In previewing this Game of the Week, the New York Giants and the Pittsburgh Steelers, no one thought of breaking down the matchup between Miguel Cotto and Antonio Margarito.
"Who's that?" you ask.
Tom Coughlin knows.
The night before the game, the Giants coach showed his team a film of the WBA welterweight championship fight in which Margarito won the title by stopping the previously unbeaten Cotto in the 11th round. Cotto won the early rounds and appeared on his way to a successful title defense but Margarito kept pressing the attack until finally he trapped Cotto along the ropes and knocked him out.
Coughlin's point: Finish strong and you win. The Giants got the message.
The Giants were trailing 14-9 midway through the fourth quarter. They were playing at Heinz Field where the Steelers had won 12 of their previous 14 regular-season games and had not lost to an NFC opponent since 2003. The record crowd of 64,991 was roaring. The Terrible Towels were twirling. Still, the champions kept punching.
The Giants got a field goal, a safety and a touchdown in the final 8:18 to secure a 21-14 victory and improve their record to 6-1, best in the NFC. The Steelers finished the day on the canvas, but with a 5-2 record, they won't stay there long. Who knows, we may even see a Giants-Steelers rematch in Super Bowl XLIII. Call it Toe-to-Toe in Tampa.
"We've got a knock-down, drag-out team," said Giants running back Brandon Jacobs. "Whatever it takes, we're going to fight until the last second comes off the clock."
It wasn't a pretty win, but few Giant wins are. It was a bruising affair which saw the Giants defense take an early haymaker on the jaw -- the Steelers scored on a 32-yard run by Mewelde Moore on their first possession -- but shake it off and come back. The Giants sacked Pittsburgh quarterback Ben Roethlisberger five times and intercepted him four times. The Steelers were one for 10 on third down conversions and they were unable to pick up a single first down in the fourth quarter.
Eli Manning outplayed Roethlisberger, completing 19 of 32 pass attempts for 199 yards, including the winning touchdown pass to tight end Kevin Boss with just 3:07 remaining. New York got a big break when linebacker James Harrison, filling in for the normal long snapper Greg Warren, centered the ball over the head of punter Mitch Berger resulting in a fourth quarter safety.
"They are the world champs for a reason," Roethlisberger said. "You have to give them a lot of credit."
For the Giants, it was a very big win because they took the field late Sunday afternoon knowing all three of their NFC East rivals -- Washington, Philadelphia and Dallas -- had already posted victories. It is the only division in football where every team has a winning record.
"We hung in there," Coughlin said afterward. "That's the best thing about this group."
