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NY Giants 24, Green Bay 22 - What a game this one turned out to be! The G-Men, wearing those awesome uniforms that are more or less a throwback to the franchise's glory days of the 1980's and early 1990's - and with special end zones laid out at MetLife Stadium to match - played extremely well. The local boy quarterback, who's story is playing out as if it were scripted by Hollywood, once again had a solid day. Not a record smashing day, mind you. He did not put up dream numbers that every other quarterback will be envious of. Yet, it was an efficient day, and he managed to avoid the big mistakes. Saquon Barkley had a solid day, with some exciting bursts of running, although he also had a surprising and uncharacteristic - not to mention very ill-timed - fumble, which actually almost cost the Giants the game. It came late in the fourth quarter, with the Giants leading the game, 21-16. Barkley's run seemed to put the G-Men in good scoring position, which likely would have iced the game. Instead, his fumble, and the subsequent return by the Packers defense on what proved to be a strange play - it seemed that a number of Giants players were kind of half-assing it, figuring that the play was dead, that the ball was not live, even though it was - gave Green Bay a very good chance. They capitalized on that chance, and scored a touchdown. The two-point conversion was no good, but things were looking for the Pack at that point. It appeared that they were going to snatch victory from the jaws of a defeat that seemed like a sure thing just moments before. But Devito kept his poise, driving Big Blue down the field for a final field goal attempt. Then New York placekicker Randy Bullock split the uprights on the 37-yard field goal attempt as time expired, and the Giants came away with a thrilling, narrow win that keeps their still admittedly slim playoff hopes alive. My pick: Inaccurate
Tennessee 28, Miami 27 - They kept showing the highlights of this game while broadcasting the Giants game (at least in the greater New York metropolitan area), and it seemed to be a back and forth game between these two teams. Which was surprising, as I had figured - wrongly, as it turns out - that the Titans likely were down and reeling after too many setbacks in a season full of disappointment for them. I expected - again wrongly - that the Dolphins and their explosive offense would make short work of the Titans. But the game remained tight, until Miami pulled out ahead, scoring 17 points in the fourth quarter, and taking a 15 point lead late in the game. But the Titans proved to have some fight in them left. I saw posted in a couple of places (I cannot remember where, admittedly, so I cannot post the link here) that teams leading by at least 14 points with less than three minutes to play in a game had gone 0-767 since 2016 in NFL games. And the Titans were losing by 15. But Tennessee's Will Levis capped an impressive drive of nine plays and 75 yards - all in under two minutes - by completing a three-yard touchdown pass to DeAndre Hopkins. The Titans were successful on the two-point conversion. They got the ball back, and then had another impressive drive of 64 yards on four plays that culminated with a three-yard touchdown run by Derrick Henry, with 1:49 left to play. Suddenly, the Titans had the lead. And despite how explosive Miami's offense has been all season, they were not able to answer, and thus suffered a shocking loss. One that most people, including yours truly, did not see coming. My pick: Inaccurate
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