The Falcons defense, which has done such a great job at shutting down this Giants passing attack, finally caved and gave up some points, but not in the way that you think. The Giants running game, powered mostly by Brandon Jacobs, absolutely destroyed the defense on their sole drive of the second quarter.
After Eli Manning managed to give up a safety by virtue of intentional grounding in the end zone, the Giants again stopped the Falcons on offense. They then embarked on a 13-play, 85-yard drive that featured a fourth-and-inches conversion that went in favor of the Giants.
Then on first and goal from the four, Manning hit Hakeem Nicks on a slant route in the end zone for a touchdown, putting the Giants up 7-2.
Back on offense, the Falcons again couldn't muster anything on the ground, and they keep finding themselves in third-and-long situations. Case in point: Ryan hit Julio Jones on an 18-yard passing play on third down, but even that was short of the first down due to a false start/sack combo earlier in the series.
But the Falcons defense stepped up big again. Manning went deep on first down to Nicks, but Chris Owens made a brilliant play to knock the ball away. The Giants went three and out, and turned the ball back over to Ryan and the offense.
Atlanta could have certainly gone for some points at the end of the half, but for some reason they decided to not use any of their three timeouts until only four seconds remained on the clock. It was perhaps the most perplexing clock management I've ever seen in any game. Ever.
We're halfway through this one, and the score remains 7-2 in the Giants favor.
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