Eli Manning was misfiring, Chris Snee was battling an ankle injury and the entire New York Giants offense was struggling when the team got its week off for a bye prior to Thanksgiving.
Snee and the rest of the offensive line turned in what may have been their best collective effort of the season, allowing Manning to snap out of his slump when the team returned to action.
After going more than 100 pass attempts without a touchdown for the first time in his National Football League career, Manning hit three touchdown passes Sunday night to became the Giants career record-holder in that category during a 38-10 rout of the Green Bay Packers.
The convincing win in the meeting of the last two Super Bowl champions gave the Giants a two-game lead in the NFC East over Dallas the Washington.
The Giants broke a two-game losing streak and ended Green Bay’s five-game winning streak.
“We’re confident that when our back is against a wall that we’ll come out and fight and perform and the big players will step up and make plays,” Snee, a Montrose graduate, said, according to www.giants.com. “I think that’s exactly what you saw and the defense was tremendous.
“To hold that offense to 10 points was just incredible and then we scored touchdowns. That’s been our problem and we scored touchdowns and didn’t have turnovers.”
The Giants outscored the Packers, 31-3, after Green Bay scored on its first possession.
The offensive line cleared the way for the running game to produce 147 yards on 31 carries and only allowed Manning to be sacked once while going 16-for-30 for 249 yards and the three touchdowns.
WEEK IN REVIEW
Elk Lake’s Luke Jones finished 19th out of 169 runners in the Foot Locker Northeast Regionals Boys’ Championship Race Saturday at Van Cortlandt Park in the Bronx, N.Y.
Jones joined Rico Galassi of Holy Cross as part of the Pennsylvania team that ranked second among nine state units, behind only New York. Jones finished in 16:10.3. Jones finished first and Galassi second in District and Galassi was first and Jones second in the state Class A meet this season.
Elk Lake was also represented in other races at the Foot Locker event.
Eddie Cumens was second out of 80 runners, finishing in 17:22.7, six seconds behind champion Connor James of Weston, Mass. in the sophomore boys’ race. Dalton Sherman was 19th.
Hunter Bedell was 20th out of 61 in the freshmen boys’ race.
In high school football, Dunmore won and was the only one of four District 2 teams to reach the state quarterfinals.
The Bucks knocked off six-time state champion Southern Columbia, 35-29, in a Class A state opener Friday night.
Dunmore scored 29 straight second-half points, then held off Southern Columbia.
The Tigers made a late push to cut into a 35-14 deficit in the fourth quarter.
Daiqwon Buckley rushed for 125 yards and Dunmore used two big special teams plays during its outburst.
Immediately after Dunmore took the lead, Josh Sawka recovered a fumble on the kickoff to set up another score.
Mike Boland blocked a punt and ran it in from 38 yards for the last Dunmore touchdown.
Parkland defeated Delaware Valley, 49-41, in the District 2-4-11 Class AAAA Regional final; Allentown Central Catholic shut out Abington Heights, 23-0, in a state Class AAA game; and Pen Argyl downed Wyoming Area, 21-7, in a state Class AA game, all of which were played Saturday.
Colin McDermott rushed for 257 yards and three touchdowns as Allentown Central Catholic eliminated Abington Heights from state play for the third time in four years.
Delaware Valley cut into a 22-point, fourth-quarter deficit and made a late threat before falling short against the team it beat on Opening Night.
Mike DePaolo carried 33 times for 216 yards and three touchdowns out of the single wing backfield to lead Pen Argyl.
In professional hockey, Jacob Silfverberg had a goal and an assist in the first period and the Binghamton Senators defeated the Toronto Marlies, 3-2, in the only American Hockey League game played on Thanksgiving Night.
COLLEGE ROUNDUP
Dallas Ely immediately found her way into the starting lineup on the West Chester University basketball team.
Ely, who became Montrose’s all-time leading scorer while leading the Lady Meteors to the state semifinals in the spring, helped the Golden Rams win the 27th annual Carol Eckman Classic on their home court.
The 5-foot-9 guard had six points and three assists in a 92-46 exhibition loss to Division I St. Joseph’s.
Ely started that game and made her official college debut when the Division II team won its opener over West Virginia Wesleyan, 90-72, in the tournament opener. Ely had 16 points and shared the team lead with seven rebounds.
Ely hit three of her five 3-point shots while finishing with 11 points and three steals during a 73-59 victory over Philadelphia University, which had won its first three games.
After two games, Ely leads the team with five steals and is the second-leading scorer with 13.5 points per game. She is 10-for-23 (43.5 percent) from the floor, 4-11 (36.4) on 3-pointers and 3-for-4 (75.0) from the foul line.
THE WEEK AHEAD
Dunmore will face District 1 champion Bristol Friday night at 7 at Valley View in a state Class A football quarterfinal.
Our high school football predictions were 1-2 (33.3 percent) last week, bringing our playoff record to 12-5 (70.6) and our season record to 103-33 (75.7).
This week’s prediction: Dunmore 20, Bristol 14.
In the National Football League, the New York Giants will again be one of the featured television games. The Giants will play the Monday Night Football game on ESPN at 8:30 in Washington against the Redskins.
TOM ROBINSON writes a weekly local sports column for the Susquehanna County Transcript. He can be reached online at RobbyTR@aol.com or followed on Twitter at @tomjrobinson.
DODGE GOES OUT IN WINNING STYLE
Dodge has said farewell to NASCAR….at least for now.
They carried with them the 2012 Sprint Cup Championship Trophy.
It was Dodge's first Cup championship since Richard Petty won in 1975.
