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Cards restrict Giants' running game
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All week the Cardinals heard about the running game of the New York Giants.
They were rushing for almost 173 rushing yards per game coming into Sunday. Each of their top-three rushers averaged over 5 yards per carry.
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Then hours before the game, Brandon Jacobs, who had a question mark above his head all week, was sidelined by a knee injury.
With the Giant’s most potent threat out of the way, the Cardinals had to contain Derrick Ward and Ahmad Bradshaw for them to win.
And so, Arizona contained the run. New York was limited to just 87 yards and a single touchdown on the ground.
But while Arizona was worrying about the Giants rushing attack, Eli Manning stepped up handled the Cardinal defense.
Manning said he knew the Cardinal defense would be focused on stopping the run.
“They were going to have a safety in the box a bunch,” Manning said. “We feel confident doing whatever a defense wants us to do. If they have two safeties back, we should be able to run the ball well, and if they are single high, we’ve got to be able to throw it.”
Throw it, they did. Manning completed 23 passes for 240 yards and 3 touchdowns.
“That’s why they are the best team in the NFL,” Kurt Warner said. “You take away one thing, they have another.”
Coughlin didn’t seem surprised by Manning’s play.
“We were going to have to make plays and he went out and did it,” Coughlin said. “He just continues to do whatever has to be done in order to win a game.”
In Sunday’s contest, whatever meant winning with out Jacobs and starting wide out Plaxico Burress, who pulled a hamstring in the first quarter.
In their absence, Manning completed at least two passes to seven different receivers.
“I feel confident with whoever is in there, that they are going to step up and make plays for us,” Manning said.
Despite repeated Arizona blitzes, the Cardinals only sacked Manning once.
“He had quick drops and had to get the ball out of his hands,” said Arizona linebacker Karlos Dansby. “He was perfect today. He took what we gave him.”
Manning’s passer rating was 127.3. That was over 47 points higher than Cardinal quarterback Kurt “3VP” Warner.
“Kurt played well,” Giants head coach Tom Coughlin said after the game.
“Eli played very, very well,” he said.
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