EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. -- Eli Manning needed a near-record performance to make up for his own mistakes and help the Super Bowl champion New York Giants avoid a second straight loss.
Manning threw for 510 yards and three touchdowns and capped the second greatest passing day by a Giants' quarterback by setting up Andre Brown's game-winning 2-yard run with a 50-yard pass that lifted New York to a wild 41-34 victory Sunday over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
The game featured four touchdowns in the final 6:48, and ended with some postgame squabbling between Giants coach Tom Coughlin and Tampa Bay coach Greg Schiano. Coughlin screamed at the former Rutgers coach after Manning was knocked down on the final play because the Bucs went all out to try to force a fumble on a kneel-down.
"I told some of our young players, you've played in big games in college, but this is something else," Giants defensive captain Justin Tuck said. "This is what you live for. We'd have liked to play better, but if I was a fan at the game and not so close, I would have enjoyed it."
Manning, who completed 31 of 51 passes, made it really enjoyable for Giants' fans. The two-time Super Bowl MVP overcame a miserable first half with a 295 yards passing in the second half, tying for the eighth most in NFL history and coming up 3 yards short of Phil Simms' club record. After his three first-half interceptions staked the Bucs (1-1) to an 11-point lead, Manning was
"Eli hung in. He made a couple of bad plays, but he didn't get discouraged," Coughlin said. "We just kept talking about the character of this team and we finally made some plays and came back."
Manning threw touchdowns of 23 yards to Hakeem Nicks, 80 to Victor Cruz and 33 to Martellus Bennett with 3:59 to play to give New York a 34-27 lead. After Cruz scored and celebrated with his trademark salsa, Brown scored on a 2-point conversion run to tie the game.
"Nobody wants to start 0-2, so it was a big win, especially after the first half playing poorly," said Manning, whose previous single-game best was 420 yards passing against Seattle in a loss last season. "After not playing well, it's kind of getting back to that level of playing good football. Really good. No punts, no turnovers. Some big-time plays and stepping up when we needed it, that was fun to have."
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