The New York Giants finally got good quarterback play, allowing Big Blue to end a franchise-worst 10-game losing skid, running away with a 45-33 win over the Indianapolis Colts.
"That's how the offense needs to perform. That's how the quarterback needs to perform," Giants head coach Brian Daboll said, via the team's official transcript. "So, when you do that and you win the turnover ratio, you have a chance to score points and win."
Drew Lock generated a career-high four touchdown passes with 309 yards for a 155.3 passer rating. The QB also ran for a score. He became the third player in Giants history with four-plus pass TDs and one-plus rush TD in a game, joining Eli Manning and Charlie Conerly.
"If you get good quarterback play, you have an opportunity in every game," said Daboll. "If you don't turn the football over and you make critical plays at critical times... I think we were good on third down, I think we were good in the red zone. Drew made good decisions, we had a lot of alerts. That's the start of it, and then you have to play good complementary football."
Lock had not previously made good decisions. He earned a 1-to-4 TD-INT ratio in his previous three starts in 2024. In Week 16, he threw two pick-sixes in a blowout loss to the Falcons.
Daboll leaned on Lock during the week but stuck with the journeyman as the starter.
"Yeah, Dabs is fiery. But at the same time… I've been jumped before. I've been yelled at," Lock said. "I've been around that. I'm used to that. Kind of gets me going. You can shell up or you can take it like a man. I've always been the one that kind of gets me going. I need a little bit of that. We had good conversations. He expects a lot from me, as I do myself. I can at least appreciate that. If things go bad and you don't have someone yelling at you, the classic, there should be some concern. But that is the exact opposite of Dabs. He cares about his guys. He cares about me, expects the world from me. We went out there and did that today."
Of Lock's 309 yards, 181 came after the catch, as the QB put his receivers in position to make plays with their legs. Rookie Malik Nabers thrashed the Colts, going for 171 yards on seven catches with two TDs -- 105 of YAC. Nabers joined Ja'Marr Chase (Week 17, 2021) and Justin Jefferson (Week 6, 2020) as the only rookies in the last five seasons to have 150-plus receiving yards and two-plus receiving TDs in a single game.
The victory dropped the Giants from owning the lead for the No. 1 pick to No. 4 heading into Week 18's game against the Philadelphia Eagles, who could be resting starters.
