Beckham shouldn't hog all of the credit for the Giants' nearly flawless aerial display. Eli Manning established a franchise record by completing 87 percent (27 of 31) of his passes, making excellent decisions while consistently hitting second and third progressions. Now that the Giants are in a three-way tie for first place in the woebegone NFC East, Manning and Beckham will have to continue to do the heavy lifting if they're going to reach the postseason."
"The Giants landed in South Florida on Sunday just in time to watch the Bears miss a game-tying field goal against Washington and the Eagles hang on to beat the Bills.
So the Giants knew both of those teams were 6-7 and they needed to win this game to stay in that three-way tie for first place in the NFC East. From the pregame locker room to the fourth-quarter huddle, the talk and the focus were at playoff-caliber intensity."
"Add the go-ahead touchdown that helped save New York's season to the ever-growing list of magical moments provided by the game's most physically gifted wide receiver. Beckham's latest memorable score propelled the Giants to a 31-24 win Monday night over the Dolphins at Sun Life Stadium. Tied with Philadelphia and Washington atop the lowly NFC East, New York (6-7) at least remains viable in the playoff race while Miami (5-8) is officially out of contention for a seventh straight season."
"But every time you think the Giants look terrible and start to write them off, you remember Eli Manning and Odell Beckham are disgustingly dangerous. Manning was a quiet assassin on Monday night, throwing as many touchdown passes (four) as incompletions, routinely picking apart the Dolphins secondary and putting the Giants on his back."
