Raiders vs. Giants 2013: Defense ‘comes up big’ in victory

In one of the ugliest games of the season, the New York Giants kept their division hopes alive.

Nov 11, 2013, 1:24 PM UTC

Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports

The New York Giants won their third consecutive game on Sunday, beating the Oakland Raiders 24-20 at a windy MetLife Stadium.

Despite turning the ball over three times, including on the opening kickoff, New York was able to run its record to 3-5. The Giants took advantage of a blocked punt and a Terrelle Pryor interception, turning the former into a touchdown return and the latter into a first-and-goal situation from which a touchdown would come.

Over at Big Blue View, Ed Valentine writes about the turning point in the contest:

The game turned in the third quarter. Just when things were looking like they might get away from the Giants with Oakland leading 20-14 the defense came up big again. Oakland got the ball at the Giants' 48-yard line following a 27-yard punt by Steve Weatherford. On third and nine at the Giants' 33, Terrell Thomas intercepted a Pryor pass for Denarius Moore and returned the ball to the Oakland 5-yard line.

As for the Raiders, the loss drops them to 3-6 on the campaign and all but finishes any playoff dreams. Despite a multitude of chances, Oakland could not get the offense rolling all day, gaining only 213 total yards and going 2 of 12 on third down.

Levi Damien of Silver And Black Pride wrote about Pryor’s last four games, which reminded him of an ex-Oakland quarterback:

Over the past four games, Terrelle Pryor has had a passer rating of 42.0 (45.7, 25.7, 55.7, and 40.9) with 1 passing touchdown to 8 interceptions. The last quarterback to have a four-game stretch that bad was JaMarcus Russell who had a passer rating of 41.2 (47.6, 46.0, 22.6, and 48.5) over the first four games of the 2009 season.