On Sunday, there were many good games around the NFL, including a lot of games that went to overtime. One of those games was the Chiefs-Giants game, where both teams came in struggling. One team ended up walking away with a win and it wasn’t the team we expected to get back on track.
The New York Giants proved to be the surprise team that won on Sunday, coming out with a 12-9 overtime win over the Kansas City Chiefs that allowed them to pick up their second win of the year in a game where they probably didn’t deserve it.
The Giants made the win possible thanks to a ridiculous catch made by Roger Lewis Jr. from Eli Manning and that allowed field goal kicker Aldrick Rosas to kick the 23-yard game winner to allow the Giants to escape the weeks of being scrutinized and ridiculed by many NFL personalities and analysts.
Why Did The Giants Win?
Many did not expect the Giants to beat the Chiefs, considering they were 1-8 coming into this game and gave up a bunch of points just a week ago to the then-winless San Francisco 49ers, who, in fairness, were playing with a heavy heart thanks to a recent player on that team losing his son. But the thing with this Giants team is, they quit on that game, just like they quit on the Rams two weeks ago and in a bunch of other games leading up to Sunday.
They also won by picking off passes made by Chiefs quarterback Alex Smith. That allowed the Giants their first points of the game. The ground game also got it going for the Giants, like Orleans Darkwa, who had a touchdown on the day. Rosas also proved himself at one point, kicking a field goal to give the Giants 9-6 lead with 1:38 left in regulation. Despite the Chiefs eventually tying it up and sending it to overtime, the Giants still didn’t give up, sending it to overtime and Manning leading his team down the field to the eventual win.
So they still have some fight in them but there’s not a lot of fight in a team that’s only 2-8 and this was just one game after coming off two games they did not play well in. That’s not optimism but I guess with every win, you got to look at the positives and I’m sure that’s what this team is doing.
The Chiefs Losing It?
Despite the loss on Sunday, the Kansas City Chiefs still lead the AFC West. Why? I don’t know. They’ve lost four out of five games and head coach Andy Reid was 16-2 in games where they came off a bye week. The record is not important. What’s important is that the Chiefs, despite staying in it until the end of this game, seem to be sliding too fast.
Tight end Travis Kelce even had to tell his team to “man up” after the loss. But I know manning-up won’t solve everything on this team.
Against this particular Giants team, they failed to score a touchdown. And this is a Giants defense that allowed 82 points in their past two games, including 31 of them against the 49ers. They also allowed 473 yards per game in their past three games. The Chiefs were supposed to beat this team and hopefully get a playoff spot, but with another loss, it’s starting to look a little bleak.
The Chiefs aren’t losing it yet, but they will if they continue this down-slide. I know that the AFC West is terrible and they will probably clinch it no matter what, but the prospect of getting into the playoffs is getting harder everyday for this team, and they have to figure out a way to turn this thing around, otherwise they’ll either barely make it or miss it entirely.
What’s To Expect Next?
For the Giants, it’s just another game. They got their second win and kept the criticizers at bay for another week. For the Chiefs, this is a game they actually needed to win to turn things around, but now it looks like it’s going to get a bit harder. Thankfully, they’re in the AFC West, which is proving game after game it’s turning into a terrible division.
It was a very poor game in New York on that day, but for the Chiefs, they just made the realization that even a one-win team isn’t going to be a one-punch knockout, and the Giants proved that on Sunday.