The Last Two Times the Tennessee Titans Faced the New York Giants

The Titans don't have the storied history against the Giants like the do the Steelers or even the Raiders, but these two teams have combined for two of the most memorable games of my lifetime. 

The last time these two teams got together was November 26, 2006 at LP Field in the Pacman Jones/Vince Young game.  The Titans were down 21-0 heading into the 4th quarter.  The Giants turned the ball over on downs on the first play of the 4th quarter.  The Titans went three and out on their first possession of the quarter, and then the fun started.

Gramsey's boy Pacman intercepted Eli Manning on the second play of the Giants next drive that set up the Titans first score of the game.  That was the drive that had the play where Vince ran on 4th and 9, was stopped short of the first down, but got hit late by Frank Walker on the play to keep the drive alive.  VY jumped up and got in Walker's face.  That got the few fans that were still left fired up.  Three plays later Young found Bo Scaife for a 4 yard touchdown to cut the lead to 21-7.

The Giants went three and out again on the next drive.  Pacman set the offense up with a short field after his 23 yard punt return.  Vince capped off that touchdown drive with a 1-yard run to cut the score to 21-14.

New York did get one first down on their next drive, but could not get another one and were forced to punt.  This time Jeff Feagles thought better of punting the ball to Adam and kicked it out of bounds.  The ensuing drive was highlighted by the Mathias Kiwanuka hug of Vince on 4th down.  Young capped off that scoring drive with a beautiful throw to Brandon Jones in the back of the end zone to tie the game.

The Giants get the ball back and Eli promptly throws another pick Pacman at the Giants 49 yard line.  Vince hits two passes for 18 yards to set up Rob Bironas for the 49-yard game winning field goal. 

Here is the Sunday Night Football highlight package from that game:

Then there was the 2002 Steve McNair game.  That game took place at The Meadowlands with the Giants sending one Kerry Collins out as their starting quarterback.  The week leading up to this game was one of those weeks where McNair had been unable to practice, but you knew there was no way he wasn't going to play.

In that game the Giants held a 26-14 lead after Tiki Barber scored from 1 yard out with just over 14 minutes left in the game.  That is when Air McNair started his magic.  He led the team on a 14 play touchdown drive that ended with a 1 yard run from Eddie George that made the score 26-21.  Aside: I can't even put into words how much I miss those teams that had McNair, George and Frank Wycheck.

The game looked pretty much over again after Collins led the Giants down the field and set up a Matt Bryant field goal to push the Giants lead to 29-21 with 2:26 left to play.

A holding call on the ensuing kickoff gave the Titans the ball at the 19 yard line.  Game over again, right?  Not with McNair at the helm.  He took the Titans 81 yards in 12 plays, never once facing a 4th down.  That made the score 29-27.  I remember vividly sitting in my apartment biting a pillow while McNair took the shotgun snap and ran the QB draw right up the middle for the two point conversion.

The Giants got the ball first in overtime but had to punt it away.  This time McNair engineered 6 play 60 yard drive to set up Joe Nedney for the game winner.

So you might want to watch the whole game..