Aldrick Rosas New York Giants
(Photo by Elsa/Getty Images)

Nobody expected the New York Giants to be able to compete with the Kansas City Chiefs much less compete with them. This is why they were a double-digit home underdog.

  • New York Giants 12 (2-8)
  • Kansas City Chiefs 9 (6-4)
  • NFL, Week 11, Final, OT, Box Score
  • MetLife Stadium, East Rutherford, New Jersey

As the saying goes … “on any given Sunday.”

And on this Sunday, the New York Giants shocked the Kansas City Chiefs, taking the low-scoring game 12-9 in overtime.

As you would expect with a game that ended 12-9, there weren’t many game-breaking highlights. But the Giants made plays when it matters most and were the better team on Sunday.

It was the Giants first home win of the season and second win over an AFC West team that was coming off a bye.

After being outscored 106-45 over their last three games, and with their effort and character being questioned, the Giants needed to show some heart and energy and they did on Sunday.

Most felt the Chiefs would march down the field on their first possession and score a touchdown. The Giants defense held the Chiefs to just 37 yards on their first possession and forced a punt.

The Giants offense drove the ball 64 yards on their first possession and seemed on the verge of scoring a touchdown when disaster struck. From the Chiefs 18-yard line, the Giants attempted a halfback pass with Shane Vereen whose pass was intercepted at the 1-yard line by Daniel Sorensen.

Evan Engram was open for a moment in the end zone, but Vereen was unable to get the ball to him.

The defense would respond on the Chiefs next possession as Damon Harrison intercepted a short pass from Alex Smith that was intended for Travis Kelce and returned the ball to Chiefs 26-yard line.

The Giants would capitalize on the Harrison interception as Orleans Darkwa would score on a 1-yard touchdown run seven plays later. Aldrick Rosas would miss that PAT though and the Giants lead 6-0.

The Chiefs would score on their next possession on a Harrison Butker 31-yard field goal that would close out the scoring in the first half.

Defense and the wind were the story lines of the first half as the 40 m.p.h. winds made it difficult to throw the ball downfield. This is why the Giants only had 57 yards through the air in the first half and the Chiefs had 95.

After both teams punted on their first possession of the second half, the Chiefs would tie the game on their second possession of the half on another 31-field goal by Butker with 13:30 remaining in the game.

Following both teams going three and out on their next possessions, the Giants began a drive from their own 4-yard line. The drive seemed promising as they were able to move the ball to their 40-yard line on just six plays. But a John Jerry unnecessary roughness penalty would stall the drive an force the Giants to punt.

Three plays later, the Giants defense would force their second interception of the game as tight end Travis Kelce attempted to complete a pass to Demarcus Robinson that was intercepted by Landon Collins at the Giants 14-yard line.

The offense wasn’t able to capitalize and were forced to punt five plays later.

But the Giants defense once again stepped up and forced their third turnover of the game as Janoris Jenkins intercepted an Alex Smith pass that was intended for Robinson that Jenkins returned to the Chiefs 23-yard line.

The Giants would capitalize on this turnover as they gained 15 yards on five plays and the drive culminated on a 26 yard field goal by Rosas with just 1:38 remaining in the game.

The Chiefs would respond however driving the ball 69 yards on nine plays that ended with 23 yard Butker field goal with only one second remaining in regulation that tied the game at nine.

The Chiefs won the coin toss for overtime and elected to receive. But the Giants defense held firm and the Chiefs were only able to move the ball to their 38-yard line before being forced to punt that was fielded by Kalif Raymond and returned to the Giants 18-yard line.

From there the Giants would march the field to the Chiefs 36-yard line. The key plays to the drive up to that point was an Orleans Darkwa 10 yard run, and an Eli Manning 13-yard completion to Tavarres King.

The play of the game came on a 4th-and-5 from the Chiefs 36 when Manning connected on a deep pass down the left sideline to Roger Lewis for 34 yards. It was a spectacular catch by Lewis who was being interfered with by Phillip Gaines.

Two plays later, Rosas kicked the game winning 23-yard field goal to the delight of fans at MetLife stadium.

Manning who was starting in his 209 consecutive game moving him into second place all-time amongst quarterbacks had a efficient and turnover free game as he finished the game completing 19-of-35 passes for 205 yards.

Darkwa led the team in rushing with 74 yards on 20 carries and also had two receptions for 16 yards.

Coach Ben McAdoo spoke about the win and the effort his team put forth in his postgame press conference.

“I thought we played well as a football team. I thought we played hard. We knew to beat this team we were going to have to come out and exceed their effort and play hard and play physical and play heavy handed, and that’s what we did today.”

The Giants will have a quick turnaround as they will play the Washington Redskins on Thanksgiving in what will be their last road divisional game of the season.

They will look to build momentum off this win, and try to end the Redskins playoff hopes.

Jason's first love was football while growing up in northern New Jersey. For the past three years, he has covered the New York Giants, as well as several boxing events along the East Coast.