Football
Associated Press 16y

Giants win their fourth in a row, routing hapless Falcons 31-10

ATLANTA -- The New York Giants are on another roll. Now,
they've got to sustain it.

Eli Manning passed for 303 yards and two touchdowns, leading the
Giants to their fourth straight win, 31-10 over the hapless Atlanta
Falcons on Monday night.

The Giants (4-2) took control after a wild first quarter in
which the teams combined for 24 points. New York scored the final
24 points to send the Michael Vick-less Falcons tumbling to their
fifth loss in six games.

"I felt good throwing the ball," said Manning, who completed
12 straight at one point in the first half. "I was getting
opportunities in a timely fashion. I was spreading the ball around
to all receivers."

The Giants have bounced back after starting the season with
losses to Dallas and Green Bay, but they must be mindful of the
collapse that knocked them out of the playoffs a year ago.

A five-game winning streak had the Giants at 6-2 midway through
the 2006 season, but they managed just two more wins the rest of
the way.

Maybe that's why coach Tom Coughlin didn't sound all that
enthused.

"I thought sometimes we did play well offensively, and then
sometimes we did not," he said. "There were some issues."

Manning threw a pair of touchdown passes and set up another New
York TD with three straight completions, which lessened the damage
of two interceptions and losing a fumble when John Abraham knocked
the ball loose just before the quarterback's arm went forward.

It also helped to be playing the Falcons, who are averaging just
13.2 points a game.

"They are a good defensive football team," Coughlin said.
"They have some problems, obviously, on the offensive side of the
ball."

Manning was 27-of-39 and put up his highest total since a
312-yard performance against the Cowboys in Week 1.

He hooked up with Amani Toomer on a 5-yard scoring pass in the
back-and-forth opening period. Before the half was done, Manning
went deep for a 43-yard touchdown to Plaxico Burress that gave the
Giants a 21-10 lead; Burress turned to the crowd and bowed after
getting wide open down the middle.

The Falcons have little reason to take a bow. Their offense is
dreadful, a striking contrast to the high-scoring teams that Bobby
Petrino coached in college.

Playing behind a patched-up line, Joey Harrington was sacked
four times, had several passes deflected at the line and did plenty
of scrambling to avoid New York's fearsome pass rush, which had
tied a league record with 12 sacks of Philadelphia's Donovan McNabb
two weeks earlier.

The Falcons, who were starting two new tackles because of
injuries, actually did a better-than-expected job keeping Osi
Umenyiora, Michael Strahan & Co. away from Harrington. That was
largely because Harrington went with quick drops and short passes,
not leaving much time to open up the passing game.

"Eventually, they started to dominate the line of scrimmage,"
Petrino said. "We couldn't sustain the run and execute the passing
game."

After yanking Harrington the previous week in favor of Byron
Leftwich, the Falcons didn't have a backup plan against the Giants.
Leftwich, who signed with Atlanta after Week 2, was designated as
the third quarterback because of a sore ankle, and backup Chris
Redman has not played in a game since 2003.

"Byron probably could have gone in there and played," Petrino
said. "But missing two days of practice when he's only been here a
month, that would have been hard to do. We decided to stick with
Joey and see what he could do."

Not much. Harrington was 18-of-39 for 209 yards, putting him in
danger of losing another starting job after he was already deposed
in Detroit and Miami. The Falcons were totally inept after their
quick start, managing 159 yards and nine first downs over the final
three quarters, most of them coming after the Giants already had
put the game away.

"When they pop in that film," Strahan said, "I don't want
them to say the defensive line didn't give it everything we had."

Redman did start warming up at one point late in the first half
after Harrington was shaken up on a sack by Antonio Pierce, but the
starter was able to stay in the game, much to the chagrin of
Atlanta fans who still miss Vick.

When another Falcons possession fizzled with about 10 minutes
remaining, the red-clad fans at the Georgia Dome delivered one last
round of boos and headed for the exits, leaving a healthy
contingent of New York fans to cheer on their team the rest of the
way.

The Falcons started quickly, jumping ahead on Morten Andersen's
47-yard field and reclaiming a 10-7 lead when Jerious Norwood broke
off 67-yard touchdown run on the first play from scrimmage after
Manning's TD pass to Toomer.

New York bounced back to take the lead for good before the
quarter was done. Brandon Jacobs broke off a 20-yard run and
Manning completed three passes for 56 yards, the last of them a
17-yarder that Toomer gathered in at the 1 and managed to drag both
toes along the turf before tumbling out of bounds.

Reuben Droughns powered over on the next play, and the Giants
were up 14-10 and on their way.

Toomer became the leading receiver in Giants history with his
587th career reception, and also tied Kyle Rote's club mark with 48
TD catches.

Derrick Ward added New York's final score with just over 3
minutes remaining on a 9-yard run.

Petrino must be wondering why he left a college powerhouse at
Louisville.

"I'm frustrated, everybody's frustrated," he said. "We've
just got to keep working at it. Eventually, it's going to turn."

Game notes
The Giants became just the third team in NFL history with
600 regular-season wins. They are 600-502-33 in franchise history,
following Chicago and Green Bay. ... Atlanta reached 100 yards
rushing for the first time this season, largely because of
Norwood's big run. Starter Warrick Dunn was held to 15 yards on
eight carries. ... Atlanta DT Rod Coleman played his first game of
the season but wasn't much of a factor with three tackles.

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