Halftime: Giants 14, Steelers 10

The Giants and Steelers are going at it in MetLife Stadium in a hard-hitting and intense battle with the Giants leading 14-10 at halftime. Lawrence Tynes was short on a 51-yard field goal with under a minute to play in the half. Ben Rothlisberger and the Steelers took advantage of the 31 seconds remaining on the game clock and drove down the field to get in position for a Shaun Suisham 30-yard field goal as time expired.

The Giants took a 14-7 lead on a controversial play where Michael Boley picked up a Ben Rothlisberger fumble and ran it back 70 yards for a touchdown. The play was reviewed because it appeared that Rothlisberger’s arm was going forward for an attempted pass, however the call was not overturned. On the Boley touchdown run, Jason Pierre-Paul got away with what looked to be on clip that the referees didn’t see.

Eli Manning didn’t look sharp in the first half and a pattern is starting to develop. The interception he threw in the first quarter was woefully underthrown for Victor Cruz who was also double-covered on the play. Maybe it’s a mid-season slump, however for at least the 3rd straight week Manning has not been on target with his passes to the receivers. It’s flown under the radar because the Giants are winning football games, however should the Giants begin to struggle it may become more of a topic.

Victor Cruz left the game in the 2nd quarter with bruised ribs after taking a vicious shot from Steelers safety Ryan Clark in the end zone after attempting to catch another poorly thrown pass by Manning. Clark was penalyzed for the play although it did not appear as if it was an illegal hit and the Giants took advantage when Andre Brown scored on a touchdown run to tie the game at 7. Brown’s touchdown also looked to be a questionable call by the referees as it appeared he didn’t get the ball across the goal line. Cruz returned to the before the half.

The Steelers run game has been impressive despite missing Rashard Mendenhall and Jim Dwyer today because of injuries. Issac Redman has picked up the slack, carrying the ball 14 times for 87 yards in the first half.

The Giants defense did a good job of getting in the face of Rothlisberger with sacks from Justin Tuck, Osi Umenyiora, and Jason Pierre-Paul.

The Giants were fortunate to catch some breaks from the referees in the first half and to their credit they have taken advantage by putting points up on the scoreboard. They are going to need for Manning to play better in the second half.