Steelers vs. Giants 2012: Pittsburgh 'punched the Giants in the mouth'

The New York Giants had a double-digit lead against the Pittsburgh Steelers in the fourth quarter, but Ben Roethlisberger's squad scored a pair of touchdowns to go ahead with minutes remaining to give New York its first loss in five games.

New York resembled the team that won last year's Super Bowl in a four-game win streak, but was outplayed for most of the game despite the relatively close scoreline, as Ed Valentine wrote at Giants' blog Big Blue View in his postgame recap:

On a day that could have been a celebration the Giants simply couldn't deliver. Pittsburgh stormed into MetLife Stadium and, for lack of a better way to put it, punched the Giants in the mouth over and over. The Giants weren't tough enough to respond.

The Giants caught some breaks in a game to stay close: although Pittsburgh's 349 yards were nearly twice as many as the 182 New York gained and the Steelers possessed the ball for ten more minutes than the Giants, New York scored on a 70-yard fumble recovery for a touchdown in the second quarter and stonewalled an ill-advised fake field goal attempt yards away from the end zone to stay ahead late. But the Giants just couldn't get anything going on offense, starting with the guy under center:

Eli Manning played what might be the worst game we have seen him play in a couple of seasons (10-for-24, 125 yards, one interception). He made some horrid decisions, and some awful throws. In Manning's defense, he was under constant pressure from a variety of angles.

They weren't much better on the other side of the ball, allowing Isaac Redman to run for 147 yards and letting Roethlisberger complete 70 percent of his passes.