This one was more surprising and maybe more meaningful since Dodge announced in August it was withdrawing from NASCAR after this season. The decision came in part because Penske Racing announced days after the season-opening Daytona 500 it was moving to Ford in 2013.
“I'm literally conflicted because it wasn't about winning or losing whether we would stay in or not,” Dodge Pres. Ralph Gilles said. “Those decisions were made many months ago for other reasons, but this is the best thing that could happen. The best way to look back on this is a feather in our cap. It’s still an amazing accomplishment.”
2012 Sprint Cup champion Brad Keselowski and car owner Roger Penske
Dodge hasn't ruled out returning to NASCAR, but if they do, Gilles said it would have to be a situation similar to what the company had with Penske.
Meanwhile, Penske has signed a five-year deal with Ford, with Keselowski and Joey Logano driving for the two-car team. Sam Hornish will drive a Nationwide car and selected Cup races.
This is Keselowski’s first Cup championship in three years of driving for Penske.
“This team is phenomenal, and I’m just so fortunate to have them.” Keselowski said, “Everybody back in North Carolina and Morrisville that supports this team, I hope you’re listening. None of this was possible without them. I feel so lucky to have everyone here, just a dream come true to have a car like the Blue Deuce, and to have fast cars, to have a great team, this is what you dream of as a driver, and I’m just so very fortunate.”
This is also the first Cup Series championship for Penske Racing. The closest they have ever gotten to a championship was in 1993 with Rusty Wallace.
“Well, I’ll tell you, it’s at the top of the mark now.” Roger Penske said “As I told you when Brad and I got together three years ago and we talked about a plan, we executed, but I want to thank all the people in our company, all our 40,000 employees that have helped us. This race shop team is outstanding, with just the reliability of that car and engine and Dodge.”
TO TWEET OR NOT TO TWEET
Richard Petty told ESPN that NASCAR was "hypocritical'' in fining point leader Brad Keselowski for carrying a cell phone in his car at Phoenix.
Keselowski was fined $25,000 for having the cell phone in his car and tweeting during a red flag situation late in the Phoenix race. He did the same thing during a red flag situation in the season-opening Daytona 500, and was praised by NASCAR
“I think it's hypocritical because he [did] it at Daytona, and then NASCAR had a big meeting with everybody and said, 'Oh! Man!” said Petty. “That's great. Everybody go out there and do it just as much as you can.' And then they say, 'Whoo! You ain't supposed to do it in a racecar.”
“I don't think that was in the rulebook. I think they made that one up as they went.”
Keselowski said he was confused by the message the fine sent, “I'm confused a lot. I'll just add that to the list.”
NASCAR said drivers were told they could not carry cell phones or any other computer-like devices in the car after Daytona because it could create a competitive advantage as the sport moves to fuel injection this year and a digital cockpit that chairman Brian France said could be introduced in 2014.
“We are the most aggressive in social and digital media in terms of our drivers and teams and tracks taking part in that,” France said. “Smart devices and smart phones and other devices can have an effect on manipulating the technology that is now going to be in the cars, and we have to be careful with that. And so that's why our policy is that you're simply not going to be able to take a device into the car with you.”
PATRICK DIVORCING HUSBAND
Danica Patrick and her husband, Paul Hospenthal are divorcing after seven years of marriage.
“I am sad to inform my fans that after seven years, Paul and I have decided amicably to end our marriage,” she said. “This isn't easy for either of us, but mutually it has come to this. He has been an important person and friend in my life and that's how we will remain moving forward.”
Patrick just completed her first full season in NASCAR, running the full Nationwide schedule, where she finished 10th in points and 10 Sprint Cup Series races.
KENSETH MOVING ON
Matt Kenseth ended a highly successful chapter of his racing career after spending 13 seasons in the Cup Series with Roush Fenway.
Kenseth’s first Cup Series start with Roush Fenway came in the 2000 Daytona 500. Kenseth and his crew chief Robbie Reiser moved up to NASCAR’s elite series that season together after both had started out racing in their home state of Wisconsin.
“Just being in that race I remember was a big deal to me,” recalled Kenseth. “I remember walking down pit road with Robbie (Reiser) and looking up into the stands and seeing all those fans. Racing against such great drivers like Dale Earnhardt, Rusty Wallace, Dale Jarrett and Mark Martin; all guys who we used to watch race on Sundays and now being able to race against them in the biggest stock car race in the world was a special moment for two guys from Wisconsin.”
Just three years after his first start, Kenseth earned the 2003 Cup Series Championship amassing one win, 11 top-five, and 25 top-10 finishes. Kenseth’s lead in the point standings has also been credited with the formation of the current Chase format due to the sizable lead he and his team had created.
“There was a lot that went into that Championship in 2003,” Kenseth continued. “In 2002, we were able to win five races and had a great season. Going into 2003, I felt like we really had a shot to win the Championship that year. We were able to put it all together that year, and that Championship is always the ultimate prize and what everyone is racing for every year.”
Another impressive moment in Kenseth’s career came in 2009 when the driver earned his first Daytona 500 victory. The win came after Kenseth started the race from 39th but the No. 17 team had battled back handling issues with pit strategy to place Kenseth in the lead before the race was called on account of rain. He led for only seven laps that day, but they turned into the seven laps that earned the driver his first win in the historic event.
Kenseth went to win the 2012 Daytona 500, joining just a handful of drivers who have won two or more of the sport’s famous race.
He will move to Joe Gibbs Racing in 2013.
Racing Trivia Question: Where is NASCAR’s first regular season Cup race held?
Last Week’s Question: How many Cup championships has Jeff Gordon won? Answer. He has four 1995, 1997, 1998, and 2001.
You may contact the Racing Reporter at hodges@race500.com.
