It came from New York Giants offensive coordinator Kevin Gilbride, simple and direct.
"He said, 'We need two scores. Go do it,' " Manning recalled after the Giants stunned the Dallas Cowboys -- and a crowd of 95,952 -- with a comeback for the ages that culminated with a 37-34 victory to regain control of first place in the NFC East.
Manning, who passed for 400 yards, took Gildride's instruction literally and competitively, playing flawlessly down the stretch to spark two touchdown drives in crunch time to help New York (7-5) snap a four-game losing streak.
The first march covered 80 yards in eight plays, capped by Manning's eight-yard TD throw to tight end Jake Ballard. After New York forced a punt, it moved 58 yards in six plays, with Brandon Jacobs capping the drive with one-yard, go-ahead touchdown with 46 seconds remaining.
For an instant, it appeared New York would squander its big comeback chance. Three plays before Jacobs' TD, Manning threw a perfect, 24-yard pass to Mario Manningham that was dropped in the end zone.
"It's one of those deals, you don't dwell on it," Manning said of the bungled opportunity. "You don't think about. We still had plenty of time. It was like, 'We've still got opportunities.' "
Indeed. Manning threaded an 18-yard completion over the middle to Ballard to the one-yard line, setting up Jacobs' TD. Then a two-point conversion, with wideout Hakeem Nicks lining up in the backfield and taking a handoff from Manning, out of the shotgun, provided the margin that would prevent Dallas from winning with a field goal.
"We've been in these situations before," said Manning. "It's a fun way to win, but I'd like to have a lead and hold onto it for once."
Not on this night. The teams exchanged the lead seven times, which somehow seemed fitting for the lead in a division that has been in a state of flux in recent weeks.
Tony Romo, who threw for 321 yards and four touchdowns -- to four different targets -- seemed game for a rally of his own.
Romo hit two huge passes in the fourth quarter that gave Dallas a cushion. His 74-yard throw to Laurent Robinson set up a 6-yard TD toss to Miles Austin with 12:43 remaining. Then, after Sean Lee snuffed out New York's attempted answer with an interception and 30-yard runback, it took just two plays for Dallas to cash in with Romo's connection to Bryant -- who blazed past oft-victimized rookie Prince Amukamara and was wide open for the score that made it 34-22.
On the final possession, Romo hit Austin for 22- and 23-yard gains on throws over the middle to move the Cowboys into field goal range as the final seconds ticked off the clock.
Then came another crazy finish for the Cowboys, as déjà vu winked.
Giants coach Tom Coughlin called timeout a split-second before Dan Bailey drilled an apparent 47-yard field goal through the uprights with six seconds showing on the clock, unleashing a flood of fresh memories.
A week earlier, the Cowboys' rookie kicker had seemingly won the game at Arizona with a 49-yard kick during the final seconds of regulation…but his own coach, Jason Garrett, had called a timeout to nullify the kick and fuel a week of second-guessing.
Bailey missed the re-kick at Arizona, where Dallas lost in overtime.
The re-try on Sunday night backfired, too. Jason Pierre-Paul, the Giants' dynamic, second-year defensive end, blocked the field goal.
"Everybody knows what happened last week," said Manning. "Good idea by Coach Coughlin."
Bailey insists that he wasn't fazed by Coughlin's gamesmanship. But the timeout undoubtedly served a purpose for Pierre-Paul.
On the first try, Pierre-Paul lined up on the right side of the line, never came close to blocking the kick. After the timeout, Pierre-Paul decided to try a different path.
He shifted to his left.
"The guard was blocking me the first time, so I just went through the center," he said. "I bull-rushed him and put my hands up."
Ballgame.
Said Romo, "This was a tough loss."
The block was a crowning touch on a huge night for Pierre-Paul, who had a team-high eight tackles, two sacks, including a first-quarter safety, a forced fumble and two tackles for losses. And it also capped the Giants' first victory since Nov. 6, when they stunned the New England Patriots on Manning's one-yard TD pass to Ballard in the final minute.
"We knew we just needed to win a game," said defensive tackle Chris Canty. "To come here to Dallas, we knew it was going to be a 60-minute, hard-fought, black and blue type of game. At the end of the day, we made enough plays to win the game."
It's déjà vu in another sense, too. The Giants have crashed yet another grand Cowboys party. Beginning with a victory here in the first regular-season game when the stadium opened in 2009, the Giants have never lost in three games at Cowboys Stadium.
New York also won Dallas' last playoff game at their previous home, Texas Stadium, upsetting a team that had earned a No. 1 seed.
Now added this wild comeback to the ledger.
"We found a way to win," Manning said. "We've had some wild games here, and none probably wilder than this one."
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