:format(webp)/cdn.vox-cdn.com/photo_images/4602943/130975720.jpg)
NFL Videos: Week 8 Anatomy: Cruz game winner. Since the Green Bay Packers were without any plays last Sunday, I was looking for a big play that had an impact in the NFC playoff picture. Some players had better games than Eli Manning and Victor Cruz, but this was a huge play for the Giants.
For most of the game, the Giants were struggling, at home, against the winless Dolphins. They were staring down at their second embarrassing home loss of the season. Their first one came at the hands of the Seahawks. With only 6 minutes to go, Manning hooked up with Cruz for a touchdown and it gave them their first lead. They held onto win 20 to 17.
Now the Giants are 5-2, with a two game lead over the other three teams in the NFC East at 3-4. That's no guarantee that they'll win the division, but the Giants are usually suffering through a late season collapse, and they'll need to put as much room between them and the rest of their division rivals before the collapse happens.
Do the Giants have any chance of potentially beating the Packers in the playoffs? It's unlikely, but the Giants have a very good offense, and they're one of the few teams in the NFC that could actually keep up in a shootout. Their bigger problem is that they might not ever stop the Packers offense. The Packers scored 45 points last season against them, and the Giants have burned through seven injured cornerbacks this season.